September 2024
2024,  Brayden,  Charlotte,  Family,  Football,  Hanleigh,  September,  Vacation

Painting, Pontoon, & Penalty Prowess!

Now that September is here, the first full official month of Brayden’s senior year is upon us. She kicked things off with Senior Sunrise, which is where the seniors gather early one morning at school to hang out in the parking lot and watch the sunrise together. It’s a great tradition and a fabulous way to positively begin their last year together. Her field hockey practices continued and she still volunteers one day a week at her former elementary school by helping a teacher with her first-grade students. I know this fills her bucket and also gives her some of the much-needed volunteer hours for school. Her field hockey team had an away game versus my alma mater, South Meck, and I attended an eighth grade information session for Hanleigh’s upcoming spring trip to Disney world. They will spend a few days there visiting multiple parks and I know it will be a great way to cap off her middle school years. 

For my birthday, Hanleigh had given me an evening at Wine & Design, one of those places where you paint and sip wine (of course, she did not partake in that last part). Together, we painted a moonlit-beach scene and I have to say, her blending techniques are much better than mine, but I already knew that was the case. She’s a much better artist than me. The extent of my artistic skills is really good stick figures! My mom joined me for a hip hop class at the gym, which I absolutely love. It’s so fun to see her get her groove on and shake her booty! Brayden had another field hockey game against Marvin Ridge and that weekend, the four of us had a fun day together for the Duke Mayo bowl football game. We began by having lunch at Suffolk Punch on the Rail Trail in South end, then made our way to Goldie’s where we met up with a bunch of people who were also going to the game, and then arrived to Bank of America stadium to watch NC State take on the University of Tennessee. I admit, I did have a sliver of hope that we would actually pull off a win, but unfortunately that did not happen. They are just way too good! It was our first football game of the year and of course we had an absolute blast! Our seats were the first row of the upper level at the 50-yard line, so we had a great view of the field. We stuck it out until the end of the third quarter and by then, the score was so abysmal, that we just decided to cut our losses and leave. Regardless, it was still an amazing day!

Brayden had another field hockey game against Myers Park, Trent continued to attend his guys’ mental toughness calls, and Hanleigh’s new soccer season kicked off with once-a-week practices. Trent attended the curriculum night at her school to learn what she will be taught this year. Meanwhile, I’ve ventured to Ocean Isle Beach for the annual girls’ trip. It was so much fun, as always! I drove up on a Wednesday and had dinner with Kendall and Nancy at Sharky’s, then the next morning picked up Leslie at the Myrtle Beach airport. It was so awesome to see her for a long weekend! I surprised the two of them and gave them the most adorable hand-holding socks. They are these little calf-height socks that have eyeballs on them and little arms with magnets so that when you stand next to someone else who has a pair of them on, the hands grab each other and hold on to one another. It is the cutest thing ever. Not practical for walking around at all, but it would be super adorable if you were cozied up on a couch watching a movie together and had them on. Check out the picture. The three of us worked at the house that day and Julie arrived later in the afternoon, so the four of us headed to Coastal Wine and Tap for some appetizers and wine. Late that night, Heather and Tonya arrived. Although the weather was overcast and a little suspect, we had a great day at the beach on Friday and then a delicious dinner at Jinx Creek that evening. The next day, we had reserved a pontoon boat for a few hours around 11:00 a.m., but the weather had other plans. It was really nasty and rainy, however, the rental company had an opening later that afternoon in between some more bad weather, so we took the chance and decided to go out on the boat. As I’ve said before, some of my most favorite memories involve being caught in a downpour. Julie stayed back for some some quiet time, while the rest of us ventured out in the dreariness. That did not stop us from having a blast. Our captain was awesome and thanks to a great idea from Heather to make a pit stop at the Inlet View Bar and grill, we dodged a major dumping of rain in exchange for some delicious painkillers and laughs indoors. We emerged after the rain had stopped and continued our journey where we were able to see pods of dolphin for a few minutes. It was super cool! We headed back to the house, chilled out and made a delicious surf and turf for dinner. Of course, that was followed shortly after with an amazing dance party and some tasty beverages, some of which were served out of these little mini tumblers that Tonya had made for us by one of her family members. The next day, I took Leslie back to the Myrtle Beach airport and it was back to reality. I think this may be the fifth year we’ve done this trip and it just gets better and better. 

