We had fun celebrating Nathan's 11th birthday this month by taking him and a few of his buddies to the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and then dinner and arcade games at Lucky Strike. What a great group of boys and it was so much fun! The friends that attended were Bud, Declan, Joe, Colin and Keller plus brother Cameron. We've started doing smaller parties now that the boys are getting older, but these boys have so much personality that it felt like we had a huge party! They were very entertaining. My favorite part was driving half the boys down to Bellevue. I was playing music on my phone and they were making requests and belting out the lyrics. It was hilarious!
We spoiled them at the movies and everyone got a drink and a snack as well as we got some jumbo popcorns. We were nervous the movie might be too intense, but they were glued to it--even though it was almost a 3-hour movie! They were happy to get their wiggles out downstairs at Lucky Strike. James and I got to relax while they roamed the arcade games and then we all shared some pizza for dinner. It was a really fun birthday party and I think Nathan will remember it for a long time.
Nathan turned 11 just towards the end of his 5th grade year--his last year in elementary school! Sad that he's done with elementary school (gosh that went fast) but also excited for him and the next stage of middle school.
Here is what we want to remember about Nathan at 11 years old:
- Even as he 's now entered the tween years (and started middle school as I'm writing this), Nathan still has maintained his positive energy vibe and enthusiasm for life. There definitely are more moody days now than there were before, but generally Nathan is up and at 'em in the morning, ready and excited to take on the day. He laughs and smiles a lot, is always up for doing something fun with friends or family, and has a contagious upbeat nature about him.
- Nathan is still obsessed with sports--statistics, learning about players, following various teams, etc. His favorite sports to follow and know all the stats about are baseball and football. He is definitely following in his Papa's, Pops' and uncle's footsteps. He is our "go to" person for all the sports updates.
- Nathan got an iWatch for Christmas last year so now he has entered the world of texting. So far it's been a nice easing in without having a full on phone yet (although he definitely asks for a phone regularly). It's been fun to watch him develop closer connections with his friends and have more of a social life. Nathan's very easily distracted though so sometimes it's frustrating when he's lost in his watch. I read the texts just to check up on him and it's very entertaining to see what 11 year olds talk about these days.
- He started club soccer this year and is playing for Cascade FC. He has practice 3 times a week and over the summer had about 3 tournaments. For the rest of the year he'll have games on the weekends all over Western WA. So far he's really loving it and he's improving more and more with his soccer skills. He's mostly been playing midfield and some defense. He's a really fun player to watch and we're excited to see how much he grows this year. It's very official too--he has a full uniform kit and a backpack--everything with his number 24 on it. In the spring Nathan played baseball again with a very fun team. I love watching the boys play sports--definitely a joy to watch them improve their skills and have fun.
- The big video game obsession lately (and has been since last winter) is Fortnite. Nathan plays with his friends or Cameron. He's also gotten back into watching shows like Simpsons and some young adult drama shows.
- Nathan's current interests are drawing, imagining creative sports teams and designing their logos, Legos sometimes, reading Sports Illustrated, watching sports, reading history books and young adult novels, and playing on Canva on the computer.
- Since starting middle school, Nathan has been hanging out with friends a lot more. They all meet up at the top of the Ridge near the skate park. We are now giving him freedom to ride his bike all the way up to the top of the Ridge on his own (this is where the iWatch is very handy so we can communicate with him). It been fun to watch him build new friendships with people from the other elementary school. Currently his good friends are Patty, Bud, Griffin, Carsen, Max Rooney (Max was actually at preschool with Nate!), Lucas, Leah, Violet, Abbie, Inara, and probably a bunch of other people but I can't keep track very well these days. So far middle school has been much less drama than I thought it would be. Nathan's 5th grade year was more drama than middle school so far. But I'm sure that won't last long. Happy for him though that he's having fun and has a good group of friends.
- Nathan is even more so interested in fashion and putting together trendy outfits this year. It's all about Nike this year and he got his first pair of Air Jordans as a present from us for the start of school. He's also gotten into some preppy clothes like Abercrombie and J. Crew for dressier occasions. And he got a fun pair of Vans shoes for fall. It was fun buying fall clothes this year because he was much more into having an opinion and wanting his clothes to be trendy.
- He told us a couple weeks ago that he is ready to get baptized! We're so excited for him and this next step in his faith. We're still figuring out timing, but excited for him and this major life decision!
