The Noriega Family

Our friends wanted to go camping with us so they arranged for the two families to do a little camping trip at a close by park, Pohick Bay.  We normally like to venture further from home for our camping trips but this ended up being a lot of fun because we were able to have a bunch of friends come and hang out with us. The ironic part of the trip is that our friends that set it up, ended up not camping with us because they got too busy.  We had one other family camp the first night with us and a couple other families bring dinners to sit around the campfire with us.  

Saturday it was just us...so grandma and grandpa came and joined us for some daytime activities.  We mini golfed with them.  In the evening a couple other families came and did campfire evening activities with us.  It was a great little camping trip.  The girls played a ton of gagaball, we all enjoyed some outside time with friends and it was nice to just get out of the house a bit.  We had nice early spring weather.  It was chilly in the evening, but the made the fire more fun.  

The other nice thing about camping close by, is that we could still run kids to their activities.  Estelle was really happy to not have to miss her soccer game.  

Volleyball season has been super strange.  We got pushed back from the Fall because of Covid, so we started in February.  First day of tryouts was on my birthday!  The season was super short, reduced to 60% of a normal season.  Our main part of the season was only 6 weeks.  The first week we had tryouts and then we had a snowstorm and my first two team practices, post tryouts were canceled.  We then played our first match after only one full week of practice.  The next day, one of my varsity players tested positive for Covid and the whole team had to quarantine for two weeks.  That meant that we had to make-up the matches that we missed in an already condensed schedule.  After the quarantine ended, we really only had two weeks to play all our matches before post season playoffs started.  We played 4 matches a week and hardly had any time to practice.  I think we ended up with less than 10 team practice days for the whole season.  Luckily the last week was during spring break and we were able to have practice in the morning and then a game in the evening.  

It was a crazy season, we overcame so many obstacles and still ended up tied for first place.  We played in the District Championship match (we lost).  I had 9 seniors (pictured above), so I was just so happy that we were able to give them their senior season.  They were so much fun and even though it was short, it was great.  We all had to wear masks the entire time we are at the school.  They spaced the chairs on a our bench 6 feet apart...which is so silly.  We had to fist bump or elbow tap, not high five....haha.  We were only allowed 25 spectators (last year we averaged 400 at home matches), so that was a big change.   

I do think the strangest times make for some of the best memories.  This is a season we will never forget.  Even with the challenges, we fun lots of fun, learning opportunities and great memories.  One of the biggest bummers though, was that Hector and the kids could not come the matches.  They have become super Spartan Volleyball fans and I missed having them there this season.  

Sienna is double digits!  Sienna loves her birthday and she could not wait to celebrate.  She has really been looking forward to turning 10.  We had Grandma and Grandpa over for brunch in the morning.  In the afternoon we had a basketball party at the school basketball courts.  We played some basketball games  - lots of knockout and horse.  The kids all had fun running around together and it was so nice for Sienna to see all her friends.  It was a really fun party and super easy to organize.  We had cupcakes and opened gifts and most kids and siblings ended up staying for hours just playing at the playground.  It was a perfect day.  

Once all the friends went home...Sienna got what she was most excited for.  Superhero Movies!!! 

 About a year ago, Sienna started informing us that she thought 10 would be a good age to start watching superhero movies.  She had a really solid argument for her birthday being the perfect time and she inquired about it on a regular basis.  Hector and I decided months before her birthday that we would indulge her movie request, but of course we kept the mystery alive and did not tell her. 

Friday night she watched Captain America (that is the movie she has been most looking forward too) and Saturday after the party we watched two more with her and Natalia.  It was really fun to experience them with her for the first time.  She was on the edge of her seat the whole time and kept talking through the movie about how things were the same of different from the comics.  Such a cutie! 

She requested a superhero cake to go with her movie watching!

Sienna is so much fun and we all loved celebrating her birthday with her.  At 10, Sienna is super into sports.  She loves basketball the most, but enjoys about any sport she tries.  She likes pickleball and volleyball a lot too.  She loves to wear hats and hates to brush her hair.  She thinks that wearing a hat means she doesn't need to brush her hair...I disagree.  We have this debate on a regular basis.  Sienna loves to ride her new big wheel scooter.  She loves shooting her bow with dad.  She loves camping and hiking and swimming.  She likes to write and create comics.  She is very creative and a very talented writer.  She has mentioned several times that she might want to be a writer when she grows up.  She loves to read and enjoys a huge range of books.  Little Women is one of her all time favorites and we all know she loves superheroes.  

She is the best at keeping her room clean and is usually the first one done with school.  She is almost always happy to help and she is great about working hard and trying her best.  She is brave and always up for trying new things.  She is an adventurous child.  She is an amazing girl and we love her so much.  She is fun, kind, humorous, a good friend, loving sibling and overall amazing person.  Happy Birthday, Sienna

Estelle did another ballet class this Winter.  She loved it.  She was a little nervous at first because she did not know anyone in her class, but it was a really nice group of girls and she loved it.  We enjoyed seeing her new moves after class each day.  

I came home Thursday evening after picking Estelle up from ballet practice and figured I better get to making some dinner.  I went to open my pantry and what did I find inside? 

My Mom, Rachel and Leah!!!  They came to surprise me for my 40th birthday.  I was very surprised; I didn't expect them at all.  Hector had done an amazing job keeping it a secret from me.  Thursdays are busy run kids to activity days.  Somehow he managed to drop Sienna off at basketball at 5:30, then drive to the airport, pick up the travelers, drive back to the house to drop them off and then still get sienna picked up from basketball at 6:30.  He is amazing...and thankfully COVID means the roads are crazy full of traffic like normal.  

Super fun surprise.  We spent the weekend hanging out.  It was super cold outside and most everything was still shutdown, so our options were limited, but we had fun anyway.  We did some DC sightseeing since Leah had never been here before.  We went out to dinner and played lots of games.  

And since they came for my birthday...they were also here for Valentine's Day.  They got to join us for our fancy feast.  We loved having extra guests to share the love with.  

I had to work the last day they were here.  It was the first day of volleyball tryouts for our weird COVID season and I had to run four practices that day.  I did manage to sneak home at lunchtime and see them for one more hour before they had to leave.  It was a fantastic birthday with fantastic people.