The end of track and May

What a week! Jay had a band and orchestra concert on Tuesday. Jeff left on Wednesday for the state track meet. He was gone from Wednesday through late Saturday night, so I was flying solo at home. I missed my husband! Now he is home and track season is officially over. I need to write those blessed words again: TRACK SEASON IS OVER. Whew! Jeff is exhausted, and for good reason:

• It was his first season as head track coach. The track team is over 50% bigger than the cross country team, so it was a big jump in overall workload. 
• He took over for the former head coach, who passed away at age 42 from aggressive cancer a few months ago, which added an extra emotional dimension to his role. 
• He managed six assistant coaches and 100 teenagers on the team, some more dramatic than others. 
• Practice was 5 days a week after Jeff had already spent all day teaching high school classes starting at 7:50am.
• He was a teacher for 40 hours per week and did his head track coach duties for another 20-30 hours per week, for a total of 60-70 hour weeks (for 40 hour pay).
• Jeff gave up 85% of his/our Saturdays for 3 months to go to track meets. 
• Even though he has never pole vaulted before, he got certified to coach pole vault because nobody else knew how either. 
• This was the coldest spring ever of all time, and there were only one or two track meets where Jeff was comfortable wearing short sleeves outside, which is insane--the weather was rough on the coaches. Standing outside for long hours in the cold/wind/rain/hail/snow is extremely draining.
• He did it all while battling long Covid symptoms and managing his usual mental health status quo. 
• And he did it all extremely WELL. I am in awe of Jeff's abilities.

Here's a miscellaneous May photo album:

Amber has a lion's mane every morning. She's still working on growing out the bangs she cut for herself a year ago, and her hair has a mind of its own. All we can do is ride the waves, haha. Sometimes I joke that Amber's hair is my fourth child.

Amber graduated to the Book of Mormon for Kids, which has most of the original text from the Book of Mormon in it (minus the Isaiah chapters), but with definitions and explanations to help kids understand what they're reading. We try to read a few verses together every night.

Random Amber-artwork that made me laugh. "Oh no! You are evil!"

Taming the Amber-mane with long rows of ponytails. Even though Amber hates brushing her hair, washing her hair, and having her hair done, she has DECLARED that she wants to grow it out long. Heaven help us.

Rosie wanted to join in on the ponytail party. We spent quite a while in the bathroom doing hair before school that day.

Ready for school!

Jay's final track meet of the season was on Monday, May 9th in the famously windy Ellensburg, WA which is tucked right at the eastern base of the Cascades along interstate 90. Ellensburg definitely lived up to its windy reputation--we bundled up in the bleachers and watched Jay get buffeted about by the steady 20mph wind during his 1600 meter race.

The starting line of the 1600. Jay is one kid in from the far left.

Off they go!

Jay ran 2 seconds off his PR, but we decided that in the wind, his effort put him at least 15 seconds faster on a calm day. Most of the other kids on his team even ran 15-20 seconds slower than usual that day. 

I brought a pair of disposable chopsticks back from Savannah (from the sushi place we went to at the beach) and I have been practicing a little bit each day. I have never been very good at chopsticks, but I am starting to get the hang of it! I need to invest in a real pair of chopsticks soon because my disposable ones are kind of getting icky, haha.

My weekly family art club submission. The topic was tautogram, which is a sentence that has as many words beginning with the same letter as possible. My recent travels inspired this artwork.

Jeff and I went on a one mile Sunday afternoon walk on May 22nd. It was our first date walk all year, and we were basking in the barely-warm-enough-for-short-sleeves air. Jeff's long Covid symptoms have backed off and currently seem to flare up about twice a month. Much better than before, but he's still awaiting a full recovery.

Jay had his final band and orchestra concert of the school year on Tuesday, May 24th. This was his teacher's final concert before retirement. Mr. Kirk taught at Harrison Middle School for 40 years! He is beloved, and the bleachers were bursting with families and past students there to support him. They had a sweet short ceremony honoring him after the concert. Jay had Mr. Kirk for two periods every day this school year: band, then orchestra. He is going to miss Mr. Kirk!

Just like last time, Jay walked between the orchestra and the band every other song throughout the concert. He is at the bass on the right of this picture.

Jay is playing the tuba just left of the conductor's shoulder in this picture.

I snagged pictures of the group pictures they had on display, of Jay's grade level music classes.

Dapper Jay after the concert.

Rose and Amber decided it was getting warm enough to play outside before the school bus came. They got ready early and got to play in the yard for 20 minutes before school several days this week.

My introvert shirt applies to some days more than others.

Before school outdoor play on another day.

On Thursday afternoon (May 26th), our kind neighbors let Rose and Amber swim in their pool for an hour. I sat on the sidelines and read a book while they swam, feeling like I was earning major mom points. For some reason, sitting at the pool is not my thing.

The girls had a blast on their first swim of the season!

On Friday, May 27th, Rose got her hair cut. Her hair has gotten super thick over the past year or so, and after swimming on Thursday it was horrifically tangled. She had been begging for a short haircut for weeks, so I finally made her an appointment at Catalina's Salon in downtown Sunnyside, 2 miles from our house.

Catalina's Salon has been renovated and now includes a coffee shop area, with the salon on the other side of the shelves. It was a very cute place--our first time going there. We liked it, although I had a hard time imagining wanting to eat anything with the strong smell of hairspray hanging in the air, haha.

Rose, getting her hair washed.

Catalina gave me this big rope of Rose's hair--this was only half of her hair. Like I said, it has gotten thick!

She set it on the windowsill behind me, and it was a little creepy like a snake. But the window looked out on quaint downtown Sunnyside, so I focused on that instead of the damp dead hair snake beside me.

Seriously, Catalina was a dear! She was sweet and very careful to make sure she understood what Rose wanted, and then she requested a picture with Rose at the end! I am sold. I have been limping along only getting my haircut once a year when my neighbor's mom visits from Chile, but I think now I will take care of my hair better and visit Catalina.

Before/after

How darling is that perfect short bob cut? Rose loves it. She says she still gets surprised when she looks in the mirror, but she loves how easy it is to brush.

The neighbor's kitty visited me after my run on Saturday. This cat is so sweet, but I really didn't want her to rub her long hair on my sweaty legs and I didn't want to actually touch her (allergies), so I let her sniff my hand and then dashed inside.

Amber has been very interested in giving massages lately. I am not complaining, although I do have to remind her every now and then that most people do not like stomach massages--that's called tickling.