Spring Things

We've had some things going on since I last posted in March.  It feels like we had a little in-between time before chaos started again in full force.   After wrestling, it was quiet for a couple weeks with just  practices for track and softball.  I spent a couple Saturdays in DeSoto, KS with Gracie at her Aces practices and I had a not so busy spring break, which was awesome!  I worked some and spent most of my evenings at home. It's hard to write about much, when there wasn't a whole lot going on, but here we go...

Start of Spring break...

Funny thing about school and missing school.  About 2 days before conferences, which were March 7, we got a letter from the school with concerns about Owen missing too much school.  He had been absent for high school wrestling related things, and apparently they are not accepted as "field trips" the same way they are for high schoolers (Gracie).  Owen spent three days at the state tournament, same as Gracie, but they counted against his attendance, but not hers.  Long story short, we talked with the principal, who was not at all concerned about Owen, but I guess it is just a formality.  We also informed him that day that Owen would be missing more school to go to NCAA nationals for wrestling.  Sorry, not sorry.  Owen is doing just fine in school and had a great time watching wrestling for 3 days.

Nick and Owen in their element.

Dana Bono!!!

This was one of Nick's friends in college.  Her brother was one of the coaches at ISU and is now the head coach at Wisconsin.  Owen probably has no clue...

IDK...Looks like they're having fun.

Posing with the trophy that Penn State would take home.

Even after the fact...still watching wrestling.

I came home from work later during spring break and found Owen watching documentaries on wrestling and Penn State.  I did find myself joining him when I had time.  Cael Sanderson's story is pretty amazing.

And Gracie spent 5 days with another family in Florida...

I was so excited for her, but a little jealous.

Gracie and Kate at the airport

Gracie with her "Chase" blanket.  It was a gift for her bday from her bf.

Gracie in the sun on the beach.

Livin' large.  Their rental house was just a block away from the beach.

She called me on facetime the 2nd night there and gave us a tour of the house.

Kate and Gracie out to eat.

Out by the ocean

And that's about all I got for pics.  I'm sure she has more, but this is what she sent.

She came back appropriately burnt from the sun.  

It's still pretty here, too.

The days are finally starting to get longer and the sun is further north when it rises.

All good signs.

Last middle school dance for these boys.

Great looking group of kids.

Gracie came back just in time for Easter.

We went to church and then headed to the lake to spend some time with my parents.

I painted the chairs in the driveway over spring break.  Owen was supposed to be helping me move them back onto the porch.

End of Season Banquets

Basketball

We took a night to recognize the positives from basketball season.  It was good to get together with the team and the girls seemed to have fun.  Gracie had a couple of awards including most rebounds in the season and most assists for the season.  Of course, those assists wouldn't have happened without Chloe scoring so many points!  We are going to miss her a lot next year!

Gracie and Adisen

Gracie with her sophomore teammates

Andersyn, Lainey, and Sadie

Gracie with our two seniors

Emma and Chloe

Awesome girls who were always willing to help transport Gracie.

Dabbing with Gail

Coach Wren with Gracie

A couple weeks ago, Coach Wren shared with the girls that he would not be returning to coach next year.  I think they were kind of expecting this, but all the same, Gracie is a little disappointed.  She really got along with him and he has always been so understanding of her softball things.

Awards for the year

And the Wrestling Banquet

We spent the evening celebrating the last youth wrestling season.  What a great night!  We have since moved on to freestyle, so some of them still get to see each other.  

2024 8th grade group

This was a pretty big class.

8th grade 14u State qualifiers

It was obvious who would win the outstanding wrestler award this year.  Bryce has dominated every tournament he went to and the only losses he had came at Tulsa Nationals, which is a HUGE national tournament.  Bryce and Owen both had that award last year, at 14u and 12u respectively, but Bryce stands alone this year.  Cooper Sapp also had a phenomenal year and only lost 2 or three matches, as well.  Owen was great, just losing 3 total matches for club season; 2 at Missouri Nationals and 1 at state.  He seems to just kick it into a higher gear after December is done.

However, Owen and Cooper shared the Most Inspirational Wrestler award this year.

Both are great kids and great leaders.

Bryce...well, he gave me a smile.

These 3.... What a group.

I got a good one.  All at different high schools next year, but I'm sure they will see each other.

The 3 amigos with Dom

Dom is amazing.

Then they added Coach Flannigan.

These two are also an amazing pair.

Coach Flannigan recognized Nick during the banquet, thanking him for all the time that he has committed to the CWC program, helping kids. Mike mentioned that Nick was the first coach since he started doing this many years ago, that he felt comfortable allowing complete control of the practice room.  Nick has a presence and command in this type of environment that cannot be taught.  He demands respect along with the expectation of having fun and learning; and manages to balance that at so many age levels.  He coaches Owen, but also makes sure that Owen is getting coached by others who have extensive training and ability to help Owen learn.  Kids (including Owen) trust Nick as a coach that he will tell them exactly what they need to do to get better.  It is also very apparent that Nick treats all the kids as his own and genuinely feels their successes and losses right along with them.  It is so fun to watch.  I have said before I love wrestling and I hate wrestling.  The highs are so high and lows feel so low.  We definitely ended on a high with CWC and have no regrets with where we ended up.

TRACK?!?!?!

Yep, Owen decided to do track again this year and has moved more toward the running events.  He has only thrown discus once so far, but has run in 3 events at every meet.  So far his events have been the open 400m, 4x400m and 100 m hurdles.  He keeps shaving off a little time at the 400, running his best time last week with 1:01.47 I believe.  When he came home after practice one day and said that they did time trials for the 400 and he was just a few seconds behind Sean Burns (super xc and track family... Oldest brother is a sub 4 minute miler at Oregon), I was shocked.  And then he said he was working on hurdles.  (Dear lord, please don't let him fall. It hurts a lot.)  Again, shocked.  I'm not sure why.  I mean, Nick was really fast and did hurdles, as was auntie Annie.  I guess just because I have no abilities doesn't mean my kids won't.  😆  Yes, I run and am disciplined (most of the time), but I am definitely not fast and have no ability to jump over things while running.  This is how I know it really hurts to fall over hurdles...I tried.  Anyhoo... Owen has placed in a few meets and seems to be maintaining or getting a little faster especially in the 400.  Not going to break any records this year, but I think he is hoping to get under 60 eventually.  Now that they do not have a track to practice on, though, it will be hard to practice hurdles.

Running the 400

Hurdling

More hurdling

 So... after my surprise that Owen wanted to participate in track, I accepted the fact that I would be sitting at track meets.  The first one was pretty miserable... 30 mph winds and about 40 degrees.  Not ideal.  But the next one was more tolerable and I remember that I do like watching track, I just hate bad weather and being cold.  There are still a few weeks left and maybe 5 more meets, so we'll see how the rest of the season goes.  During the last 4x400 that I watched, I was actually thinking, "Gosh, he actually looks like a runner."  They won that one. :)

More things to come...  It's about to get really busy again with the end of the year approaching and softball/wrestling ramping up.