Memorial Day

  

Jasper was very happy to see us come home, although he enjoyed his short visit with the Carvers. This was him grinning at me on our Sunday evening walk.

Memorial Day was pretty quiet -- we got groceries, cleaned the house and did laundry, and washed the car. But we also had some fun outside, including this very ill-advised game of neighborhood disc golf. You forfeited the game if you hit a car or lost it over a fence.

 

Liesl drew a chalk obstacle course on the sidewalk, with frog jumps and bear crawls and cartwheels and more.

Spring photos of Jazzy in the world.

 

Seb and his friend Jack with a Philly cheese steak for lunch -- they've discovered a new food cart pod downtown.

visit to Vancouver

I wanted to have a quick visit with mom and dad before their jaunt east and our summer travels, and this long weekend was the only one all spring with no soccer/softball games or commitments. And then it turned out that Inter Miami FC was playing the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night, holding out the possibility that we could watch Leo Messi play. So I drove up on Thursday after work, and Steve flew up on Friday night with the kids. 

As it turned out, Messi did not make the trip to Vancouver, which was a huge bummer. But I had a lovely Friday hanging out with mom and dad -- visiting their garden plot and walking in Redwoods park, eating sushi, and just catching up. And we had a great Saturday all together: we met up for dimsum at Dynasty, toured the Van Dusen Botanic Garden, and wandered the shops on Granville Island. And the game was still a good one with a big crowd.

 

the Pooh

We bought a new car, a black Tesla Model 3. For reasons that are explicable only in a 16-year-old boy brain, Seb has named it Pooh. As in Winnie-the. I think he just wants to be able to say, "Where's Pooh?" on a regular basis.

We've been thinking about adding a newer used car for a few months, mostly because I was feeling unhappy with the overall safety of the 16-year old Civic and hoping to put our kiddos in something that would help them (with warnings) and protect them a little better in case of accidents. And have all wheel drive, and maybe limit the top speed, and maybe be somewhat environmentally friendly, and not cost too much in gas fill-ups, and also not cost too much. We test drove and considered the Mazda CX-5, a Honda Accord Hybrid, a Chevy Trax (teen driver mode!), and various others. And, well, we got a lot of what we wanted, except for the upfront cost. 

Steve and Seb are thrilled - both prefer driving a sedan, and the Pooh is a very fun car to drive. Seb's friends all came over on the first day we got it to ooh and ahh excitedly. 

mock trial

Liesl's social studies class had a mock trial on Wednesday afternoon in the school library. Everyone had a role: judge, bailiff, witness, attorney. The jury was made up of 6th-graders. Liesl was one of the attorneys for the defense; she was in charge of closing arguments. It was so fun to watch her confidently stand up there and deliver her speech to the jury. She spoke clearly and was obviously practiced and knowledgeable. I love that she got to participate in such a fun learning opportunity.

with friends Jane and Diya.

photos around home

A smattering of photos around the neighborhood and home. Steve was in Chicago this week for work, so we took selfies to send him of goings-on.

 

rainy morning run

My girl and her sock hair curlers and eyelash curling brush.

 

Pre-softball game silliness.

 

ramen at Kizuki on a cold day

final game

Seb's PCU team played in the final of the President's Cup on Sunday afternoon, against FC Piamonte. PCU lost 1-0, but they played well and with heart, and Seb was terrific in the midfield, playing the entire game. PCU had so many set pieces -- corner kicks and free kicks -- and so many close opportunities -- headers and just-wide and just-high shots -- but could not put it in the net.  

As a side note, I really enjoyed playing with the Canon camera’s telephoto lens over the weekend, which made these photos much better. I took literally hundreds of pics of all the boys on both Saturday and Sunday, and Seb shared them over Google Drive with his teammates. Many of them used my photos in their social media pages and were super appreciative, which was pretty sweet.

Seb taking a free kick from just outside the box.

 

Ellis taking a corner kick, and Oabilae almost scoring off a header.

 

Silver medals and the team photo.

Seb was fairly even-keeled about the loss, noting that they'd barely squeaked into the final as a result of multiple penalty kicks to win tied games. He was also so, so tired and sore and hungry for a few days.

There will be changes to this team next year: coach Otto is moving to Texas; many of the boys will be high school seniors for the winter/spring season and might not be continuing to play; the 2006 boys that are still in high school next spring will be eligible to join this team, adding new faces. It's been a solid year of soccer so it feels bittersweet to know that next year will be a different amalgamation. But a good run!