Winter basketball for Clair

I haven’t done a great job of keeping the blog up-to-date so far this year.

Clair did basketball for her third season in a row. This year we played in the competitive mid Maryland basketball league. She was on a fifth and sixth grade team. We were lucky that her and Lila could play together again.

The team had a rough season and didn’t win a single game. As the head coach, I feel sad for them for that. I wish I could’ve helped them pull off at least one win.

That said, we had several girls who had never played before who did a great job learning the game. Clair and Lila both improved tremendously over the season.

I did tell Clair that next year if she wants to play, we’re gonna have to find her on accomplished Coach because I think I’ve taken her as far as I can in basketball.

The girls did seem to enjoy one another’s company. We celebrated the end of season with some yogurt at sweet frog. I gave them all awards that tried to highlight their own accomplishments for the season.

My girl fights hard for the ball. 

Maxs first track meet

Max decided to try track this winter. During the winter season he was only on the practice team, but he persevered. I was really proud of him trying something new and sticking with it.

This spring he decided to do it again. This time he got to compete in his first track meet this weekend. He was part of a 4 x 800 relay team representing His high school in the junior varsity heat. 

He was able to run his 800 in 2 minutes and 33 seconds. His goal was to be under 240. So he made it. He ran a great pace and he was able to pass one competitor. He never stopped, and he had great hand off with the baton.

I’m proud of his performance and I’m also proud of how great a teammate he really is. I love watching Max fit in with the other boys and encourage them. He has Friends on the team that he enjoys hanging out with, but he also makes friends with new people and encourages and supports them so easily. I admire the skill that he has. I’m not sure where he got it from but he has got it and he makes me proud.

Lining up to receive the baton

Lap one complete

The finish. 

Tired and accomplished

Our trip to Greece

For Christmas, David and I decided not to exchange gifts but to plan a trip somewhere. We decided to go to Greece. Last week we had our week together in Greece and it was really nice. The weather was perfect for spring and we got to see lots of different things and enjoy great food and wine and just spending time together.

Oh, we got on the plane to come home last Thursday. We did a list of our top 10 best and top 10 worst impressions of Greece. Each of us made our own list. I’ve took a picture of it and shared it below for memories.

I’m also gonna try to share only 20 pictures from our trip, but there were lots of good ones. I’m really glad we got to have this time together and go exploring.

I enjoyed putting my feet in the cold Mediterranean Sea Near Corinth. 

We were all smiles before we took off on the long journey home, which took about 20 hours

Sunset from Lycabetus Hill in Athens was quite the view. There is a tram inside the mountain that takes you to the top.

This Colosseum on the eastern side of the east side of Peloponnese is apparently older than the Colosseum in Rome. David journey to the top, but I did not. The sound acoustics were quite awesome. We watched some Italian teens perform in the center, and their voice carried perfectly.

Our Greek wine tasting adventure included a tour of the factory. We got to see all parts, including the manufacturing aspect where they were bottling, labeling, and packaging the wine. The wine was OK and the experience was awesome.

Nafplio is a cute town and I’m so glad David discovered it. We spent two nights and three days there. It’s right on the Mediterranean and has a great walkable little town. We did lots of shopping here. On this day, the Mediterranean was really rougher than we had ever seen it.

David enjoyed all the ruins and kept insisting on stops that I had never heard of. This stop at Myecenea is an example. Apparently this castle in town was built in Old Testament times, 1500 BC. This is called the Lionsgate. The rocks are so big they’re not sure how they were putting in place. Sometimes old historic tales said Giant did it.

My favorite ruins stop was walking old town, Corinth. It was awesome to see the town where Paul preached after Jesus’s death and created the early Christian church.

We found the seat of BMA where Paul was tried and found not guilty by the Romans. 

On the first full day in town, we toured the hill of the acropolis where the famous Parthenon remains are found. There’s a lot of history here. I enjoyed the fact the tour guides focused a lot on Greek philosophers and the philosophy of the way of life. That was what was different to me about the historic tours in Greece from Rome

View of the Mediterranean Sea from our hotel room one night in a beach resort off The Mediterranean in Loutraki

First night in town, we enjoyed a walking tour with a tour guide named Lucas. The idea was to taste local Athens cuisine. We made four or five stops and it was a very great way to get used to the town and enjoy a tired evening.

The food was fantastic. This was David’s favorite meal. The fish was definitely not my favorite meal, but man enjoys his fish and definitely having it fully and displayed in front of him. He ate all of this, including the big plate of vegetables.

My favorite were the tomato salad served at every meal and the olive oil with delicious bread. I also had some awesome pizza and pasta throughout the week and some very nice wine.