Kayda turns 15!!!

We have a LEGAL driver!  She actually started to learn to drive stick a while ago, simply so she would be road ready when she had her permit.  You can get your permit when you turn 15, so long as you are signed up for driver's ed and it is within 10 days of it starting.  Her birthday actually lined up to be within those parameters.  The plan was originally to take her to the dol the Monday after her birthday (Saturday this year).  Then I found out you have to make an appointment.  The earliest available was December 6th.  I started looking through all the nearby dol's to see if there was anything earlier.  One had an appointment ON her birthday!  I booked it and Daddy and I played it off that she wasn't going to be able to get it until the 10th.  Resourceful girl that she is, she found out you could get a "non picture" permit online.  I pretended to go online on her birthday and told her the site was down for maintenance.  

We celebrated her birthday in the morning.  

She got some magnetic stickers to put on the car that say "Caution: Student Driver and screaming parent".  She thought that was just excellent. 

Then went up to meet Grandma and Papa H for lunch.  I almost cancelled lunch because of the ridiculous new rules in King County.  (King County has decided you must have proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to eat in restaurants, among other activities.  We obviously think this is ridiculous).  We decided to give it a shot anyway and we were able to eat at Azteca. 

I decided to recreate a picture we have from when she was little.  The server had decided to stick Kayda's nose in whipped cream (also at Azteca).  The issue here was that it wasn't piled up high enough...So I ended up getting fudge up onto her forehead!  She was a good sport, but none too happy. 

 We told her that they needed to borrow Daddy's truck.  The boys were going to help load a new piece of furniture while we went and picked up a special cake.  I'm sure we were suspicious as all get out.  Especially as the cover became more elaborate and convoluted.  Fortunately, we were able to pull it off!  (I really hope she wasn't excited about a cake though).

As we pulled into the parking lot, this is when we told her what we were doing

We had her drive back to Grandma and Papa's house.  She did really well, except for when she stopped at an intersection when she should've gone so she ended up at the very edge of the cross walk.  She definitely needs to learn about her stopping distance.  She was a little stressed but did great!

Later she had a couple of friends come over to spend the night.  

The very next day she went out for her first drive with our neighbor Eric.  He used to teach driver's ed so he is a great resource.  Lucky for us he loves to teach and enjoys our kids.  When he takes her out it tends to be hours at a time.  She is learning quickly though and likes to do the drives with him.  

Kayda's first high school volleyball season

Kayda started the season playing JV.  They had her playing as an outside hitter.  She played all the way around the court.  With a small school comes a relatively small program.  We had just enough girls for Varsity, JV and C team.  

This year ended up being a hot mess of injuries, particularly for Varsity.  Two girls had to take a time out for injuries shortly into the season.  They pulled Kayda up to Varsity as a defensive specialist.  She was assigned to Sam as her back court player.  She did well.  She loves the speed of the varsity games vs the JV games.  She was probably their second best defensive player.  She was playing back court full time for a few games.  Then we played the hardest team in our league (who ended up taking third in state) and the team was not doing well.  Part way through the match, Kayda's front court player landed on someone's foot after jumping for a block.  We found out later that she fractured her ankle.  Coach had Kayda play all the way around the court.  I thought it was hilarious.  Our little 5'4" girl playing varsity front court.  When she jumps she can get her fingers about an inch (2 on a good day) above the net.  After that, for whatever reason, Kayda got pulled.  From there on out she didn't get much play time on varsity.  The coach started doing some things that really confused me (and were unsuccessful).  Things like keeping some front court players on the court for the full rotation, despite the fact that they were slow and unsuccessful in the back court.  It became a very frustrating season.  I want my kid to play because I KNOW she's good.  If she wasn't going to get to play on varsity, then put her back on JV!  I don't care what team.  Just let her play!  The problem was a player is limited to how much they can play per week.  So she would get one game with JV to preserve the rest of time for Varsity, in case she was needed.

"Tiny" in the front court. 

The team went to Spokane to play.  Kayda didn't get much court time but she had a blast anyway. 

At the end of the season we ended up being a "wild card" at districts.  We won the first match.  The second was a disaster.  Kayda got in for a very brief time window.  The girls that were playing had been played almost the entire match before and played the entire match despite being visibly exhausted and quickly getting worse.  You could literally see all the energy go out of them.  Despite this, no changes were made.  Like I said, a very frustrating season to watch. Even if it's not my kid, be responsive to what is happening on the court!  Be flexible and ready to make changes as needed. 

Overall, Kayda was great and grew a lot.  She was getting better and better in the back court and has decided that's what she enjoys most.  She is really interested in the libero position.  This position is an entirely defensive position.  They play back court for two different people, though they can only serve one rotation.  This means, if used to their maximum capacity, they are actively playing all but one serving rotation the entire set.  

The booster club paid for the team to go watch a Huskies game.  The girls had a great time and it was really cool to watch that level of play in person. 

Carson's 2021 soccer season

Carson loves this game....and he's good at it.  Carson's team, once again, was flooded with newbies.  Daddy and Coach Austin are able to do a really good job of "hiding" them (as they like to call it) and coaching them up to being able to play soccer.  They are able to use the more skilled players to offset the struggling players and once again, were able to pull off third place in the league despite the overwhelming number of inexperienced players.  This was the first year EVER that their team was actually the correct age with the exception of the three the coaches chose to pull up (Carson, Ty, and Maddox).  Carson was captain with Tucker and Ty.  Carson was excellent with assists.  This team had beautiful passing skills and worked really well as a TEAM.  Coach Austin constantly said you would never see a team with more perfect crosses and corners.  They are the ONLY team that had to play all of the top teams.  Others only played at most two of them so this team's "line up" was more difficult than any of the other teams.  Carson is so fun to watch of the field!  When Carson was playing well, the team played well.  He was the biggest "motor" this year.  He took playing the entire field to a new level from attacking to goal defense.   He often was able to run back and stop goal after goal, after goal.  He had seven goals over the course of the season and over double that in assists.  

He and Tucker spent a lot of time together at their brothers' soccer games.  

Being goofy at Dillon's game.