The day I finished up the last blog, I received a phone call from Axel saying, "Mom, I just hit a Tesla!" "What do you mean, you hit a Tesla?" I asked. "I was trying to park, and I heard a little bang, so I tried to back up and I think I made it worse while backing up! What should I do?"
Initially, I wanted to panic, but quickly realized it was a little fender bender and could be much worse. The little blemish gets finished this Friday, May 29th for a whopping $3300! We will just pay cash and not use our insurance in order to avoid any incidents under Axel's name, which would cause his (I mean our) insurance to sky rocket for years.
Axel was able to wipe up most of the paint on the Tuscan, so you really cannot tell it was involved in a minor fender bender. This happened to be Axel's first time driving his sister. They went to the hardware store for me and then wanted to go to Mitsuwa to pick up some sushi. I should have gone with my instinct and said no to the Mitsuwa stop, knowing it would be packed just before dinner time. Now Axel will be helping drive his brother and sister around this summer to pay us back. We are going to have a very complicated schedule with camps and work, and once Axel returns from Japan, he will have an entire month to help us. Praise the Lord!
We finally or randomly received Rubix's certificate of recognition for being nominated for 9 year old swimmer of the year (in the USA) via the ORCA awards that he went to in Florida. It came in a bit of shambles, so I have to try to flatten it out and frame it for him, as this is quite the honor.
On May 5th, Axel had his league track championship prelims meet at The Kings Academy. The entire family was able to be there and support him during his 1600 meter race. Keith picked up Rubix and I managed to get Phoenix and make it to the track in time to not only watch Axel, be enjoy my dinner during his warm ups. DJ, Samara's dad who takes all of these great photos, caught us eating our dinner. I was a little embarrassed when I saw him taking the photo. He was kind enough to get several photos of Axel racing and our family after Axel's event.
Axel had a bit of a rough start, but worked his way up to the front. He sat right behind Henry. He would have tried to go in front of Henry, but Henry is crazy fast and did a 4:09 at CCS finals and Axel knew he would be wasting energy.
Henry sped up and Axel did his best to stay with the tall Menlo crew, but got boxed in at the finish. He finished with a 4:40. 89. with Henry finishing in 4:39 and the 3 other boys who boxed him out in 4:40 as well. The other heat was even slower. He qualified for finals still, but decided he wanted to just run the 3200. He was tired from his AP Bio test earlier that day, and he had AP USA on Friday before finals, so one race was likely the best choice.
Axel also participated in the Varsity 4 x 800 relay on Tuesday after his mile. He was the anchor, which resulted in him running solo as the two other teams were way ahead of our team.
Axel during the hand off.
Axel running a slight PR with a low 2:12 time. Not bad, for not training for shorter races.
Great effort!!!!
Go Axel!!!
The Szolusha kids!
Proud mom and dad!
The cross country crew carrying on their tradition of WOW, MOM during track.
The friend group with the two seniors, Robinson and Emily in between Axel and Samara (Ava on the end).
The cross country crew saying they aren't worthy to our two seniors who will be greatly missed!
The track team celebrating a great night of racing!!!
Senior night ceremony!
All the track seniors holding up their posters with the track team behind them!
Axel started the race as he usually does and took off leading the first 3 laps. He unfortunately, started to slow when the "fast guys" started to pick up the pace slightly.
The very next day, on May 9th, we had the track and field banquet where the kids were all honored. There were many school records the team achieved and nearly a dozen kids qualified for CCS (including the relays). It was the biggest representation that Harker has ever had at CCS. May 9th was also Phoenix's friend Leeor's birthday. She painted her these beautiful flowers for her birthday and gave her the present during swim practice the following Monday.
On Sunday, for Mother's day, the kids an Keith helped me clean the house and then we all went to the pool together like old times. I drove the kids home while Keith picked up sushi for dinner! We also managed to play a few games, which made for a lovely day.
Keith has been trying to help me prepare dinners, as I typically need to prepare meals for Sunday through Wednesday on Sunday night in order to work, get some exercise in and get the kids to their events and practices. He always asked what he can do. This particular night, after enjoying our sushi, he helped me chop the butternut squash. The kids noticed their was a face, so he took a tortilla that was extra from the chicken enchiladas that I had made and put hair on the butternut squash face. So fun!!!
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And the cross country crew with Robinson and Emily! They will be missed!
And a photo of Axel!
That same night Phoenix had the last dance of the school year. I helped her get ready and had the privilege of dropping her off and picking her up. They are really short, so a 7 pm drop off and a 9 pm pick up, only leaves you about an 1 and 20 minutes to do anything, but I was glad to get an hour and 20 minutes of work done being at home, while Keith spent his evening at the pool with Rubix.
She was able to take photos with her friends and shared them with me.
With Phoenix only swimming once a week for 2 weeks and about 3 to 4 times per week now, she has a lot more time on her hands to study and sleep, but that also allows time for her to draw. I am sure she is going to be a little upset with me, but I finally snapped a few photos of her drawing, since she does these sketches in about 30 minutes now.
The pictures for the middle and lower school track team also came out since their league final championship meet.
Here is Rubix and the lower school team picture.
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Here is Phoenix and the middle school team picture!
