Time for a new chapter!

October is almost over, crazy! After we got back from Chicago, we had the Davey's over for Canadian Thanksgiving (the Vanees couldn't make it this year sadly) and it was delicious as always! The rest of the month was busy with volleyball for Lynsey (and me, but more on that later:-)), lacrosse for Nathan, and the usual for Adam - just hanging out. We still haven't got a regular therapist coming in for him, but his BCBA does come and do a session with him once a week which we are grateful for. His repetition has calmed down a lot this month. He is becoming much more bearable to be around, it's been quite a shift. His repetition has shifted back towards more touching, but it's been okay because it's not so much touching people as just different objects as he is walking by. MUCH easier to deal with! 

Lynsey has been having a lot of fun with volleyball, and the season is officially over today, boo. They didn't win a lot of games, but I feel like she has really turned a corner skills wise. She is so much more confident, going for balls, serving overhand, and she says she started enjoying it a lot more towards the end of the season! She is signed up for a once a week practice team starting next weekend with a club in Bellevue, they don't compete against other clubs but there will be teams within their practice squad so they will have some scrimmages. It is mostly focused on skill building which is very important right now. At least two of her friends from her team are doing it, possibly more. We were going to also do another practice team so she could get even more practice, but there was a lot of drama and this woman that is running this club turned out to be a little bit on the crazy side, so we were pretty much forced out (according to her, if you play on her one day a week practice team, you are not allowed to play anywhere else - no thanks). 

We were really hoping to get her more than one day a week of volleyball this off season, which is where my part of the story sort of comes in:-D. I have been thinking a lot lately about my next steps - should I go back to school? Volunteer somewhere? Get a part time job just to get out of the house? Lots of ideas swirling around in my head but nothing that really stood out to me. When Lynsey started playing volleyball on the school team, I was seeing so many things in their games that were driving me crazy. Why aren't they in any kind of service reception formation? What are they working on in practice that is more important that service reception! I did that short stint of coaching this past Spring at the Boys and Girls club, and enjoyed certain aspects of it a lot. I thought at the time if I could coach a slightly higher level where all of the players were engaged and wanted to improve and get to the next level, that would be perfect. It turns out, I think a high school C team would be the perfect level for me! I've been emailing with the head coach, and he is thrilled to bring me on starting in the off season! There are rules against him having any coaching contact with the players until a certain date, but there are no rules against holding open gyms in the meantime - with a parent volunteer (that would be me:-D). I'm not sure exactly when they will start, but I am going to join the teams last two weeks of practice starting on Monday (the games are done but the season isn't officially over until the 15th so we are maximizing our practice time) and then start running the open gyms probably starting after Christmas. It will likely be two evenings a week. I am so excited! This just seems like the perfect fit for me right now! And Lynsey is happy that I'm going to be doing it (so far anyway!) - she did say she liked the practices at the Boys and Girls Club, so hopefully I did something right:-I. I told Coach I was very keen and excited to start, and that hopefully I would be good at it, to which he responded that coaching can be taught - I think he was just happy that I am so willing and ready to get going. The very first order of business will be teaching the girls how to stand in serve receive and how to properly pass the ball to the setter. I have my work cut out for me lol!

It's exciting to think of pouring myself into something. I have been very content to be home and really haven't felt a lot of need to do anything outside of that, but when volleyball started this year, I just knew this was my next step. And the fact that Coach has been so receptive, and it's a program that is really in a rebuilding phase, really just confirmed that this is my next step. I am looking into some coaching clinics and taking some training, I don't want to grope around in the dark - I want to know what I'm doing. I'm looking forward to observing practices starting Monday to get some idea of what high school practices look like now. I'm sure things have changed in 25 years lol!

So that is what is new here! We are only 3 weeks away from our trip to Mexico which is insane, how did that happen! I'm excited but a bit anxious, as I always am before a big trip. The fact that we are going to Mexico City first just adds a layer of complexity to the trip that wasn't there when we went to Cancun in 2019. I am very much hoping that the kids being older and Adam being so excited to get to the resort will make the time in Mexico City pretty smooth. I guess we will see!

 

Family Pics 2021 - Melanie Smith Photography

We survived another round of family pictures! We had them done two Saturdays ago (October 2nd) at Redmond City Hall, and I'm actually pretty happy with how they turned out this year. I sincerely wish Adam could smile his natural smile for pictures, but at least he wasn't upset and running away from us like he did in Mexico so I'll take it!

Chicago Getaway!

