Halloween 2020

This year we had the most chill Halloween ever. Not by choice...just because it is 2020.

Mark was the only one who dressed up and went trick-or-treating. Katya just dressed up to keep Mark company at home-hahaha. They were doing their Saturday chores like this. 

Alex wanted to join in but he had no Captain America costume....so....

Proof that the kids actually do some chores around the house.

And Mark trying to do his “smolder look”. 

Alex and Robert didn’t really carve the pumpkins and didn’t scrape the seeds out but decided to make a few freaky pumpkins with some old nails. 

Mark spent the day wearing his costume which was hilarious. 

In the evening, Robert and I set out our table in the driveway and just covered it with candy so the kids could come up and pick what they wanted easily. We had a fire pit going and hung out with whatever friends stopped by to say hello. Like I said at the beginning--a very chill night. 

 

How the Watson Kids Spent Their October

First of all, can we please all agree that it’s actually wonderful that I get so many pictures of Katya? Yes, they are selfies, all sorts of selfies, but I love them. As I am writing this, I am realizing that in just a few months, the only pictures I will really get of Katya are the ones she would be willing to send me. So I’ll take all I can right now. 

“I have to clean the kids’ bathroom again?"

“Can I go to Downtown Cheapskate for the third time this week, please? I have nothing to wear"

Knock-knock....“I am changing!!!!!!!” 

"I get to drive Mark to tennis? YES!"

The good news is that somehow we have kept up with our family tradition of Sunday walks all through these crazy months (over a year now!). I love them! The kids pretend to NOT like them. Yeah...right. They all miss them when we skip them.

Robert and I still go out on dates, although they are a little bit too random right now. We need to get a better schedule for those especially with such a vigorous schedule for tournaments (and future regattas).

Early October, I was finally able to get together with my Ukrainian friend Natalia to celebrate my birthday. She has the best fun celebrations for me ad really knows how to host. 

Mark is diving into tennis like never before. He is loving his half Dunlop sponsorship and is working hard on his game. He has trainings four times a week and either a tournament or some practice sets on weekends. Sunday is always a rest day unless it’s a tournament. 

This year is the first year that Mark was able to participate in a school band. He is actually switching to percussion in Jan but he had to pick another instrument to play in the meantime. So, naturally, he had to pick trumpet as we had an ancient trumpet lying around. He absolutely hates playing it but is really-really good! There is a very funny story connected with when we presented him a case thinking it was Robert’s trumpet and when he opened it, it turned out it was a bugle from 70 years ago, all beat up. Mark had these big eyes and couldn’t believe that we would have him play something like that in middle school!😆😂

Mark is also trying to improve his game realizing he needs to dedicate more time to his speed and strength workouts. We visited a couple of places--one of them had a trial session in Apex. But he didn’t stay with them as the times/prices were not convenient. 

We also saw a tennis specialist physio at Smart Athletes, his name is Jeff Vajay. It was cool to learn a few mobility exercises and get a recommendation for a shoe insert for Mark. He spends a ton of time on his feet. 

Back to Katya. This gorgeous girl has been playing princesses even with social distancing and face shield rules. It’s been challenging but she has managed to still be getting some gigs being a Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Anna or Aurora. 

Mark was back to his normal routine in October when French Open was on TV. We all love watching tennis now and somehow Mark manages to do it while “in school”, plus eating pounds of mandarine oranges at a time.

Playing games hasn’t been happening as much lately as you would think. The dynamics has changed significantly when the big kids got busier with their lives, schools and virtual friends. 

Oh yes, one of Mark’s virtual school days. That is one of the many spots where he sits while doing school. Notice the same Dunlop sweatshirt...and Robert’s Hawaiian shirt for a dress up day. 

Mark’s Instagram page is blossoming and is actively increasing in the number of followers. Sometimes it’s tiring to be active on it, and he doesn’t spend much time with it, but I do try to help out. Katya helps a lot with video editing and posting. It’s been fun! 

And sometimes Katya takes Mark to do serves at our local tennis court. And then she makes up funny commentaries and then she posts them and people love them!

Any pictures of Alex? ANYTHING? Nope...nothing....this is a bit crazy and embarrassing and sad but he just doesn’t take pictures and doesn’t like me taking pictures of him. I have got to be better at that! 

Back to Katya, wearing her favorite yellow sweater. She switched her twin bed for a queen one so she could enjoy luxurious living till August when she leaves for college. Still not following one rule I taught her--not to put her backpack/suitcase on her bed...argh. 

Katya had a bit of fun dressing up celebrating her friend’s Kyla’s birthday. Any sort of get together has become a big deal nowadays. 

Oh yes! A big surprise of the month was for Mark to be recognized as the Student of the Month for his Citizenship! I am not sure how it’s possible to pull off via virtual school, but he did it!

Lastly, Katya convinced Robert to take her and Alex on a road trip to DC to see her friend Ben. So they drove up on Friday and came back on Saturday and saw a bunch of friends while there, like the Williamsons and the Broughs and the Kents! Ben was a friend she met at EFY a year and a half ago and they were texting friends for a while. Ben had driven once to NC to visit Katya for a day, and they have a great time together, as FRIENDS. 

I am still waiting for more pictures of Alex....but to no avail. That’s my new goal--get more pictures of Alex. He IS doing great! Yes, he is hating virtual school but is thriving and getting fantastic grades. He manages to hang out with a few of his friends at a time and can’t wait till he gets to go back to school in person. He is thinking of quitting Jordan Lake Rowing Crew and join a massively competitive Triangle Rowing Crew. He is still a Teacher’s Quorum President till he becomes a Priest in Jan. Fun times! 

