LAX Weekly Summary

Two lax victories for  Monarch this week. On Wednesday, a nice spring evening for a lacrosse game. And super nice that it was a 7:00 start vs. the 4:00 starts that are common this season. T-man came along and D-man served penalty time for someone else’s foul. There were quite a few fans which was great to see and just seeing the stadium lit up as we drove away was a simple signal of things returning to normal. 

The Friday afternoon game in Lakewood had a 3:30 start which was not easy to get to, but we saw three quarters of play with D-man in for a decent amount of time. And, he actually got called for a penalty this game. A fun way to kick off a busy weekend. 

Ready for play 

Beautiful stadium 

Serving his penalty time 

Fans! 

Lakewood game 

100 Mile Club

Last fall during the school from home portion of the pandemic, the PE teacher at T-man’s school started the 100 mile club. He had to track his activity via an app and turn in the data to his teacher. Then you could see where you stood throughout the year and also check the leaderboard (T-man was guaranteed to “win” 8th grade as he was the only student that participated. He had already been joining me around my walks around the block (albeit on a scooter) so I thought this was a great way to drive us to an end point. 

I forced T-man to join and while he complained about it, he definitely enjoyed it at times. We would figure out different routes in the neighborhood and see how long each route was. We had nice conversations and it was a great break in the day for each of us - sunshine and exercise and company! When we started, T-man was convinced we could get 100 miles in before Christmas. And while technically attainable, we weren’t going to be walking two miles everyday of the week.  It was these types of topics that would fill our walks.. 

While T-man trudged into the last few miles, the time we had was super special to me and something we wouldn’t have had without the pandemic. 

So proud of him 

Walking buddies 

Just Cuz

A couple pics with my handsome hubby. 

Sunset point waiting for D-man’s girlfriend 

Graduation party 

How did this happen??

So proud of this kid and his perseverance and handling middle school during the pandemic. From handling google classroom to online band to no sports or outdoor ed trip to Utah, he’s been a trooper and a fighter. Can’t wait to see how he tackles high school next year! I’m not quite sure how we will have two high schoolers next year! 

Junior “Prom”

After some back and forth and figuring things out, D-man and his girlfriend had “prom” tonight. After taking pictures at sunset point, they headed to Denver to Osterio Marco in Larimer Square for dinner and then to an escape room. 

Since her dress was black, we had to find a new shirt for his suit. We made a quick trip to Kohl’s on Tuesday night to see what we could find. We were thinking blue originally, but ended up with a pink shirt with a nice pink and black tie to compliment her black dress. They went to the florist together to pick out their corsages on Wednesday. I’m glad that they could have something to look forward to this spring. As D-man was getting ready, he said he was looking forward to the evening. I hope they had a great time! 

Getting ready 

Ready! 

Getting directions to Parking, restaurant, etc. 

Corsage and boutonniere

Trying some fun poses 

Fake candid 

Proud of this young man 

School Spirit

A lax game against the rival team from Boulder did not end well for the Coyotes, but there were a bunch of students at the game. With the lack of sporting events to attend this year, the students are showing up for other sports which is great. D-man got in for a couple minutes. 

Dress up for game day 

White out 

He’s in! 

Mother’s Day Weekend

We took advantage of the entire weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day as the weather on Sunday was going to be questionable. I’m all for more days celebrating me (haha). 

Saturday morning was relaxing for me while the boys were busy - D-man with lax practice and cheering on a variety of teams at the high school at T-man enjoying Boulder with friends. We picked up Snarfs and headed for a hike in Boulder in the afternoon. We had a great hike and finished right before the wind moved in. Marshall and I attended a small BBQ at the neighbors on Saturday night. 

On Sunday morning, I got in a nice (albeit chilly) walk in with the sun shining and then we got a bit of yard work done. After D-man wrapped up work, we took a road trip to Runza in Longmont for our Mother’s Day outing. The fries were hot and the Runza delicious. We took the “long road” home through Niwot and three of us took naps when we got home. 

We then played online cards with Mom and Dad before a yummy scallop pasta dinner. Lots of laughter and antics which made my day even more special. 

Saturday minding view with my homemade latte 

Off we go! 

I love these boys 

Happy 

All my guys 

View from the hike 

The flatirons 

Runza! 

