Labor Day weekend

Someone loves rainbows.

"Working at home"

My "home office" for the day. (Surfside Beach, TX)

A year of my life: Age 37

I did what I set out to do. I took a one second video everyday for a whole year, starting on my 37th birthday. Well, that's not entirely true. I had to recruit Lynn for this project since it's too hard to remember to take a video every single day. And sometimes, you just want to enjoy the moment and not be that person who whips out their phone to take a video and/or picture. But I must say, it's neat to look back at an entire year of our lives in only a 9 minute video.

Birthday week (San Antonio, TX)

To celebrate birthday week (Tyson's birthday and my own), we made a trip to San Antonio and the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort. Lots of fun in the sun. Maybe too much sun because it was hot, which made it that much better to cool down at the resort's water park. We also visited The DoSeum (awesome interactive kids museum) and the Pearl Brewery (not an actual brewery but an area of renovated buildings that were converted to shops and eateries). We made our usual stops at the local Target(s). I also made the effort to train BJJ since we were away for nearly a whole week and I felt guilty for my terrible diet while on vacation.  And of course we looked for good eats but sadly came away mostly unsatisfied with the food we ate. Oh well, better luck next time.

But first, coffee

I can't function without my daily caffeine.

3v3 Regionals (Austin, TX)

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew's team had won a 3v3 tournament so they advanced to the regional tournament, which was held in Round Rock. And with that, we made another trip to Austin for the second week in a row. It was HOT! The boys played three games on Saturday and three on Sunday. After all was said and done, they placed third. Not bad considering how close and competitive all the games were. As of now, it looks like the team will advance to the National Championships... but we'll see.

BJJ competition II (Austin, TX)

Last Saturday I competed in my second BJJ tournament (Austin Open). The weeks leading up to the event, I was iffy whether I was doing it or not... constantly flip-flopping. I told myself that I was going to train as if I was going to compete but in reality, my training is never as hard/intense/focused until I actually register to compete... which I didn’t do until right before the deadline (one week before the event). At one point, I even made a “final” decision to not go since Prof. Marcelo (our head instructor) wasn’t here for the bulk of the month to help us prep and wouldn’t be back to coach us at the tournament. And I aggravated my elbow injury so that’s a wrap... or so I thought.

Soccer & birthdays

Andrew's team played in a 3v3 soccer tournament... all day in the brutal heat.

Rainy July 4th week

Hey look at us, we're the US flag! No, we didn't purposely coordinate our outfits although it turned out awesome. What wasn't awesome was the fact that the Forth of July landed in the middle of the week this year. It also sucked that the skies opened up and Houston suffered more flooding. But it was fine, we still managed.

Training with a legend

My mom's 65th birthday

My mom is now 65 years old and I think she needs to retire. But honestly, what would she do once she stopped working? On her days off (i.e. weekends), all she wants to do is see the kids but that can't happen. Either we already have something planned or maybe I just want to spend my free time with them. She is constantly asking and I've rejected her so many times. Then the guilt sets in. It's draining. But I don't say anything. It's my mom.

My Father's Day

Lunch with all my children.

Lobstah & chowda (Boston, MA)

After spending an extended weekend in Cape Cod, we went our separate ways to explore Boston.

SeaPerch Nationals (Cape Cod)

Jacob's team traveled to Dartmouth, MA to compete in the International SeaPerch Challenge after advancing in the regional competition back in April. Obviously, we were going to support his team so we made a family trip/vacation out of it since I don't ever envision us being in the New England area. The first half of the trip was spent in the Dartmouth/Cape Cod area and second half in Boston, which I will post about later.

End of the year awards

Another school year in the books. All of the boys got straight A's in all subjects, all year long. On top of that, Tyson got the Citizenship Award for his class and the Book Adventure Award for reading one hundred books. Andrew mentioned that this was the first year that he didn't get the Citizenship Award (breaking his four year streak). But hey, he was the only kid in his class to get Student of the Month twice in one year! And as previously mentioned, Jacob was inducted to the National Junior Honor Society. Super proud of these boys! 👏