First day of School 2017

This 2017-2018 school year is another year of change for the kids because we moved houses and, of course, because....

Katya started high school!

She is one of the young 9th graders this year as she turned 14 in July. This is also her first year of going to seminary which starts at 6 am in our area. Seminary is a daily scripture study program for youth ages 14-18 through our church. It's wonderful for the boys and girls to get together (even at this crazy hour) and to start their day with a spiritual uplift. There are about 23 kids in Katya's class, and that's just kids who are in 9th grade. We have a TON of youth in our area. 

Although school starts at 7:20, Katya has to get up by 5-5:15 to be ready to leave at 5:45. We are fortunate because we are able to carpool with our neighbors and get to sleep a little longer some weeks when Katya gets ready on her own.  It's quite challenging to even eat breakfast for her at such an early hour let alone decide what to pack for lunch (and she likes to pack things like hot pasta in a thermos), hates sandwiches or anything that your normal teenagers enjoy.

Alex started 7th grade this year! At a different middle school than last year. 

Alex met a lot of kids in our church ward that go to the same school as him. That should make his transition to the new school easier. He is also very excited because this new school has a very greatly supported music program! He is going to be a band percussionist and try out for the school musical. He takes a bus to school and back. 

Mark started 3rd grade! He had to switch schools as well and is very excited because his friend who lives across the street ended up being in the same class as him. He is also very excited because he gets to be taken out from his class to go to the 4th grade Math. It's huge for him as he is finally not bored during math! The only sad part is that he misses recess with his own class and has to hang out with the 4th graders because of the schedule. He also takes the bus that has an extremely short route (which is fantastic!)--basically just two stops at our neighborhood of 87 houses and two more stops at  random houses on the way to school. 

Because Katya leaves so early and then Alex leaves around 7:10 to catch his bus, Mark and I get to spend a lot of time in the morning getting some stuff done. He doesn't have to leave till 8:30! 

Mark's second year of riding American school buses (still very exciting for him:)). 

And here is the after school picture. Everyone survived and had a great day!

Lyana. 

Winston-Salem ATP Tour

I made one little boy super happy when I told him I bought tickets for the Winston Salem ATP tour tennis tournament held in August every summer. So I left the big kids on their own (Robert was gone at a training I think) and drove to Winston Salem for the 3 pm matches. We didn't know who were the  men playing that day until we got to the venue.

Mark with a Ukrainian flag and a tennis racket on Independence Day in Ukraine. 🇺🇦

The first match was between an American and a British guy--Johnson and Edmund. We had quite a crowd cheering for the American guy, of course, and I secretly rooted for the British guy.  Edmund won after putting a big fight.

We took a quick break and returned to our seats in time for a Bosnian Dzumhur play South Korean Chung. It was also an exciting match, although the crowds were definitely nothing like the previous match. We actually were able to move to much better seats and enjoy the show. Dzhumhur guy won--we cheered for him  maybe because I could pronounce his name correctly or because we sat so close to all the action and he could hear us cheer but after the match he threw Mark his seeaty wrist band😂😂😂😂. Mark couldn't have been more excited 😆. We stopped by a tennis gear tent wuickly to get a plastic bag to carry the sweaty piece of clothing-hahahaha).

Wait! Who is that on the right side of the screen??? Mark and Mama!!! Not every day you get to see your face on TV, well, YouTube, but who cares?

Finally, the evening matches started at 7 pm and Mark convinced me to stay for them as well. This time an American young guy Taylor Fritz (who is only 19) lost to Bautista Agut from Spain (currently ranked #22 in the world).

The atmosphere at this late match was superb, Mark was loving every minute of it  so he was trying to convince me to let us stay for the 9 pm match!! I absolutely refused as we still had to grab dinner and drive for an hour and a half back home. So that is what we did--got some pizzas nearby and headed home. I love spending time with Mark like this and doing stuff that we both enjoy. His  current goal is to save up enough money to go see a US Open match next fall. He dreams big!

Lyana. 

Robert's Birthday!

My favorite person in the whole wide world doesn't like flashy birthday celebrations. I actually had contemplated on inviting a whole bunch of people and throwing him a surprise party for his birthday, but when I was hinting doing that, I realized that that is not exactly what he would love. He does enjoy to spend time with good friends and socialize, but on special days like birthdays, he prefers to spend his time with family. Going out to eat is not something we do often, so it always feel special too. 

This year, we decided to go to a place that the locals recommended. It's called Bad Daddy's Burger Bar. Robert loves a good burger and he never gets it at home, so he was very excited. We all were not disappointed! It's a good place.

Hot summer nights selfie:)

After dinner, we came home and relaxed, opened gifts and spend time together as Robert was leaving the following day to go out of town. Some of his favorite gifts included an awesome new drill and a headlamp for running in the dark. That was my encouragement to help him run in the mornings, even when it's kind of dark.

