Ski Trip with Andrew

This past weekend Andrew and I went to visit Regis University in Denver and then went skiing at Keystone. Andrew did a wonderful job snowboarding. I managed to make it down the hill a few times on my skis.

Lunch Parking Lot
Tunnel in the training zone. This was Andrew’s first time officially snowboarding and my first time on skis since college.
Ready to get started.

NXR

Andrew traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota this weekend for Nike Cross Regionals, a national Cros Country championship series, although there are no nationals this year because of Covid. Andrew attended this race his freshman and sophomore years and it was canceled last year.

Will and Andrew
Seniors
whole group

Senior All-Star Meet

Andrew and his friend Cody qualified for the Senior All-Star Meet. It was a beautiful day and fun to cheer for all of the seniors who worked so hard these past 4 years.

Cody and Andrew

After the meet we enjoyed some pastries in Pella, stopped by Yellow Banks Park to hike and play by the river, and then picked up some ice cream at Over The Top. That’s a good day.

Halloween 2021

Susan dressed up as Moira from Schitt’s Creek and won her office costume contest.
Andrew and his friend Jackson went as characters from The Outsiders.
FairyLucia and Rose went as Dorothy and the Sugarplum Fairy

State Qualifying Meet

Andrew ran in the State Qualifying Meet today. It was his first race in a few weeks and it could have gone better. Andrew and I have had a discussion a few times about whether you should collapse at the end of a race. We generally agree that you should collapse because you should be giving it every last ounce of energy.

After today’s race, Andrew collapsed. He was exhausted and his lungs hurt from the effects of his cold. Not his greatest finish, but one of his greatest races because he really gave it his all. This was the last official race of Andrew’s cross country career at Valley. It was emotional then and even writing this now I can feel it. One of the things I love about being a cross country parent for all 3 kids is that you know they all work so hard and it is great to cheer for all the kids. There is little glory in cross country, and a lot of effort.

Freshman Year at DMACC
Senior Year at DMACC
Finishing

Only Runner

Elliot was our only runner at the conference cross country meet this afternoon. It has been a rough season for all our kids because we have had several colds and Mari has been dealing with an abdominal strain, or something of that sort. We all had a cold in September that I know took me a while to recover from. Elliot had the cold and Andrew is still coughing and unable to run. Hopefully everyone can get healthy and have a strong finish to the season.

Happy 18th Birthday, Andrew!

This evening we celebrated Andrew’s birthday with the Reagens and the Liesses.

The Crew
Big Booty
Waiting for presents
  • Wakes up around 7:40 on school days, 10 on other days.
  • Runs
  • Works out
  • Walks around the house with his airpods in
  • Goes out with his friends on the weekends.
  • Plays football with his friends
  • Plays ping pong with Elliot
  • Likes watching sports
  • Has already had 3 jobs (Fareway, Target, Chick-fil-A)
  • Figuring out where to go to school next year (Xavier, Creighton, Regis)
  • Stays up too late sometimes, but the problem is he doesn’t pay for it

Homecoming

Andrew and Mari went to Valley High School’s homecoming dance today.

Mari
Mari, Leila, and Frankie
Claudia and Andrew
Andrew’s Group, including a lot of his friends and cross country runners
Group Selfie