Since the cruise we have been getting back into the usual grind. Now and for the next several weeks our lives seem to center around Molly, and water polo in particular. They have regular league games and practice during the week and tournaments most weekends. Last weekend the tournament was at Stevenson High School, a bit north and west of Chicago. Tonight we head to Rockford for an in-state tournament. Then it’s leagues, regionals, and state championship tournaments. Last Wednesday it was seniors night, the last time the seniors will be playing in their home pool. They won the game, 21 – 1.
The promenade with happy parents. (Mike Q. photo)
The promenade with happy parents. (Mike Q. photo)
Going for the shot. (Mike Q. photo)
The seniors. Note the slight size difference. (Mike Q. photo)
The seniors. (Mike Q. photo)
The rabid fans. Molly’s prom date, Ian, is the highly engaged fan on the far right, back row, sitting and looking at his phone. (Mike Q. photo)
The cake. (Mike Q. photo)
They are doing great this year. Currently they are undefeated and ranked first in the state. At the Stevenson tournament they beat the first, third, and fifth ranked teams in Illinois. They won all four of their games, something Okemos hasn’t done for years. Fenwick, the number one ranked Illinois team, was undefeated before the tournament. They are also a private high school and recruit for their athletics.
A few other Molly-centric things, like invitations to the graduation open house and preparing for the prom are in the mix too. The regional championship tournament is in Birmingham, MI the same day as the prom. Since the girls don’t know when they will be getting back to Okemos we are hosting the prom dinner for Molly and a couple of her teammates.
Molly’s date is Ian, the friend that she went with last year. Ian was smart and asked early. Since then there have been three other offers. One prospective suitor had planned an elaborate request that I believe included jumping into the swimming pool to ask her. Luckily he was informed by a teammate that Molly already had a date.
This is not high school as Lise and I remember it. I was really happy just finding someone with two X chromosomes for a prom date. So how did we end up with a hot commodity on our hands? I figure there was just a 25% chance of this. If Lise and I both carry a dominate Not Hot gene and a recessive Hot gene, Molly only had a one-in-four chance of getting two recessive hot genes.
On other fronts, spring is really happening. The ground has thawed. It has been warm enough to ride bicycle without risk of frostbite. Fido has revived her digging urge. I’ve started plants for my pathetic attempts at gardening. Fido had begun eyeing up my garden starts as a salad source. And fat boy, the world’s fattest groundhog has come out of hibernation and is patiently waiting for my garden to go in.
Fido digging her hole.
Fido violating my garden starts.
Migrants are starting to show up too. Yesterday morning we took a quick trip along the Red Cedar. We got a rare (for here) yellow-throated warbler, plus black-throated green warbler, Nashville warbler, palm warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, blue-headed vireo, yellow warbler, blue-gray gnatcatcher, and phoebe. All in about 20 minutes. Lots of reports of other species showing up too.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 