It is truly a wonderful thing to be with this great man for the last sixteen birthdays! He deserves so much more than a drill and some ties😘😆!

Happy birthday Robert! We love you!

Solar Eclipse-2017

On Aug 21st, 2017, for the first time in 99 years, people were able to view a total solar eclipse across the US. We were lucky as the whole state of NC was guaranteed to in an incredible 90 percent plus solar eclipse. That means that we didn't have to travel anywhere to enjoy this phenomenon. The eclipse was to happen shortly after 2pm so Robert said that he could come home early since all of his afternoon patients had cancelled. We didn't have special glasses for everyone so we had share a pair of glasses Robert got from work. And we also used our phone. It was a very eerie sight! Like dusk in the middle of the day with all the cicadas chirping preparing for night time.



Now we have to wait till April 2024 to enjoy another total solar eclipse om Northern America.

Summer Tennis

Whenever there is a tennis tournament of Mark's  level and on a weekday, we make the greatest effort's to sign up for it as that means we do not have to miss Sunday at church. Pinehurst tennis tournament was one of the summer tournaments held on a Thursday. It was a very hot day in July. I almost want to continue singing this song about three speckled frogs by Raffi.

Katya was at girls camp, so the boys and I drove almost an hour and a half for the tournament. There were three people registered for the tournament, one of them was Mark's good friend, Ryan.



The first match for Mark was with a boy he hadn't played with prior to this day, his name was Rudd. It so happened that Mark lost the first set but won the second set and had to go to a tiebreaker. On the very last point that was a match point, the ball was out and I did not see if Mark raised his pointy finger or said anything so I said out loud, "Was it out?". He nodded and at the same time the mom of the boy who had just lost started arguing with me that I cannot say anything and that means that that is not his point. I explained to her that I did not say an affirmative statement that the ball was out, but instead I was just wondering. And yes it was probably not the right time for me to say that
 (Lesson learned) but she became quite rude asking me if Mark had been in many tournaments (not really, just three) hinting that I didn't know the rule. And then she brought it up to the director of the tournament, who acknowledged  her concern but said that the score was still standing. He did approach me and talked to me about being more careful about commenting from the sidelines. I felt really bad and I was hoping that I didn't mess up, but at the same time I knew that I did not sway Mark's decision to call  it OUT--I was just too anxious to see what he motioned.

Mark played one more match with his friend Ryan. Ryan has always been better than Mark so Mark lost. Somehow it was not a very bitter loss because these boys are good friends and they were fair with each other.  Because there were only three participants, Ryan got first place, Mark got second after two matches they had played (Ryan beat Rudd as well).



Something  tells me that from now on, every July would be a very busy Tennis watching time in our  household. Somehow I managed to figure out how to get Wimbledon matches live on our TV. Well actually I had signed up for Sling TV as a trial and then it was not getting good reception we had to cancel it. Mark wanted to watch every single match so I had to keep him contained. Any guesses who his favorite tennis player is?



Finally, in August Mark played in a tournament in Greensboro, an hour and a half away. It was nice because it turned out to be an event that lasted just one day. I like that kinds of tournaments. Mark won the first match and lost the second one. He was really a good match for the second competitor Jaedan. That was the final match so each got a trophy.  I thought it was a fantastic match to watch as the boys were respectful of each other and fought for each single point. Although Mark lost, we walked away knowing he had done his best.

Clay courts are Mark's least favorite.


Here is a happy boy who did really well and repeated to himself "Winners don't quit, quitters don't win". It was 90 F outside...



And our Tennis journey continues. Still not burnt out. Pretty soon, Mark will be out of Orange Ball/60 ft court and will move onto Green Dot (not the full yellow adult ones yet) and full size courts.

Watsons' Summer Trip: NC Hills Videos

Here is a short video of the kids at the swimming hole.

Relaxing in the evening enjoying Bluegrass music in one of the most traditional small towns in hilly NC (not sure why this video doesn't want to move to the middle;)).

  

Riding the Virginia Creeper Trail.

Lyana. 

Watsons' Summer Trip: NC Hills

To escape the humidity and heat of our part of the state, we drove 3 hours west towards the hills of NC to the area near Boone and Blowing Rock. It was early August and the weather promised to be hot but more comfortable in the mountainous area. We stayed near Fleetwood at this house perched high on a steep hill in the woods. We imagined this would be an awesome cabin to stay at in the winter too!



But before we checked in, we had a hike to complete in search of the boulders and waterfalls.

It was a very easy hike, about a mile and half or so. 

When we got there it was time to climb up the river by hopping/scrambling on these huge rocks in the  water.

Some places were not easy at all. 

You can see on the eating picture below how the rocks just kept going up. Snack time over here. Robert's "I love my rice crispies" face.

