Brew City Battle

The boys had one more out of town tournament in January before finishing up the season locally.   We traveled to Milwaukee (again) but this time played downtown.   Our hotel was just a block's walk and there were places to eat (and Starbucks), so it was super convenient.   The best part of the weekend was that the boys were on fire!   They breezed through Saturday until losing the last match which was full of questionable / annoying calls. But they battled through the Gold Bracket on Sunday to come away with a third place finish (including a win over Friday's loss).

Unfortunately we didn't get a team photo with all of the boys.   Eeshan was late on Saturday due to a conflict and Jonas was out on Sunday due to illness.   But between the two days, this is the full team.

Some action shots between the two days.   They wore their Arizona Iced Tea customs on Saturday and black on Sunday.   Adding to the excitement was that our Coach's 18s team had overlapping matches for much of Sunday.   We had a substitute coach plus our student coach, Andrew, for several sets.   The boys rose to the challenge during all of it.  

 

John keeps buying Yeti cups and koozies at Ace Hardware, since he says they're on sale.   This new mug was good for the car drive since it has a straw.  It wasn't amazing courtside since it was so small.  William also told me that I wasn't on trend since most women and girls carry oversized Stanleys and not medium sized Yetis!  I got a really big kick out of that because it sounded like he was trying to educate me on what's going on out in the world.   I have the socials...I've heard. LOL.

(Photo cred: Andrew's dad)

Also on Sunday was the Chiefs vs. Ravens playoff game.   There were quite a few people wearing Chiefs gear at the courts and streaming the game on their devices.  When I was walking laps through the rest of the convention center during their ref match, I "watched" part of the game over this balcony.  

Wrapped up the long weekend with a win, a medal and a 2 hour drive home in the dark.   John wasn't able to join us because he was home dealing with a flooded basement.   Our sump pumps failed to keep up with the melting snow, so we lost our carpet and baseboards.  Luckily the remediation was done quickly and the walls didn't get  damaged and everything dried out.   New sump pumps were installed relatively quickly and the floors and trim are on order.   

SoCal Cup

630 Volleyball teams played over MLK weekend in the SoCal Cup in Los Angeles.   Since I had to work it ended up being a guys trip.  And thanks to winter snow storms here, they got to head out a day early to beat the weather delays....and then school was moved to asynchronous so William didn't end up missing any school! 

While Lucy and I battled the snow, the guys were in beautiful, sunny SoCal.  On their off day, Friday, they went to Universal Studios while I monitored the parents text thread for all of the travel delays.  With that many families each arranging their own travel, there were a variety of airlines and travel times in play.  One boy - whose family didn't have nonstop flights - didn't arrive until the middle of the first game on Saturday afternoon.  Everyone else made it on time or early.   

The 15s were afternoon wave on Saturday and Sunday, so the families had time for morning activities.  On Saturday, they hiked the Hollywood Hills sign and on Sunday did The Grove Farmer's Market.  In between, there was a lot of tough volleyball.   They held their own in most matches, but the boys had a different lineup than usual, as their setter didn't make the trip due to family obligations.  Grant, our libero, set last year, so he volunteered to do it.  William and Aidan took turned at lib before figuring out the right rotation.   It was a great team building exercise though, and they took it into their next tournament.   And these Chicago kids and families were loving the LA sunshine.  I did mention there was A LOT of snow at home, right?!   

 

Also of note was that the JW Marriott where they stayed in LA was the host hotel for the Emmy's so the walk to/from the convention center was circuitous the last day due to street closures.   And John got this photo of William in his volleyball kit (pink shorts in the very middle of the photo) with the "prom people."   Or the B-listers as they said since it was mid-afternoon and none of the real stars had arrived to walk the red carpet.  To be clear, this photo is taken on zoom from across the street through a construction fence barricade!

Finally, on their way back to the airport they made a detour at the USS Iowa for a quick photo and look about.

Winter Snow Storm(s)

We had a week of snow after some freezing temps.   This first photo was Friday afternoon, January 5.  The second is Sunday afternoon, January 14, after an exhausting week of shoveling and snow blowing and generally just getting around in the cold and wet weather!  Lucy doesn't really love wearing a sweater but I do think she likes the built in blanket for sleeping.   I prefer snow when I can just look at it from inside my snow globe versus having to clear it or travel in it.

The first snow was a pretty wintry snow on Saturday the 6th.  We did have a volleyball tournament by Midway but travel conditions weren't horrible.  

After a wet snow on Tuesday that I shoveled twice, I decided we needed a working snow blower.  Our gas powered blower has been broken for quite awhile.   My dad did some research and recommended an electric model for me.  Amazon delivered it the next day and it was ready for the next batch of weather.  I didn't consider until I started using it that electric won't work for everyone.   Literally minutes after getting it assembled and ready to start my first pass, the electricity went out!   Luckily we have a generator and I cleared the driveway fine.  ComEd didn't restore power for about 6 hours, so thankful we have the generator!

John and William were able to reschedule their flights to SoCal and got out before the worst weather.   Lucy and I held down the fort with A LOT of trips to clear the driveway and front walk so it wouldn't accumulate more than 3-5 inches at a time, which is what I felt was probably the comfortable limit for me to clear.    It took some practice getting used to the extension cord with the electric blower, but I had several opportunities to develop my system!   We have a long driveway, so I also had to move the plug between the garage and the front porch to get the last 15 feet or so.   I had to use the shovel to get the part the snow plows pushed up.  I definitely recouped my investment that weekend.   In between the windy snow clearing, I was getting sunny tourist and volleyball photos!   I was *mostly* glad for them to be warm and having fun!

Some comic relief when I came back inside to work

Morning snow versus cleared with Christmas lights!  

New Year's Eve

We enjoyed a mostly quiet night at home for New Year's Eve.   I booked a Naperville Tuk Tuk Holiday Lights tour, so we headed downtown for hot drinks a few minutes before meeting our driver.   The light tour was all around the core downtown area and was a lot of fun because most were streets I had not been down before.   Our driver was a Disney fan and had some little nuggets to share as part of his commentary.    

As we were killing time before leaving, we waited inside the Hotel Indigo where a wedding party was having their cocktail hour and waiting for the bride and groom to come back from pictures.    We had already passed the couple taking photos on the Riverwalk at a covered bridge.   The guest of honor appeared to be a small dog.   It was fun watching them all dressed up and ready to party while we finished our night with carryout sushi and the Barbie movie!

At the stroke of midnight, our newest neighbors (whom we have not met but have piqued the interest of the neighborhood by installing an inground swimming pool DIY this winter) set off a massive amount of fireworks.   Lucy, who has never reacted to any noises, came frantically looking for us.  I went outside as the grand finale was bursting and it was pretty spectacular for an illegal neighborhood show.  The whole thing only last 5 minutes but it was LOUD.

William is happy to pose for pictures now for proof that he is as tall or taller than both of us.