Bomb Cyclone creates a Poweropolypse! Club Volleyball starts up!

Oh boy, last week was a WEEK! The weekend before was fairly uneventful, Lynsey had to take care of this electronic baby for a class for the weekend - it cried during the night and everything. Gone are the days of teachers asking you to dress up an egg and take care of it for a few days, this thing was legit! She did a good job of taking care of it and didn't shirk her responsibilities at all:-).

Tuesday is where the "fun" began. It was actually was a good day, Lynsey had her year end volleyball banquet so we all attended and it was a nice send off to a great season. The bomb cyclone everyone was talking about was just getting started when we left the gym, I was thinking we might get away without much happening (as is often the case with these big storm warnings - much ado about nothing). Well, unfortunately this storm was the real deal. We lost power around 10:30 that night, and I just knew it wouldn't be a quick outage. The next morning, the PSE outage map was bright red with outages - over 400K people without power on the eastside alone! Yikes! There were some mercies, as the gym was in this small area of Redmond that never lost power - I was able to go work out, charge my phone, feel human. Another mercy we had was that we have a gas water heater so we always had hot water for showers etc. 

Anyway, Wednesday was a rough day as we were trying to stay warm in a cold house. We didn't have a lot of firewood so we were trying to ration it. When it started to get dark, Brian said we need to get a hotel room the next day. It is really not fun to be in a cold dark house for so many hours (as it gets dark at 5 now of course). We survived until the next morning but it was much colder than the night before! We had booked a few rooms in a hotel in Monroe and made arrangements to put our freezer food in Jaqui and Joey's freezer (our fridge was okay because I had managed to snag some bagged ice Wednesday morning). We took off shortly after lunch and enjoyed the afternoon in the warmth at the hotel. It was a decent hotel actually for the price so it wasn't a bad situation. We get takeout for dinner, and around 7 Brian gets a notification that our furnace is back on! Yay we got power back! We were so excited, I truly thought we wouldn't get it back until Saturday (this was the blanket estimate PSE was giving people). We decided to stay put at the hotel for the night since we were all settled, but it was so nice to get settled back into a warm house the next day!

I feel like it took a whole day to get caught up in the house. I felt so lucky, there were still so many people out of power. It took several more days for lots of people to get power back. Most people got it back Friday and Saturday, but there were some that didn't get it back until Sunday and even Monday. Looking at the outage map now, a full week after the storm, it looks like PSE is all caught up and only 800 people out of power (and some of those are random outages that just happened, not all from the storm). What a crazy week! I'm so glad that is over and we managed okay, I know a lot of people were worse off than us.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and I had makeup tryouts for my club team. We needed three players and we found three players, a really good setter which I was particularly excited about, and a few hitters. Two of the three signed, looks like the other one is going to sign shortly. We had our first practice yesterday and it actually went really well! I am so excited for the season. I had a quick parent meeting which was good, I like to feel organized to start the season. Today I found out one of the girls I picked up (not the setter thankfully) is actually U17 age and can't play for my team after all! I'm so bummed, I liked her! She might play for the U18s though, hopefully she still gets to play. Now we need to find another player and I just don't know who that will be:-/. Hopefully it works out.

Today and tomorrow were and will be about appointments and getting ready for our trip to Cancun on Thursday! I can't believe it's so close, starting to get very anxious and excited! Tomorrow in particular will be a very busy day getting all the laundry and packing done. We are going with only carryon bags so packing is a bit of a challenge. I think we can do it, I've already packed 3 of our 5 allowed liquid bags with all our sunscreen. It will be close but it will be so nice to not have to worry about a checked bag! Hopefully we think it's worth it when we get to the airport and can just walk straight to our shuttle:-).

See you after we get back! Hopefully with a nice tan!

 

Volleyball playoff excitement, Lynsey turns 17, and friends getaway to Canmore!

It has been a busy November so far! So much to tell! We will start with the volleyball playoffs, which started not last Saturday but the Saturday before (the 2nd). Redmond was playing Issaquah first thing Saturday morning, and that was going to be a tough match at the best of times (and we were missing our two defensive specialists😐). Two girls from JV stepped in and did pretty well, but the whole team was outmatched and ended up losing in 3 straight sets. No big deal, they still had a chance to move on if they can beat Hazen later that day at 5pm. This is a team they beat twice during the regular season so they were pretty sure they could do it. Lose this match and you're done for the year. Well, they came out pretty lackluster in the first set. Our defensive specialists were back for this game, but they didn't play the first set (I'm guessing due to Coach's policy about missing games, which I do understand). Hazen was playing well to give credit where credit is due, but Redmond was not playing like they wanted it. I started to worry that the season was going to fizzle out on a game they should have won, and Lynsey would be super disappointed. Well, the defensive specialists started playing again in the second set, and the whole team got their act together and ended up winning the next three sets! Phew! On to play Juanita on Tuesday. They had not beat Juanita this year, although the belief was always there that if everyone played their best they could certainly make a game of it. Oh well - at least they made it that far and everyone could be happy with that. More on this later.

Between Saturday and Tuesday when the Juanita game was happening, our Lynsey turned 17! We had a little family party for her with some gifts and an ice cream cake, her friend party was happening the following Saturday together with a few other friends that have birthdays around the same time. I can't believe we have a 17 year old now! 

On to Tuesday. Brian unfortunately had to leave for a work trip Tuesday morning so he was not going to be there for the game. We knew this could be the last game of the season so especially unfortunate, but we kept hoping and believing that they could move on so he could be there for the end. I ended up having to Libero track for the game so I couldn't cheer like I wanted to, but it was still exciting. Redmond ends up coming out playing so well - like the best I have ever seen them put a game together. Win the first set. The last time we had played this team, the coach put his bench players in the first set and Redmond won easily - and he never even called a time out. He was so confident they would win in the next three that he just threw the first set. They did in fact go ahead and win the next three that time, so I guess he was right. Still, a pretty cocky/jerk move. Anyway, this time he did NOT have his bench players in but they still lost. Okay, I could hear the talk from their bench and they were still feeling pretty good.