Brian and I are blessed to have some very good friends here in Redmond. A couple of years ago, our friend Andy made an offer to Brian to watch the kids for three nights so Brian and I could have a little getaway. We didn't accept right away because I wasn't sure if we SHOULD accept, but he kept offering so finally we did - and thus our trip to New York in October 2019 was born:-). We were so grateful for that opportunity, and really saw it as a once in a lifetime thing. Fast forward to this past summer, where Andy once AGAIN offers to watch the kids for us! We decided to once again take him up on it and so on Tuesday, we were off to Chicago for two nights!

We got the kids off to school in the mornings, and off we went to the airport! Our flight there was great, we had been upgraded to First Class so what's not to like:-/. Always a better experience in First Class! We got to our hotel around 6pm Chicago time and took some time to settle into our amazing room at the LondonHouse Hotel (we splurged on a pretty nice hotel with a great view - how often are we going to be in Chicago, right??). One of the buildings right in our face was the Trump tower of course, hard to miss that big Trump sign, sigh. I didn't let it ruin my experience, not to worry! 

One of the things Brian had to have was Chicago style deep dish pizza. He found a place called Giordano's a short walk away from our hotel. It was busy, but worth the short wait! It doesn't look all that appetizing, but what seriously delicious pizza! Apparently they ship across the US so we will be trying out that service in the near future, yum! We went back to the room and just relaxed and enjoyed the view. I can't believe how well I slept that first night, you know you're in a great hotel when you can actually sleep properly on that first night haha!

Wednesday was a bit of a cloudy day, but warm and it didn't rain so worked out great. We were not prepared for how humid it would be - it was almost like a tropical destination with the humidity! Let's just say Brian was grateful that it really only got to about 21 degrees Celsius, perfect temp for him:-). We took our time getting going in the morning and had a late breakfast/early lunch on the river before walking down the Navy Pier. We walked all around the pier before it was time to get on our boat for our Architecture River Cruise. It was a great experience! I always find it interesting to hear some of the history of the cities we visit, and some of the buildings in downtown Chicago are truly spectacular. After our boat tour, we got some Lyft bikes and biked up to Lincoln Park and then back downtown. Biking in heavy traffic is kind of an experience on it's own - definitely got to see a different perspective! Suddenly I am much more sympathetic to bike commuters lol. We ditched the bikes and went back to the rooftop bar at our hotel to have some happy hour drinks with a gorgeous view. We had dinner at a steakhouse Brian found that turned out to be a great choice - I had a steak with some baby lobster tails that were just delicious! It was the perfect end to a great day!

Thursday the weather promised to be a bit more unpredictable, but we were determined the make the most of it. We had an earlier breakfast and checked out before noon. We left our bags with the bell hop and got bikes again to explore some more of Chicago's downtown. It turns out you can't actually ride bikes in some of the parks we went to, but we just walked them at times. We went to Millennium Park first and saw the big metal peanut thing - quite a neat landmark! As we are making our way over to the lake, it starts to sprinkle - within minutes, it was absolutely pouring! We got drenched in a very short time:-/. We found some shelter briefly so we could figure out our next move. We decided we were already wet, might as well keep riding down the lakefront trail! And so we did! We went south down to the museum area. The rain slowed down shortly after we got going again, and about 20-30 minutes later it had completely stopped and the sun actually came out on and off. I ended up drying off quicker than Brian because my coat is more waterproof than his, but we were both pretty dry after an hour or two. We biked a ways down the trail and turned around, weaving our way back to Millennium Park taking a detour past Buckingham Fountain, which was pretty spectacular. They were setting up for the Chicago Marathon which I believe is taking place on Sunday, so there were fences up everywhere - it was actually quite a maze to get around them all! All part of the adventure:-D. We got back to the Millennium Park area and docked our bikes and walked the rest of the way. We had a small lunch right in Millennium Park before getting our bags and taking the train back to the airport. It started raining again as we we were walking to the train, but at least we had an umbrella this time so we didn't get wet again! The train ride was easy, great alternative to a Lyft - direct, fast and cheap. Our flight home was very smooth, not in First Class but we were in an Exit row so at least we had lots of leg room:-/. All in all a super fun getaway that we both really needed and loved!

On the home front, the kids by all accounts did really well! Adam wasn't stressed at all to have Andy there. I did as much prep as I could before hand with meals and lists and instructions, and as far as I know there weren't any big hitches at all. Again, we are just so grateful to have friends (I say "friends" because while Andy was the one watching the kids, Kristy had to pick up whatever slack at their place not having Andy there caused, so really it was a team effort!) that would be willing to do such a big thing for us. You don't know how much you need a vacation until you get one!