Graduations of All Kinds

 

It was a week Ella Stole the show on Monday with her graduation and culmination of high school as we continued to prep for her big weekend party to come on Saturday.  Grace took care of Tuesday with her 8th grade celebration and with that all the kids were on summer break.  Thursday night was back to Ella with her final LaCrosse banquet and she managed to sneak in an introduction of Grace to the coach as she considers starting next spring.  The family started to roll in from LaX, EC and Cincy on Friday and become instrumental in the final prep of party essentials as Merrick and I sneaked out for a blackbelt test.  It was a challenging test, but we both passed and earned a small celebration dinner of cheeseburgers on Sunday night.  Monday has found me back at work, but in a couple of days I too will get to start summer vacation...which is filling up fast with College days, golf leagues, Basketball camps, lifeguarding and all the things that occur in our ever aging but never slowing family.

Firsts and Lasts for Ella

It was big week for Ella, some old and some new.  She played in her last band concert, a group that has been 'her people' since forever so there were mixed emotions for her this last time on stage.  Good memories of the past and anticipation of the future.  She also had her Senior ball and was brilliantly dressed, so much so, that even the sun sent down a compliment to her beauty.  Also wrapped into those lasts was her first day as an adult. We were able to gather the whole clan for a family meal at 1919, when you crave burgers for your birthday then it is burgers you shall have!  

....and back again

 

It was an early morning drive back to LaX to help Sophia move out.  She will be staying behind to finish up a little studying and testing and then catch a ride back home with Grandma Nancy.  She was happy to finish up her first year and learned a lot about how to learn.  She managed a Starbucks coffee run before I hit the road for home; with a smile from our brief visit.

All summer in a Day

We are setting record lows, merely the subtle hints of green shoots are on the trees as May knocks on the door.  Spring Sports have that reputation, but this season has been unusual.  With only a single day reaching the 60 degree mark, we quickly filled it with yard work in hopeful anticipation of Spring and maybe even summer.  The kids are still rocking their sports regardless that their attire is meant for several degrees latitude lower on the Globe.  Merrick is meeting regularly with his karate leadership team and has abilities and personality traits that clearly belie his belt ranking.  It is pretty cool to see him as the only "blue' in a see of red gi.  He is working on his final steps, candidates, of training for his black belt.  This is exhausting work which technical prowess is evaluated as well as mental toughness to push through after you have been broken down physically by high intensity workouts.  His golf game is improving and he is hitting the links every night.  He says his drive has straightened out and is  a consistent 200 yards.  Grace is all in on the Track and Field Circuit, having finished her first meet with flakes of snow in the air.  She ran the hurdles and after practicing for multiple hours in the yard, let me know that the regulation hurdles were three inches shorter than what we had built.  On race day she never nicked one of them and easily cleared them all for an overall strong performance.  She is also setting up for high jump and the long jump but the first meet had some organizational confusion that prevented her from competing in those events.  The following night found us back in the same stands, but dressed more warmly for Ella's LaCross game.  It was a great game that ended in an overtime win after a come from behind scoring rally.  The girls and the parents were super excited and it was a great experience.  This weekend they head to the Dells for an all day tournament. 

April comes in with a Bash

 

The "Spring Seasons" have started. La Cross is in full swing for Ella, complete with frostbite from turf practices.  Merrick has been hitting the Links with tryouts starting today...in the snow and Grace is gearing up for the start of Track next week.  With all that we still are fitting in the bevy of Birthdays that open up each April for us.  Merrick started his day off with brunch at the creamery and Grandprize and Nancy joined us at the downtown venue before the big birthday bash that included the larger extended family.  Each birthday kid (all six of them) had their own birthday cake that had been prepped by Grace, Amy and Sonja last Thursday.  The cakes were hollowed out and filled with additional candies and the birthday kids seemed to love cutting their own cakes as much as eating them.  During all the prep...the dogs only absconded with a single cooling cake so that is a pretty good ratio. Grace is all set for her Sushi meal tonight and we will make our way to our table once everyone is home from their sports this evening...and warmed up/dried out.  It was the first day back from spring break for all the DP attendees, but Amy found time to start Grace's B-day off with a Starbucks run before school

Shoulder season starts

The sun has warmth again and the days are noticeably longer but for the most part it is more the 'melty' part of winter than actually spring.  False spring for sure, the temps are hovering in the low thirties and we are oscillating from a little ice fishing to flipping through the garden catalogs that arrive daily in the mail.  After three straight weeks of filling the stands with family Grace had a weekend off from basketball tournaments.  Bob and Nancy came to watch her most recent Appleton games and as a bonus got to see Ella before the Snowball dance.  Merrick is smacking the golf ball at the indoor courses around town as he meets up with the HS team in advance of try outs.  Ella was able to play a couple of ensemble pieces for an area judge on a recent Friday night and we were able to get in the rehearsal to hear the comments and watch the judge work with the groups.  Ella is cutting back on work now that La Crosse practice will start up and she will spend more time on the turf rather than at the pizza oven.  Generally speaking everyone is staying pretty busy. Ella is still heading out to the gym before school and Grace coincidentally has teamed up with a school mate for after school work outs.  Merrick's karate schedule was adjusted to accommodate golf but he is still getting in several hours a week working with the under-belts and getting his training done as well.

 

Court Time....

Shelly flew in for a visit and was able to share her birthday with us and hit all of Grace's basketball games over the weekend. Grace made a phenomenal Bundt cake, that was about the moistest cake I had ever had.  There were plenty of CoVid tests to go around but fortunately they were all negative and we just had some regular old school head colds...after almost two years without one it seems we had forgot how 'sucky' those can be.  The basketball team did well in the Kaukauna tournament and we 'solved' the mystery of the Galloping Ghosts, which is a pretty cool school history going back to the 1920's.  Graces' team plays again this weekend so we are back on the road this time to the nearby hamlet of Mishicot and Grace is expecting the stands to filled with her supporters from the area.   Bleacher back awaits, but the weather is sunny, single digits and dry and with almost no new snow it is a perfect weekend to head back to the basketball court