Winter Southerns B16-Mobile, AL

Someday this all will be history but for now this is our family’s everyday stuff. 

This year again Winter Southern’s for Boys 16s was hosted by Mobile Tennis Center. So we flew to Pensacola, as always with Southwest, on points, then drove an hour to Mobile. We kind of know our way around there now, which is funny.

As usual, on the first day, the boys check in for the tournament and have a hit. Mark was playing doubles with Connor once again. 

It’s quite a large draw for doubles so Mark and Connor frequently get a bye. This time, they were number ONE seed which was a little surprising but well deserved. That means that their ranking combined was the highest in the whole draw of 64 pairs. 

Mark and Connor had a bye in the round of 64, won the first match 8:3 and then had a super tough evening match against William Claus and Ross Johnson to get to top 16. They won 9:8 (8:6 tiebreaker). It was quite a match with so many nail biting moments! 

Kelly and I were FREEZING but man...this was exciting. 

In the meantime, Mark was doing pretty well in singles too.  He won his first two matches and got to the Round of 32. 

And then he had to play against Griffin Goode again. Mark can beat him, I know it! But it’s been a long time since he’s done that. So he lost... And then in the consolation draw, the next day, he had to play a very strong opponent, Hrday, and lost in a close match 6:4, 6:4. He actually played really well in that match though! How do I know and remember all this you might ask? Well....the draws are still online-haha. 

Mark reading a book in the hotel to prove he is not always on his phone. 

So Doubles were continuing.. in the Quarterfinals, Connor and Mark played Simon Hayal and Taichi Shimizu. It was a bit of a crazy match as Simon was not being a good sport during the match, but the boys won decisively 8:5. Simon just walked away after the match not even talking to his partner. I have to say that Connor and Mark did not have an easy draw looking at who they had to beat. 

Next, in the semis, they faced five seeds--Artem Dmytrenko (a Ukrainian kid who is here because of the war) and Lenzen Decker, Artem being by far the better player. Frankly, we did not know what to expect from this match and know the boys were nervous. At first they were down 5:2, the whole time Artem talking trash to them and making very questionable calls. He was not even acting like himself, loudly yelling and saying weird stuff like “your backhand is so bad” to Mark and Connor. It was so strange that at some point I stood up and said in Ukrainian to his mom a few feet away “This is horrible behavior”. She didn’t look at me. But Artem definitely knew what I was talking about, and noticed I was appalled. Whatever happened afterwards is even stranger...after a ref stopped by, Artem and his partner stopped yelling crazily and talking trash. And suddenly...slowly...our boys starting picking up more points. Absolutely unbelievably, they won 8:5! Perhaps it was a coincidence, but as soon as the opponents stopped acting like jerks, they started losing. Needless to say, the parents of the opponents were really upset even at us, and said that “Kelly was crazy” which is the farthest from the truth. And the Ukrainian mom, who I had been chatting with for like a year and thought was friendly, just told me “I don’t have to talk to you”. It was the most dramatic and strange match experience we’ve had in doubles. Too bad..

The next morning, Mark and Connor had to play Griffin Goode and Johnny Wolfe. Sadly, they didn’t play as well as they hoped and lost 8:5. Still! Getting to the finals was huge! 

Here they are receiving their awards. 

Congratulations, boys! 

And the moms deserve a medal too! We are so proud of Connor and Mark!

One of the few pictures with Mark! 

I think this part of the hallway near the Southwest luggage carousel feels like home now as we so frequently end our journeys there, usually at 11 pm or so... Southwest companion pass for the win! 

And just for fun, I am including some of Mark’s action shots from his training here in Cary. 

He was wearing his hat backwards there for a bit. 

And so this tennis journey continues! So much fun! So much work and dedication! 

Lyana

 

Chasing BYU Tennis Team in Pennsylvania

If you were to ask me a few years ago if I ever would do what we did, I would say absolutely not-- it’s just crazy. 

But it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore-haha! 

Middle of February, we were waiting for find out if Mark was going to get into an L2 tournament. Only four L2s are happening in the country at the same time so the competition to get in is stiff. He was one of the top alternates for Arizona, so we were holding on to last piece of hope he would get in and I finally cancelled the ticket on Thursday evening. 

