Owen is 9

Owen's birthday this year has been unlike any before.  We have been so busy, that we have not been able to squeeze in any of the regular "birthday" activities.  Spring Break being a week early this year hasn't helped either.  Still, we did manage a spur-of-the-moment cake from DQ and a couple of gifts- including a super-wubble ball, which is the main thing that Owen wanted anyway.  We also took him to see the Harlem Globetrotters (more on that later).  Even though the actual birthday events this year were a little different, we are still proud of the young man that Owen is becoming.  Here are a few things about Owen at age 9:
1.  He loves Pokemon everything
2.  His favorite subject is math
3.  He is still an easy-going kid who loves spending time with his family
4.  If someone is selling popcorn in the vicinity, he wants some
5.  He likes to tell corny jokes
We sure do love our little buddy.

Anniversary Bike Ride

 Brian and I recently celebrated our 16th anniversary with a family bike ride around Jekyll Island.  Brian got a new bike for Christmas and I got a bike rack shortly thereafter- we have been anxious to try these things out.  The weather could not have been better.  It was sunny and cool.  We started off riding through the Historic District and then proceeded up to the Horton House Ruins.  After checking out the ruin site, we rode to Driftwood Beach where the kids had fun climbing on the branches of the downed trees.  We finished by cruising up the coast and having a meal at Tortuga Jack's.  It cannot think of a better way to have spent our anniversary.

Robotics Season

 Olivia has really enjoyed participating on her school's Vex IQ robotics team this year.  Her school had two robots.  Since there are more kids on the team than can work the robots, the students had to take turns attending the competitions.  Olivia ended up going to three competitions this year.  All of the competitions take place in Atlanta, so I was fine with that number.  One of the robots had several top ten finishes, and even qualified for the state competition.  Not too shabby considering that this is the first year that the school has competed. I've heard that her team is planning to build four robots next year.  That should be fun.

All-Star Ball

Following his rec. basketball season, we were informed that Owen was chosen to be on the all-star team.  This group of boys worked very hard to get ready for the region championship.  Unfortunately, they lost their first game in overtime.  It was a heart-breaker.  Still, this team worked very hard and has a lot to be proud of.

Father Daughter Dance

The Father-Daughter Dance is one of the highlights of Olivia's year.  She always looks forward to this event.  This year she and Brian ate at Captain Joe's (again) and then went to the dance.  Brian took some pictures of the dance with his phone, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to download them onto my computer.  I have given up.  Still, I have looked at the photos and videos, and it looks like it was a blast.



Owen and I made the most of our time by eating at the Mexican restaurant and watching a movie on Netflix.

Backpacking Providence

We had a couple of days out of school over President's Day weekend, so we decided to go on an overnight backpacking trip with our friends.  We went to Providence Canyon State Park.  This was the first time that me or my kids had been backpacking or camping, and I think we did pretty okay.  We checked in on Friday.  The weather was lovely so we decided to explore a couple of the canyons before heading to our campsite.  

We had to haul our stuff about three miles before we came to our campsite.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a shelter.  It was suppose to rain the next morning, so this was a fortunate bonus.  After setting up our tents, the kids began working to make a ditch that would divert water away from the shelter in case of rain.  They worked on this project for quite a long time.
 

 As it got later in the day, we gathered firewood and lit a bonfire.  This was a big hit.  The kids took great joy in manning the fire.  Since we were only staying for one night, we had a light supper (we had loaded up on Zaxby's before hitting the trail).  Once it got dark, the kids went into one of the tents and played Uno.

We finally turned in around 8:30.  This was the part that I was nervous about.  Sure enough, Owen got upset about being in the dark but it didn't last long.  He was asleep within ten minutes.

We woke up to the sound of thunder the next morning and were once again thankful for the shelter (and for the boy scouts whose Eagle Scout project this was).  We packed up our gear and hiked back out.  There was a light sprinkle during our return hike which caused us all to look like wet rats when we were done.

The final verdict?  Well, both kids have said that they would like to do this again, so I guess that means that they had a good time.  I did too.  This was a new, challenging experience and I always like those.

Basketball

Well, here we are- another basketball season in the books.  For the past month and a half we have spent 4-5 nights a week at the gym. Olivia played in the 9-10 division again this year.  She continues to hustle and give it her best effort.  She had several shots this year that almost went in but fell away at the last second.  Even though her shots fell short, she didn't give up- and we are proud of her for that.

Owen played in the 7-8 division again this year and he did much better than last year.  He was much more aggressive this year and ended up scoring several baskets.  We are also proud of the work that he put into improving his game.

 An added bonus of being at the gym so often is that the kids' games often came before or after the games of our nieces, so we got to see the Murray girls in action.  All of the kids had quite a fan base.  Gigi and Papa rarely ever missed a game, and most of their aunts and uncles (the ones that live nearby) made it to at least one game.  Basketball is my favorite sport, and I'm a little sad to see this season go.