First Day of School 2018-2019

I am very late writing about the First Day of School of 2018-19 year but here it is! 

Starting school at the end of August in North Carolina means that days are still hot and humid in the 90s. It also means that although it's 5:45 am (the time that Katya has to leave the house for seminary that starts at 6 am) it's still light enough to take some pictures. Katya started 10th Grade this year. UNBELIEVABLE! Not even possible in my head! But somehow she is 15 and has only three years of high school left. 

This is her "I am so excited for this day" look. 

Oh and here is another thing she has all the reasons to smile about--she got her learner's permit the day before school started! It was incredible timing on our part as she basically got her driving portion of drivers' ed done at 10:30 am on Friday before school began and then we drove at noon to the DMV in Raleigh, saw the crowd of a hundred people standing in line and drove further away from us to Clayton to sit in line for 3.5 hours. We managed to be seen fifteen minutes before the lines officially closed. And Katya managed to pass the theory test right away--thus she got her learner's permit! Now she has to drive for a year logging in her hours with us. Fun!!! 😱

Alex is in 8th grade this year! He had to switch middle schools AGAIN because they built a new school and we got reassigned. He did have a choice to stay at his 7th grade middle school but it just made sense to move to this one as it's newer, bigger, closer and has a bus to take him (we'd lose the bus to the old school if we stayed there). When it's warm (or hot) Alex bikes to school actually as it's just a little over a mile away. He is in band again this year, making a name for himself as an awesome percussionist. Alex's school starts at 8 am and he comes home around 3:15 pm. 

I keep having to buy him trousers as he keeps growing...At the beginning of this school year he was 5' 10''. All that Costco kale/cabbage salad is paying off--that's his favorite salad of all time. He is constantly hungry and all I can do is making sure that he always has english cucumbers and bananas available to snack on;).

Mark leaves school last at 8:30 am. This year Mark started 4th grade! He was very-very sad to say good-bye to Miss Alexander as his teacher in 3rd grade...she might forever remain in his heart as the favorite teacher of all time (she is the kind that comes to his tennis tournaments and soccer matches). 

Mark didn't have any of his old friends move up with him to 4th grade so he is having to make new friends which has been a little of a challenge. Mark still goes to 5th grade math and loves it. He excels in it so the teacher recommends he tries again to take a test in May to skip 6th grade math. We'll see. Mark is a very matter of fact kind of kid. He likes to have order in his learning and his school desk (but NOT in his room), and he is bothered by kids in his class who randomly raise their hand, for example, and state to the teacher, "I HAVE A DOG!". He cracks us up with his seriousness sometimes and amuses with his silliness at the same time. 

I do realize these photos of Mark are pretty much identical, but that would be so unfair to have two pictures of the other kids and only one of him.

Kidding...kidding... 😆 He is just cute and we are trying to hold on to the cuteness as long as we can. 

It's incredible how fast our busy days go during the school year. Ironically, I cherish days when sports activities get canceled because of the weather or whatever and we get to just chill at home/play with friends/watch a movie. At the same time our kids love all the activities they are involved in...thus we keep ploughing along.

Lyana.

Winston-Salem ATP Tour 2018

Our little tradition with Mark continues. I, again, bought tickets for the quarterfinals of the Winston-Salem ATP tournament. This time we kind of knew what to expect so it was easier and even more exciting. The first, 3 pm, match was a match between Kyle Edmund and Steve Johnson. We got to see them play last year and Kyle won then, but this year, Johnson played better. We were both sad as we were actually rooting for Kyle Edmund.

Right at the end of the first set a guy from American Express came up to us telling us we were being upgraded to better tickets right in the first row where the players serve. I've got to tell you, there must be something about my hat and skirt or something:) We seem to be noticed a lot-haha.

So we moved half way through the first match. The one and only picture I took had Mark's eyes closed.



So the second match we watched was Carrento-Busta vs. Chung. It was a fun one to watch as well. Chung is an up and coming player, but Carrento-Busta from Spain beat him nevertheless. As you can see, the stands are empty, mostly because it's not an American player competing.



We got to see a bit of doubles matches and grabbed a bite to eat.

