AAU's

Ah summer.  Or "crap, we suddenly have two big trips to fit into 8 weeks in addition to all the other stuff we try to cram in".  And I say 8 weeks because "J" is headed to public school for the first time ever, and they start in August.  Like the first of August. So this summer she had 

1. JV volleyball not-practice and weight training three days a week (they can't technically practice till 8-1).  

2. Swim team (theoretically every weekday-but she never made it to every practice) 

3. oh, and she decided to do AAU Volleyball which for her club is an extended season.  That was only 2 extra practices a week.  

No problem.  "T" remains constant with his one activity a week.  He is happy with that and I am too.  Because if he did a sport I might lose my mind.  Yes, I feel a bit guilty.  And yes I marvel at people with 3,4,5 kids who manage activities with them all.

Fundraising (and lunch) with the High School Team

It has been so great for the team to get together all summer.  "J" was already very confident about attending High School, but it is even better now that she knows more kids and has been up at the school all summer.  My kid may be the only kid in history to say (in June) "I wish school started tomorrow"  She is so excited for school to start.

Non-summer related but I really want to say "who let the cat out of the bag" except the cat is in the bag.  This cat was, incidentally, attacked by coyote earlier this summer.  And as he too has used his allotted veterinary care, we nursed him back to health ourselves.

I think is our last swim team summer.  "J" wants to hang out with her friends but she doesn't like getting wet, which is not congruent with swimming.  This photo is from the rear.  I have to sneak photos of my child.

Benny always comes with me to pick up "J" from practice.  He is on high alert looking for his person.

 

Our trip to Orlando for AAU nationals wasn't exactly a vacation, but I tried to include a few fun things along with all the volleyball.  The kids requested returning to Universal City Walk for epic Milk Shakes.

Apparently we are one of "those" families....but in our defense we had just spent the last 8 hours in a car together.  Everyone needed down time as we waited for our food. I had to sneak to get this photo of the elusive "J".

  "J" refuses to be in the photo but at least she allowed her milkshake to be documented. 

I never order my own anything anymore...I just eat the leftovers. #momlife

Oh, AAU season was tough.  Only one team stayed together at "J"s club for AAUs, so the other girls who wanted to participate were all put together on a mixed age team.  This might be fine except, since we had ONE 15 year old, we were required to play in the 15's level.  And let me vent for a minute.  AAU has 5 categories or levels of play from Classic (should be beginners) to Open and Premier for the top teams.  However many of the top teams still play "down" at the  classic level so they can WIN the tournament.  The winner of the 15's Classic (out of 157 teams) is a local team, who usually plays open.  They have played together for several years, are all 15, and are outstanding.  And they should have competed at a much higher level.  They still would have done well.

AAU is the largest volleyball tournament in the world.  They are technically larger than Big South. However, they have 3 different sessions- meaning not all the teams are there at the same time. If you took this panoramas and imagine about 6 of them together, it might begin to give you an idea of the scale of this tournament.

Our little rag-tag team had 12 year old's and girls who had never even played club.  None of them had ever played together.  It was awesome how much they grew as a team in 2 short months...but hard for "J" because we didn't have a good setter and lack of  good setting means little opportunity for good hitting.  Understandably  they didn't do very well at the tournament.  Losing is hard, even when you know you are up against impossible odds.  Again...lots of important lessons learned for "J".

 A rare moment of father daughter bonding...

So after our bitter defeat at AAU, we managed to fit in a few days of amusement parks.  In this case we went to Sea World, Busch Gardens and Aquatica.  I have exactly 1 photo to prove it.  This is mainly due to the fact that I didn't go to said amusement parks and "D" "forgets" to take photos.  I told the kids I wasn't buying myself a ticket to save money.  But really, I just didn't want to go.

On Busch Garden's day I went to the beach all by myself.  Ahhhh.  I floated in the gulf for hours.

On SeaWorld Day I dropped off the gang and got breakfast, which I ate alone.  Heaven.  Then I went shopping- ALL DAY.  And I found a Dippin Dots STORE.  WOW!

Look no one is sitting across from me....

I have an unhealthy love for Dippin Dots....

 My only photographic evidence of vacation...

And a random cool building with clouds