Spring Break 2019 - Part 1

For the girls’ Spring Break week, we went down to Hartfield for some low key fun and relaxing family time. We had beautiful weather each day (with exception of a storm Friday night), so we spent a lot of time outdoors.  Mark challenged the girls to a "Bass Masters Classic” fish-off - their combined fish verses his caught fish.  The girls won earned themselves ice cream at Something Different in Urbanna.  Of course, we also had to spend some time visiting the horses and making a fire for s’mores once it got dark.  

 

We also planned to go to Busch Gardens while we were there.  The weather was sunny and 80’s when we went to BG, so the park was a lot more crowded than we thought.  The girls still did get to ride all the rides they wanted, although they had to put up with more waiting in line than we’re used to when we got there on summer weekdays.  Busch Gardens was another fun, but exhausting day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Last Father/Daughter Dance

This spring was the last Father/Daughter dance in our house.  The girls’ elementary school has hosted the dance for the last three years, and with Lyla leaving elementary school in a month, this was our last go around with the dance.  I may be a little biased, but I think these two had to be the cutest at the dance!  :)

 

Arrival of Spring

I’m so happy spring is here!  I love the warmer weather, the sun out, and the chance to be outside more.  Much to Mark’s joy, the girls have really gotten into fishing.  They each have their own rod now, and they’re pretty good with their technique and catching fish.  

  

Lyla took a diversion with a cattail, and I got to have some photo fun.  :)

 

 

Nina and Lyla had a long weekend with the ending of the 3rd quarter of school, and it coincided with the last day of the Williams girls spring break.  So, we met up to do a hike together at Weverton Cliffs.  We had nine girls on the trail (including the two 4-legged girls), and even though I got us hiking in the wrong direction to start (shocker!), everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves even with the challenge of the rather constant uphill to get to the cliffs.

Once we got to the top, the vew was beautiful.  It was a clear day, and we took the opportunity to hang at the top for awhile to check out the scenery, eat some snacks, drink some water, and take a few pics.

 

After hiking back down, Shen and Layne left to drop Layne off a friend’s house for a sleepover, then the four girls and I stopped by a really cool farm store for ice cream, then the Williams crew hung with us that evening for dinner and more hanging out.  It was a great way to spend a Friday - hiking and having fun with family!

Lyla Turns 11

I’ve got some catching up of March to do!  On 3/8, Lyla turned 11!  It’s hard to believe.  I say this every year with their birthdays, but it’s not lost on me that time is flying!

We started her day with donuts before school, then I came to school for lunch with Chick Fil-A.  Her birthday was on a Friday which was nice because that meant no homework to do, no practices to attend, and a day to just hang and enjoy.  We had Mouse, Pops, Bo, and Brittany over that night for Lyla’s requested dinner of MYO pizza night.

  

Since she shares a birthday with Uncle Bo, it’s always such a special evening to have them both together on their birthday.  We love them both so much!!

 

Heading into a few weeks before Lyla’s birthday, we knew there might be a chance that Nina would qualify to attend AAU Indoor Track and Field Nationals for high jump.  We also knew that the high jump event was going to be taking place during the afternoon/evening of 3/8.  After finding out that Nina did qualify, we made the decision to split up for the day, and Mark took Nina to Landover, MD (thankfully this one was close) for Indoor Nationals, and I would stay back at home to keep the birthday day special for Lyla.  

Nina did a great job at nationals, and out of the 14 girls that qualified in her age group, she finished 6th.  We were super proud of her for her hard work in her first ever track season.  She was also proud and happy to have been able to compete.  Nina and Mark left Landover immediately following the medal ceremony for Nina’s age group in hopes to make it back for some of the birthday celebrations for Lyla.  They got home around 9:30 but still had time for some pizza and cake with the birthday girl and family.

