8th Grade Cross Country Season

William ran on the ASCA Cross Country team for the second year.  It's a nice sport - usually good weather, the season only lasts about 8 weeks, the meets get you in-and-out before noon on Saturday so you can still enjoy your weekend.  And at this level it's mostly about racing against yourself and improving your own time,  so people are generally cheering on one another.  

The first meet of the year was livestreamed which was neat for the grandparents to watch.  It ended up being an overcast day, so I stayed home and watched it from the office.  During tax season, I didn't have the bandwidth to commit the entire morning and then get rained out.   I knew this course from last year and know his general times so it was easy enough for me to spot him and then "follow" him throughout the 2 miles on each split.  Trying to be a helper, I told the grandparents he wore orange shoes, because almost all the schools have some version of a navy blue uniform shirt.    Turns out I had not gotten a good look at those shoes cluttering the floor.  They did have some orange patterning, but were also blue.  Oops!  Once I spotted him, I took a photo and texted it out to help them find him.  

The second meet was at our home course, which is a three minute drive or 15 minute walk from the house, so even better!  We could drop him off and come back later.  That's the only bad part about 8th grade versus 7th grade....you still have to get there before the meet starts but you run last.

By our home meet, the new jerseys were in!  The kids (and parents) ended up loving them.  Tank tops so they were cooler and the light blue was so easy to spot across a field!  Finally; I could find my kid!

The last meet of the season is run at Lewis University.  We were pretty sure that was the end of William's XC career.  He liked it fine but certainly didn't love it enough for the mileage and discipline of the high school team.   He got one last good run in and then we went home and all got showered and changed and headed to the airport for our overnight flight to Paris for fall break.   It was good to have been out in the fresh air and running around a little before our long coop up.

Labor Day Visitors

We got to host another pool party for Labor Day when the Koudeles came up for their first visit since we moved to this house.  It wasn't quite as warm over the weekend as most people would enjoy, but Unicorn Princesses will swim in any weather, so it was just fine!   Thankfully we had a glitter unicorn float at the ready.   It helped that we received it from the Koudeles for a housewarming gift last year and astutely waited to debut it until they arrived!

Since we had an extra driver, of course we requested drop off service from Aiden on the evening that the adults went out!  We walked home but didn't want to waste our energy or get wind blown hair on our way there!  We joked he was going to take John's A4 for a joy ride on the 5 minute drive back home. Or at least cruise through the nearby college campus to meet some ladies.  According to his phone, he went straight home..... We tried a new-to-us place for drinks that was good, if not a little weird.   We're old enough and particular enough that we can make better drinks at home for the most part.  So we didn't stay out too long!

Plus Saturday morning was William's cross country meet.  Thankfully it was a home meet a mere 5 minutes from the house!   It was a beautiful morning and the first time they debuted their new team jerseys.  They were so much easier to spot on the course in these new light blue tanks.   Every other school also had the royal blue t-shirts like their old uniform which made it a challenge to spot your kid across a field!

Alberto and Tyler, above, and William, below

That afternoon we got prettied up with manis and pedis (including some sparkles for Addie) and then did a family dinner out.   Since we new traffic and parking would be a mess, we called for the Tuk Tuks to come pick us up!   They only do rides around the core downtown area but our house is close enough that we're in the zone.   It was so much fun zooming down our street.   Especially on the ride home when we had a parents v kids race.   Parents won!  (I hope Keith and John tipped our driver extra for that victory!)

Had to get a final picture of the losers....I mean, the kids, after we got home.    Somehow Addie managed to hold onto her ice cream safely the entire ride home!   Aiden (16), William (13.5), Addie (9).

8th Grade

Back to school too soon!  This year William is an 8th grader, which means the last year at All Saints and starting to plan for high school.   Before we get there we have a fall full of cross country, volleyball, math competitions, and what I'm guessing is going to be a lot of homework!