Meanwhile, Brayden went to the football game against Charlotte Christian and then her and Trent went to Asheville for a field hockey game against their high school. And keeping up with all of the senior milestones, her class rank was updated and was even higher than before, which is extremely impressive considering how competitive her school is. She attended another Friday night football game, Hanleigh continued her soccer practice, and our four-legged babies had their annual checkups. The highlight of all sports this month was hands down the field hockey game against Providence High. It was a nail-biter unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Both teams were tied by the end of regulation and then went into two 10-minute sudden death overtimes where the score remained tied. Then, the game went into two rounds of penalty shots that involved five players from each team taking their chance at scoring. At the end of those two rounds, the game was still tied! Then, the next round was individual sudden death penalty shots. After two rounds of that, it was still tied. Providence was up next for their chance to score, which they didn’t. Then it was our turn. Of all the players that were up next, it was Brayden who sealed the deal and scored the winning goal! She threw her stick down and ran into the arms of the goalie where they did a huge bear hug and immediately after, the rest of the team gathered around jumping up and down and screaming in one big team bear hug. Trent and I were on the sidelines with tears in our eyes. We were so proud and it was such an amazing moment! Way to go Brayden and way to go team! As a matter of fact, as a result of this amazing play and game, Brayden was nominated for The Charlotte Observer’s Player of the Week award! The other nominees clearly had bots constantly casting votes, but just having that shout out was super amazing. This is what the text read on the nomination on the website: “Brayden Jones, field hockey: the Knights senior midfielder scored the game-winning goal in a double overtime, sudden death shootout to lift her school to a 5-4 win at Providence on September 17th. Jones also had an assist in a 4-1 win over covenant Day on September 21st.” Hooray!

Christel celebrated her birthday (happy birthday to the best stepmom ever!), NC State got their butts kicked by Clemson at an away game, Brayden had another field hockey game against Covenant Day at home, and Hanleigh played her first soccer game with this season’s team. The coach is a new one that she hasn’t had yet and the team is slowly getting to know each other. They definitely have potential, but do need to work on communicating during games. That night, Hanleigh went to Ray’s house for a birthday and slumber party. Meanwhile, Trent took me out to a surprise dinner for my birthday to an amazing restaurant called Counter-. It is a super cool, very small restaurant whereby all patrons sit around a humongous counter with an open-kitchen concept while the chefs prepare each course (I think there were seven of them at least), educate you about the origin of each dish, and a sommelier presents you with a drink that compliments what you are getting ready to taste. Even more impressive is the knowledge base on each of those items…we were educated about the history of everything, the origin of where the ingredients came from, and much more. The theme of our evening was Queen, as in the band. Each course was also paired with a song (the muse for each course) that was blared loudly (in a good way) while we ate. It was very bougie and something I don’t think we would do very often, but I would highly recommend that anyone who gets a chance to eat there should definitely do so. The food was incredible and I was stuffed by the time we left. Thank you, Trent, for an unbelievable evening and such a unique experience. I absolutely love creating these kinds of memories! 

Brayden had her senior appointment with her high school counselor, who her provided her with her transcript, something that she needed for a couple of the colleges she’s applying to through something called the self-reported academic record (SRAR). Terry and Fran returned from their annual week month-long trip to California, and while they were there, Hurricane Helene ravaged most of Western North Carolina. While we lost a tree in our front yard and were without power for a day, but we fared pretty well. The only other repercussions around here were the delay of a football game and homecoming, but Brayden and her friends still kept their homecoming plans, so we ventured over to Ballantyne Country Club for all the pictures of her and Kyler (her date), and all of their friends prior to them going to dinner at Oggi. They all looked and so gorgeous and dapper!

Hanleigh had another soccer game over a weekend and as a result, we sold our NC State versus Northern Illinois football tickets. As anyone with young kids knows, your schedules are at the mercy of their sports, which we are happy to oblige because it makes us so happy just to see them be active with their teammates. They learn so many life lessons that way. I’ve also started another temporary part-time job which is that of being an advisor to Brayden on all of her college applications. When I’m not working or eating, I’m an editor on her essays, constantly doing research on universities and what forms need to be filled out, and just running QA testing anything before she submits it. September definitely was month two of that process. October is when many of her applications are due, so the two of us have been tagged teaming a lot on this. I know all of her hard work will pay off! The month concluded with one more field hockey game against Charlotte Latin, a really good team!

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