The 7th grade crew!
I saw these great photos of her on the wall. I wish I had a better photo of her racing to the finish line in this cross country race.
I had the privilege of watching Axel receive not only the Love of Learning award that he received as a freshman, but also....
the Harker Mission Award that he received as a Sophmore. It is only fitting that he received both this year as an exemplary member of the Harker student body! The head of the high school, Mr. Barsky gave him the Love of Learning and Mrs. Gargano, the assistance head of school, under Brian Yager, gave him the Mission award. Mr. Yager, gave out the Leadership award, one that Axel has yet to be nominated for :)
Here he is with his friend group after the awards ceremony. He has such a great friends group. They are outstanding students and citizens!
We headed to the athletic ceremony, right after, where Axel received the Eagle award. The Eagle award is given to one member of the team and the team votes for the team member who exemplifies leadership, respect and kindness for his teammates. Axel was voted by his cross country teammates as this person.
Here he is receiving the award from Coach Jorge!
What was on the projector during his recognition.
Again his friend group receiving recognition for the athletic accomplishments! These were all of the track members who received awards.
This past weekend was the first long course season of the year. Rubix met a new friend and competitor Thomas, who turned 10 on March 27th and had the same swim suit and some pretty good times for his events.
They were "twinning" so I had to get pictures of them! His mom was really nice. They are from Monterey.
They also had interesting relays, called 49er relays, where the age of the 4 members had to be 49 years old or less. Leeor, Phoenix's close friend and teammate raced with Rubix! Phoenix was at home recovering from her Friday night practice.
On Sunday, Phoenix decided to come and swim the 50 back and the 50 free. She thought it wouldn't be too hard on herself to swim 50's. She was wrong...it was exhausting for her to be there and after her 50 back she said it felt like she just swam the mile. The really cool thing is she won her heat and was only .04 off her PR from last year. She was only .7 off her PR in the 50 free, which isn't bad for someone who is recovering from mono and has only swam a half a dozen times in a month!
Rubix ended up winning all 7 of his events and getting the highest points of any swimmer at the meet, which resulted in him receiving another high point trophy.
The heat winners received box cars for winning their heat.
We had no idea they were giving out a high point award, but it was icing on the cake. He had a great meet with an amazing attitude. He focused when needed and had fun with his friends when the time allowed. He wanted to make sure I noticed how well he was doing in regards to his attitude and mental perspective. I definitely noticed and was very proud!
Rubix, Tatsu, Axel, Daddy in the pool during their play date. Axel went home after his swim while, the others stayed to play on the diving board.
Tatsu and Rubix being silly.
And when this amazing child of mine returns from Japan, he will no longer just be a 17 year old high schooler. He will have learned to problem solve, think for himself, make simple and difficult decisions on his own, navigate public transportation in a foreign country and learn how to connect to a different culture and the idiosyncrasies of the Japanese culture. He will be changed forever! Please pray for him and his safety. Pray that God will give him the wisdom, patience and open mind to love on all of the people God brings his way during this time. May he also be a blessing to the host family as well.
Rubix with his new coach, Coach Luba on the right and his old coach, Coach Victory on the left.
We were all grateful for Monday off for Memorial day. Phoenix was able to hang out with Millie. Rubix had a play date with Tatsu at the pool. Axel got much needed homework and packing for Japan done and I had the privilege of getting in a nice 2 hour bike ride. We were able to enjoy dinner together as a family and an hour of game night before P and R went to bed and Axel and I continued his packing and getting ready for his last day of school.
This morning was absolutely bitter sweet. I am so proud and excited for Axel, but incredibly nervous. He managed to get through security and on his plan and is now more than half way to Japan. We will be patiently waiting for his text in the middle of the night that he has safely landed. I will likely not sleep well waiting for the other text messages that he is safely through customs and on the train to Nagoya and that he is safely with Keiko once he arrives in Nagoya. He should be done with all of his travels before I get to work at 8 am tomorrow. He will arrive in Nagoya just in time for dinner and hopefully and early bed time as Friday is a big day for his to get ready for school, meet the principal and his host family.
While Axel is in Japan going to one more month of high school, Phoenix and Rubix will be finishing up school. Phoenix has finals next week and Rubix has a party week. They have a swim meet this weekend. We will have a week off together as they transition to the summer swim schedule which means morning practice every day for one of them and afternoon practice every day for one of them. Yes, a lot of swimming. We are hoping Phoenix will be ready to swim more, but will let he body guide her.
Phoenix will start Geometry honors on June 15th and spend 6 weeks of her summer completing this course. Rubix starts Basketball camp and a writing camp on June 22nd. After the two weeks of basketball camp, he will do two weeks of a pre-algebra math camp and continue his online writing camp. He will also be working with little Grammy on Thursday evenings. They will be reading and annotating / discussing books together. Phoenix will also start her weekly Japanese lessons with Keikosensei for the summer. We have a lot of swim racing in June as well, so I am sure before we know it Axel will be returning on June 27th! I might write a short blog about the first month of the summer for Phoenix and Rubix before Axel returns and we do a mega blog on his Japan trip. I will have to see if I am able to get all of my work stuff done before my June 30th deadline.
Take care and God bless you!
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