Thursday, Erin got her first chance to play in a varsity volleyball match. She ended up being put in to serve during crunch time at 8-8 in the fifth game (to 15)... She served five in a row, including three aces to help the Spartans pull ahead. They went on to win the game, and all of Erin's buddies were pumped for her... she is well liked, for sure...
Friday brought homecoming festivities... a pepfest to crown a king and queen, then on to the parade and finally the football game... During the parade, the volleyball team all rode on a float together and and threw out candy... the Mom Squad was out in full force. A group of us volleyball moms dubbed ourselves the Mom Squad. I know it's not cool to give yourself a nickname, but we like it and we own it... So, to surprise the girls as they went by on the float, we showed up like this:
Oh, if only our kids thought we were as funny as we think we are...
Saturday morning brought the 10th Annual Brains Together For a Cure walk. As I've said before, we started supporting this home-grown organization the year Shannon was diagnosed. That makes this our 5th go round... We again felt so much support from our family and friends:
Team Shannon. Some of these people have been with us every year. Some of them are new to our gang. Some of them are a part of the Mom Squad. Erin had her volleyball teammates along side as one of them has recently watched a sibling battle a brain tumor, but thankfully, the prognosis is good.
Brains Together added a run to their event this year, and Dan had his own squad to pull him through the 10K:
Saturday was a whirlwind which involved homecoming prep... hair and makeup are not a part of my skill set! Luckily, you can pay people for such things... Erin went to the dance with her friend, John, and her pals Lexie and Hallie and their dates. The girls looked beautiful and the guys looked handsome...
Need less to say, they clean up nicely!
An added bonus this weekend was having Grandma and Papa spend some time with us. They were here for Erin's volleyball game on Thursday and could take part in the walk on Saturday morning. I'm glad they are moving back. They are closing on their townhouse in Burnsville on Tuesday, so their stint as vagabonds is coming to an end...
This morning, our day started at 6am, as Dan, Erin and I headed off to the Ryder Cup for the final day of action. Needless to say, when we put our name in the lottery to get tickets 12 months ago, we didn't know that it would be the day after homecoming!
Erin piled into the car, slept for two hours and was ready to roll... a quick shuttle ride to the course and we found ourselves on the driving range and practice green to watch the best players in the world warm up: Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler... we saw them all.
Erin really wanted to see Rory play, so we made our way along the ropes on hole #1. After finding a position where we could see them walk by, Erin glanced over her shoulder just in time to see... Niall Horan from One Direction. He was making his way to get inside the ropes and follow his fellow Irishman along.
Erin tapped me on the shoulder and said "Mom, there's Niall". Erin acted quickly and went right over to him and said "Niall, can I take a picture with you?"
Niall took exactly one picture - with Erin - before he was swept away by his body guard and ducked under the ropes. For those not familiar with Niall, this is the equivalent of getting your picture taken with Paul McCartney... Erin's day was made...
We positioned ourselves on top of a picnic table where we could watch each group play the first hole. Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood... The best players in the world just kept coming...
I won't bore you with details, but we made our way around the course and managed to see some great golf. Being there to hear the roars and to cheer when we saw people making putts... Dan and I talked about how much Shannon would have loved that. She would have been all in on rooting for the Americans and celebrating the victory. Erin loved it, too, and thanked us for taking her. How cool is that?
We are grateful for the fun we have together. We are grateful for friends and family. Life is going by so fast. I want to savor every moment.
