Our last day was really chill. We just walked around the city and then went back to the hotel to pack. After packing and napping, we went back to the city for one more night out. We topped the night off, and the trip, with a good homemade pizza from a neat hole-in-the-wall style restaurant.
Lex had her basketball game. It was a good day. She played well and they won. Over the last week, she has really started to practice a lot more and really work on her game. She has been watching these 'No Days Off Videos' that have really motivated her to work on her game.
There are a series of them that cover different kids who are excelling at different sports.
We capped off the day with an early dinner with Alyssa's parents at Blue Goose.
I am a week away from embarking on my second journey into
educational administration.This time, I
will be an assistant principal at an intermediate school that is home to 5th and 6th graders. This is the
second time that I am stepping away from coaching, and the first time that this
change was initiated by me, so this time carries a little more pressure.
Pressure to be successful.Pressure to find joy and happiness.Pressure to find purpose.Pressure to belong.Pressure to make it work.
I am nervous.I am nervous in the way that all people get when they experience change.But I am also nervous about what this means for my family; especially my 3 little girls.
Last night as I was tucking London-Mila in bed, the last thing she asked me was when my next basketball game was.I am used to Lex asking questions like this, but this made me realize how much my little one’s love coming to my games.I would LOVE if my kids grew up in the gym watching daddy coach and cheering on daddy’s team.For time and mental health reasons, I just can’t keep doing it right now.
I hope that I am making the right decision.I am holding onto faith that my dots are connecting like they are supposed to.One thing that popped into my mind is that while I feel that I am a ‘good’ coach and basketball has been my entire life, for my entire life, what if I am trading ‘good’ for ‘great.’
I am not saying that I am expecting to be a great administrator.What I am saying is that maybe I am trading a ‘good’ life for a great one.One in which I will have more time and freedom (and mental freedom) to do more and live more and experience more personally, professionally, and with the fam-bam.
I have been doing these ‘posts a day’ all year, and today (yesterday) I posted this video of Diddy talking about how life and your purpose is ever changing.You have to be willing and able to redesign and clarify your purpose in a changing world.
Day 19 - A chill Saturday until about 7 in the morning when the little monsters decide to wake up. It's never really chill Saturday. Even when we don't have basketball or soccer or tee ball or softball or flag football to deal with, the little rugrats are up early and full of energy and ready to go. The really tough part is that they don't know how to just relax in the house because they are so used to doing 'something.' We went to a birthday party in the afternoon, stopped by Kirkland's, and grabbed some El Pollo Loco.
Day 20 - We played our first basketball game since our first loss last week. We played the 'Stingers' who are an undefeated team. From the beginning, you could feel hostility as the opposing coach seemed to argue or at least question, every detail of the game. After a few minutes, I realized the Stingers were made up of a bunch of girls from a soccer team that we play against all of the time. It was a back and forth game, and with about 1 minute left, we were down by 3. I thought this was just going to be our 2nd loss in a row. But Lex kept being aggressive and got us into the bonus and was at the free throw line when she made the first, missed the second, got her own rebound then swished the put back.
We then got a stop and Lex hit a pull-up jumper to put us up 2.
One stop later, 17 seconds left and us up 2, I called a timeout and setup a plan for Lex to dribble the clock out. This is the 2nd time that we have done this during this season, and both times the opposing coaches got really, really upset. I just don't get it, from a basketball standpoint. The next time we get questioned for doing something that is always done, I am going to ask them, "What would you do in this situation?"
Nonetheless, we came away with a much needed win over a rival.
During basketball season, the days run together and my schedule doesn't always allow me to find the time to post. Well, what I have to continue to do is learn how to prioritize and organize and live my life in a way that does allow me to do so.
Day 15, I had a game against Sachse. It was tough. We got beat, but it walking into these two in the hallway makes it a little better:
Day 16, was a chill day. Wednesdays are the ONLY night that we don't have anything to do. No basketball games, no basketball practice, and no soccer practices. So, its usually family time. Lex started feeling restless, and she kept walking in and out of the living room, each time she had another layer of her Black Panther costume on. Of course, it culminated in her attacking me with her nerf gun:
Day 17 was simple. Thursday nights are one of my favorite nights of the week. I love being able to take Lex to soccer practice and be able to just sit back and watch her play and not coach. She works hard, she plays with passion, and you can easily see how much she loves being with her friends at practice:
A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated a great Spring Break! This was our family's first year with EVERYBODY in school. Lex is in kindergarten, London-Mila and Zoe are in day care, and Momma Lyssa is working at Draper Intermediate School. So Spring Break was a little more special for us having everybody home together for a week. We took the girls to San Antonio for a couple of days during the break, and we spent our time at the San Antonio Zoo and at Sea World. We drove up on Thursday and went straight to the zoo. Below is a video of our time at the zoo:
That night, we ate on the Riverwalk. Our hotel was within walking distance from Downtown San Antonio, so we walked by the Alamo, walked around, and took some pictures before heading to eat. On the way back from dinner, London-Mila said how much she loved walking around downtime in the dark (night time). It was a really good, chill and calm family night.
The next day, Alyssa was able to set up a behind the scenes tour of Seaworld! It was a lot of fun and a cool experience getting some individual attention from the animal trainers and animals. We were able to see behind the shark tanks, watch the trainers feed the dolphins and watch the dolphins do tricks, and we were able to feed the sea lions. We then saw the Shamu show and rode some rides. Below is a video of our time at Sea World:
We finished up our trip by staying the night in Austin at my uncle Larry's house. He and his wife have a really nice house on a lake out there. We were exhausted, but we had a great time!!!
Last Friday I had the
honor of escorting Lex on her 1st date to her school's daddy daughter dance. As
you can see from the video and pictures below, we had a GREAT time!
When people ask me how the
dance went; below is the BEST way that I could describe it:
"It was the BEST time. When we first got there, she was kind of
‘feeling her way out,’ but as soon as she had got loose, we had a GREAT
time! They would play about two ‘fast’ songs
for each ‘slow’ song. When she got
comfortable with her friends, she would take off with her friends for the fast
songs, but she would always come find me, hold my hand, and escort me out for
the slow songs. I was sooo perfect."
Lex is a PERFECT mix of
introvert/extrovert, and that dichotomy was on full display that night.When we first got there, she found two
balloons.She uses soccer and
basketballs as her defense mechanisms when she is shy or in a new situation
and meeting new people, and she used balloons tonight in their place.
As she got more and more
comfortable, you could see her true personality come out.The coolest thing was seeing her interact
with her friends.I PRAY that she has
the right friends and teachers in her circle throughout her upbringing, and we are blessed that
she was hanging out with a great set of twin sisters that night.
One story that I have to
share is that a couple weeks before the dance, when she realized that I was
going to escort her, she came to me and said:
“Daddy, we have to practice our
dances for our Daddy/Daughter Dance so that we know what we are going to do.”I was able to appease her by practicing some
of the same slow dances that we have been doing for as long as I remember, but
it was funny that she wanted to make sure that were ‘prepared.’
To recap, this was as much
fun as you would think it was.She still
wanted Daddy around, but I was able to see some of her friends and make sure
that she is hanging around the right people ….. In Kindergarten lol.