 

Busy Winter

Normally winter feels very slow to me, but we’ve had a busy winter this year, so I’m actually surprised that we’re already nearing the end of February.  Lyla has been kept active with her team’s indoor soccer trainings and weekend futsol games, and we’ve had four indoor track meets since January, three of which have either been in North Jersey or New York, so we’ve logged some miles up and down Interstate 95.  Mark and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary at a track meet in Lynchburg, VA, and we’ve had some snow days, some Mouse Kondo help, Nina going to Jr. High Winter Camp for church, and Valentine’s Day.  Before we know it, we’ll be celebrating Lyla’s 11th birthday!  Time certainly is flying!

    

Here we are celebrating our anniversary with Nina at an awesome little Italian restaurant in Lynchburg.  We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed celebrating our anniversary with Nina along.  Her track meet was the next day at Liberty University’s Indoor Track and Field complex.  So, we went back to the hotel after dinner and got ready for the meet. We were very thankful to Mousey and Poppy for hosting Lyla and Cayenne all day Saturday and Sunday.  They had a great time, and I think it’s safe to say that Lyla made the most of the full attention of the grandparents!

  

This meet was a learning experience for us.  It was our second track meet ever, but I feel like we got a better understanding after leaving here of how to approach the long days of future meets.  Nina struggled a bit to find her groove in this meet, but we kept encouraging her to keep working and everything will start coming together.

  

While Nina was at her next meet with Mark up in Jersey City, Mousey, a.k.a Marie Kondo, came over to help tidy up Lyla’s room.  It was a massive undertaking, but thanks to the Mouse, Lyla’s room and her dresser drawers now look radically different! Lyla and I enjoyed the weekend together going out do dinner, watching Secretariat, going to her soccer game, and spending some time with the Mouse.  While up in Jersey City, Nina started making some real progress with high jump.  While she had jumped 3’8” at the Liberty meet, she jumped 4’4” in Jersey City.  This video was from her first jump where she had to start at 4’0” after never having cleared that height before.  She was so nervous, but pulled it off (and you can hear the excited Mark at the end of the video).  She continued to jump 4” higher after this video. https://youtu.be/IfeNV2OMYmc

Nina was back out of town again the next weekend for Jr. High Winter Camp for church...

…and we participated in the 5th grade pasta dinner on Friday evening with Lyla, and since Ryleigh and Emme were away at church camp also, Layne came over to spend the night on Friday night with Lyla, then Lyla spent the night at the Williams house on Saturday, so even the sisters who didn’t go to camp had a fun weekend together! 

The girls had a fun Valentine’s Day, but sadly, Mark’s back was in bad shape, so he spent much of the week laid up and uncomfortable.  Cayenne made sure everyone still had plenty of Valentine’s Day kisses though!

 

The next weekend, Nina and I headed up to Staten Island for her 4th meet at the Oceanside Track and Field Complex.  We got to the team hotel on Saturday evening and got a good dinner together, then settled in for the night.  We were up and out early the next morning.

   

We had quite the hectic start when we got there as her hurdle event went off much earlier than we anticipated (literally immediately after we walked into the building) which made for a crazy start, but despite taking a fall over the last hurdle, she rebounded and got a personal record in high jump (4’5”) and her second fastest 200m time, so everything ended well despite starting kind of frantically.

 

 

Her gains in high jump qualified her for Nationals in Landover, MD, the weekend of March 8-10, so we’re really proud of her for her hard work, and we’re so happy to see that she’s found something she loves to do and is willing to work at to keep improving.  It’s been a lot of learning for her in the past few months since joining this track team just after Thanksgiving, but it was a great decision to try something new, and we’re happy to see her enjoying herself so much.

 

Right after we got back from the track meet, we got more snow, and the kids got more days off school.  Up to this point, they haven’t gone to school a full week since Winter Break!  This week we’re currently in might be their first full week of school!  Not that they mind though.  They love the snow days, the sleeping in (well, Nina), and the lazy days. Cayenne seems to enjoy it too!  She loves having the girls home and all the extra attention that comes with it!