So instead, since we had a free Friday, we decided to fly to Philadelphia and drive to Lehigh University where BYU was playing against Vilanova on their “East Coast trip”.  It wasn’t a spur of the moment trip--I did book the tickets a few weeks earlier “just in case”.

We left early in the morning, got to Philly, got our rental car and made it to the site shortly after doubles was finished. We were the only BYU fans besides the parents of two of the Owen boys who are on the team. The reason we could just fly to Philly if we wanted to is MILES! It was a direct flight from Raleigh for only about 6K points per person and $6 for taxes each way. Great redemption, if you ask me! 

And what an experience! Mark couldn’t stop beaming just being there, next to all these amazing players! We got to talk to the parents of Redd and Hardy Owen who followed the team from UT. And chatted with all the players. They all couldn’t believe that Mark is just 16 and is so tall. 

After the matches, which BYU won 7:0 even without the number 1 and number 2 player playing, we all went to grab some lunch. 

We chatted with the coaches and just had a good time. I was still feeling pretty nervous, probably because they are college coaches. They weren’t obviously talking about recruiting in any shape or form yet because the date they are allowed to do that is Jun 15th before Mark’s junior year. How awesome it is to have this picture! 

And I love that they made the group to squish together and to get Mark in with everyone. 

So funny! 

A few of these guys are non-LDS and some are returned missionaries. It’s interesting because the ones that served in Brazil, Benin and Thailand couldn’t play tennis at all for two years. But Hardy was lucky and while serving in Slovenia was able to play tennis almost every day in the morning while being able to also teach and make connections with people. Now one tennis player Tennyson Whiting is serving in the same mission after a couple of years at BYU and then trying to make it on the pro tour. Amazing stuff! 

And after this fun lunch, we were back in the car, grabbing some treats for our drive back to the airport and catching our flight home. It was a crazy whirlwind trip, just a day trip, but such a memory for me and Mark!

Lyana. 

 

Maui Trip That Began in 2024 and Finished in 2025

Today's post is not going to be an bragging post about how I managed to book us an unbelievable luxurious stay at the Regency Hyatt Maui for Christmas with points that ended up costing us ZERO. Nope! It's not even going to be a bragging post about how we flew TO Hawaii for like $11 a person...but then we had to pay a pretty penny for Robert to get home for work so had to pay full price for that! 

Also, it was a little non-standard but Katya flew separately from RDU to Maui. I managed to have only enough points for three of us to fly with American airlines. And then Katya flew almost at the same time on Delt through Atlanta. When we landed, we had about an hour to go get a bite to eat from the famous food trucks next to the airport and then circle back to pick her up before heading to the resort. 

But anyway! This post is a beautiful post because let's be clear--Hawaii is stunning. We don't agree with people who say there is no need to go to HI as we have the Caribbean islands nearby. Those are amazing too BUT...Hawaii is something special. That place just feels different and we love it! 

Most importantly, this trip was a wonderful opportunity to be together and think collectively about how much we miss Alex. 

Our resort was right on the beach. We got upgraded to the majestic ocean view room with a balcony on the highest floor.

And because I mentioned Mark's birthday in my email to the hotel manager, Mark even got a special birthday cake made out of towels plus a whole basket as an amenity gift! Super special! 

We had 6 nights to spend in Maui so we decided to soak in whatever time we had and spend it outside as much as possible. We did a lot of beach hopping (our beach was so-so but the beaches just a bit of a walk along the shore were much wider and still sandy). 

It's not stressful nowadays to go to the beach because the kids are not little. But at the same time, you don't hear them squeal and jump and play in the water like they used to either.  

Robert is the one that does most of the jumping and playing nowadays, indirectly forcing the unimpressed teenager(s) to join him. 

So...you know how I always thank Robert for being our sponsor of the trip and so on...well, this time I can thank myself for sponsoring it with points-hahaha! I promise...I am only mildly obsessed with my successful points redemptions. 

Beautiful Katya enjoying the sun and really happy to be on a break from a stressful semester of school at BYU. 

On the first day, after our beach escapades, we ran into the #LightTheWorld kiosk! We had never seen one in our area so this was just perfect! 

In the afternoon, we decided to chill at the resort and signed up for a lei making class. I really enjoyed doing it and we ended up with four beautiful creations that hung on our mirrors in the room. 