Second set, Redmond keeps playing awesome - like such good volleyball - and they win again! Now they are up 2 sets to none, and feeling good. Juanita comes out in the third set and absolutely destroys Redmond, like I think they won 25-10. That happens, teams let up when they are up 2-0, you just have to regroup and take the next one. The fourth set is tight and going back and forth. Redmond is up 24-23 with the serve. The scorekeeper next to me (a girl from Juanita by the way) says to me, "Juanita is out of rotation". The down ref was looking at them on the court but apparently wasn't confident, but the scorekeeper was positive they were out of rotation. That should have been whistled down and set and match go to Redmond right there, but it was missed. Juanita ended up winning that point and then the set! Ugh I could hardly stomach that. Now we had given up a 2 set lead and it's so hard to collect yourself after that to win a fifth set. However, Redmond did JUST THAT! They came out and played so well, ended up winning the fifth set 15-11! It was so exciting, and I was unbelievably happy for the girls! The photographer ended up getting a great shot of them the moment they scored the winning point that I snagged from his website and included here, it's a picture that says a thousand words! Very exciting win that got them into the District tournament! This is the furthest a Redmond team has made it for I don't know how long, certainly in recent history. Very proud of all of them, but especially Lynsey. She played her heart out and had an incredible game. She has come so far even just in this school season, her play has matured a million miles and her drive to compete is so much fun to watch. She has fit in with this team so well and become a crucial part of it's success. So fun!

At this point it's close to 7 and I hate to say this, but I did not really have a plan for what to do for supper for the boys at home OR for Lynsey and I at the school! They had to play again right after so I couldn't go home! I called Nathan and he warmed up some leftovers for him and Adam, and there were a few slices of pizza in the concession stand so Lynsey had a little something to eat before her next game. They played Bothell next, really only for seeding purposes, but a great game for them to win. They made pretty quick work of Bothell, who seemed more tired and spent than we did - we were running on adrenaline I think! This win meant that they would play Thursday against Mount Si for fifth and sixth place in the region.

Mount Si was a good team and we ended up losing to them in three sets. It was a bit of a demoralizing game because there was a mistake in the line up in the third set so they kept getting called out of rotation because they weren't used to the spots they were in. It was unfortunate because Lynsey was getting a chance at setting, and she was doing well, but the rotation issues were just crippling. Not a super important game so no big deal, they just need to shake it off and focus for Saturday. Will come back to this.

Thursday night, Brian got home from his work trip - just in time to send me off on my trip to Canmore with my La Crete friends on Friday morning! I left early Friday and got to Calgary around 10:30am. I met Melanie in the airport and we went to get my rental car, then drove up to CrossIron Mall to have lunch with Mary. We visited, walked around, had coffee. I was so glad she made the trip out there to meet up! We left for Canmore mid afternoon and had an easy drive out there, thankfully the weather was really good so no issues on the roads. We checked into our condo and were very happy with it! It was a cozy place, no issues. Pam and Kendra were a few hours behind us so we all went for supper to a wood fired pizza place that was really good while we waited for Patti. She didn't get there until quite a bit later that night. It was so good to see everyone and catch up!

The next day, we visited some more and went for a walk. We had a delicious late lunch and then got ready to go the Nordic Spa for the evening. What an amazing experience! We had so much fun going from pool to sauna to steam room. We even did some cold plunges which were crazy! It was a really fun, relaxing evening - so fun to share with friends!

Sunday we walked to a coffee shop in the morning and then headed back to the condo to get checked out. We went downtown and walked through some shops (thought maybe we had found a photo gallery of the Jeff Walker we once knew, but it turns out it was a different Jeff Walker - no surprise there lol). We had a delicious lunch and then parted ways. What a fun weekend! I had Melanie with me going to Calgary and we killed some time at Sunridge Mall before meeting Willie and Jacquie for coffee as she was going to their place that night. It was so good to see them, it had been forever! Then it was time to get to the airport and head home. Such a fun weekend! I can't wait until our 50th gathering!

Back to the volleyball, they played on Saturday at noon and Brian livestreamed it for me so I could watch. Unfortunately they were outmatched by this team (Arlington) and they fell in 3 sets. It did look like they weren't playing as well as they did against Juanita, but it was a strong team for sure. Too bad. They had one more game to try and advance, and that was against Lake Washington on Tuesday. Another really good team (only good teams left at this point in the playoffs, no freebies!) so it was going to be a tough match to win. They actually came out playing really well and kept it close for the first half of the first set, but then LW went on a run and it became out of reach. The same thing happened in the second set. The girls were actually playing really well, but LW is a good team. They were a bit closer in the third set but ultimately they just couldn't overcome LW's attack and ended up losing. Always disappointing to lose, but they played a really good game and should hold their heads high. Lynsey was really disappointed, but I hope that one day she can look back and be proud of this incredible season they had and how much she contributed to the success of the team. I'm so happy she was able to make Varsity this year and have this experience! 

This week has felt like a lot of catching up for me, and this weekend we are just hanging out at home which will be kind of nice (Brian and I might even get a date night which I'm excited about!). Update on Adam's Invisiligns - he is doing awesome! He knows how to get them out with the picks I got, and he takes them out before every meal and puts them inside the trays - we haven't had an issue at all with him leaving them around in random places which is such a relief. Two weeks down, only 44 to go! That sounds a little daunting, but we can do it!

 

Family Pictures by Melanie Smith Studios (taken October 20th)