Mark Turns SIXTEEN!

Please tell me HOW? How does one not take any pictures of their kid on his birthday? On his 16th birthday! I am crying inside because I feel like we completely failed at the proper capturing of his holiday. 

Mark turned 16 but he didn't want a big party, a get together, a big family anything. We had to respect his wishes but I so wish we would have made a bigger deal about his birthday. 

Noah and Tommy came over in the evening for some ice cream and a quick hang out as Mark was going to the stake dance that evening and then we were leaving for Hawaii early next morning. 

I am glad he still has these good friends although they don't hang out with each other nearly as much as they used too, 

Well, even without the big hurrah, Mark says he had a great birthday, especially because he got his coveted fancy pickleball paddle for $100! He seemingly has everything he needs and wants very little so he is already beginning to be quite tricky to shop for.

And here are the annual questions for the newly baked 16 year old Mark:

Height: 6’ 2''

Favorite sport: tennis 

Favorite sport to watch: tennis 

Favorite Book: Hunger Games

Favorite movie: Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Favorite Color: Blue

Hobbies: Pickleball

When I grow up, I want to be a tennis or pickleball player😂

We absolutely love Mark! He is a chill dude who doesn’t waste his breath on any chit chat (unless it’s texting friends (girls too)). He is ambitious and hard working, has quiet confidence about him as well as an aura of calm. He doesn’t rush and doesn’t stress and gets things done...when he doesn’t forget the list of things to do. Mark is still excelling at school and is excited for his “old” B16 year of playing tennis tournaments. He is very busy but still helps around the house and participates in the church youth activities and service projects. The most frequent compliment I hear about Mark is how kind he is! 

Happy 16th Birthday, Mark! 

 

Christmas 2024

Merry Christmas from the Watsons in North Carolina! And from Alex in Latvia.  Here is a huge close up picture for our blog! 

Katya arrived a few days before Christmas, made it to the ward breakfast party, got a very needed professional massage

 and then, unfortunately, got sick... But we managed to get all dressed up and get energized for our annual Christmas Eve celebrations in a Ukrainian way. 

Robert and his legendary Ukrainian carved weapon. I still remember when we had to transport it from Ukraine twenty five years ago and we were worried it would be confiscated. 

Mark is continuing the tradition of wearing embroidered shirts that are getting too small. Pretty soon we will be looking for a new one! 

Katya looks like a little flower with her head wreath. 

My mom was visiting for Christmas so we deliberately cooked a really nice real Ukrainian dinner, perhaps a bit of a miniature version in portions but not in variety. 

Here is a family picture on a timer! 

It was another very successful and delicious dinner!

While Katya was here we had a few days to chill before packing to leave for Maui! So we went to Bass Lake and walked one of our favorite trails. 

Another family selfie with Babusia who is getting shorter each year:(

Proof.

And then one of the evenings we went to Downtown Cary to see all the festive decorations. 

It was actually really cool! And cold too! 

We enjoyed seeing all the lights and just strolling in the Downtown park. 

Katya was not feeling so great all the time but she was a good sport and joined us for this. 

Here are Katya, Mark and Mama by the "Umka" statues. It reminded us of the lullaby I used to sing to the kids when they were little. 

The majority of the time before our trip to Hawaii, Katya was feeling the remnants of whatever she got on the second day in NC. It was frustrating for her but at least she was at home with no school or work. 

It’s such a blessing that we were able to celebrate together! These days are so precious.

Lyana. 

Tennis Thanksgiving in Tampa

 IMG Academy International Tennis Championships, formerly known as Eddie Herr, is a huge tournament, hosted by IMG Tennis Academy each year in Florida. Because of eligibility, Mark pretty much only has a chance to play tournaments like Eddie Herr (most people will keep calling it that) and Orange Bowl once in each category. So this year, a month before he was turning 16, we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day in Florida and let Mark play qualifying rounds for this big competition.

The main draw is 64 kids (from all over the world but a lot of American kids come). The qualifying draw is 128 kids and only 8 of these kids get into the main draw (they keep 8 spots available for them).

