Student of the Month(s)

Tyson is Student of the Month... again.

Solar eclipse

My view of the eclipse from home.

Cherry blossoms, museums, and monuments (Washington, D.C.)

After five years, I made the trip back to DC. This time, there would be no government shutdown. This time, the cherry blossoms would be in bloom. This time, I would bring the family. But not the whole family. 

The boys HS soccer team made it into the playoffs and advanced. Unfortunately, the second round game would be on Thursday night (the day we leave for our trip). And if they were to win and advance to the third round, they would play on Monday (and we would still be in DC).

I had let the big boys decide if they still wanted to go to DC or stay home and play with their team. Jacob decided to continue on with the trip as planned and Andrew decided to stay home and play in what he said was possibly "a once in a lifetime" opportunity. So with that, we took a family trip (five nights) without Andrew.

Playoff bound

The boys soccer team (Shadow Creek) are headed to the playoffs. It's been three years since the school's last playoff appearance. This year is a bit special since both boys are playing together for the last time since Jacob is now a senior (and Andrew is a sophomore). 

For the first round of the playoffs, they faced Clear Springs. Their current coach was the former Shadow Creek coach, which made this matchup that more special.

That game was probably the best high school soccer game I've watched so far. Was it because of the outcome? Probably. The boys crushed them with the final score of 5-2.

It was satisfying to witness them destroy their former coach.

Full tuition

Four year scholarship!

Destination nowhere

It's been ten years since the last spring break we (two or more family members) didn't go on a trip (spend at least one night away from home). Not having travel plans for spring break felt a bit odd, especially since we've always gone somewhere for a decade straight. 

But I (alone) got to travel during the break. Sadly though, it was for work. I had to travel to San Augustine, which I've been to once before in a memorable trip back in 2012. And just like the last trip, I was starving. There's no eateries in San Augustine and apparently I didn't learn my lesson from the previous trip. 

First place in UIL chess

In the district UIL competition, Elliot took first place in the category of "chess puzzle solving," representing the second grade for her school. The process began months prior when she had to compete against fellow second graders within her school for the opportunity to go to UIL. Only the top kids were selected.

I'm not sure how many kids were in her division but there are twenty elementary schools in the district. The top eight kids of each category were awarded a medal (4th - 8th) or trophy (1st - 3rd) so I'm assuming there were a lot of kids in her group.

Needless to say, I'm super proud of her.

Around the world (Orlando, FL)

For our third and final getaway of the month, we headed to Orlando for a short weekend trip. We flew out early Saturday morning and headed straight to Disney World once we landed. I've always wanted to experience a theme park as an adult without kids and this was my chance. I chose Epcot because it seemed less kiddie (i.e. Magic Kingdom) and we could just walk around to eat and drink.

We got to Epcot at 10:30 a.m. to start our journey around the world. Somewhere in between, we had to take an hour nap due to being sleep deprived from the early morning departure. We did manage to go on one ride, the Guardians of the Galaxy, which was new. And we stayed until closing and barely got enough time to visit all of the countries. 

Grand Canyon and Sedona (AZ)

For our second getaway of the month, we headed to Arizona (a state I have yet to visit). Our first stop was to the Grand Canyon. It's never been a "must do" for me but since we were (sort of) in the area, I wanted to check it out... and to check it off the list of National Parks to visit.

After landing in Phoenix (and getting brunch at First Watch), we started our 3.5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. The goal was to take it easy, sight see, and to avoid the gnarly trails within the canyon. Maybe we'll do those in the future... rim to rim hike anyone? 

Pictures don't do this place justice. It was huge. It seemed like we were on another planet. I was surprised by how much it amazed me since I've already seen the second largest canyon in the country, Palo Duro Canyon. I was in awe.

Year of the dragon

Family picture with grandma.

Jacob is officially an adult

The family celebrating Jacob's 18th birthday.

Hot chicken getaway (Nashville, TN)

Instead of a long trip to celebrate our 15 year anniversary, we plan on taking multiple short getaways  (without any kids) throughout the month. 

We can finally travel further and longer since our kids are older, one of which can now play the role of chauffer. And we had additional support with my mom playing school chauffer for the two little ones and Lynn's sister Julie took them in for a weekend sleepover.

So for our first getaway, we were off to Nashville. 

Why Nashville? Because it's the home of hot chicken. Because it's the bachelorette capital of the world. But mainly because of hot chicken.

My super students

Elliot got Student of the Month and Tyson the Citizenship Award.

15 year anniversary

Our wedding party.

Today marks our 15 year anniversary. Let's look back at that day, 15 years ago when we got married (before this blog ever existed).

Houston Half Marathon III

We completed our third half marathon in as many years. At this rate, we're going for the legacy status, i.e. at least 10 completed races. Hopefully my body will be able to maintain some semblance of health.

Speaking of which, my right knee (once again) at about the 7-8 mile mark was hurting bad. It was my friend, iliotibial band syndrome. 

But it's not surprise. I trained even less than I did last year. First, I sustained a calf injury during Thanksgiving, which kept me out for two weeks. Then just recently I got COVID, which had me breathing hard with any activity so running was out of the question. Oh well, what can you do?