Trophy Overload at the Tar Heel Qualifier

Each year, the pinnacle of the tennis season in our area is participating in two big tournaments--Tar Heel Qualifier in Winston-Salem (a state-wide tournament) and Southern (location depends on what age group you are playing for). The Tar Heel Qualifier is held on the Memorial Day weekend, so this year we planned our vacations around that (we disregarded it last year;)).

It's a big tournament with opportunities to play four-five matches in singles plus a few in doubles. It is fun! Because it's a longer tournament, we actually booked a hotel for three nights so we wouldn't have to drive back and forth with Mark. Unfortunately, our big kids had their Wizard of Oz shows the same weekend, so Robert and I ended up sharing the load of tennis and theater by him being with Mark on Friday and then me driving to Winston Salem on Saturday morning so he could go see the show on Saturday. Anyway!

The main point of this post is that Mark did really-really well! The first match was an easy win (4:0, 4:0) for Mark, but the second and third matches all went into a third set tie breaker. In fact, the third match that gave him a chance to get through to the semi-finals was against his doubles partner, who is right now #1 in our state. It was an intense match with a very fulfilling outcome! Mark won and now had to play against his other friend, Kahven.

I love that someone was kind enough to walk around the tournament grounds and take some fabulous action shots like this and then even gift us with an 8x10 picture of it. It's probably the best picture of Mark playing tennis I've got!

On Sunday evening we took a break from all the tennis craziness and drove to one of the military cemeteries. It touches my heart to go through rows and rows of tombstones with names of people who had fought for our country. 

Here is Mark's other tennis friend, Ryan(who is #3 in the state in 10s). They have known each other the longest, from way back when they were still "babies" at 7 years old playing orange ball. Little did he know in this picture, that just a day later he'd have to face him in a match. 

But in the meantime, Mark had a lot of waiting around ahead of him. Look at that head of thick hair...in this 90 degree heat...he still wants to keep it longish like that for some reason. And look at that beautiful comfortable red camping chair...yeah...that was the last tournament that I used it at. I must have left it somewhere by the trees as we couldn't find it at the house after the tournament, sadly. 

So on the last day of the tournament, in the semi-finals, Mark had to play his friend, Kahven (who is #5 in the state in 10s age group). Unfortunately, Mark lost, but it was still an amazing match. Kahven ended up winning the whole tournament. And Mark had to battle friend, Ryan, for the third place and won! It's actually amazing that three out of the four top players in the tournament from this age group came from our Academy. 

Oh, and he also got SECOND place in Doubles! So that's where his other trophy came from. The final doubles match was super fun but he and his partner lost. Here are the winners of the 1st and 2nd places.

It's needless to say, Mark was happy he went this far in such an important tournament. It was not easy to play his best tennis friends, but he did it. After all, he'll probably have to play them again and again in the future if all of them keep playing tennis. The level is high, guys....I wish I could show you some videos, but I am always so nervous to record him playing real matches that I end up just watching the matches and soaking up all the energy with no pictures or videos. And we LOVE watching him play.

Mark's spring season wasn't quite over yet. Southern tournament was next, coming up in two weeks after this one.

Lyana.

The Wizard of Oz

As we were driving back from Florida coming back from our cruise, I got a text from the director of the upcoming production of The Wizard of Oz at Carolina Academy Academy of Performing arts asking if Katya and Alex were planning to audition for a part. Auditions were that evening (it was a Monday evening) and no, the kids were not planning on doing it. But then after a lot of discussion (we had a lot of time in the car together), both Katya and Alex agreed that they should try.

So for the next four hours we heard a lot of singing and roaring as the kids were learning and practicing their audition songs:) It was fun!! And made the time go faster! We arrived, unpacked a bit, ate dinner and took them over to audition. Alex was hoping to be the Lion and Katya was hoping to get Dorothy. They did great at their auditions!

Fast forward a few days later and we found out that Katya was cast as Glinda, the good witch and Alex as Toto!!! That last bit was hilarious! Alex--Toto??? But they needed someone awesome to be Toto's puppeteer and someone who could bark and make other noises as a dog (and fit in into the Gang with four other main parts). No question that both Katya and Alex turned out to be perfect for their parts.

This was a speedy production of the musical--the kids rehearsed for only four weeks and then showed off the final product on Memorial Day weekend. Robert and I took turns watching it as one of us had to be in Winston Salem with Mark at his big tennis tournament.

I took a few pictures during the show but you can't really see Alex's puppet here. He is the one on the right wearing a vest.

Here is Katya as Glinda and Alex is behind Dorothy.

Here is a picture where you can see Alex's Toto better:) He did a fantastic job!

And here is Alex after the show with his puppet. 

Katya, the Glinda, was amazing! Her voice was perfect for this part.

Lots of her friends suggested she dyes her hair blonde:) 

Here are our fun kids after the show.

Oh yes, and Katya was a jitterbug too for one of the scenes which was good--she had to learn a dance routine. 

Lots of friends came to see the show! We are always so grateful for their support.

Katya and the Scarecrow became good friends. 