Mark and I flew direct to Tampa on Tuesday before Thanksgiving as the check in for QF draw was that afternoon. 

The first opponent Mark played the next day was a boy from Mexico. His level on paper was kind of low, but he actually played quite well. Nevertheless, Mark beat him easily.  Later in the afternoon, we picked Robert up from the airport as he had to work on Wednesday still. 

We had only one match per day so the following day, late in the afternoon, Mark played another match against a boy from France. Qualifying draw is pretty brutal--one loss and you are out--just like in the professional circuit. It was not an easy match, but Mark did really well and beat the opponent as well!

That was on Thursday, the day we are supposed to be all eating turkey and gather as families:)). We had reservations at a local place for a Thanksgiving dinner and because of the match delays, we had to reschedule it and barely made it before their closing time. We had a fantastic dinner--Mark and I had fish with our Thanksgiving trimmings and Robert had traditional turkey. We all had delicious pie...although key lime pie was sold out. 

This is where you eat a Thanksgiving Dinner when you are in Florida--at a seafood place. 

On Friday, Mark played his hardest match so far against a seeded player from Trinidad and Tobago.

 In fact, the kid was number one player of his country. Mark played on clay, played so well, and managed to pull off a win! 

Stretching in the hotel...Sometimes he uses extra towels, sometimes the bed. When we drive, we bring our yoga mat with us. 

On Saturday, Mark had another tough match against a kids from Florida. He played a game similar to Mark, so it was a battle. Lots of deuce points, lots of momentum changes, but Mark lost. It was still a good match! The thing is you have to win all 4 matches to get into the main draw but IF you lose in the last round, like Mark did, you get a chance to be a "lucky loser" (yes, it's a thing). A lucky loser gets a chance to be put in the main draw if someone pulls out, depending on the number they drew after the last match. 

Miraculously, Mark got to be the lucky loser, one of the three, and on Sunday, when the draws came out, we learned that he would be playing on Monday morning. 

After Mark's match, we enjoyed some together time in Bradenton. We drove to the beach, walked around there, walked around the cute town had a lobster roll (I did, that is) and just enjoyed the festive feel of this Florida corner. This place was hit pretty badly by the hurricane that had destroyed so much of the beach just two months prior. We could see the clean up was actively happening and many buildings were still completely destroyed. 

We also found a park nearby to go disc golfing (and I went walking). Robert was leaving that Saturday evening to beat the holiday rush and prices.  

Oh wait, he didn't leave that evening actually. I dropped him off at the airport, he got through security and by the time I almost got back to the hotel, he said that the flight is so delayed that he would not make his connection in Charlotte so that they would postpone his flight till early morning out of Charlotte. Instead, I told him to get on chat with American Airlines and ask them to just change his flight to next morning out of Tampa so that he doesn't get stuck in Charlotte for the night. So basically, then I drove back to the airport (25 min) and picked him up so he could stay with us and then fly out on Sunday morning-haha. 

Mark played one more match at Eddie Herr against a great player from Spain. He was number 3 seed in the whole tournament, who had participated in the Davis Cup tournament representing Spain (that's a team event made up of the best players of each country). It was extremely windy too! Mark managed to win only one game, so he lost 6:0, 6:1. It was quite an experience though--it was definitely playing someone with a different level. 

This is Mark and his friend from Arizona Adnrej. In case they are famous someday.

And so our magical run at this international tournament came to an end... It was a great experience, learned a lot about the tennis atmosphere in Florida and the level to aspire to be. It was definitely a very unique way to spend the holiday! 

Lyana. 

Halloween 2024...a Very Subdued Version

 We are approaching that strange era in our family life when we don't have kids who trick or treat anymore. Can you even believe that? 

After tennis, Mark first went to play pickleball on Oct 31, so I, at least, put on a wig when I went to pick him up. He was going to a party in the neighborhood after that. 

This is how we set up our candy station, with some spooky music in the background. 

 Noah, Mark and Tommy and Ava Kate had a "Scooby Doo" party so Mark was assigned to dress up as Fred. 

