Black Eyes and Black Diamonds

If the first two and a half months of 2019 are any indicator as to what to expect for the remainder of this year, then we are in for a ride!  Between skiing, snowboarding, Carter turning 10, and baseball it's hard to believe that we also managed to sneak away to Disneyland.

The boys got to experience a little bit of our local backcountry this season and it was a love-hate relationship.  Love the fresh virgin powder, hated the sinking and hiking.  It was especially rough on Miles with his light frame and ability to sink well into the fresh snow.  For this mama, it was especially sweet to share this favorite pasttime with her boys and their best friends.

Balancing out the sweet virgin powder were the three Fridays that they spent ripping up Mt. Ashland with their school friends and grandma.  It's pretty badass to have a grandma who can ride the Black Diamonds at the ripe old age of 73.  The snow was absolutely epic and all of the kids learned so much.

The first school ski/board day fell on Carter's 10th birthday.  He enjoyed a two-night sleepover with his buddies Wyatt and Finn, a steak dinner, and a day out of school shredding the mountain.  We simply can't believe that he is 10 years old and are so proud of the young man that he has become.  He is kind, smart, an excellent baseball player, good sport, can rip up the mountain and a true help around the house.  In fact, last weekend he traveled several hour with his Mema and Papa to watch his older cousin play Varsity baseball and his dad commented that he was "sad to lose his number one helper" for the weekend at home.  He hit his first home run (out of the park) last week and he was amazingly humble about the whole thing despite the intense internal excitement.  He also earned a nice black eye from baseball practice last week and kept telling everyone, "I kept my eye on the ball." We are just jazzed to be on this ride with him through life.

I finally got around to interviewing Carter this evening.

Name:  My name is Carter Isbell.

What is your favorite thing to do?  Play baseball, and go hunting and fishing.  

Who is your best friend?  Miles and Wyatt and Finn Hilton.

Favorite Superhero? It's time to retire this question.

Favorite Color?  Orange 

Favorite Toy?  A baseball bat

Favorite Food?  French Dip 

Favorite Drink?  Pepsi

Perfect Day?  Winning a baseball game with the Dirt Dogs 

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A major league baseball player.

What will you miss about being nine?  Now at some restaurants I won't be able to order off the kid's menu.

What are you looking forward to about being 10? I can sell my pig at the fair in the market class.

What are you really good at?  I am good at playing baseball.  

What are your chores?  Weedeating, leafblowing, feeding the chickens, fair pigs, sometimes the horse, wood on the porch, chopping wood and kindling, working on learning how to mow the lawn.

What makes a good person? A good person is kind to others and doesn't show off.

Favorite thing to watch?  Baseball movies and the Giants.

What is your favorite thing about school?  PE

Something you can work on?  Not arguing with my mom and being nice to my brother. 

I was invited to speak at a state-wide conference for administrator's last month at the Disneyland Hotel.  I still can't believe how incredibly nervous I was.  I gave a dry run the week before and totally bombed in front of my peers and admired individuals.  One of my closest mentors told me, "Would you run a race in a brand new pair of shoes?"  I ditched the fancy Prezi and went with my gut and.  .  .  I killed it.  I spoke to 100 people about contagious school culture and it was amazing.  I don't "toot my own horn" often, but it felt really good to just nail something. 

I'm not ready to take my show on the road quite yet, but I won't turn down further opportunities to speak about something I'm passionate about.  While I was busy representing our county, the boys racked up an average of 11 miles a day at Disneyland.  In fact, Miles blew out a pair of shoes and we had to Uber out to find a place for some new sneakers.  Bradley truly gets the "Dad of the Year" award for single handedly mastering the "MaxPass" option at the park.  On the final night when we left Miles broke down in tears that "It's over!". 

We are now getting ready for our Fair Pigs and enjoying five nights a week of baseball.  Miles will show pee-wee and has already helped feed "Arnold" the runt of the litter.

Bradley is helping coach Miles's Little League Minors team with his cousin Clint, Carter plays on a Majors team, and he is still on the Travel Ball team.  In fact, they just had a home double header today.  Carter pitched, caught, played first base, and helped his team win both games.  (We only won one game all of last season and we won TWO today.)  

We celebrated Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's with fun shirts and I'm sad to report that we might be nearing an end to this era with our decade old eldest.

We are so excited for what this spring holds in store for us.  Black eyes, black diamonds, black pigs and all.