Solo & Ensemble and Honors Breakfast

While we were on the cruise, Graydon participated in the Solo & Ensemble contest. I hated to miss this. Last year, the competition was in February so, when we scheduled our cruise last May, the last weekend on January looked like a good option. Thankfully, my mom was here to take him. Graydon and his group got gold! 

All three kids were invited to the Honors Breakfast at school. This is a breakfast to recognize all students with perfect attendance and who were on the Honor Roll. Bella and Graydon both had all As and perfect attendance. Curtis also had all As, but missed some school due to having COVID in November. We are so proud of each of their hard work and effort!

Curtis also played his last basketball game of the season this week. (This photo isn’t from that game.) Curtis is super bummed. He loves to play! We’re going to have to find some other opportunities for him to play in the off season. 

And now. . . A little bit of down time until the spring sports schedule gets going next month. 

Sectional Game/The End of an Era

Bella played her very last basketball game ever last week. It was the sectional game, so in order to continue, they would have needed to win this one. At the beginning of the game, they had the seniors from both team meet with the officials. 

Bella was our team’s only senior playing. We started the season with three seniors but lost the other two to injury and health concerns. This team experienced a lot of illness and injury this season which created some challenges. A lot of younger players were able to get some good varsity experience, which will ultimately end up strengthening this team in the years to come. 

“A Senior. . . #4. . . Bella Kilps!!!!”

The girls were up at the end of the first quarter and down by four points at half time.

They couldn’t quite  bridge that gap in the second half and the final score was 36-47. Bella played a great final game. She was the team’s leading scorer with 13 points. I’m not sure how many rebounds or assists she had; but she went out on a really good note. With a few seconds left in the game, they had all seniors on both teams leave the court. That’s when the big emotions really started. 

Super proud of our #4. 

The junior high girls came to watch and a few (plus the coach’s kids) joined them in the locker room after. 

Bella and the Manley girls. Abby and Leah are freshmen. Bella has known them forever since we all go to church together. It’s was special that they were all able to play together this year. 

And just like that. . . after over eight years, Bella’s time playing basketball has come to an end. I am going to miss watching her play. 

Our First Cruise

We started planning this cruise with friends back in May and it’s something we’d been looking forward to for months. The Indianapolis Airport currently has a basketball court in the center since we’re a couple weeks ahead of the NBA All-Star game that will be played here. 

Ready for our flight! 

Andy all diva-like on our shuttle from our hotel to Port Canaveral. 

There were lots of photographers snapping photos after we boarded the ship, so we stopped for a few. 

My first drink of the cruise was a Sangria Swirl. 

Kiss on the Lips!

One bar on the ship had a light-up menu!

Andy knows how to have a good time!

The room attendants left our towels in cute shapes. 

Formal night! I don’t have any formal dresses and didn’t want to purchase one for this, but there were some other people who got super decked out. It was still fun to dress up. 

On our third day, we ported in the Bahamas on a tiny island called Bimini. This was our favorite day of the vacation. 

That water!

A storm cloud started rolling in. The guys went back to the ship shortly after this photo. 

We girls wanted a bit more beach time. We did get stuck in the rain for about five minutes. 

But the sun came back out before too long. 

When we got back on the ship, my friend Jennifer and I went down the water slide. I love water slides! 

There were also some big playoff football games going on that day (Chiefs vs. Ravens and Lions vs. 49ers) which were broadcast on the main deck of the boat. 

Our last sunset on the cruise. 

The next day was a travel day home. It was a quick vacation, but since our agenda was mainly to relax, the time didn’t pass too quickly. We had such an amazing time with our friends. So much fun and laughter. I definitely think there will be more cruises in our future.