And of course, last but not least, my mom was able to be here to see the kids perform, which is always a bonus!

We look forward to the kids next musical project! It's so fun to see them learn, rehearse, and perform as we all know how hard they have to work. 

Lyana. 

So. Much. Happening.

***I am writing this post at the end of the "didn't have the time to blog" summer! 

So this will be sort of a recap of our fun SPRING...yes, back to spring and end of last school year. These events seem trivial but they are what compose our family lives and definitely shape the kids' eventful youth:) 

Back when we went to Knoxville for a regatta, Mark got to participate in one of his favorite tournaments--Tennessee State Open. He played in 12 and under category although he could still play 10s and this was a high level tournament. He did so well and got to the final! His finals opponent was 11 years old (and kind of looked like Mark...in fact Robert was watching the wrong kid for a short part of the match before realizing that it's not Mark as they were both wearing white hats😂) and a great kid that he could definitely play doubles with if we are ever in TN for another tournament. Mark got second place and was very happy! 

The crazy thing was that in the middle of his match his strings broke...ok..no big deal as he always has an extra racket, although it is a different kind. Well, just a few points later, an even crazier thing happened--Mark broke strings on that spare racket as well! He couldn't believe it! He was a bit shaken up by that but his opponent was nice enough to let him play with his spare racket. For those unfamiliar with tennis in detail, changing rackets is not an easy thing to adjust to as players practice with certain kind of racket and are used to its specifics. Mark did an amazing job considering the circumstances--he adjusted quickly to his new "weapon", lost a few points while doing that and then got back in the game. All in all it was a great although crazy match, definitely one to remember:)!

Alex finished the season on his Middle School track and field team. He did a bit of short distance running, but his main achievement was being fantastic at shot put! Who knew? HAHAHAHA. Here is Alex with his coach. Alex is hoping he can do shot put in high school as well...unless it intervenes with musicals:) 

Here is a happy mama, Alex with his MVP award and our minivan with an open trunk (??? why???) and an open door.

My mom, who was still visiting throughout the month of May, was trying to keep up with all the events. The boys and I took her out to Brixx pizza one night where not only we tried yummy pizza but also taught her to play corn hole! It was fun!

In the meantime, our tennis club season came to a close. I am proud of this project as this was MY baby. I get notices from Western Wake Tennis about various announcements and one of them mentioned "free tennis equipment for your school"--this was last fall. I dug a little deeper and discovered that the school needs to have a tennis unit as part of their PE to qualify for that. The principal, the tennis lady, the PE teacher--all had a meeting (thanks to me) and discussed the possibilities. Although the PE unit wasn't going to work, having a tennis club was the next best idea. Of course, they needed parents/teachers to volunteer, which made yours truly say "YES". Mark was excited as he was one of the "coaches" rather than participants. We found a lot of helpers--Gregoriy (just finished High School and plays tennis), son of one of the teachers, Mark's teacher and her middle school daughter with friends who all play tennis. Over 20 kids signed up and every Monday we had our meetings. Kids had a blast! I realized how much coordination tennis does require as some had a much harder time hitting that ball than others. This is a picture from our "tournament day" with the boys. 

Katya...finishing up her 10th grade and mowing the lawn as she cruises through life. We have this awesome quiet rechargeable lawn mower, by the way. 

Katya is still very much involved in Taekwondo and is passing to next levels with flying colors. She is a blue belt now, half way to BLACK! I have prepaid for her lessons all through March 2021 as the master gave me a great deal...so that's her deadline for achieving black belt:)

And, of course, Katya is an active member of our high school speech and debate team. She has some serious plans for next school year and is looking forward to competing in some major events. She IS very good at it! And I don't like to fluff things up:)

Back to Alex. His one wish for this summer was to try wearing contacts. We had an extensive appointment, ordered fancy lenses, but then Alex had a very hard time putting them in...And even then (30 minutes later), after he got help, he couldn't see well with the lenses in. So we came back a couple of weeks later to try hard lenses (old school, but work for some people) and they poked/stung him quite badly, so we gave up on the idea. He was so excited to do that before school...but alas will have to wait...or just make peace with the idea of always wearing glasses.

Here is me! With Pepper the dog...who is still here. And I recently dropped off her original borrowed crate from the Peak Lab Rescue at the animal clinic, which means she is staying (two years later and we were still wondering?). Robert keeps wondering if we still need to find another home for her because he does have dog allergies even if she is in the basement or outside, but for now she is here. 

We took Pepper (and my mom-hahaha) for a walk on the American Tobacco Trail one Sunday afternoon. I don't know why all the kids complain whenever I propose the idea of a walk--they always have such a nice time for that hour or so. 

My mom gets along with Pepper so greatly. She loves her! If she could, she would totally take her to Ukraine with her...but then it would be apartment living and not exactly what Pepper is used to...

And finally here is our favorite man of the house. Lots of changes are in store for him this year, mostly relating to his work--all exciting but busy and time demanding. 

Therefore, we all just keep on rolling with life, trying to cut out moments of peace and relaxation in the middle of this "typical suburban life with kids".

