Wake me up when September ends . . .

Sorry, couldn't resist with the title! I'll tell you why in a minute:-). What has been going on the last few weeks . . . a few Sundays ago, Brian took Adam for a drive out to Deception Pass and onto Whidbey Island. Always fun to spend some time at the beach! We have been busy with volleyball of course (except sadly Lynsey had to miss a game on Monday due to being sick, thankfully she bounced back and had a great game on Wednesday!). 

On Monday, Brian and Nathan had the chance to see the Green Day concert at T-Mobile Park! It was such a fun experience for them, Nathan loved his first concert! That was the day Lynsey was sick so the three of us just stayed home and watched her team lose their game to Woodinville over livestream:-/. As already mentioned, she did have a good game Wednesday and they beat Bothell in 5 sets after being down 2 sets to none, whew! Exciting comeback! 

Yesterday started out with a bit of drama (and by a bit, I mean a lot). Adam was a bit behind in getting ready for school which happens sometimes, and didn't get outside until exactly 1 minute later than his scheduled time (the bus comes at 8:11, he was outside at 8:12). He waited outside for 15 minutes and then I decided to call Transportation and see what was going on. They got a hold of the driver - he had come at 8:11, waited 30 seconds, and drove off. Oh boy. What followed was 40 minutes of trying to negotiate with Adam, to convince him that just for today we would have to drive him to school. I haven't seen him melt down like that in years. It was not a nice throwback at all:-(. Finally, just after 9am, he got in the van and decided that Brian could take him to school. His teacher was really nice about it, he was shocked that the driver didn't even wait a single minute before taking off - it was validating to say the least. We understand that it is our responsibility to have him out there on time, but like anyone else, we appreciate a little grace on mornings when things aren't running totally smoothly (like one minute of grace!). We certainly learned that this was a mistake we can't afford to make, and if this is how this driver is going to be, we will just make sure he is out there on time (or one of us is out there waving him down and making sure he knows Adam is coming out imminently). Mistakes were made, we paid a heavy price, hopefully it doesn't happen again.

The rest of the day was much better! Stella was in Seattle so I went in to meet her at the Chihuly Glass Museum. It was a lovely afternoon, we also stopped to have a drink in the cafe. I took her back to Redmond and we visited at our house for a while while we waited for Lynsey to get back from volleyball practice and go out to dinner. Always nice to have a visitor and catch up! 

Today is Homecoming Saturday and Lynsey is busy getting ready. It looks a bit different this year, she is going with a different group of friends and they aren't actually going to the actual Homecoming Dance. They are going to get ready together, go take some photos, go for dinner, and the come back to here to watch a movie together. I am happy she is doing something social with some good friends, I think she would have regretted not doing anything at all for Homecoming just because she didn't want to go to the dance this year. Pictures to come!

 

Volleyball Season has begun!

I survived the drive to Tacoma for the Pink concert! It wasn't easy, I was tempted to drive my car off a cliff a few times on the grueling two hour drive in traffic, but we got there! Parking was a bit confusing and took a while, but we got ourselves parked and walked to the Tacoma Dome. Got some burgers from a food truck outside and made our way into the concert just a bit after the opening band started. They were really good actually, The Script (they sing Hall of Fame). Pink was not just really good, she was incredible! Such a great show! Very entertaining and she sounds amazing live. Lynsey and Maggie also really enjoyed the show, it was a fun evening! Thankfully getting out after the concert was not nearly as painful as I was imagining (and somehow I got away without paying the event parking fee of $20, bonus!). Got home around midnight, worth the late night!

We had a pretty quiet weekend, just recovering from the first week of school. Lynsey had her first volleyball game on Tuesday against Eastlake! They are a super strong team so unfortunately Redmond didn't win a set against them, but Lynsey did pretty well in her Varsity debut:-). Yesterday they played Monroe, a beatable team but they lost in five sets unfortunately. Very close match, they had one player that was absolutely ridiculous and if not for her we would have steam rolled them. Oh well - you learn from every loss! Lynsey is learning lots of lessons being on this team and I am hoping she grows a lot not just a volleyball player, but also in other ways this season. Certainly the potential is there, time will tell!

 

Summer officially over, kids back in school!

We made it to the end of another summer! Hard to believe the kids are back in school already! The last few weeks have been pretty relaxed for the most part, Lynsey going to volleyball, Nathan biking with friends and playing online games (even having one sleepover) and Adam doing Adam things. Last week was a bit different. On Thursday, Brian and I had a little one night getaway at the Silver Cloud Hotel in Mukilteo. The weather was beautiful, the room was perfect, and we had a great time! We had dinner at Ivar's which was just next door, sat on the patio right by the water. It was the first time we had left the kids on their own overnight and everything went very smoothly. Small hitch when Adam didn't want Nathan to get him breakfast in the morning and Nathan didn't want to wake Lynsey up, so he was up for a while without breakfast but he survived. Nice to know that the wheels don't come off if we are gone for one night! Next we will try a weekend away and see how that goes!

Brian's parents came on Friday and stayed with us through Labor Day weekend. We went out for dinner, did some shopping, watched a movie, just really took it easy for the weekend. As always it was nice to have them visit! The kids were off to school on Tuesday with little drama, Adam seemed excited to get going which was nice. We had taken him to a meet n greet at the school on Friday afternoon so he could meet his teachers and see his new classrooms at the high school. So far so good, he had a pretty good day yesterday but he often has a delayed reaction to a big transition so we will be watching to see how he settles in the next few weeks. I am hopeful that he will have a great year! 

Lynsey is starting senior year and didn't get all the classes she wanted, but she has what she needs to graduate so she isn't stressed about her schedule. She had her volleyball tryouts last week and made the Varsity team, yay! We are so proud of her for the work she has done over the years to improve and get to this point, she is the only new player on the Varsity team. Everyone else on the team was on the team last year. It sounds like they are being welcoming to her so I hope she has a great season!

Nathan is starting 7th grade and was a bit disappointed yesterday that he wasn't in more classes with his friends, but I think he will settle in just fine. He will try out for the badminton team but I just found out that the district changed their Athletics policy and most sports are now cut sports:-(. Unlikely he will make the team, but hopefully we can find something else to keep him busy after school besides computer games. Such a bummer, we were so lucky to be in a district where sports were no cut for as long as they were! 

Lynsey, her friend Maggie and me are going to the Pink concert in Tacoma tonight! I am a bit nervous about all the logistics of getting there at rush hour and parking etc, but I'm sure the concert will be a lot of fun:-). Wish me luck getting to Tacoma at 4:30pm, whew!