Leaning in

What? When we did we get turf?

Baseball used to be the one sport we could count on for a good rainout (each week). Now they've put in turf fields! So we parents not only huddle up in the puddles during soccer games but now baseball too? I cry not fair!

Mr. Delicate

Mason has a couple of things going against him with his current soccer play right now. First, he is often the biggest player on the field besides the goalie, so he stands out physically. Typically the other team is mostly smaller than him too. And, second, he is a very physical player. Some might say a bull. He gets multiple fouls every game, which is fine, he doesn't care. But some games the other parents single him out and can get quite aggressive to him. One game the whole line of parents were yelling at "number 10" and, while he was playing a physical game, I do believe had he been smaller he wouldn't have been noticed. But, I get it - he's pushing their kids and their kids are smaller than him.

But, this is Mason. 

So, this is the pickle we find ourselves in right now. As he gets older the game only gets more physical, but playing with these little kids he looks a wee bit like a bulldozer. And then there are some games where he meets his match and plays at his best. Those are the fun ones. Actually this game where we shot this video was one of those; the other team even had a 13 year old on the team and it was Mason's team's first loss of the year. They played hard and were outmatched. That said, there were times when Mason still looked a bit bullish, such as this foul:

But he did end up with their only goal. And, since the other team was playing up a division, all that the Gunners needed to do was to score one goal to stay in first place in their league, so they were happy with that.

Little Mermaid

Kenzie had four different parts in her school's Little Mermaid production, which kept her hopping. She was a disheveled seagull (as seen in the video), a tentacle of Ursula, and two different fish. She had several different costume changes and about six different songs in total. The play was super cute.

Spring Soccer Time!

Mrs. Weller

Mrs. Weller came to the bouncy house today for Ermi's birthday party. She bought him a Seahawks football as a present. How nice!

Kids birthday

I realized that this is Ermi's first birthday celebration with us where he really understands the celebration of birthdays. Last year he had only been here a few months. I was looking back at last year's pictures and see the sense of wonderment in his eyes that isn't there this year. Now he has a full year of experience with birthday parties of his friends, so he knows how it's done. He was ready for...the Bouncy House. Was I...I wasn't sure. We have gone twelve years of kids birthdays and avoided it, but with all the chaos in our lives lately we needed a turn-key party. So, today was the day. We issued old-school paper invites and only received a few RSVPs. Frankly, we were unorganized and had no idea how many people were going to show. We had room for 23. We had 22 show up! Ermias had a blast with all his best friends, boys and girls, around him.

The Tessa (classmate)

Olivia (cousin)

Allison (cousin)

Kayla (sister of Mason's soccer buddy)

Alexander (soccer and class)

Alex R (basketball and school)

Colin (soccer and school)

Nathan (basketball)

Rowan (basketball)

Cece (family friend)

Gabi (family friend)

Naomi (classmate)

Mason (basketball)

Duncan (classmate)

Nathan (cousin)

Bro

Sibs

Annoying

Mason often gets under the skin of his opponents. Like this guy. 

Indoor

Kenzie is playing indoor soccer again with the same team that she's been with for a while. Great coaches, great girls. She's tough and gets good exercise out there!

Best buds, and a pony

Ding and Dong

Class Birthday Celebration

Ermias' teacher invited me to come to his class and bring his favorite snack (cheese and crackers) and a book to read during the class snack time. He felt pretty cool being in the spotlight. 

Mid year assessment

We are feeling super proud of Mason tonight. He got 100% on his midyear assessment, getting A's across-the-board. 

Whereas last year he was playing catch-up in reading with some special tutoring, this year he is at the upper end of grade level.

He's 8!

Time for a new sport

Mason was starting pitcher at their first scrimmage, then finished as catcher. 

And then hung out with his buddy Tyler. They names themselves "Stu" and "Pid."

Dubai security

I am on a work trip to India and then China. As is customary we took gifts. My admin suggested plastic water bottles, but I thought the steel thermoses were a better idea. So she bought thirty of them, and loaded up a very large bag that we checked. We got on the plane at SeaTac, flew to Dubai, had a two hour layover, then reboarded. I was nicely settled into my business class seat when two UAE police officers approached my seat and said "Julie Anne Averill, you need to come with us."  They said I needed to open my bag. At this time I'm thinking of my personal bag filled with clothes and maybe a flat iron.

I got up, but when I started to get off the plane, the flight attendant said "if she leaves she cannot get back on." The police officer said "I will take her with me." The lady would not let me go, insisting that the police commander appear. A few minutes later he did, and took personal accountability for me. Meanwhile, they have my passport and I was very uncomfortable. I politely asked if I could please hold onto my passport and they gave it back. Then the commander asked me to follow him. We took the side exit off of the tunnel, down the metal grate stairs, under the plane where a car was waiting. I sat in the front seat and realized there was another guy in the back seat. No words were spoken, we just drove across the Dubai tarmac, to the side of the airport, and eventually to a large metal door. The door went up, we went down the ramp to the bowels of the luggage processing facility under the airport, and we saw the five men standing around in uniform--all around the bag. Not my bag, but the bag with the gifts. All  the sudden it hit me.

This, going through security:

Might resemble a pipe bomb:

The men all stood back and asked me to open the bag. I calmly reassured them, "these are gifts of thermoses. I work for an American retailer and we are bringing gifts to our Indian partners." I unwrapped the first one. He cautiously grabbed it, opened it, and then the tension level went down 100%. Whew.

So then I asked the guy who had been sitting in the back to please take a selfie with me.