End of an Era

I know I have written a number of posts about how our kids, especially Alex, enjoy being on a rowing team. Alex rowed for four full seasons as a middle schooler and Katya coxed for six! Unfortunately, spring of 2019 turned out to be the last season for Jordan Lake Rowing Crew. Or, I should clarify, the last season under the same management. 

After our race in Tennessee, the head coach and the board announced that sadly, the team couldn't continue to run because of a number of issues such as unavailability of team members for key events (races) and the rowing conditions (we've had so much flooding on the lake and having to start the season on-the-water practices three weeks late), etc. 

Alex was devastated. 

Katya was all right as she was actually planning to quit anyway, hoping to focus on speech and debate tournaments which always coincided with some of the key regattas.

I wanted to share a few of the last pictures from the regatta. Probably the best pictures of Katya in action. This is not normally the type of boat she races in, by the way--usually she faces her crew.

I think she really loved this picture-hahaha. 

It was simply such a shock to everyone that suddenly the team would stop to exist. So a few parents got together and regrouped. They decided to keep JLRC but make it different, more recreational.

There has been new rowing camps set up for this summer with a NEW coach (yay!) and the plan is to continue running the Jordan Lake Rowing Crew under a different board. 

Alex initially decided that he won't be rowing next school year. But now after much thinking and talking it over, it looks like maybe he will keep going. 

He does have a good group of buddies on the team there and it gets them out on the water, outside and helps them to stay active. So we'll keep you posted on what we decide to do for his first high school year...

Lyana. 

Bald Head Island

This year my mom got to visit us for two months in the spring. She arrived right before our spring break in early April, just in time for the weather to definitely be warming up. She leaves before the kids get out of school and life gets really hectic (with kids being home a lot of the time and me needing to pay more attention to them;)). 

This year, as a special day, I took her to Bald Head Island in North Carolina. We left around 8:30 am just right after Mark left for school and drove to Southport. Technically we arrived right on time for the 12:00 ferry (I read online that they go every hour on the hour) but it just so happened that they take a break at 12 pm for lunch, and so the next ferry was going to be 1 pm. And so we had to wait from around 11:30 am till 1 pm to get on the ferry....which was a bummer since we were going there for just a few hours anyway! 

The ferry is not cheap either, I think it was $22 roundtrip per person, and takes around 30 minutes. My mom was loving every minute of it which made it all worth it--crazy wind and all:)) 

Once we got to the island, I was one of the first people to get off and walk really quickly to the kiosk to rent a golf cart. See, there are no car traffic on the island, which is what makes it very special for visitors and a few people who actually live there. I was very fortunate that I was one of the first two people in line and was able to get a cart right away. Again, I had to get a cart for a whole day as the only other option was for 2 hours, and that wasn't cool. 

Let me tell you, it was my FIRST time driving a golf cart and I did great! We were dying laughing rolling around the island, backtracking and "getting lost" a bit on pretty much one road that goes around the island (I know! Who does that??) 

After a couple of hilarious attempts we got to one of the more remote parts of the island where we parked at a beach access and spent a few hours. My mom loves her fancy bright hat-hahaha.

My mom loves the beach! Loves it! She would live on the beach, if she could. She would probably swim in the ocean every single day if she could too. The problem with these beaches on the Atlantic coast is that most of the time we come, it seems, that the waves are kind of crazy and we end up just jumping in and out but not swimming at all. 

We walked down the beach....saw a bunch of huge jelly fish washed up on shore. 

People thought my mom was too brave to even try to get into the water. And it was COLD. This was the middle of May but for some reason this particular spot was colder than we expected. 

We had so much fun taking goofy pictures and some that are not! Laughing and laughing...my mom just thinks so many things I say are funny and I am funnier with her around too, maybe just using some of the special nuances of our language or remembering common memories. 

We had to give our golf cart back to the kiosk before they closed at 5:30, so we headed back to the port shortly after 4:30. We stopped by the Old Baldy Light House.

We got on the 6 pm ferry back to Southport and the found a beautiful places to eat for dinner. The view over the ocean was beautiful! 

I realize we drove there and back for the same amount of time we actually enjoyed the beach, but it was still a wonderful experience as we got to spend some quality uninterrupted time together.

Lyana. 

Mother's Day 2019

This year my Mother's Day was extra special again as I got to celebrate it with my kids AND my mom. Unfortunately, somehow we forgot to take a picture of me with all the kids!

On Mother's Day Sunday, Alex got up extra early and made a ton of crepes--our favorite kind of breakfast! 

Robert and Mark were gone in the morning, so we woke up to these beautiful bouquets of flowers in the kitchen as well as cards. It was very special for my mom that they didn't forget her:)

While we were eating our delicious breakfast, Alex serenaded us with a version of "Isn't She Lovely" song with new words fitting to be a song about mothers. It was super sweet and unexpected!

And for dinner, all three kids made us yummy pesto pasta and salad and asparagus. 

I love Mother's Day for obvious reasons:) I also am grateful for my mom and for all the sacrifices she's made throughout her life for me and my sister.

Lyana.