 

Eating lunch in the car day 2 

Mom and I won one game of pitch together

Yummy! 

I thought this shirt was appropriate for the da. Love these boys 

Mom

Being a Mom is not easy. It’s basically a 24x7 job and while there are books and blogs and tips and tricks, there is no “manual” for all the things you will encounter as a Mom. Of course, your life experiences and the role models in your life helps set the stage for how you will navigate all the “Mom things” that come your way. 

When I reflect back, I could not have asked for a better Mom and role model. Growing up, my Mom was one the few (the only?) working Mom of my friends. She certainly was the only one that had a professional job. I grew up seeing a Mom who was engaged in her work and also there for her family. I grew up seeing that you could excel at your work and be an amazing Mom. The is meant I also had a father that had to cook dinner when Mom was coming home late from work or help with the laundry to keep the house going. 

My Mom also had a profound influence on how I think and view the world around me today. She planned our annual trips across the country from one coast the other which gave me experiences that most (any?) of my friends did not have. From the gay rights parade in San Francisco, to seeing one of the largest tidal range at the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia (and seeing this in my text book the next year) and so many things in between, these experiences opened my eyes to so much more. 

At the time, you don’t think about how all of this influences you, but it obviously does. I was never going to not be a working Mom. I was always going to work at being a great Mom. I was going to marry a partner in life to raise our family together.  I was going to take my children to places far from home. I was going to encourage my children to be involved in school. I was going to be involved in my school/community. I was going to question things and work to push my children to do the same. 

Although I don’t have a daughter to see me as a role model Mom, I hope our boys can eventually look to their experiences with me as their Mom and it has as positive effect on their lives as my Mom’s did on me. Thanks for being a great role model Mom - I love you. 

We Found It!

One third of T-man’s throwing knives have been missing for awhile. We finally secured a metal detector from the neighbor and found the knife in about 30 seconds. Yes, knife throwing commenced right after this! 

LAX Season Begins!

It was a gorgeous day for the first game of the Coyote Lacrosse season. We traveled south to Mullen High School on Wednesday to watch the varsity team win 15-3. D-man’s good friend was a beast on the face-off battle and the team looked good for their first outing in a couple of years. 

The team is ranked 8th in the state with a couple of the young men headed to play lacrosse in college. There are only two teams this year and D-man was chosen to play varsity. He got into the game a few times and had a couple good defensive plays. 

His girlfriend was even able to come to the second half of the game after soccer practice (unfortunately, they won’t be able to see each other play much because theirs games and practices overlap each other). But very sweet of her to come down and see him play.  

And a bonus for us, we reached out to Marshall’s long-time college friend (who lives down south) and had an impromptu drink after the game with them - normalcy is upon us. 

Here’s a video with some highlights of the game. D-man made the video around the 1:30 mark. The video was dedicated to two individuals that died during the pandemic - a coach that lost his battle to brain cancer and a former player who died of a drug overdose. What a rough year. I really like the message from the coach in the beginning of the video. May we all work to create circles where everyone is included. 

#17 in black 

Ready! 

Fun to be at the field again! 

Cinco de Drinko

After a year off, the Cinco de Mayo party was back on and we had beautiful weather for our outdoor gathering. Marshall made his delicious margaritas and an amazing brisket. People showed up around 3:30 and the last folks left around 10:00. So many people commented how nice it was to have something “normal.” 

I was a bit concerned that I would not be able to really participate given I had my second Covid shot in Friday, but with a couple quick naps during the day, I made it! 

We are fortunate to have such great friends in our lives. 

Party! 

The set up 

The host with the most 

We had to get Molkky out in honor of Vappu - which Matthew informed me is a holiday in Finland on May 1st 

A fun time! 

We did it! 

Margaritas and Tacos

 Last night, I participated in an online cooking class with the Snapdocs “Sage Ducks” ERG (employee resource group). This is the group at work for the more “seasoned” (aka old) employees. We made two types of tacos and margaritas. It was a fun experience and fun to do with a group of coworkers across the company. There weren’t very many of us, but we had fun! Thankful for a company that has groups across the company to support its workers una different way. 

Getting ready 

With my margarita now 

Look at that presentation! Ha! 

Cheers

To an unexpected reason the celebrate.