Fall is officially here, even if the temps are still in the 80’s. I do not mind it, because it has extended our outdoor lap swim season at the J. The water is a chilly 72, but it still beats swimming inside. Fall was always Autumn’s favorite season and I have found it therapeutic getting out all her fall decorations, the house just feels like her. It’s been a typical busy start to fall for our family. Sometimes its overwhelming, but we are making it one day at a time. Briley is doing cross country, Baylor is doing football, Finley is doing soccer and dance, and Atticus is doing soccer and flag football. Between all of the sports and helping the younger two with homework, there is not a lot of free time, but we still find the time for some backyard football, family dinners and trips to Andy's for some ice cream.
Before the craziness of our fall schedule kicked into high gear, we went back to Kirksville over Labor Day weekend, and did we ever do some labor. Bobzien’s and their six moving trucks arrived at their new house in Kirksville, which is undergoing a remodel. We spent the weekend unpacking, organizing, reorganizing, trashing, condensing, and organizing again. Had we had the time to do this in Louisville, I am confident we could have gotten them down to a max of four moving trucks. They still have not officially moved in as they are waiting on their master bath remodel to be finished. The house looks amazing and will look even more amazing once they get all their planned landscaping projects done.
My parents hosted a pool party with some friends on Saturday night and it was great to catch up with everyone and watch all of our kids play together. At one point I saw around 20 kids playing a football game out behind my parents’ pool. Such good memories. Briley missed out on all the fun as she spent the weekend down at her friend’s house at Lake of the Ozarks. She was with three of her friends and I think they had a great time. Hard to believe that next Labor Day she will be off at college.
We came home on Tuesday and hit the ground running. Finley went bowling with some friends that afternoon and her and Atticus had Red Wednesday at school the day before the Chiefs first game. They went all out with red face paint and hair to try and win the school class contest. Unfortunately, they did not win, apparently another class “cheated” by bribing the judge with donuts. Later that morning I flew down to Houston for work, and then hung out a bit with Amanda and Todd at MD Anderson where she was having some tests done.
Briley had her first cross country meet of the season that Saturday and set a new PR at 19:22, crushing her prior PR of 19:53. While not as fast as she wanted, it was still enough to get her onto the State Top 10 leaderboard for the week, which was a first for her. Later that afternoon, she started her new job at Billie’s Grocery, a cool little café in old Leawood…the life of a high school athlete, basking in the glory of a PR in the AM, and cleaning tables in the PM. Atticus had his first flag football game that afternoon and his team did great, he even ran for a couple touchdowns using his lightning speed…he was proud of himself.
Baylor, after starting the season on the Leawood Middle cross-country team, decided to give football a try at the last minute as he had no other 8th grade boys on the cross-country team. It has taken some getting used to, and while he is not liking football as much as he through he would, he is starting to get the hang of it. He is playing running back, slot receive, and kick/punt return, so a lot of high hit positions, which has worn him down. He has already told me he is going back to cross country in high school, and I am A OK with that move.
Atticus started on a new soccer team this fall, and after losing 1-0 their first game and figuring each other out, they have really clicked and have been winning all their games. Atticus got off to a slow start, but then scored 8 goals in the last 3 games. Finley’s soccer team got off to a slow start also but they to have recently found their game and are back to their old dominating ways. While she is not scoring all the goals she is used to scoring, she is making some awesome passes to put her teammates in a position to score a goal, which is wonderful.
The next weekend Briley had her favorite race of the year, Olathe Twilight. It’s a flat race that they run at night, so there are a lot of PR’s and Briley did not disappoint, she blew her PR from the previous week out of the water, running an 18::48, her first time breaking 19 minutes. We are so proud of her. Finely and Atticus both had soccer games that weekend, and Atticus also had flag football. Finley and Baylor always come ready to play, but Atticus is like Briley was at his age, you never knew what you were going to get. Sometimes they were the star of the game and sometimes you were not sure if they ever really woke up. Briley eventually grew out of it, and I am sure Atticus will to…those two are so stubborn.
Next week was Homecoming week at BVN, so the kids and I all went to the parade to get their candy fix. Briley seemed to have something going on every night, and then was up bright and early in the mornings to get a run in before heading off to her CAPS program. Senior year is going to be a blur, and I am not sure we are going to see her much…I guess it’s just God’s way of preparing us for next year. She had another cross country meet on Saturday morning in Baldwin where she ran a 19:06 and took second overall, which she was happy with.
Lissy had come into town late Friday evening, so we drug her out to the cross country meet and then she spent the day bouncing between our house and the Brawner’s, before coming back to do Briley’s hair for the Homecoming dance. Her date was Jack Hamilton and he seemed like a very nice guy; they made a cute couple. She was not out too late that night as she was exhausted from the early morning.
Baylor’s football games have gone well and they are undefeated. With each game he gets more and more comfortable and is really starting to make some plays, especially on defense. Even with the success, he is still adamant he is going back to cross country next year. He has even started to run every day and is running more now than he did when he ran cross country. I was able to get a great deal on a really nice treadmill on Facebook Marketplace and he and Briley have been using it a lot. I on the other hand, like to run outside as long as I can; I know that treadmill will be waiting for me in the winter…assuming I can find a open time slot between Briley and Baylor.
This past week was my 43rd birthday and the first birthday in 28-years that I have not celebrated with Autumn. While bittersweet, the emphasis was on sweet. I woke up that morning and went for an early run to clear my head. When I came back, Briley and Finley had made me breakfast roles with chocolate milk, and Briley even hung up a birthday banner that Autumn had made for me a few years back. In years past, I was able to make it through a whole workday without anyone being the wiser, but someone spread the word this year and I was treated to breakfast, cookies, and cake throughout the day. Evan, Jared, and Barry took me out to lunch at Bamboo Penny’s and that evening Julie and Jeff sent us a gift card for Jess and Jims so that is where the kids and I went. We came home to some French silk pie that Briley got, and a massage gift card from the kids. While birthdays will always have a tinge of sadness without Autumn, she was present in our kids, family, and friends. My parents, Amanda, and Todd drove down on Saturday afternoon and along with Caroline and Jared, took me to dinner at Louies Wine Dive on Saturday night, it was great evening and I was so thankful that they took the time to come celebrate with me.
On Saturday morning Briley ran her hardest race of the year and the one she dreads the most, KU’s Rim Rock. It’s a very challenging college course, so for high schoolers, it’s a chore. It's full of really steep up hills and equally steep down hills. There were over 3,000 runners from 7 states. Just with Varsity girls, there are three races. Briley raced in the Varsity Gold race, which is the top division, and included 3 runners in the top 10 nationally, including the number 2 runner in the nation. Briley ran the course in 19:05, beating her time from the week before that was on a much easier course, and beating her course PR that she set at State last year by 1 minute and 17 seconds. She came in 21st place out of over 200 runners in her race, which included double digit DNF’s. This girl works so hard, getting up at the crack of dawn all summer to do run workouts and strength workouts, always pushing to get better. She is setting an amazing example for her siblings about what it takes to succeed. Coming into the season she had put aside her desires to run in college, but with the times she is putting up she is now considered a strong Division 1 recruit, which has reignited her desire to run in college. We plan to start the college visits after the season.
Hard to believe tomorrow is October already, oh how the months zoom by.
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