Thanksgiving in Colorado

Today's post brought to you by Mark:

We wanted to go somewhere for Thanksgiving so we went to visit the Alley's in Colorado (and we had a Delta companion certificate to use with a first class upgrade....and Alex could fly from SLC to see us too). 

These are the pies that we had. My favorite was the key lime pie, it was gas. 

This is us during Thanksgiving dinner. It was very very delicious. My favorite was the mac and cheese. It was lit. 

                                                                     

                                                                                

Picture of the food before we devoured it.

I don't remember when we had the charcuterie board. Might've been the first day we were there. The grapes were pretty good. All the kids are on the stumble grind.

Alex and his pomegranate.

This is skull king, it's a pretty fire game. 

We like to eat lots of snacks. I still don't remember when this was, maybe the day of the charcuturie board. Also, we kept calling it a SHARKuturie board. I don't remember why. I also don't know how to spell charcuturie. 

Tato is a pro at disc golf so he wanted to bring us to a course and it was fun. And it was cold. I think Tato lost though. 

This is us the night before we left. Cousin Abe also hung out with us the whole time it was lit. Abe is a g. 

We are playing table hockey with books, TP, and a bottle cap. All you need to play is books, TP, and a bottle cap. And a table. 

***Mark wanted me to leave this picture without a caption but it ain't going to happen! This is Emma and Mark. Emma is Mark's friend, although they don't remember each other from all the years in Japan or England as they were tiny.

This is the tortilla slap game. Pretty simple rules just slap the person with the tortilla and don't laugh. 

This is us chillin playing the homemade party games. 

 ***Intermission by Lyana. One of the afternoons I scheduled a meeting with my good friend Linnea who lives in Colorado Springs. It's pretty crazy but when I left Parker, where the Alleys live, the weather looked great! By the time I drove south to Colorado Springs, it started to snow and the roads got covered with a good layer of powder! I hadn't driven in the snow for a decade! 

I made it to Linnea's neighborhood slipping and sliding by the stop sign, but it was fine. It was wonderful to see her first time since 2016 when we left England! She is a fantastic friend! And I wish she lived closer. Lyana-Linnea... everyone always confused us when we lived at RAF Alconbury. 

Back to Mark's narration:

Me and alex, laying on a couch. 

This is us after church. 

Tato and bishop alley.

Me flying home with mama. I am super tired. We had to fly through the night, but at least it was in business class.

Mark.

Dunlop Camp at IMG

Mark had an amazing opportunity this fall to spend a week at a world famous tennis academy in Florida called IMG Academy. Dunlop is the main sponsor of the academy and so they have a special privilege to host a tennis camp for the Dunlop junior players. Mark was one of the lucky ones who got invited to go and train with some of the Dunlop coaches and junior players from all over the world. They usually have one in Europe for the European juniors and then one in the US for everyone else.

He and I flew to Sarasota, FL with Connor, his friend who also was invited as a Dunlop player.

 I was the designated adult to make sure the boys make it to their dorms and get registered before they are left alone for a week. It was pouring rain on the day that I had to drop them off so they got kind of soaked! 

At the campus store and wherever they went, people kept asking if they were brothers! It was funny! 

After I made sure the boys are set and found their dorm, I left them to have a pleasant two day vacation of my own. I stayed an extra day in the area to chill, take beach walks and watch the boys for just a bit. 

All expenses were paid for Mark--all the training, food and lodging. It was FUN! Mark said that they trained hard, but it was not too different from what they do at his usual place with Cameron. 

We got to talk to Mark every day. It was fun for him to stay a week away from home and be independent.

I also took the time to walk around campus and see this Hall of Fame and read about Nick Nollietieri, the founder of the academy, who passed away not too long ago. He was the one who trained Sharapova and Agassi. 

A few of the famous IMG graduates right here. 

And Nick Bollettieri statue with the draws poster of Eddie Herr tournament from the previous year. IMG academy hosts Eddie Herr tournament during Thanksgiving time each year. In the upcoming 2024 year they will change the name of the tournament to the IMG Academy International Tennis Championships. We'll see...maybe Mark will be able to get into it next year. 

