Tennis, friends, and a fun night out

Like last month, I thought I would try to consolidate an update on Caleb's tennis playing into a single post rather than inundate the blog with all things tennis.  So here it goes... I mentioned earlier this month about an opportunity Caleb had to play just kids his age (9 years old) with a regulation ball, as opposed to the slightly slower green dot ball.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a large draw.  So he only had two matches. Two minor injuries in his first match got the better of him, and he wasn't able to pull off a win.  But he came back strong in his second match and won it.  

The nice thing about this tournament was that we got to see a family we met at a previous tournament.  Their girl Gracie hit it off with Madeline and Havi the last time.  So she was quite happy to hang out with the girls again.  It was also very cute to hear her cheer on Caleb in his second match.  Hopefully, we'll get to see them again in July.

It's so funny how after the boys reported the score, the "support staff" came around to get in on the action.  Havi and Madeline are never far behind their brother when he's at the tournament desk.

This young boy that Caleb played actually lives not too far from us.  They have been playing against each other in several tournaments.  Caleb has beaten him in all their matches.  Yet the boy's father is always asking what tournaments Caleb is playing in next.  I like that his father is willing to have his son continue to play Caleb despite the lack of success for him.  Tennis isn't always about winning; it's about improving as a player.

This past weekend Caleb played in a local Grand Prix tournament.  He has always played green dot for this tournament.  But lately we have felt, and Caleb agreed, that the level of competition just wasn't there.  He was easily beating his opponents but wasn't challenged in the least.  So since he's been playing in the middle school league on Friday nights, we thought, and he agreed, that he should give yellow ball (the regulation ball) a try.  He was so excited about it all week.

Both of his opponents are 11 years old and have been playing a while.  And Caleb took second place!  We are so proud of him.  And in case you were wondering what he was holding in those two photos above, that was a cooling towel.  When I went to edit the images, I chuckled when I noticed he was holding the towel like a trophy. lol  Precious boy.

Well, after the tournament on Saturday, Patrick wanted to take the family to a special dinner at the Polynesian Resort in the Walt Disney World Resort.  So we headed that way.  The dinner was perfect for the dumplings.  They served all their favorite foods family style- salad (for us), dumplings, wings, noodles, steak (for Madeline and me) and shrimp (for the boys.)  Caleb declared it the best dinner ever.  He said, "They served all my favorite foods!"  After dinner, we took a quick walk around the resort.  The sun had already set.  So I missed that.  Boo.  Also, before you wonder what happened to Havi's right eye, let me tell you that she got bit by an ant the day before.  It was pretty swollen and looked bad, and it was uncomfortable for her.  Poor girl.  But it's better now. 

Well, we are gearing up for another big tennis tournament this weekend.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  I think it will be just me going with Caleb and Havi.  Patrick has to work and will hang out with Madeline.  We are really enjoying our "lite school"/summer schedule for homeschooling.  Yes, I know it's only April, but we finished up our core year a few weeks ago. So now we are taking it easy, doing some Shakespeare and hands-on science in addition to the 3 R's.  Caleb continues to practice his tennis every day, and now Madeline is going to start a little beginner tennis clinic.  She's excited about it, as are we.  And Caleb couldn't be more thrilled to have yet another excuse to hit the courts! lol