The beginning of the year - Part 3

Breaking up the beginning of the year post a bit more~

FEBRUARY.  Whew... what a month!

Starting with "National Signing Day" on February 4th.  Mercer was one of three seniors on the baseball team who are playing at the next level.  He was the 1st kid to go up on stage (alphabetical order by team and alphabetical order by last name).  He's been thinking about this moment for QUITE some time!  :)  

We all got "gear" at Christmas to wear.... and we got him a Young Harris flag at Christmas too - he can hang this up in his dorm room! 

(luckily, I've watched this on our Blue Devil News program each year for the previous 5 years and knew what to get ahead of time - including the bricks to hold the flag on the table).

These images came from the BDN program, as obviously, I was up on stage / couldn't take photos. 

The actual signing was a blank piece of paper. He's supposed to get a "Letter of Intent" from his baseball coach, though, for real... still waiting on that over a month later.  hmmmm...

It's an event that families are invited to. Due to short notice of the date and time of the event, Todd had a meeting and could not be there. I took part of the day off in order to go pick Isabella up, bring her to school, then unfortunately take her home b/c she wasn't feeling well. You can tell in the photos that she wasn't feeling up to it.

The coach said a few words... not a lot / not enough. Here is what we supplied on the questionnaire about his baseball & community achievements through the years:

Here are Marietta “community” things:

• He’s been an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Marietta youth program -- going on Road Rules and Puerto Rico mission trips + local missions.
• Has worked for the City of Marietta Parks & Recreation Department for 3 summers – which is an accomplishment for a teenager to be asked to come back year-after-year-after year. 

 

Baseball

• He played with the MHS Blue Devils from 8^th grade through 12^th grade.  He also played on several travel baseball teams -- playing on some “All Tournament Teams” through Perfect Game – 2021 (15u Spikes), 2022 (16u USA Scout) and 2024 (17u Wahoos)

 

I think what was most endearing, however, was his Little League career before high school and travel ball.  He played for East Marietta National Little League from ages 4 – 14.

• While he was there, East Marietta National Little League went to the state championships several years, including 2019 – they were the State of Georgia Champions (for 11u) and again in 2021 – State of Georgia Intermediate Champions (for 13u)

• He had moved to travel ball, but was invited to play in the 2024 (16u) Senior League representing the state of Georgia with his former East Marietta Little League teammates. They got together for one final tournament in Safety Harbor, Florida playing other Senior League 16u teams from states across the southeast. 

None of that made it to the lectern from which the coach spoke.  My colleague noticed it and that he spoke highly of the other 2 guys.  

Ironically, the 3 boys who signed for baseball started the season on the injured list!  (the seniors are the "old men" of the team I suppose.  (Mercer had a hamstring injury and started playing sooner than the others.  One has a major injury and may not play all season?)   

We don't get it. Mercer is such a great kid.  He just must have his favorites... and M isn't one of them.  Because he's got the 2 college offers, hopefully he knows that it's not him as an athlete... it's the coach.  Luckily the 2 college coaches believed in him - in order to make him an offer.  So, he's got that going for him!

The 2026 Cortina, Italy winter Olympics took place in February. We all watched it. Opening ceremonies, big air, half pike, ice skating, etc.  We were here for it all!  Lindsey crashed - bad. Elana (from Georgia!) won her bob-sledding event as an older mom of two.  Alysa won gold in figure skating.  The men's and the women's hockey team beat Canada. 

  

I had another conference (and competition) for work. I was required to go (during our winter break!) because I am the official advisor for the club. I went with two other co-workers. We had a total of 16 students go. 

One of my students took a silver medal in his category. Two film students took gold in their audio production and will be going to the national conference and competition event in June. The kids had a good time. It was a lot of work, though! I still had to teach at KSU, so I didn't really get a break anyways. But - I also didn't get anything done that I wanted to do over break.  oof.

There was one good thing about being downtown: more building photos!  :)  the hotel we stayed in was SO NICE.  And - I had some down-time one afternoon, so walked over to Mercedes-Benz stadium and the pedestrian bridge / took a bunch of interesting pictures.

The venue - GWCC - public space.

Full circle moment - when I was at Southface, we helped GWCC get their initial LEED for Existing Buildings certification.  I saw several plaques while walking around.  :)

Images from our hotel.

