Flag Football, Polar Plunge, Basketball, & Blitz

March was an awesome month that did not involve much travel, so it was nice to have a bit of a break since the first two months of the year were pretty crazy. One of my favorite classes to take at the gym is hip hop and my mom joined me for it one Saturday and we had an absolute blast. I think I’ve got her hooked on that class now! There’s something to be said about watching your mom twerk to hip hop at the ripe old age of 72. Trent and I enjoyed another surprise date night, where he took me to a fabulous restaurant in South End called Chapter 6. It was so delicious and I cannot wait to go back! The vibe was awesome and the drinks were tasty. We followed dinner up with a visit to Foxcroft Wine Company in the Southpark area. It’s pretty much our default favorite place to go after a nice dinner if we are anywhere nearby. 

In other exciting news, Hanleigh has joined a newly created flag football team, consisting of all seventh graders at her school. I love how she is playing sports that aren’t as common as others. They have practice three days a week and have two coaches: one whose daughter is on the team, but both of them seem extremely serious and are keeping them in check. We are still trying to learn the rules of the game. She also has soccer practice on Tuesday evenings and sometimes on Friday evenings, with a game each weekend. 

We celebrated Amy’s birthday dinner at Michelle’s house where a bunch of the neighborhood ladies congregated and enjoyed a delicious meal. Brayden took the ACT test for the second time and did really well. It even bumped her super score up since she did better in both math and reading. I’m so impressed by her test-taking ability. Clearly, she did not get that from Trent or me. Maybe it skips a generation! Hanleigh had her spring Cotillion Ball, which concluded her two-year class. I hope she learned a lot of new life skills related to etiquette and manners. Brayden took the SAT for the second time and did even better than the first. Again, I’m completely impressed! In other exciting news, our swimming pool was finally ready for us to swim in it. We had to wait 30 days after the Pebbletech is sprayed before we could get in because any body oils can cause discoloration issues in that material. During that 30-day period, you have to scrub the pool everyday with a brush in order to keep it clean and less abrasive. Once that 30-day mark arrived, the four of us did our own polar plunge (the water was 60° or so). It was chilly, but not that bad. We did have the hot tub heated up so we jumped in there right away after swimming the distance of the pool. That evening, we had dinner at Condado tacos, which we really weren’t that impressed with. Ray, one of Hanleigh’s best friends, joined us. She calls us her aunt and uncle. It’s so adorable. We love her. I went out to dinner with my Blue Hair Tribe (Heather and Tonya) to 131 Main and of course, we had a great time. Kendall and I also met up for dinner in the middle of the week at The New York Butcher Shoppe and it was delicious. I can’t wait to go back. That weekend, we got together with Dad and Christel at their house and met their two new doggies, Sasha and Max. They are rescues and are just the cutest little things. 

I took Brayden prom dress shopping and we ended up buying the first dress that she tried on. It was a beautiful black dress that looked amazing on her, but the search was not over. We actually ended up returning that one because we found an even more perfect one for her that is fun, unique, and just her style. She looks stunning in it! Hanleigh had another orthodontics appointment and Brayden, Myers, and I watched the sunset from the top of a local parking deck one evening.

A huge highlight of the month was that the men’s NC State basketball team won the ACC championship by beating UNC. It was the first time they held that title in 37 years! It was about time. We were beside ourselves and the Wolfpack Nation went berserk. I’m pretty sure I shed a few tears. The next morning, Brayden and I headed uptown for a really cool opportunity that Nana hooked her up with. We were able to participate in a morning radio show with Jay Terry, who hosts a weekly show called “About Your House”. He covers a wide range of topics, but that day it was about breast health. Although Brayden didn’t talk about that topic specifically, he did interview her at the beginning just asking her to talk about her activities and her plans after high school. Brayden has expressed interest in possibly pursuing sports marketing as a major in college, so this kind of experience was priceless for her to witness as a kickstart to what could become an amazing career! We had an awesome evening at the Bartley’s house for dinner and a wine tasting. It was super fun and I think all of us were on the same page with ranking the wines. It is incredible how different each of them tasted. 

Throughout the entire month of March, Brayden’s high school informally participated in a game that was not school sanctioned, called Blitz. This is where anyone who wants to play contributes a minimal amount of funds to the facilitators of the game. You break into teams of two and each team is randomly assigned another team of two that they are supposed to “take out” within the week. In order to take out another team, you have to shoot them with a water gun and it can be anywhere, at any time, at any place. It was beyond fun watching her engage in this and trying to track down where her targets were, while also being hyper aware of her surroundings to make sure her and her teammate did not get taken out by those trying to get them. Through a series of hilarious events, she found out who was trying to get them because one day they were camped out at one of their target’s house waiting for the girl to get home when a person trying to get them came out of nowhere and rayden’s teammate had to run and hop in the car so she did not get removed from the game. One day, Brayden and her teammate hung out in their car for three hours, having boxed in their targets in another car…unfortunately, those people had a getaway car come swooping in and the team sneakily jump in and escaped. Another funny instance was when I looked out the window one afternoon and saw a couple random cars going up and down our street and then the girls were hiding in our neighbor’s bushes (in hooded sweatshirts to be incognito, even though it was a warm day) waiting to get the girls that live next door. It was hilarious! Ultimately, Brayden and her teammate ended up hiding in a bathroom at a local restaurant because they received a tip from another team letting them know where one of theirs target was. Unfortunately, they only made it one week in the game, but our entire family was excited for the play-by-play everyday. It was awesome. Can’t wait to see how next year’s Blitz goes!!

I wrapped up the month by traveling to Palm Springs, California for a site visit for our annual conference planning meeting. I hadn’t been there in many years, but remembered the property very well. It is absolutely beautiful! We toured around, had meetings about strategy, sessions, and other logistics, and ate very well. It was even more awesome seeing some of my favorite co-workers! I even had a bit of poolside time with some of the girls. We wrapped up the month by hopping on a flight to Belize for spring break. More to come in next month’s post…

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