I stopped by campus the following day just to check up on the boys. Snapped this picture to show that they are still doing well. 

Love all these Dunlop bags! 

I spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the peace and quiet on the beach. 

 And then I flew home. 

A few days later, Connor’s mom came to Florida. 

On the last day of training, she was able to snap a few pictures of the boys. 

Here they are taking a ride back from the courts to the dorms. It's like a shuttle and you can hop on and hop off if you are lucky...it's a bit of a walk especially after your legs feel like noodles after practice. 

Here is a group pictures of these kids. All of them are sponsored by Dunlop--all from non-European region. Mark said they even had kids from Japan. 

Mark, the Dunlop player. 

Dunlop did take good care of Mark and made him feel super special by offering him a contract with so much free stuff, plus this camp. This will definitely be something he will always remember!

 

Lyana.

Tennis November-Texas and VA

We had an absolutely tennis filled November this year! It was a lot of traveling but also SO MUCH FUN and excitement. Plus a ton of work of course-haha! 

Mark and I decided to take an opportunity to go visit train at a famous academy near Dallas, TX, the Lakes Tennis Academy. Our coach recommended us to go there as his friend, Dave Licker, is in charge of it. His coaching results speak for themselves as he has produced a number of great players in juniors and trains a few pros who are starting to play on tour.

Flying Southwest a lot lately because of the companion certificate, of course!! We have saved thousands now by using points and booking my ticket with them and then Mark flying free. Hotel stay was also free because of my IHG credit card points from the sign up. Playing the game (that is my part time job, by the way)...

First time in Texas!!! 

It was wonderfully sunny and warm in TX. I dropped off Mark in the mornings, picked him up for lunch and then dropped him off again for more training. I was able to exercise and work on my blog and a bunch of other things that I could get done on my laptop. It was like a mini vacation for me for four days, but still with taking care of Mark. 

Mark got along great with all the kids and had a good opportunity to hit against a variety of players. He had to manage to do all the homework at the hotel too. 

Here is coach Dave who really enjoyed working with Mark and said he could come back anytime. 

On the afternoon when we were leaving TX, it was raining, so we had to finish training early. We decided to explore a little bit of the area near Frisco, TX. This is a cool local library! Surely, much bigger than anything we have here. Things ARE bigger in TX. 

And we drove by the Ford Center, a famous football stadium.

Oh, and one of the evenings, we stopped by Ikea, didn’t really buy anything but Mark had some Swedish meatballs. That’s why he looks so excited. 

At the Dallas airport, a huge treated awaited us!!! We had access to the Capital One lounge through our Capital One Venture card (we only got 2 free entrances per year). We had SO much food! It was a bit crowded, but we still managed to stay there for an hour and eat our dinner and late dinner before our flight. Definitely makes a traveling experience more fun! 

We were home for just a bit and then we drove to Blacksburg, VA for a tournament. It was Mark’s first time playing here.

We were there over Veteran’s Day so we tried to seek ways to commemorate it--and found it close to campus. They had a special change of guard ceremony happening in the evening, so we drove over to the monument and then walked around somberly for a bit. I like to do such things to bring a bit of reality check into our tennis life.

The tournament was played indoors, which was nice as it was getting quite chilly in the hilly Blacksburg.  

Mark actually was playing really well and made his way confidently to the finals! 

He lost in the third set tiebreak, unfortunately.... and got second place. It’s never easy, especially when you can taste the victory. The men’s tennis coach from Virginia Tech was watching the match though and really liked Mark. 

Here is a better picture of Mark, much happier with his results (although the picture on that frame will always remind him of that tight match). 

And that is how our first part of November went! I wish I could say we stayed home and relaxed for the rest of the month. But oh no! Not at all! Lots more tennis was played by Mark... in a different state. That’s a story for another post as it’s pretty special.

Lyana.