The end.

Lyana. 
 

Advantage Mark

This post is about Mark and his favorite sport. He has great passion for tennis--for the game, for hard work, for competing and for the fun of it all. 

When on March 16th everything shut down in our area, including his tennis academy, Mark started to look for different ways to stay active. It was hard. Most tennis courts were closed (although some private clubs stayed open) and all Mark had was his tennis wall. 

With school being on and off even virtual for about three weeks, Mark found comfort in hours and hours of hitting the ball against the garage wall, learning how to do freestyle tennis and lots and lots of tricks. 

In fact, sometimes after three weeks of the lockdown, we even set up an Instagram account for Mark’s tennis (I know!! It was my idea, and I am the one against social media for kids this young!!) that Katya and I manage. It’s been a great success actually and created so many fun opportunities for Mark as well connections and support from all over the world through the international tennis community. He has over 800 followers now, six months later, which is amazing! 

Mark managed to hit with a few friends a couple of times a week once some more courts in Cary were opened. Although he was doing a lot of fitness and footwork drills on his own, actual tennis playing was so refreshing. Our Apex courts opened on May 1st (a couple of days after I spoke with the mayor of Apex asking why our courts are still closed although Cary were opened:)). 

Mark did a lot of serve practices and hitting with me. We all were waiting for the Cary Tennis Park training to reopen. Tournaments were starting to pop up in June, which was a good sign.

Finally, middle of June, CTP training restarted! It was a very exciting day for Mark! No one cared that they had to wear masks to get to the court or use sanitizer and be in small groups. The kids were just so happy to be on court and see each other! They had a three months break from tennis training and that was hard. This is Mark on the day of his first day back at CTP, beaming.

He wanted to play a tournament as soon as possible, so on Father’s Day weekend, we went to Snow Hill for a lower level (L4) tournament where he played up with 14U. It was a fun tournament and he did well! 

Once again, some things were very different in the tournament format. The kids had to register with Match app and check in online, wait in the car until their court was announced, and not handshakes at the end--just the touch of the tennis rackets. They also had no benches and had one assigned player to switch the score.

Mark figured a second use for his cooler--use it as a seat during his changeovers. 

Training continued through July and the heat. Mark started to experiment with different strings and realized that he needs to have more durable ones or he would be restringing his every week or two. We also bought a used stringer and now are able to string his rackets (takes forever right now, but he will learn)! Here is a picture after one of his practices...and with broken strings. 

Here is the stringer. And Mark’s tennis wall in the background. 

As a side note, at the end of June, I tore my ACL playing a tennis match. I opted for a non-surgical route and am doing lots and lots of PT. It also meant that I couldn’t quite hit with Mark, or warm up before matches, but that’s ok. I can still feed him balls and do drills. He is most understanding of my injury because he knows how much I love tennis and how much I wish to be able to feel 100 percent again. 

One ultra exciting thing that happened to Mark after opening his IG account was participating in the Dunlop Challenge where he had to come up with a creative video of knocking down the empty tennis ball can with a lid. He had a great time building “an obstacle course”, posting it and actually being one of the five winners of 96 cans of Dunlop tennis balls!!! That’s four boxes!! Not all of them are pictured here. It was such a fun experience for ALL of us (imagine seeing huge boxes with tennis balls on your porch).

At the end of July, I took Mark to a big tournament in Asheville. It was a great tournament for Mark and he got to the quarter-finals before losing to the number 2 seed. He got 6th place over all, which is still great! 

It was time for Mark to start looking for a standard weight racket (he has been playing with a lite version for a year). It’s a fun process as he had to try a few different ones. Rackets are not cheap, so it’s important to be sure of your choice before purchasing them (and you need at least two). 

Mark continued to get together with friends and social distancing while resting. 

One great news for Mark was that in August he was accepted to the next (and highest) level of Academy, called Select. It was a tough road to get there as much was hoping to move up in spring after playing some big tournaments, but that didn’t happen. In any case, moving up to Select was a big deal for him as he continues to work hard in his group drills as well as his private coach Steve.

Finally, at the end of August, Mark made his choice about the new racket! We bought it at Bryan’s Tennis, a great tennis store in Raleigh. And Mark decided to go with the new Dunlop racket! FX500! 

For these kids, getting a new racket is like getting a new toy. So exciting! 

A month later, Mark got in touch with Dunlop (because they have been following him on Instagram and because he picked their new racket) and asked what are they looking for in junior players who want to be part of their team (Team Dunlop). They got back to him right away and gave us a code for 50% off anything on their website plus saying they will send a few free items to him. It was exciting!!! We ordered a third racket for Mark and a new racket bag which matches his racket. He has been wanting one for a while, and they are usually not cheap, so this was a perfect opportunity! 

So that’s how much excitement is happening in Mark’s tennis world! We must have hundreds of pictures and videos of Mark playing tennis, doing drills and practicing on and off the court. Just as an update, he is now #12 in North Carolina, #86 in Southern section and #553 in Nationals. This next year will be his year to be an “old 12 year old” so he should be playing a bunch of higher level tournaments in 12U age group. In January, the whole ranking system in the US is changing for junior players as they will be all put on a national ranking system and go away from the sectional and state play. It will be interesting! 

Lots of work ahead of this young man;).