Then Mark convinced me to stay for the 7 pm match which was an intense battle between Daniil Medvedev from Russia and Ryan Harrison from the USA. You can imagine, the audience was cheering for Harrison, but he still lost. We sat right behind Medvedev's sister or girlfriend or someone and a friend as they kept saying things in Russian quietly. Anyway, it was fun.

It was getting dark and late, so we only got to see the first set of Jarry and Daniel match. We had to drive an hour and a half, so it was good that we left around 10 pm.

We had a blast, as usual! Tennis IS fun to watch:) I am sure we'll go again next year!

Lyana. 

Kids in Montana

This year Katya and Alex were sent on a special adventure to Montana. They had been dreaming about if for years actually and finally this summer, we were able to arrange for them to stay at Grandpa Chuck's house for a week and then at Grandma Lorraine's house for a week--ALL BY THEMSELVES! And then they had to fly home on their own!

We left Katya and Alex in Fairfield, MT on Aug 1st. I tried not to interrupt their time with Grandpa and Grandma Linda much but hoped they would at least call me once a day to tell me what they did. Yeah...didn't happen much. It was like pulling teeth to find out. Therefore, although I have collected all these pictures from Katya's phone and instagram, I can't exactly tell you stories behind them.

Alex and Grandpa.

Katya in Montana (it doesn't get better from here).

And this is Alex at the farm. 

And Grandpa took Katya driving  A LOT! Which helped a ton when it came to her behind-the-wheel portion of the driving class here in NC. She loves driving. (The Model-T from 1912 provided no practice by the way)

And more of Alex...near a tree in Montana--my captions are profound...I know. 

I believe this is from the day when Grandpa Chuck drove to Libby, MT through Glacier Park to give the kids to Grandma Lorraine for another week.  Here is Grandma Linda and the kids at a beautiful mountainous lake!

And with Grandpa Chuck. Alex went swimming here, despite the very cold water... and Katya telling him he would be miserable.

An amazing waterfall hike!

 

And awesome selfie with Grandpa!

And here are some of the beautiful pictures Katya took during their two weeks. 

They said they had a great time although it was nothing like being at home.

They obviously had no friends to hang out with and spent a lot of time with each other. 

They did some painting and garden work at Grandma Lorraine's house. 

In Fairfield, Grandpa took them to an assisted living home to perform a few songs--the kids always enjoy that.

And they sang a lot of karaoke at Grandma Lorraine's house as well.

Although they had a great, unique and independent time, they were very excited to go home on August 14th. But their adventures were not over!! Are you ready for a long story? I have to write it down here as it was quite an ordeal...

I had booked a hotel for Grandma and the kids in Kalispell as they had a very early flight (6 am) and an hour and a half drive from Libby. So they showed up at the airport at 5 am (it's a small airport) and Grandma tried to put them on the plane. The flight was to Salt Lake City and from SLC to Raleigh. Well, Delta people said that because these were minors traveling alone, they couldn't take this flight because the flight from Salt Lake City was the last flight to Raleigh (although it was at 10 am or something when it was leaving Salt Lake City!). And they were adamant about it!

This whole problem arose because when I had booked these Delta flights in December, there WAS a flight at 5 pm or so from Salt Lake City to Raleigh, so the kids were allowed to fly on their own. But no one from Delta notified me that they had cancelled that flight and it affected my booking. In fact, I had called them a week before our family's departure and asked them if anything major changed because I got an email about the change of the departure from Kalispell (Montana). No one said anything. No one said anything when we flew out of Raleigh either, nothing got flagged and now they were telling me they weren't allowed to fly.

There was a flight leaving to Minneapolis, boarding actually, and they would be NOT the last flight out of Minneapolis to Raleigh, but they were too late and wouldn't let them on it either as it was 5:30 by then. This whole time Katya was texting and calling me and I was pretty stressed as I felt like my hands were tied. Katya was getting pretty upset as well as she was set on coming home, and I understand that. Alex was trying to keep her calm. It was not a good morning. So Delta people said that basically, they had to come back the following morning and get on the flight to Minneapolis and connect to Raleigh. They gave them a free night at the hotel and apologized. But of course, it was super inconvenient for Grandma having to drive all the way back to Libby, do what she had planned to do at the school and home and then drive back in the evening so they could sleep in the hotel and be early at the airport for their 5:50 am flight AGAIN.

