April kicked off with a pretty quiet Spring Break—Ella and I went on a little girls’ trip while Jack hung out with friends—but was ripe with activity the rest of the month.
ella and i headed down to charleston to watch the volvo car open for two days. it’s a wta tournament with top players, but jack wasn’t interested in going. | ella with genie bouchard practicing behind her | ella with madison keys practicing behind her and lindsey davenport behind madison | getting autograph from madison keys | we went to vco with my friend yvette and her daughter gabby. gabby made ella an autograph book and both girls got signatures from just about every player we saw. i love this tournament because the players are so accessible, especially on the practice courts (here getting autograph from grand slam doubles winner andrea hlavackova). | the girls with us open finalist madison keys | the girls with gold medalist and grand slam doubles winner bethanie-mattek sands | julia goerges in the big stadium | the girls with lauren davis | watching indian wells winner naomi osaka in the smaller stadium | caroline garcia on the practice court | we watched bethanie-mattek sands in her first competitive doubles match back after her dramatic leg injury the previous year at wimbledon. they won and it was very emotional. | watching two-time wimbledon champion petra kvitova play in the big stadium | the girls with ashleigh barty (love her!) | our crew—this is one of my favorite events and i can’t wait to go back next year (unfortunately for ella, it doesn’t fall during spring break in 2019) | the plan was just for jack to hang out at home while jonathan worked when ella and i were out of town, but he was lucky enough to be invited on a day trip to the riverbanks zoo in columbia. | koen’s mom invited jack along and i think it made his spring break. | ropes course | friends | still getting pictures on the elephant statue | spring break family activity—we made it out of the escape room with about 8 minutes to spare! | it’s confirmation weekend! | ella’s statement of faith artwork | and presentation | mrs. shaw was ella’s thoughtful and caring confirmation mentor. | with friend kylie shaw | 8th grade eyc crew | she’s been confirmed! with bishop sam | the sje confirmation class | all dressed up for confirmation sunday | another 8th grader rite of passage—8th graders’ trip to washington, dc | ella ran the mile for the track team again this year. | she placed at several meets and helped her girls team win conference champs this season! | piano recital—ella | and jack. they both did great.