Easiest costume ever, using a neck bandana that I bought almost 30 years ago in Holland! And miraculously still have it! 

Mark had fun but you can tell he is kind of outgrowing the silliness of Halloween, and that makes me a little sad. I miss the goofy kids, dressed up and excited to eat or sell their candy. This year I don't think Mark collected any candy. 

On the other side of the country, Katya was celebrating Halloween in her fun student way. She went to Sophie's birthday party (whose birthday is Oct 30) and then hung out with Anders, her boyfriend, at his home for Halloween. We got this fun picture from her from the party! 

And this beautiful one too! I am so grateful these girls have each other, especially when they go through hard times. 

Who knows, maybe next year Halloween won't even make it to its own post!!! For now, we'll take all the celebrations we can get. 

 

Mark's First ITF Tournament

Mark and I did something brave and unique this September--we traveled to Corpus Christi, TX for Mark's first ITF tournament. ITF stands for International Tennis Federation and is completely separate from USTA (US Tennis Association). You have to be 13 to play ITF tournaments and you cannot play those tournaments after Jan 1 of the year you turn 19. So it really stinks for Mark--he will turn 18 on Dec 28 in a year and a half and will not be able to play ITFs anymore although he will be still a senior in high school. 

The reason kids play ITF tournaments is because that means they can play wherever they want in the WORLD! They have different levels, of course, and it's hard to get into the ones that are more popular when you have no ITF points. The check in, the structure and regulations are pretty different from USTA, so we had a lot to learn.

Mark didn't get into the main draw but got into the qualifying draw which means he had to win two matches to get to the main draw. At the check in, you had to provide an ID and be present in person at a certain time the day before. Basically, a lot of people who are qualifying, don't even show up though they were selected. It's a weird system. 

Mark also played doubles with a guy who travels all over to Central America to play tournaments and he enjoys the relaxed atmosphere of the ITF tournaments.

We actually did have a lot of down time with Mark while in Texas. He warmed up in the morning, then played a match but sadly lost...then had to wait till doubles in two days to play a match which they won. And then wait till next day to play the second doubles match. Again...he had to win two doubles matches to get even one ITF point, but they didn't manage to do that. 

Corpus Christi has some delicious seafood, so we actually got shrimp boil twice while there! 

Mark, excited to play! 

We had some time to drive to the beach even! It was the end of September so the water was super nice and inviting.

I also made Mark walk a bit along the "boardwalk", sort of, without the boards. 

And we picked up some take out dinners to eat at the picnic area by the water. 

Mark hit with Emily, a girl from Cameron's as well (she is really good!).

And here is a picture from Mark's second doubles match when the boys played a very skilled pair and lost. 

I have to record here one very memorable (to me) experience. Right before the singles match, Mark was told that the logo on his hat was too big...I guess we forgot about the regulations about how logos and words have to be smaller than a certain size. So I drove quickly to the hotel room to look for a plain hat! As I am frantically searching for a hat, he calls me and as calmly as a surgeon tells me that his shirt will not work either. And even his spare shirt in his bag had Adidas stripes that were too large on his shoulders. So the ref said they will allow him to play the first match with his shirt inside out. I was very stressed, I won't lie--first ITF match and he would be defaulted for not having a proper shirt?? But he was SO calm, so mature and unemotional in his speaking that I realized--wow...that was a great skill this kid has! 

 So I drove back to the courts, gave him the hat and then dashed to search for a shirt with no logos as nothing, absolutely nothing, was sold at the pro shop on site. The tennis facility was situated in such a questionable neighborhood that I didn't dare to just drive around and had to go 15 min away to Academy sports in heavy traffic. I ran inside the store, grabbed the first two shirts I could find that didn't have big words or logos. The line was THE longest ever but I made it just in time for the first set to be over. Although Mark did not win this match, I think he won a big point in the "well done, Mark" game. I have thought of that moment, of when he called me in a stressful situation, many times and have drawn the same conclusion--grateful he had the coolness to stay that calm. 