It was so easy to make, but I just can't imagine how long it takes to collect those flowers off the bushes! 

And then we reserved a pickleball court to play a "friendly" family pickleball match. We all are pretty competitive--it was fun! 

One of the highlights of our trip was Whale Watching! I went into this excursion not expecting much. Well, then what was I paying so much if I wasn't expecting it? Not sure. The point is, we all were in for a huge surprise! We literally were watching several whales for a couple of hours. It was absolutely incredible to see it in person! No pictures can do this experience justice. 

We got to celebrate New Year's in Maui too! So we all got dressed up and took pictures before venturing out to a different fancy resort. 

Katya on our balcony with beautiful lighting. 

We took so many pictures that night! 

It was already 2025 on mainland but we enjoyed the last rays of sunshine of 2024. 

We were just happy we didn't get sunburnt this time (🙄).

Mark, 16 years old. 

Katya, 21 years old. 

And here we are at our really nice dinner. Maui is not really a party place, but this was a solid choice for a special meal right next to the beach. 

After dinner we walked around that resort and then to the beach to look at the amazing starry sky above the black ocean. It was gorgeous! 

The following day we were up and ready to go for more adventures! I signed up Mark, Katya and Robert for a surfing lesson! I didn't particularly want to risk doing it with my non-existent ACL situation. 

I took a lot of pictures though and enjoyed seeing them doing something hard! 

Basically, Katya was a natural and easily found balance every time. Mark was still like a baby giraffe with his long legs and tall body-haha. Robert did an amazing job and stood up on that board so many times! Pretty cool surf dude! 

In the evening, we had an opportunity to go to the Old Fashioned Luau Dinner. 

Look at these gorgeous kids! 

By far, this was the most expensive excursion/activity that we have ever booked! It was more than the New Zealand dinner! 

But it was worth it! These pictures were taken during the pre-show where we could walk around and see some cultural exhibits, practice some dancing and enjoy the atmosphere. 

Mark was really enjoying himself as shown on the Exhibit A. 

And yes, I did get a dress from Amazon just so I could wear it in Hawaii-haha. And now I am writing this and thinking when else will I wear it? I guess we need to go back to Hawaii! 

The dinner was delicious with a variety of food! It was unique and actually really tasty. We had a lot of food! It was not a true buffet as we were brought platters of all the food and then we had that "buffet" on the table. 

One more festive selfie! 

The performance was pretty magical too! By the time they started it was dark and kind of mysterious, so that added to the mood. 

Here is just an example. 

Great evening had by all! We were happy to support that Lahaina community that suffered a terrible fire disaster only a year prior. 

Finally, on one of the days we went on a hike in a different part of the island to see Dragon's Teeth--cliffs that look like teeth sort of. Beautiful easy walk! 

Gorgeous views all along the way! I mean, the sky is truly honestly blue like that and so is the ocean. 

And then we also drove South towards a completely different part of the island to experience a different beach. 

Keawakapu Beach was in the Wailea area. Next time I would love to stay and explore this area more as well. The beach here was a lot flatter and wider than north of Lahaina. 

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at this gorgeous restaurant! 

The views were majestic! The outside patio was very spacious and we enjoyed looking at the setting of this historic pineapple plantation. 

Another family selfie! 

On our last evening, we went to the beach next to our hotel again. And Robert took the kids to the pool with the slide (on our property). 

So we had the pool and the pool next door from the Hyatt vacation club (with a lot more shade). It was pretty crowded, and we know it's because we were there during the busiest season of the year. 

One more cool thing to mention is that we had penguins at our resort! Yes! crazy! We could watch them come out get fed every morning at 9:30 am. Super cute! 

And that was a quick recap of our Hawaii trip! So many new memories made! Maui is beautiful and I hope to return someday (but only if it's for free-hahaha)! 

We had to split up for our flights back as well. Robert and Mark flew back to NC together. Katya and I had a flight at the same time with Delta but we flew to Seattle first. And then after a few hours of a layover, she continued her journey to SLC and I flew to RDU. It worked out as we could spend a few hours at the Seattle Priority Pass Lounge, so at least we had comfortable chairs and food. 

Lyana.