back to work

 little sister returned to refereeing today after 5.5 months without games.  we paid for her 2020 re-certification before spring games were cancelled by covid, so at least she gets to use it finally now that the fall season has started.  here's looking forward to a full season ahead that goes off as planned!

firecrackers fizzle out

it was a hot, humid morning for the opening game of the fall soccer season, and little sister's rec team came away with a 5-1 win over the firecrackers.  in fact, little sister scored not 1, but 2 goals!!  of course, i have no video to prove it but it indeed did happen.

in fact, the sun zapped her so much that after returning home, showering, and eating lunch, she quickly fell asleep on the sofa to regain some of her lost energy.  talk about going from one extreme to the next!

piggy back

 i'm not certain we should be waking at 5:30am each morning, to be ready to leave by 6:50am, if we have extra time in the morning to play like this.... i know i would not complain to push my alarm back to say, oh 5:45am.....especially since none of us have not been waking to an alarm for quite a few months now.  but at least they are all smiles at 6:39am on day 3 of back to school! :-)

back to school

 after 165 days - the girls finally returned to campus today for face-to-face learning.  little sister is a freshman with her junior big sister showing her the way.

big sister caught a ride today with her newly-licensed bestie (age 16.25!)

things are a little different, as is to be expected.  there was a virtual freshman orientation instead of the traditional on-campus one.  now that school has started, the usual 4 days a week of afterschool band rehearsals is down to just 2 days a week - so little sister is not having the extreme time commitment of marching band.  that's a good thing, since she is also hoping to make the freshman volleyball team.  we chose in-person learning along with roughly 60% of the other households surveyed, while around 40% of students have committed to virtual learning for the first 9 weeks.  here's hoping we make the right choice and that all goes smoothly and we all stay healthy.

license to drive

 first comes the car, then comes the license??  sometimes that is how it works out.  today was the long-awaited appointment at the DL office to basically turn in paperwork and pay for big sister's new driver's license.  

so long permit, hello license!!

we had a 3:30pm appointment.  daddy met up there, but when we learned that only one parent could accompany her in, he had to wait in the truck in case we needed him inside as the "official parent teacher."  upon arrival, she was taken to do the vision test, which she passed with no issues.  then we waited in line, seated 6 feet apart, along with the others who had similar appointment times, for the next available clerk at the megacenter.  we were there about one hour start to finish, which is not too bad for the DL office. 

here's the new driver taking us home in her own car.  

she looks pretty good, doesn't she?

three car family

 time to make room in the garage for another car!  we've been looking off and on for a while now and finally found a cute little car for big sister.  being a honda girl myself, it didn't take much convincing to decide on a civic.

at first, she thought she wanted a small suv, so we looked at the ford edge, nissan rogue, honda hrv, toyota chr, mitsubishi outlander, and hyundai kona.  they all seemed a little too big, and none had the safety features i was looking for.  i toyed with the idea of giving her my 2017 crv and getting myself something new!  but i love my crv!!

  we then switched our focus to a sedan - wanting 4 doors, not a hatchback, and nothing too small.  we were looking for a used toyota or honda, knowing those makes have reputations for being reliable, but there was not much selection to choose from.  apparently many of the car makers stopped production of vehicles during covid, so a lower new car inventory drove up the demand for used models. (at least that is what we were told...)  we test drove a new toyota corolla, but i was not that impressed with the feel of it for the price.  then we test drove a new civic for comparison.  my goodness, what a difference!  it was so solid, and way sportier than you would think by looking.  honestly, i may have to find reasons to drive it when she is not....

after determining the body style, big sister's only other request was that is be any color except white or black.  the few red models they had in stock seemed too flashy, so we picked out a modest "steel grey" with grey interior.   to say she is in love is pretty accurate. :-)

(c'mon, it's just a car....) ;-)

band camp

the traditional 10-days of summer band camp played out a little differently this year.

days 1, 2, 3 - student leadership + freshmen only

days 4, 6, 8 - brass only (freshmen + upperclassmen)

days 5, 7, 9 - woodwinds only (freshman + upperclassmen)

day 10 - everyone

as an upperclassman, big sister attended on days 5, 7, 9, & 10.

little sister, as a member of percussion, followed a unique schedule.  she met with percussion on a separate campus for 9 days, so they could socially distance from the others, and then joined up with everyone else on day 10.  confusing, right?

needless to say, both girls were very excited to go to the last day of camp today.  it was sibling day, where the upperclassmen are paired up with freshmen and give them welcome gifts, including a fun tshirt.  they call it big sis/big bro and lil sis/lil bro.  big sister got an alto sax bro, and little sister was paired with a senior bro in percussion.  looks like purple is a popular color right now!

new swag

 today, some of the new band swag i purchased made its way home.  the entire band is upgrading to new game shirts, whereas in the past only freshmen had to buy one to match everyone else.  they also are requiring specific khaki shorts and a baseball cap.  and little sister's duffle came in too.  i know this season will be different than normal, but i hope they at least get to do some things.  whatever they do, the will look great doing it!!

and so it begins

little sister has her sights set on playing high school volleyball this year.  she was excited and a little nervous to start "training" today.  since our school is 6a this year for the first time, they are following the new uil restrictions that say practices/tryouts cannot officially start until september.  so she has 1 hour of skills and 1 hour of conditioning from 4-6pm four days a week until school begins on the 25th.  hope she has fun!!