October was pretty busy with a lot of basketball, a little cross-country and tennis along with a trip to Florida.
We went to Sanibel for Fall Break and it was a good opportunity to take a trip and make things seem as normal as possible.
We flew out on Saturday, Oct 17th to Florida and that went pretty well with the small exception that we avoided all restaurants in the airport and didn’t take any snacks or drinks on the plane. After going to the grocery store, we arrived at our condo and went straight to the beach. Our trip had 4 very different types of days at the beach before we flew home on Thursday. First day was sunny and awesome, until the tide came in and brought in hundreds of jelly fish. I can’t understate how many jelly fish we saw. Needless to say, we stayed on the beach and eventually retreated to the pool. The second day was rainy all day, but we did have a few breaks to go look for some shells and see a nice sunset. The third day was cloudy but warm, so we enjoyed a fun day at the beach after seeing only a few jelly fish. The fourth day was very windy, but dry so we stayed at the beach most of the day. We went out to eat 2 times, taught the girls how to play shuffleboard, had fun playing games at the pool and beach along with enjoying the evenings in our condo on our deck.
Another dad and I have been coaching Allison’s team this year and this is our 3rd season coaching this group of girls. They are a very talented team and have only lost one game, but their competitiveness and personalities have really pushed both of us coaches at times. I have to adjust my expectations and remember we are dealing with 4th graders. We have 10 girls which makes it really challenging to keep everyone engaged during practice and it is difficult to divide up playing time. I think we have done a good job, but it is just in my personality to continue to find things I could do better or maybe second-guess some decisions. Allison has gotten much better this year and has been the point guard when she is in the game. Her dribbling has improved and her awareness of the court has gotten better as the year has gone along.
Halloween was a little different this year, but it was expected. We didn’t have our normal pizza party for our neighborhood, but we did have some neighbors we play with and go to our school over to our house to have some pizza. All candy was distributed with distance and the girls enjoyed running around filling up their bags. Everyone had a good time and I’m glad we were able to keep up that tradition.
Sarah’s Things of the Month
Sarah and 15 of her classmates signed up for a basketball league at Cathedral. We divided them into 2 teams of 8 and Sarah had improved her basketball skills a lot since last year. She is a lot more aggressive, going for rebounds and playing very good defense. Sarah also enjoyed an evening at the zoo with her brownie troop. We also had Sarah’s PT conference this month and she received some very good grades and comments from her teacher. Sarah is still playing tennis at IRC and seems to be enjoying it, but likes it more when she has her friends from school in her class!
Allison’s Thing of the Month
Cross-country ended this year with Allison’s 34 Girls team winning the city championship. The girls in her grade ran very well and enjoyed getting a trophy for their school. We had Allison’s PT conference his month and she is receiving some very good grades and behaves well, with the occasional speaking out or talking with friends during class.
A few more items from this month:
- Beth and I have continued to get together when we can, depending on both of our schedules.
- We got a chance to see Frank, Jan, Chelsea and Chris a few times throughout the month. It was good to see them before they were traveling again.
- I met up with Adam and Kevin from my Hurco days for a few beers one evening. It was good to catch up with them and see what has been going.
- While Sarah was at the zoo with Debbie, Allison and I went out to eat at La Piedad. She decided to order a taco with a side of fries, which caused the waiter to laugh but she got what she wanted.
- Debbie went over to Diane’s house for a girl’s night before we went on our trip to Florida.
- We had one of our favorite sitters and her fiancé over for dinner in late October. They surprised the girls and asked them to be flower girls in their wedding in 2022. The girls were pretty excited and my only comment was that they may not be as cute as they are now in 2 years.