Memories From Omaha

This past February Nicole and I did some traveling - to OMAHA.  Yeah, you heard me right, Omaha.  The word Omaha kind of looks like a cross between the words "Aloha" and "Oahu" which are wonderful travel worthy words.  But alas, Omaha in February is just, well, cold - and definitely not travel worthy.

Now, don't get me wrong, it was fun to get away for a couple of days and enjoy the. . .ummmm. . . well, we went there for a volleyball tournament, and the volleyball was good.  Nicole got to meet the Dutch National Team, a bunch of very talented 15 year olds who were playing in the 18 year old division.  She had her picture taken with them.

They didn't really speak any English, and it was fun to listen to them on the court.  Whenever they would score a great point they would shout, "Ohpah!"

We were supposed to fly out on the last day of the tournament, but as we finished packing we discovered that our flight had been cancelled, and EVERY flight out that night was booked.  So, lucky us we got to spend an extra night in Omaha!  Which was great, because then we had extra time to enjoy. . .ummmm. . . well, we watched some TLC on TV and slept in the next day.

Before we ever left for Omaha, I told Nicole how I had visited there in the winter about 12 years ago.  All I could remember were the ginormous piles of dirty snow everywhere.  Nicole just looked at me funny.

Enjoy the memories m'dear :)

Diggin' Volleyball

We just can't seem to get enough volleyball around here! At the end of the school volleyball season, Nicole and Melanie tried out for club teams and are both officially Texas Titans volleyball players. Melanie plays on the 14's Elite Team, and Nicole plays up an age level on the 17's National Team. This has kept us all very busy with practices and now the tournament season has started.

A week ago Nicole's team played in the MLK Ranking Tournament. They ended up taking 13 out of 38 teams which was a pretty good start. Here's a picture of Nicole going up for a block.

And a grainy shot of her hitting in warm ups (love the facial expression on this one :)

Then this last weekend both girls played in the Winterfest tournament.

Nicole's team played in a 17/18's division.  So Nicole, a 15 year old sophomore, was playing teams with 18 year old high school seniors.  They took 3rd in the tournament, but were the top finishing 17's team!!

Melanie's 14's team played a great tournament and won the Silver Bracket Championship.  Here is a picture of the girls posing with their tiny little trophy:

Their championship game was fun to watch because they lost the first set and came back to win the last 2 sets. In the final set they were down by several points and came from behind to win it. It was so exciting to watch, and I think the girls learned a lot about themselves and volleyball in the process!

Melanie was in charge of bringing the hair ribbons for the team for the Winterfest tournament.  When I finished the ribbons I thought they would look cute attached to a water bottle or Gatorade with custom labels for the girls.  Here's how they turned out:

So if my posts these days seem a little sporadic and rare, it's because I'm probably driving the girls to practice or tournaments.

Go Titans!!

Volleyballin'

Volleyball season is underway!  Nicole made the JV team and was selected as one of the co-captains with her friend Rachael.  She also gets to practice with the Varsity on occasion and even played briefly on Varsity when one of their Middle Blockers had to miss a match for her sister's wedding.  The JV is undefeated so far and looking great.  Should be a fun season.

Here she is being introduced at "Meet the Eagles" an annual event where all the fall athletes are introduced prior to the season.  She's so purdy :)

We'd love for you to come see her play in the awesome Prosper High Arena.  Click here to see the 2010 schedule.

Nicole Goes To College. . .For Just A Few Days (whew!)

Nicole (middle) with Rachel and Tara in their dorm room

This summer has seen the Romney kids all attending camp after camp after camp.  From Cub Scout Twilight Camp to Church Girls' Camp to Football Camp and Volleyball Camp x 3, it's been hard to keep up!  Not to mention that all those sports seasons start next week.  Yikes isn't it only August?  Our last month of summer is filled up.  Ryder will start playing football for the Prosper Pirates and has 4 conditioning practices starting next week.  Harrison is back to playing football for The Prosper Eagles. Nicole has High School volleyball tryouts on Monday and Tuesday, and then begins practicing twice a day for 2-3 hours each session.  By the time school starts she will have played in about 10 matches/tournaments.

Here are some pictures from Nicole's trip to Texas A&M for a team camp with Prosper High.  Also an awesome video she produced of her and her roomies tossing fruit snacks.

Nicole's bed and desk

I thought their rooms were quite nice.  Back in the day, my dorm room was "well used."

Glad they remembered to wash up!

I'm glad they had so much fun - with fruit snacks!