We found a small swimming hole a bit up the stream. No one really was prepared, but still got into the water in their clothes. This is a picture at the beginning, when Robert was accessing the situation wondering if he should get in;)

Mark was the first one to go in and slide down this rock. 

And then Robert did. 

For the longest time Alex just sat on the rock right there not wanting to get wet. And then THE ONE time he didn't want to get wet, he slipped, and slid down the rock straight into the water. It was funny for all of us but him!



This was Katya half of the time....Our first family trip with her and the phone. It had to be put away a number of times...argh..

For dinner we went to a British pub! It was quite good but nothing like England:) 

The following morning we drove further into the mountains via the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. Took a couple of hikes. 

The view of one of the sharp turns.

In the afternoon we drove to another location to go hiking and swimming. I don't remember at all the name of the place.

I assume it had something to do with Upper Falls though 😆.

This was our most exciting swimming day probably as the kids did something very new!

We found the waterhole described by some guide books and it was perfect!! Our kids are so brave!

The kids had to climb up the rock holding on to the rope. The water was freezing!:)

Trying to soak in the sun and warm up a bit!

To get to the water hole we had to cross this log from the other side. 

While crossing it, we noticed this crazy snake. It was just sleeping there the whole time but yes, we had to keep an eye on it. 

Here is a hiking picture of us with a photo bomb.  

We took a short detour going back to the car. We wanted to check out one more spot were people were sliding down the rock. It was a very strenuous hike over there actually, but we couldn't just go back now. As we were walking, a crazy thing happened--we walked through a place were a bunch of WASPS were hanging out. They were not noticeable at all, but when Mark started screaming bloody murder, we knew something was up! He got a stung in his arm (six months later he still has a scar)! It was super painful, of course. And just a moment later a woman that was part of the group walking behind us shrieked just like Mark because she got also stung and was in obvious shock and pain. This sort of unpleasant adventure left a sour taste in our mouths, so when we got to the sliding waterfall place, we were not so excited to stay there. Besides, there was a huge church group of youth that was already doing down the "slide". Alex did one run down the slide and we decided to start going back up to where the car was parked.

As we were about to leave, we noticed that one youth leader, a woman, was obviously injured on her ankle. It turns out she had slipped and fell a few feet away and now couldn't put any weight on her foot. We saw that the other leaders were helping her, so we kind of shrugged our shoulders and thought there was not much we could do for her...for just a moment. As we started walking away, Robert and I both felt like he probably could stay and help carry/support her going up the hill. The trail was just a dirt path, windy and steep and about a mile. It was not going to be easy. So he stayed and I decided to hike up with the kids on our own. He told me later that the moment they saw him turn around and approach them they just sighed a breath of relief and thanked God. Until Robert turned around they only had one other guy and two women who were not really in shape to carry the injured woman. 

For about quarter of a mile Robert and the other guy carried the lady up the hill. It was a slow going but they were moving. Suddenly, they saw two young couples coming down the hill. It turned out they were rock climbers but even better--they were first responders! That meant that they had gear and ropes that could help! The girls went back up the hill quickly and got all the equipment from their car. Meeting these people was an amazing blessing! They took over the "rescue" process and in no time the injured lady was brought up the hill to her bus. I am sure the whole youth group and probably their whole church group would be hearing for months this experience when complete strangers showed so much kindness towards this woman. I am glad we followed the prompting to not abandon them thinking they could just do it on our own.

Well, after such an eventful afternoon, in the evening, we stopped by Todd, NC to listen to the bluegrass concert. It was so relaxing and warm. We played cards while people around us ate picnic dinners, played and chatted listening to music. 

The following day we went to another area near Blowing Rock and found a swimming hole called "Trashcan". Not sure why it's called that. It was a very short but tricky descent to get there and even harder ascent. Parking was scarce and it was little hard to find. We enjoyed an hour or so there with a good jumping rock. But our first swimming hole was still better, we thought.



That evening it rained A LOT in the area. The highlight of our evening was dinner at Kayote Kitchen. We loved that food! And you could make it as healthy as you wanted, plus kids could get free quesadillas! Mark got a double portion since we bought two adult entrees, so he was in heaven!

In the morning, we packed up and headed to Whitetop, NC to take a 17 mile bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. Here we are at the beginning of our ride.

The kids were ready to go! 

The whole ride was so pleasant and beautiful! Super easy too! Virginia Creeper Trail is rail-trail, so it used to be a railroad track. Thus, it's very flat. Our trip from Whitetop to Damascus was a very low grade downhill ride, so super easy.

We took just a couple of water and snack breaks and also several times had to stop so we could catch up to each other. 

Finally, we arrived at Damascus! This was a very non-rushed trip as you can see but we did really well! Everyone loved doing it, so I highly recommend it. 

And that is how our first real exploration of North Carolina went! I will be posting another post with just videos from this trip shortly.


Lyana.