Anne, Adrienne, and I went camping and hiking this weekend at Lake Wenatchee, near Leavenworth. It was our own little mother's day present to ourselves. We left on Friday morning to drive straight to the Sage Hills preserve, which was an explosion of balsamroot, lupine, and many other wildflowers.
We were camping at Lake Wenatchee State Park, so once we finished our hike we headed there to set up camp and settle in. The lake was beautiful and calm, perfect for paddle-boarding.
On Friday night, Liesl's school hosted a 6th grade dance in the gym -- there was music, candy, a photo booth, games, and a lot of very excited and happy kids. She went over to her friend Ella's house to get ready together, and I got to hang out with Ella's parents for a bit until we could take some pre-dance pics.
Sassa and I volunteered for cleanup duty, which is the best volunteer shift because you have a reason to show up at the end of the dance and watch the shenanigans for 15 minutes (but can't be accused by a child of spying on them), but you don't have to chaperone the entire 2.5 hour affair (which is headache-inducing). The kids were dancing and running around and giggling and gossiping and crying... about what you'd expect.
Meanwhile, the boys stayed home, ordered Korean food, and watched Cocaine Bear together. :)
Liesl and I went to the Arlene Schnitzer concert hall on Wednesday night to see a contemporary dance company, Momix, perform a take on Alice in Wonderland. It was... interesting. Novel. There were a lot of props, cool set design and lighting, and playfully creative moments. There was not a lot of actual dancing, and it was often confusing. As Liesl said, it might have been better if they hadn't told us it was based on Alice, because we couldn't find the connections. And when the dancers did dance, they seemed really quite talented, so I was sad to not see more of their skill and beauty on display.
That being said, we had a lovely little mama-daughter date night, and the Schnitz is a beautiful old venue.
Playing soccer games in Bend is always a struggle - Bend is often hotter than Portland, and it is at a higher altitude, and you have to drive 3.5 hours to get there and play. Neither Seb nor Liesl's teams have had a lot of success in Bend. As it turned out, it was 84 degrees and very sunny on Saturday afternoon, so I was not getting my hopes up for this quarterfinal. I just wanted Seb to get some playing time and to have some fun out there.
Well - the team jumped to an early 2-0 lead. They played really well, probably the best all season. They definitely fell off in the second half, and the other team had some good chances, but they managed to hold on to their lead and win the game. Seb played about half the game and looked great out there. Victory! It meant we had to pile back into our cars and drive home to Portland, for a semifinal game on Sunday at 1pm at Buckman Field.
Jasper had a shady place to watch the game and some ice from the snow cone truck. He was very happy.
We drove back to Portland, arriving home on Saturday at 10 pm. Seb drove part of the way, which was a huge help, because it was a stretch. We were both really tired - he was so tired he fell asleep on the dining room floor cuddling with Jasper.
Sunday at Buckman, semifinal game versus Albion. The boys came out a little sluggish, for obvious reasons, but really turned it on in the second half. The game ended with a 3-3 tie. It went to overtime -- two 15-minute halves -- still 3-3 at the end. So it went to penalty kicks, and PCU lost in PKs. Seb played really well, and played a lot -- half of the first half, half of the second, and all of overtime. It was disappointing to lose, to not make it to the final match, but we were all proud of how they played in the end.