I don't know when Mark will play another ITF tournament, or even IF he will. We talk a lot about going to Europe or Central American to play but that requires quite a bit of planning and financial resources. We talk about going to Istanbul and playing there as well as to see Lyena who is in Ankara. We will see! It's also tricky because these tournaments allow anyone ages 13-18 to play, with no divisions, unlike USTA where Mark plays 16s. 

So for the next six months, the plan is to stick to USTA tournaments and have fun competing in those.

Lyana. 

 

School Update Fall 2025

Here is a quick update about the Fall of 2025! 

After a very eventful summer, Katya went back to BYU right after we came back from Romania, just in time to see her friend and mission trainer get married on Aug 30! Julie Pachev was Katya's first mission companion in Oradea, for about 6 months. Julia's dad is from Russia so Julia also speaks Russian fluently. Her dad is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine and has been involved in major volunteering projects to help those fighting in Ukraine. 

Katya was so excited to start a new semester, with new goals and plans! 

Katya is living off campus this year, in a condo owned by her roommate's parents. She is meant to have a roommate for her shared room, but she doesn't. They also have a dog. 

I asked Katya to send me her First Day of School Picture. I love it! We miss seeing her every day but I know she is loving her independence. She is still working at the MTC this fall semester, it's a flexible job but doesn't make as much as she would like. She is an actor for the missionaries to practice teaching her. She is majoring in Public Relations. 

And here is Mark, starting his 10th grade! Crazy! He is still at Crossroads Flex which means he has an irregular school schedule with a lot of flexibility. This fall semester he has to be at school four days a week but only for 2-3 hours each time. It's a lot of additional driving for me, but we make do. He is still training at Cameron Moore Tennis. 

Pictures of Alex are missing. Oh!!! It's because he is on a mission! He actually arrived to Latvia around 21st of August and has been adjusting to his missionary life. He is having a major growing experience for sure! We miss him terribly but so happy he is doing what he has always wanted to do and we are so grateful for him. 

Lyana. 

 

Watsons Go to Romania-Oradea

The following morning, we set out to reach our last stop. We saved this beauty of a gem for last! ORADEA! 

This is the city where Katya was "born" (in missionary speak) and where she spent her first 6 months in Romania. 

It is a beautiful historic city close to the border of Hungary, so it was greatly influenced by the Austro-Hungarian architectural designs. The buildings in the old town are gorgeous and it has a typical European small town feel. 

Of course, the remnants of the communistic times are still there in the nearby neighborhoods too. We stayed in an apartment in a building similar to this, just for one night in Oradea. 

Oh, and on the way to Oradea, we came across these golden roofed mansions that were the houses that the gypsies were building. It was a bit surreal to see them and I need to learn a bit more about this whole deal with luxurious houses. 

They were everywhere on this stretch of our drive to Oradea. In clusters.

We dropped off our luggage, changed and went out into town to see where Katya spent months proselyting. 

She was in Oradea during winter months, so it was wonderful to see it in August. Because this was the place where Katya started her mission, she feels super connected with it. I guess in total Katya served in four places with Pitest being her least favorite so she wanted to skip it all together. Otherwise, she was in Oradea, Iasi, and Bucharest. 

Since Katya knew all the missionary habits and usual hang outs, she was convinced we would run into some missionaries on our outing. Sure enough! Not even a few minutes after we walked into the center, we saw the sister missionaries! It's kind of a cool feeling to see those who are still serving in your area after you knew them as a missionary on your mission. 

How could I forget! We were also celebrating Robert's birthday in Oradea! 

The best place to be on your birthday-with your family. We only wish Alex were with us...but guess what! He was actually arriving to Latvia like ON this day! We were almost traveling on the same day through Europe! Crazy!! 

Oh finally--a family selfie in Oradea! 

Of course...what a surprise...we ran into the elders too! We told them to meet us at 8 pm at the gelato place because Brother Watson was going to treat everyone to gelato on his birthday-haha. These elders were on splits actually, so we knew now that there was another pair wandering around somewhere. 