Disney Princess Trip

 While William was away on his big adventures, John and I didn't want to sit at home and be lonely!   So we headed to Disney World to join the Koudeles on their Disney Princess Trip.   It was the much anticipated reschedule from summer 2020 for Addie to finally get her turn at Disney.   Aiden had his turn at that age when the boys went for a Halloween trip in October 2017.   It was fun being part of the Princess Crew and seeing our framily.  

I love this picture of Aiden.   I also bet him $20 if he'd wear the helmet throughout the day.   It wasn't very nice of me because it was super hot, but he was game for awhile.  Though he totally bailed when we encountered some Stormtrooper and other Resistance officers!   I gave him his $20 anyway....eventually.

We got tons of Photopass photos since I had already paid for the full year with my annual pass.   Everyone linked in my account can get photos on it, and then I can download all of them.   The Koudeles got there earlier than we did, so I had fun monitoring my Disney Experience App for princess photos like the Elsa one.   That's The One we'd all been waiting to see!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House and had rooms that were pretty close.  We could see each other from our balconies.   And even more importantly:  we could see giraffe from our balconies!  We came back one night and there were so many animals right outside our doors!  I don't know what tasty treats they had put out for them but it was very exciting to see such a dense group.   

I got this picture I love of the baby gorilla at Animal Kingdom Park...our favorite exhibit!  This must be Ada.  She looks so tiny!  Later out at the Tree of Life, John was happy to be among the 6-footers with curly hair when the macaws came swooping in looking for a place to land.   Spoiler alert:  they didn't touch John!    

On our arrival day at Epcot, we got to ride Guardians of the Galaxy for the first (and second) time!  It is a super fun - and smooth - coaster but something about it makes me dizzy afterwards unlike any other ride.   So I don't think it lands in my top 5 Disney World rides after all.   We had dinner at Teppan Edo, an Aiden pick.  This made me a little sad about not having William along, as it's his favorite, too. 

When everyone else went back to ride more thrill rides, Addie and I hit up the gift shop and then Club Cool where I played the age-old Beverly trick on her.   As she believes Aunt Lisa to be The Disney Expert, she didn't question me for a second.  I only felt a tiny twinge of guilt when she made her sour face!   I'm pretty sure I bought her a donut or ice cream or something as we waited out the rest of our time.  :-)

On our Magic Kingdom Day, we had ressies to have lunch with Cindy!   The rest of the princesses are on hiatus, but we got a family photo with Cinderella at the entrance and then enjoyed our fancy lunch upstairs.  The food was better than I was expecting.   We've had both breakfast (in 2015) and dinner (my 40th birthday) there and they were great.  I just wasn't sure what to expect from the scaled back service at a lunch.  But the waitress seemed to really appreciate that we were food lovers and a bit adventurous, and that we weren't just a table of tired and distracted tourists.  So she gave us lots of feedback on menu choices and even brought me two appetizers when I couldn't decide which one to get.

It was a lot of fun exploring Disney through new eyes!   We're glad at least two of the three of us were available for Addie's rescheduled trip!

William's Big Adventures

For the second year, William was invited by Grandpa Roger to join him on his fishing trip to Lake of the Woods at Ballard's Resort.  It was a great adventure before heading back to school.   This year we had all the grandparents involved in his travel.   First leg of the trip was to fly William on Southwest Airlines for the quick trip from Chicago Midway to Kansas City.  Grandpa Ed was already waiting for him at the gate before the plane took off, and I was pulling into the driveway when I got the text message that he had him.  After two nights in KC visiting Lohrmans (and Coco the dog!), the grandpas met halfway between their cities to do a hand-off.     

In McPherson, William always enjoys some pool at the Veranda Clubhouse.   He did all his usual routines with grandma and grandpa before the guys got on the bus for the LONG trip to Minnesota.  Neither he nor grandpa got the whoppers like the year prior that got him the headliner photo in the 2022 marketing materials, but it was another grand adventure!   And I was very eager to collect him from his Wichita to O'Hare American Airlines flight to end the trip.   He checked off a lot of modes of transportation in just over a week!  

Early morning photo courtesy of William