 

"Rose Window" sculpture

The lobby light sculpture during the day.

View out of my window - towards M-B Stadium.  

And - exploring the Benz campus the next day...

All of these are in reverse-order.  ??  

I got back on a Saturday.  Todd and Isabella were at a double-header.

Sunday, we served dinner for the youth at church.

Monday was Mercer's birthday. We took him out to celebrate - his choice: hibachi. 

We realized, this is probably the last birthday at home - he'll be in college next year!  :(

We now have another "adult" in the family.  (in quotes, well, because you know - he's still a kid in so many ways!!)

Soaking it in.

The beginning of the year - Part 2

The 1st blog entry for the year was messed up / not publishing correctly, so had to break it up.

Here is "Columbus, continued!"   sorry - the town is just too stunning not to share!!

The downtown had some beautiful buildings - a block up (parallel) to the river too.

This building was across from our hotel. I believe it's a Columbus State University arts building now. I think this was ONE of my favorite buildings (a close 2nd to the electric center on the river)....

And this building is great too.... there was a cool coffee bar inside an old bank building.

And - last but not least - another one of my other favorite buildings with the "porthole" windows.....

When we went to visit colleges last year, Columbus State (the campus we visited was on the outskirts of town) it was "meh" - just regular campus / older buildings / nothing too spectacular.

We only stayed on the main campus. We left mid-tour because Mercer had an appointment at a small school nearby that he was interested in. Columbus State was too big for him (but - because of the rock-climbing wall and the service animal program, this is the college that Isabella says she wants to go to!)

When we left at the end of the main campus tour -- they said are you sure that you don't want to get on the bus and go to the downtown / arts campus? You'll really like it. (Little did we know!)

Yes - I would have liked it a lot! :)  

If IzzTodd needs to come see this downtown. He'd like it a lot as well! y ends up going, I would enjoy hanging out downtown for parent weekends and such -- even through she'd be on the main campus haha!

The conference center is historic as well -- it had a great renovation done to it. It's made up of several old warehouse buildings - but remnants of machinery was incorporate throughout the furnishings and decorations.

The 2nd day held a building tour that was close to downtown, but a little further afield....

The "Opera House" was really a theater that started out as a residence and grocery store!

It boasts residences on site still -- which is a benefit to the actors and apparently a big selling point to productions wanting to bring their show to an area. (learned something new - that a percentage of theaters have residences on site, but most do not.)

This place had gone through extensive renovations over the years.

They just got new seating a week before we arrived.

The tour guide told us that every 3rd light was original and the rest are infill. Um.... that's a LOT of lighting. (a bit of overkill? or maybe that's how many were there originally?)

There were beautiful hand-painted details on the walls and ceilings.

And there is a full-blown wood shop / workshop on site...

And a brand new black-box / outdoor theater....

So, they have lots going on!

We also took a drive through the historic residential area before going to a community college for meetings.

The conference was just “OK” but the town was fantastic. I was so happy to check it out!

It was nice to get away - but it was a lot of work to get there (creating sub lesson plans / juggling personal things).... and, sadly.... I missed an event with Todd's company.

He and everyone at his office + significant others spent Friday evening at the ceremony for the St. Lawrence Catholic Church Chapel addition.

I am sure it was nice for team bonding and great for the interns to see a completed project.

I breezed back into town Friday afternoon around the same time they were headed across Atlanta to a building dedication.

These are some photos of the interior from his company's website.

Todd got an award presented to him for his hard work and dedication to their church.

Speaking of Todd's work...

I forgot to post this last month, but here is an image of his company's Christmas cards sent to clients and vendors....

.....which is a computer generated image of this building seen here that is now "under construction."

Good stuff -- both of these projects!!

Sadly, there were two Americans in Minneapolis who were killed by ICE agents (from the immigration organization) that made lots of headlines.

One was a mom who had just dropped her kids off at school / and the agents (supposedly) thought she was trying to run over them with her mini-van....

... and the other was an ER nurse who ran over to help a woman who was pushed down. He did have a gun on his back (from open carry law) but he was not reaching for it or threatening the agent(s). It caused major riots there and in other parts of the country.

Amanda Gorman - the Poet Laurette wrote about both. :(

Here's a funny picture of our dog....

and a funny picture of our daughter with GIANT slippers.....to end the events of January.