San Jose Member Guest Tennis tournament

Through some of my Ultimate Tennis matches, I met a nice gentleman name Steve and we have played tennis together a few times for fun. This past weekend was the San Jose Country Club Member Guest tournament and he invited me to be his partner. We entered in at the 3.0 level and were scheduled to play four teams. The weather forecast had been predicting rain, but the weather turned out nice and cool. It was a bit windy, but otherwise perfect.

Our first match was on Saturday morning and it was quite the battle, but we won it. The second match later on in the afternoon was pretty rough. We played against two guys that were pretty tall and both of them were in the zone. Everything they hit seemed to go in, and Steve and I were a bit off. We didn't do so well, but it was our only loss. On Sunday we had two matches and we played well and won both.

We ended the tournament in second place, in our division, and had a fun weekend together.

Rachael's birthday party at the Neal's house

Our friend Rachael had her birthday party on Saturday night. Chad, her husband, organized a surprise party and had a chef prepare a fancy dinner for everyone as well. Rachael knew some people were coming together to celebrate with her, but was somewhat surprised when she arrived at Anna's and we were all waiting for her.

The food was fantastic, and presented nicely.

Chad decided we would also do some fun games. First, each couple had to balance a wiffle ball between heads while navigating around the room to grab and eat some chocolates. It was harder than we expected, and especially hard for me because Andrea thought she needed to drop her chin so we could get the ball between our foreheads. I ended up having to squat down to keep the ball in place, but we did successfully complete the challenge.

Everyone also had to try and see how long they could keep 3 balloons in the air with one hand. It was difficult enough after having a couple drinks, but especially challenging with one hand and while everyone watched. I did fairly well with three balls and Chad decided to do a playoff between myself and another gentleman. Unfortunately during the playoff, which should have been easier with only 2 balloons, I accidentally pushed the balloons over a couch and lost track of them. It was hard to keep them together and in front of me.

We had a nice night with everyone and we're glad we were able to celebrate Rachael's birthday with her.

Connor and his buddies playing out front - knockout basketball

Connor had Trevor over on Saturday and a few of the other neighbor boys ended up over as well. They played every sporty type game you can think of out front. Baseball, basketball, wall-ball, soccer, etc. Connor was a little off with his basketball shooting that day, but he actually won a game of knockout that I decided to record.

Paige's preferred sleeping spot in Connor's closet

Paige loved having Alli in town and every night she wanted to sleep in the same room with Alli, even if that meant sleeping on the floor next to Connor's bed. After Alli left, Paige is still eager to sleep in Connor's room and the other night when we went to check on the kids, Andrea found Paige in Connor's closet in a big storage bin. It didn't look too comfortable sleeping on top of a bunch of lumpy stuffed animals, but apparently Paige liked it well enough to fall asleep on it.

Rita Tournament - Andrea and Michelle C Open champions

Andrea and Michelle played in the Rita Tournament Thursday through Sunday. They played in the C open division and went 4-0, winning the championship match on Sunday. They both played well and were able to win all their matches in two sets. Due to some rain delays, I was able to make it to their championship game on Sunday and got a video of the last point and their celebration.

Andrea's C1 Season ends

Andrea played her last game of the season on Thursday with her C1 team. It was kind of an odd season since JCP had two C1 teams and it split Andrea up from some of her other previous teammates and friends. It was tough because they had to play the other JCP team twice during the season.

Andrea was happy that she got to play quite a bit with her friend Michelle. She ended the season with a 15-2 record and played line 1 the entire season, which matched her up against some very good teams and players. The team finished 5th of 10 overall. 

Connor graduates from Speech Therapy

This past Thursday was Connor's final session with Ms Jen. Connor has qualified for speech therapy in school, but we've also been taking him to private speech therapy sessions on Thursdays Since July 2015 to get him ahead (10 months!). He's been a marvelous student and Ms Jen has always made his sessions fun for him. Outside of the sessions, Connor has been awesome about practicing and implementing what he's learned. His speech has improved so much now and his R's are better than many kids his age. We're so proud of him.

After we got home, I biked up to the gas station with the kids and we got an ice cream sandwich for Connor and some Dippin' Dots for Paige and me. It was a good day to celebrate!