Xtreme Tournament

In the spring of 2019, Elizabeth tried out for, and was cut by, Lax Plus, an excellent club lacrosse program in Connecticut.  After all that she went through last spring, making her way from the JV to the Varsity rosters in school, it was very hard on her - especially because the 2022 Lax Plus coach was also her school coach.  When she lost her entire spring season this year, she told us that she wanted to try out again.  Due to a bunch of different circumstances, including the fact that she worked really hard on her game during quarantine, she made the team this time around.  We were not sure what the summer "season" would look like, because of all of the restrictions in place, but on Sunday, she played in her first tournament.  The tournament was in Massachusetts - which is not yet allowing tournament play - so it changed its name to a "play day" and didn't publish standings at the end of the day.  For social distancing purposes, no spectators were allowed and the teams played back to back games; players were required to wear masks when not on the actual playing field.  It was 100 degrees when she played and the turf was over 110 - I heard refs and coaches talking about feeling the turf burning into their feet and up their legs.  She played very well in the first two games but by the third game, the heat was taking its toll on her - as one of only four midfielders, she was doing a ton of running and her body couldn't keep up.  All in all, it was a successful day of lacrosse for her and she is looking forward to a few more "play days" before the cross country season starts (fingers crossed).

Having a long range lens is helpful when no spectators are allowed and you have to watch the game from the parking lot. 

Learner Permit

In Connecticut, you can get your Learner Permit as early as your sixteenth birthday although you cannot get your license until you are almost 17.  On a whim, when all DMV offices were closed during the pandemic, Elizabeth and I went online and registered for her Learner Permit test for the morning of her birthday. We got extremely lucky, as the testing location that we registered at re-opened just two weeks ago!  She tested at 8:30 am and by 9:30, she was driving me home!

Sixteen

Sixteen.  Today is pretty much the biggest milestone we've known in our family and Elizabeth has been pretty much counting down the days.  She's done so much in these last 16 years, I don't even know where to begin.  We are so incredibly proud of her resilient spirit; her incredible pursuit of knowledge; her love of sports; her ever deepening and growing friendships with some amazing people; her love of family; her sense of humor; her (sometimes surprising) kindness; and her unbreakable spirit.  We are looking forward to seeing what her last two years of high school bring, as she embarks on some of her most difficult courses and her college search begins.  Happy birthday to our incredible first born.

Celebrating the 4th on the 3rd

Emily is connected at the hip with four other girls from her Sporting soccer team.  They ran and worked out together during the entire lockdown and as their parents, we have all commented that their mental health really benefited from the exercise and the contact over three long months of distance learning and forced separation from their teammates and other friends.  The girls continue to see each other almost every day and over the long holiday weekend, we were all invited to spend some time at Jules' lake house.  Because we've been a pod for months, it was a no brainer and the girls spent the day swimming, tubing and just chilling in the lake while the parents did much of the same.  It was a really awesome day and I am just so grateful that Emily has this friendship.

We took the boat out to a rock outcropping and everyone (even me) climbed the rocks and jumped into the water. 

Great group of people right here.

#allthelasts

We thought that there would be so many more lasts when I started this post back in September, but here they all are.  What a year for Emily.

Last first day of school at JPII

Last Bernie Ward Soccer Tournament

Last cross country practice

Last cross country race

Last JPII Christmas Concert 

Last Father Daughter Dance 

Final home basketball game. 

8th graders at the final home basketball game.

Last day of 8th grade - last day ever at JPII

At Last - Graduation

Emily graduated on Thursday in a very small ceremony.  The graduation was originally scheduled for early June but had to be postponed because of COVID-19.  In conjunction with the state, the Diocese allowed for graduations of small numbers, beginning on July 6th and suddenly, we had a graduation scheduled for the 9th.
With two weeks remaining in the school year, Emily was one of three students in a virtual tie for valedictorian (all within two decimal points of each other) but when the final grades came out, she ended up out of the running completely.  I think that Lee and I were more disappointed than she was - but she knows that getting both academic and music scholarships to high school were more important.  We've been joking for weeks about how she's embarrassed the family name by only getting an Honors Cord, but we are definitely just joking.  We are proud of her years at JPII and we are so looking forward to watching her spread her wings and soar in high school

As a side note, we took these photos on a different day (the school had a photo day for graduates).  Each student was allowed only two guests and because Elizabeth had a conflict, Lee took her to where she needed to be and Aunty Strom was Emily's other guest.

It was a brutal 95 degrees and oppressively humid when we headed to the ceremony. 

Officially a graduate.