Track and Field States

The weekend after school ended, States for track and field took place.  Nina was attending for high jump and the 4x100m relay.  The event for 3A and 4A schools was happening at Liberty University (next year when Independence moves to 5A it will be a different location).  The members of the Independence team that made it to states travelled down to Lynchburg together on Thursday, had a pre-meet workout at Lynchburg University, dinner out together as a team, and they stayed in a team hotel with roomates.  It was a first for Mark and I to send her off on her own that way, but they had a good itinerary, their coach is very responsible, and it was an absolute blast for Nina!  

 

Because States was on a Friday, and we were leaving for our beach vacation on Sunday, Mark had to stay behind and close out work before being gone for a week, so I went down to watch.  Since I had time to myself once I arrived there on Thursday evening, I took a walk around the Liberty campus and was able to walk around their outdoor track facility as well.

  

Sadly, I didn’t get many pictures because my camera was still away at Nikon getting fixed, so I only had my phone with me.  I took some video of Nina high jumping so I could show Mark, and I videoed the 4x100m relay, but the videos don’t transfer well here.  Nina jumped her previous PR of 4’8” and her relay team took 3rd overall.  It was a fun event to be there as a spectator.  There were some fantastic events and exciting races, and Nina said she had an absolute blast.  

 

She has had such a great time with her track team this past year, and we anticipate even better things for all the kids next year when they can actually be in school in person and when Covid doesn’t influence so much of how they have to operate.  Regardless, we are just thankful that they were able to have sports at all this year, and we certainly enjoyed this outdoor season of being allowed to be an actual spectator instead of peering through a chain link fence to watch the meets like we had to do in winter track when specators weren’t allowed!  :)

    

A Special Bridal Shower

A couple weeks ago we got to celebrate Bo and Brittany’s upcoming wedding at Brittany's bridal shower in PA.  Brittany’s parents hosted the shower at their home and had a lovely lunch, some cute games, and lots of special touches for the bride-to-be.  The two older girls couldn’t make it because of school commitments, but Lyla, Ryleigh, and Layne came with us and enjoyed spending the shower in the Sullivan’s pool!  :)  We feel very blessed that Brittany is joining our family, and we are so excited for this wedding in just under three months!!

  

  

     

Baby Birds, Team Party and a Tournament

Over the past 2 weeks, we’ve been watching the development of a group of little robins whose nest is in a large bush next to our deck.  Since the bush is next to the deck and against the house, we can see the bird nest from our family room window.  We can also see them easily from the deck.  Mark was trimming the bush (which had gotten overgrown) when he noticed the nest.  He stopped trimming when he saw the nest, but it definitely made them a lot more exposed.  Nevertheless, they safely made it from egg to new baby to fledgling, and it was a lot of fun to watch them grow.  The mother and father birds were so busy.  They were constantly flying back and forth to the nest with beakfulls of worms.  We read that robin parents will actually make up to 100 trips to the nest per day!  That’s impressive!

 

There were four babies in the nest, and at first all they did was sit in the nest with their mouths open.  Very quickly though, they started to open their eyes and grow some little feathers and baby bird fuzz.

  

Within less than two weeks of their hatching, they were already fledgling birds and jumping out of the nest.  They were very entertaining to watch, and we’ll miss having them around, but we were happy to see them grown, healthy, and hopefully doing well now as independent birds.

 

Last week we also had the team end of season party for Lyla’s soccer team.  This year has been a great year for the team.  They’ve had a great coach, a really nice group of girls and families, and they’ve also had a lot of fun.  One of the families hosted a party for the girls with an incredible dinner spread, but I just had to take photos of the cookies and the charcuterie board because they were so pretty!  :)  We had dinner, hung out, the girls played a bunch of games, and then they finished things up tie dying team shirts.  It was a great evening, and a nice way to round out the regular season before their last tournament weekend.  

    

Their last tournament weekend was the FC Delco Memorial Day tournament in Pennsylvania.  Rain was forecasted for the weekend, but the tournament organizers said they planned to host the tournament regardless, so Lyla and I drove up to PA on Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel with enough time to go out for a pizza dinner then relax back at the hotel.  The girls were scheduled for an 8am game on Saturday morning, but we got notification about an hour before their game that it was going to be canceled due to weather.   The tournament organizers hinted at canceling the tournament, but we were told to wait a couple hours for word on what was happening.  By noon, we got word that the tournament was being canceled, but we were still to play one game (the only game on our schedule that was on a turf field).  

 

The girls were SO disappointed that their tournament was canceled, but they played their one game very well and won their match.   

 

 

It was a little sad to leave the tournament without a real chance to finish things out becuase the team will change so much next year.  Their coach is moving to Florida, and due to a lot of shuffing of players based on try outs, seven of the girls won’t be with this team next year.  That’s the way the club works though.  Coaches change regularly, and teams aren’t guaranteed to stay together, and while there are positives and negatives to both, we have very much enjoyed this group this year, and we hope for another great year with Loudoun ’08 Red next season.

 

 

Nina Turns 15

Just typing that number ’15’ out, I had to think twice.  But, yes, as hard as it is to believe, we have a 15 year old in the house!  

The day before her birthday, we went out to dinner together at our family favorite restaurant, Fireworks Pizza.  Normally, we’ll bike to Fireworks from the W&OD trail, but earlier in the week Nina hyperextened her knee in track practice.  She also over-stretched her MCL and had a minor displacement of her patella, so we we opted for the safe option of driving to dinner since the high school athletic trainer recommended she go really easy on activity for a few days.  Regardless, it was great to be out to dinner as a family (something we haven’t done out at a resturant since COVID hit) and the pizza at Fireworks is just the best.

  

She wanted a very low-key celebration for her birthday this year, so we did the traditional donut breakfast and her gifts in the morning, then she had three of her friends over for hanging out, dinner, and cake (all chocolate, of course) that afternoon/evening.  

   

On a side note, her knee is healing.  She had to miss the last two track meets for the high school regular season, but with lots of help from the trainer, she should be able to participate in regionals this Wednesday which she qualified for in the 100m hurdles, the 300m hurdles, high jump, and the 4x100m relay.  It will be tough since she’s been unable to run, jump, or hurdle in two weeks, but we know she’s fortunate that her injury wasn’t a major one, and we hope she’ll continue to feel stronger in the next couple days and enjoy her shot competing at regionals.