But here is a wild part! This elder next to Mark is from New Zealand. We told him we had just visited New Zealand and stayed in Hamilton where he is from. And then we asked him if he knew Collette--the one who runs the B&B! And he said yes! She is like one of his aunties! Which auntie means friend/relative/something close but yes, she is his auntie! How fun is this!?

For dinner we drove to a mall area close to the apartment where Katya and Julia Pachev (her first companion and trainer) lived in Oradea. We had a wonderful dinner there. Katya and I secretly went inside the store and got a piece of cake, and found a candle to put on the cake to sing a Happy Birthday to Robert right there at the cafe. 

Happy 45th birthday, Robert!!! 

And then back to the Old Town--and all the missionaries showed up! Who could say "no" to free gelato on Robert's birthday??

Together we walked to the church building. All these places were so special to Katya and they felt very special to us too. 

The following morning, we actually didn't have much time to do more sightseeing in Oradea. We felt a bit rushed because although we had bus tickets for the 13:50 Flexibus from Oradea to Budapest airport, we still had to drop off the car at the Oradea airport and then take a taxi to the bus station. 

It was so hectic because although we were given the instructions by Sixt car rental company about where to drop off our car, it was actually very confusing because the terminal that we were directed to was absolutely closed! And we were supposed to park the car and drop off the key at no one knows were..it was weird and we had to communicate back and forth via What's app with Sixt, but finally we figured it out and...hoped for the best.

We took an Uber to the bus station from where we were going to ride a bus to Hungary. Let me tell you, the vibe of the bus station was seriously like a Ukrainian bus station twenty years ago. It was almost funny to me! The bus station doesn't just host Flixbuses that are long distance, it also helps people connect throughout Romania, so they are not all fancy. And neither are people who take them. 

Our Flixbus was delayed actually by an hour! The whole time I was getting updates about its location and for some reason it was running late although. We did not miss it, we got our luggage on it and we found our seats just fine. The seats were really tight for tall people... 

It was about a 4.5 hour drive that was sooooo peaceful and soooo nice easy. Worth every penny not to have to drive and figure out where to go and let a professional drive! The tickets were actually super inexpensive--like 20 euros a person or something. We had to stop at the border, had our passports collected, checked and brought back (who knows where they took them but I guess privacy and all that are not really a thing at the border).

We arrived at the Budapest airport around 6 pm, if I remember it correctly. And almost immediately, the host of our apartment for the night picked us up to take us to his place. It was perfect! We paid him like we would for the taxi, but it was rather reasonable and convenient for us all. 

From the new apartment we walked to the restaurant and had a nice sit down dinner here. Our trip was definitely winding down... We felt relaxed and accomplished. We were also once again in a place where no one could speak the native language and we were back to communicating in English... 

Our flight was leaving at 6:20 am the following morning so we were up at the crack of dawn, just kidding, it was pitch dark when we woke up....the owner of our apartment also gave us a ride to the airport which eased our burden of trying to find a taxi at 4 am! The airport was SO busy! This was August 23rd, Saturday. Thankfully, we had no checked luggage but the security line was still rather long.

Once we were through, we made our way to the lounge as we get free access with our Ritz Carlton card. We actually had to wait in line for a bit as it was opening at 4:30 am. 

It was a great start to our journey home--kids loved all the variety of breakfast food they could get before getting on the plane. And I love how these lounges make traveling just a little more comfortable and luxurious. Sorry, Mark, for the closed eyes.

From Budapest we flew to Paris where once again we had a few hours of a wait. Sadly, I could only get one person into the Air France lounge with me...and Mark volunteered as tribute...since he could eat a lot. We had a good time and made sure to fill up on food-haha. Then reunited with Katya and Robert in time for our flight to RDU. 

What a whirlwind of a trip that was! It was definitely a memorable trip that helped us understand Katya's missionary experience a lot more. It is not an easy place to live in at all and we could see it a lot clearer now. 

Grateful for the opportunity we took to visit this country! It was never on our radar before Katya's mission and now it's part of our family history. 

Lyana.