Everything went smoothly from here. Everyone got on safely on the plane (they didn't charge Alex a $150 fee for needing an escort, that's how bad they felt). And, I called Delta myself, explain the situation and customer service reps and managers all couldn't understand why people at the airport didn't let the kids fly to Salt Lake City if it's a Delta hub with dozens of different connections from 10 am on that would somehow get them to Raleigh. They also felt very bad and gave each kid a $200 Delta credit, which was nice indeed.

And that is how I finally got these two goofballs back! 

The END!

Rexburg Family Reunion

Welcome to Rexburg, Idaho!

 First thing we had to do was meet up with everyone at Karyl's house in Rexburg for a bbq dinner. With much trepidation, we went to a grocery store to pick up some carrots and a watermelon for our potluck. On the way out of the store, Robert noticed that the car that was parked in the handicapped spot had a low back tire. He mentioned it to the guy who was in the driver's seat (who turned out to be a very-very old grandpa) and offered to help him by changing the tire instead of waiting for the car shop to do it for him. The guy agreed and that's what Robert and Alex did. It was a very good experience for all of us and especially for the kids to witness. It also made us slow down a bit and notice someone else's needs. We were just a little late to the bbq (which was open door style anyway) but it made a huge difference to this guy who couldn't thank us enough (and kept saying how he can't believe Robert is not just a student in college) and later wrote us a thank you card. 

It was great to see everyone at Karyl's house! Most of Robert's brothers and two of his sisters were able to attend, so it was great:)

The following morning we all went on a mini hike to Mesa Falls. 

It was a gorgeous view! We are not used to this mountainous scenery so it was truly impressive!

Katya dreaming of rainbows and unicorns.

We had a bazillion cousins running around and we didn't lose anyone. 

My favorite Watson. I know, I look like tired, but whatever.

Isn't this gorgeous?

Not all of the cousins but a good chunk of them. 

I don't remember how our afternoon played out but I know at some point we drove to St. Anthony's Sandbar for some jumping action. It was just our little family this time. 

The last jump into the river as a twelve year old for Alex!

Oh yeah, in the evening, we drove to the sand dunes for some more play/jump time with the cousins. We had a jumping competition in many categories--cousins, older siblings, moms and daughters, couples, fathers and sons. It was fun! 

Oh look! It's Everett and Katya! Everett is one of our older cousins who just started BYU-Idaho the week after our reunion! We are all very excited for his new chapter of his life!

These two do get along so well:) They have a lot in common! 

We also had a quick bonfire and a beautiful sunset.

The following day, July 27th, was Alex's birthday! We started the day at the "Defying Gravity" type thing with trampolines and tons of fun games to play. The kids were not the only ones who enjoyed this place! Although some adults took it a little too far for their age and were very sore the following day-haha.

Later in the afternoon, a true celebration began! Well, it wasn't a celebration of Alex's birthday, but rather a final dinner with our family, and Alex's birthday tied in with it. 

Katya, Alex and Everett were selfie-happy. 

They also were cool enough to go to a very late showing of the new Mission Impossible that evening! 

Kids played for  a while at the park near our meeting place. This is Colter, Mercedes, Abby and Mark.

Right before we got to Alex's birthday ice cream and cake, we needed to take a family group picture! 

Good luck to us! 

But look! It actually worked! Grandma Lorraine, Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Linda and the majority of their grandkids! 

And here is the whole gang! It was great! Just missing David and Adriana with their kids. 

And here is Alex's favorite part of the whole reunion--his birthday song sung by the whole family! He'd never had that before, so it was very special.

Lastly, here are just some of the pictures, for memory sake. You know, I love pictures and think they are very important! 

Here is Brian, Robert, Ben, Dad, John and James. 

And here are my sisters-in-law!

Karyl and I.

Jenny and I.

Michelle and I.

Meghan and I.

Lindsey and I (with John as a photobomb).

So happy we are trying to establish a regular family reunion every two years! I hear the next one will be somewhere outside of the continental US, probably even Alaska, so we shall see!!

Lyana.