Row Row Row Your Boat Firecely Across a Lake...

What a bummer it was last year for Sage to finally find a sport that she truly enjoyed only to have the season come to a screeching halt once covid struck, especially since it happened just as the most important part...racing season...was upon them.  So when the season started back up at the beginning of her freshman year, we all held our breath hoping it would continue on as planned.  Thankfully the club she rows for (OARS) was determined to get the rowers out on the water for the 20/21 season and they did just that.  Granted it wasn't without daily temp checks, masks in the boathouse, occasional covid tests and a few online races (which I still haven't figured out exactly how those work) but that was a small price to pay for a taste of normalcy after such a disastrous end to the prior season.  It was times like this I was especially grateful to be living in Florida, rather than the northeast or west coast where many of the clubs were unable to get their rowers on the water.  Granted, spectators weren't allowed at many events but aside from the Head of the Hooch regatta in Tennessee that usually takes place in Nov being cancelled, all other races went according to schedule. 

It turned out to be a great season for Sage who attended the American Youth Cup and got 1st and 3rd in her boats.  OARS invitational...we don't discuss and we don't remember it with pictures she has told me...as it was not one of her better races...lol.  She got first in both of her District races, and then attended States where her boat scored 4th in the Freshman 8.  She was invited to attend regionals in Tennessee where she got 3rd in the 3V category and the icing on the cake was being invited to attend Nationals in Sarasota, rowing in the U17+ Women's 8 after the coaches assessed performance and had them compete in strenuous seat racing for a position.  She was so happy she was in tears when she got the email she would be participating.  Nationals usually rotates between California and Florida each year and how happy I was that it was in Florida and we could go watch!  Her boat got 9th out of 24 overall in her category which she was very happy with, especially since half the boats don't even make it to the semi finals. And since ESPN live-streamed the whole event, it was so fun to go back and watch it through the eyes of the drone.   She was invited to attend the Olympic Development Camp South East this summer which was quite a compliment as only a few get invited, but she chose to pass on this month-long camp since the boys would be leaving for their missions during this time and to her credit she wanted to be around them for as long as she could. A decision our pocketbook wasn't going to complain about either...

The one thing with rowing is it's not easy to get photos of her actually participating.  We laugh that we drive hours, wait hours, and in the end only get to see seconds...  Sounds familiar.  So between me, Sage, and some of the other parents, here are a few of the photos I was able to rummage together to honor Sage with!

Her biggest fans...

A scene from race day...

Ready for the Jingle Row around the Chain of Lakes

Deland Scrimmages.  Not the nicest venue but no less exciting to watch.  I see you smiling at me!

The heavy lifting...

American Youth Cup in Sarasota (Feb)

Districts  in Deland (April)

States:  I loved that her boat focused on the American flag theme. (April)

Regionals in Oak Ridge, TN (May)

Nationals in Sarasota (June)

OARS girls team

Of course the biggest highlight of the season had to be the end of season banquet at Bella Collina.  It was by far the nicest sport banquet we've attended.  And wow, do these girls all clean up so beautifully.  Here she is with just a few of her many friends she took photos with.  How proud we are of this girl and all the hard work she put in.  

Coach Kelly

And now a two month countdown until we do it all over again...

Tis the season for...visitors!

I love spring time in Florida!  Not only does my Bougainvillea bloom and look absolutely beautiful, but we always look forward to welcoming visitors from out of town who are either here on vacation and stop by or are coming to stay with us. Of course this spring I was most excited to have my cubs retuning back to the den from BYU.

The third was the charm for Rachel and Justyn who finally made it out on their long awaited trip after having to cancel last minute the two prior times. How fun it was having them here with us and getting to spend time with them.  Of course Sage was thrilled that on this final booking they added Issy to the itinerary.  These girls have been face timing each other for years, spending hours talking about their crushes to playing online games together so you can only imagine the excitement of these two to hang out together in person.  Jack was also happy to hang out with someone as excited about light sabers as him... haha! 

Next up was The Howards who are dear friends we became close to during our NYC days.  While they didn't stay in the City nearly as long as we did, our friendship has remained strong until this day.  Usually every one to two years we meet up in Utah but how fun it was to host them for a day on their recent trip out to Florida.  Of course Sage loves any family that shows up with a bunch of girls!

True friendship is going years even decades without seeing or talking to someone yet once you get together it's like no time has passed.  I finally reconnected with Stacy and Noelle last summer and at that time we had planned a girls trip in Florida.  Unfortunately Noelle was unable to make it but Stacy came and what a great time we had.  We pretty much just visited and hung out in the backyard but you can't come to Florida and not see an alligator so I took her to Blue Springs and on a drive through the Apopka nature reserve where you get to see plenty of gators out in the wild!  How much fun we had reminiscing and laughing about old times and reconnecting!

Speaking of childhood friends, how fun it was to host one of my high school best friend's daughter. Michele and I were in each other's weddings, she visited me in NYC, and we met up for one of our high school reunions but with her having remained in California and me never returning after my parents moved, our paths don't really cross.  Of course our friendship has remained strong so when she asked if her daughter Jaidyn could come hang out with us for a week to get out of the California lockdowns of course I was thrilled.  And it really was like having Michele with me being that the two share so many of the same mannerisms and even talk the same! Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate perfectly so we didn't make it to the beach but between spending time in the pool and on the lake and a trip to SeaWorld, I think she really had a good time and how thrilled Sage was to have her here. They hit it off perfectly.  Thankfully Jaidyn has a sister sage's age so she was equally as happy to hang out with Sage!

Friends forever!

While I truly love our Florida lifestyle admittedly, I look forward to being out in Utah, close to the things that matter most...my family and my friends.  In a perfect world I'd be able to plop our house and yard down on a lake in Heber but since that is not an option I continue to look forward to the groundbreaking on our lot in Heber.  In the meantime though I will focus on the things I continue to love about being in Florida and that includes this beautiful Bougainvillea that really starts to bloom so beautifully in the spring.  This is definitely something I won't be able to replicate in Utah.