Last night in Yakima

Ben had his early match this morning. He lost but he enjoyed the experience here at sectionals. Yakima outdoor tennis club was really pretty and enjoyable to watch these matches.

We spent the afternoon playing mini golf, bumper boats and go Cart racing. It was scorching hot, but had fun.

We went back for Bens double match at 6pm. Him and his partner lost to two really tough players.

We ended our evening with Baskin Robbins and a movie in the hotel. Coming home tomorrow.

It was a good weekend!

Yakima

Our drive time went quickly yesterday. Made it here in time for dinner and then Mark and Ben were able to get some hitting practice in before bedtime.
Ben match was at 9:30am. It was painful watching him play because the other player was so consistent and floaty balls. The rally's were long and the match took over 2 hours in the sun. Ben won in two sets. 6-4,6-4. The rest of the day was opened because he doesn't play again until 8am tomorrow. Sounds like a brutal time to play, but it is better then the heat of the afternoon.
This afternoon we tried to get cool at the pool. This pool is at a middle school and it has a slide. The boys had a blast!

Another Amazing Tournament for Ben!

Since Monday we have been hanging out at Amy Yee Tennis Center in Seattle. A favorite past time while we wait for Ben's match to start is hitting the tennis ball against the stairs. Something we have done every year since Ashton was a tiny guy. He used to giggle when we would do it, now he loves doing it too.  It does seem to go in the bushes a lot. This last time we brought many balls so we didn't have to deal with too many spider webs.

This is actually a pretend photo shoot of Ben and Benjamin Elliot ending a tournament match.  In a "real" match, I do not think they both would be smiling so nicely.  Since neither of them lost, they were happy to humor me and let me get a shot of them shaking hands at the net.  Ben has played Ben Elliot a few times these past 3 years. A good player. He hasn't run into him on the courts this summer, but there is always sectionals next week in Yakima.

We walked up to the courts outside and hit a bit before Ben's match. Here is Ashton carefully watching his step.

We bring many things for Ashton to do. His favorite thing while waiting is writing in his Journal. He writes his name every day and tells us what to write every day. The last week it says "We are at Ben's tennis match" almost every day. 

We also bring many books, toys and he likes to play with his magnetic letter book. He is getting better at what sounds letters make. 

Towards the end we just can't hold out any longer. Out comes the iPad and he will zone out for a while. Being at Ben's match from 10am to 4:30pm will do that to a little guy. He is such a trooper and really patient. 

Ben with his runners up trophy and Allen with the big winner trophy.  Ben was proud of himself for getting to the finals! It was such a tough battle just to get there. His semi-final match alone was over 2 hours long. Wow!  Then to come back a couple hours later and have to play again to someone with fresh legs is rough. He still played hard and tried his best. It was a great tournament for him!

Ben Wins the 18's Consolation Tennis tournament

Our life lately......

Our big winner! 

Ben's tournament started on Thursday. He played in the 16's and the boys 18's.  He got to the Semi-finals in the 16's and played the best tennis I have seen him play in a long time. The points were amazing. Both the boys were outstanding. In the end Ben lost in a third set tie break, but played great.

He returned and played in the 18's Consolation Semi-finals. He won and played on to win in the Finals tonight! He proudly wore his new medal and we went out to ice cream in this scorching hot evening.  Back for another tournament on Monday in Seattle!

Ashton received some early birthday presents from Mei li and the Wang family last Friday. He is loving his new Star Wars lego back pack, his new puzzles, His lunch box and a cool transformer.  What a lucky boy!

Having fun with his Cars this past week. He received the remainder of Ben's Hot Wheel collection and he was trying to see if they would all fit into his garage. Some of them just wouldn't squeeze in there.

Hannah, Ashton and I went to Greenlake in Seattle and met up with our friends, the Prices.  Ashton road his bike all the way around and Hannah rode her scooter.  On our way back to the car they splashed in the fun wadding pool. What a beautiful day it was!

Hannah spent the night with her friend and came home the next day with her masterpiece. Her friends dad is a artist and they had all the supplies. I am sure Hannah thought it was the coolest place. Just what she loves - ART!

An Exciting and LONG day of tennis

Wow- What a day Sunday was!

Mark had his Singles match at 10am. It went into a Third set tie break and he lost to his USTA doubles partner.  Ben started playing around 11:30, which was towards the end of Mark's match, so he couldn't watch the end.

Ben then played his singles match and was amazing. He looked sharp and his shots were fantastic! He won and advanced to the FINALS! We had to get him fueled up and back to the club.  He played in the finals around 4pm and lost in a third set tie break to the same guy Mark lost to.  What a match! It was some great tennis.

NTRP Men's 4.5 Singles - Final Rounds

Print Draw

Round of 16 1   Mark Bergman (1)   Northwest Washington     2   Ciprian A. Tais   Northwest Washington  3   Jonathan M. Wolf   Northwest Washington     4   Andrew Lee   Northwest Washington  5   Josh A. Berger (4)   Northwest Washington     6   Ben Turley   7   Nicholas J. Ekern   Northwest Washington     8   Joseph M. Gonzales   Northwest Washington  9   Brian S. Tinsley   Northwest Washington     10   Roberto J. Garcia   Northwest Washington  11   Domnic Lee   Northwest Washington     12   Andrew Nguyen (3)   Northwest Washington  13   Benjamin Mietzner   Northwest Washington     14   Arvind Jayasundar   Northwest Washington  15   Peter B. Cung   Northwest Washington     16   David H. Han (2)   Northwest Washington  Quarterfinals  M. Bergman (1)    6-2; 6-2      A. Lee    7-5; 6-2   J. Berger (4)    Def (ns)      J. Gonzales    6-0; 6-3   R. Garcia    6-2; 7-6(3)      A. Nguyen (3)    6-1; 6-0   B. Mietzner    6-0; 6-0      D. Han (2)    6-1; 6-3  Semifinals  M. Bergman (1)    6-4; 6-2      J. Gonzales    Wd (emerg)   A. Nguyen (3)    7-5; 1-6; 13-11      B. Mietzner    0-6; 6-2; 10-5  Finals  J. Gonzales    6-2; 4-6; 10-8      J. Gonzales  2-6; 6-4; 10-7   B. Mietzner    6-4; 1-6  I told Joe (the guy that beat MArk and Ben) that I was upset he beat up on my husband and my boy.  He said to bring on your daughter!  ;) It was funny. Then time to get Ben fueled up again and back for doubles! Mark and Ben played around 7pm and won to advance into the finals! They played outside and it was dark and hard to see the ball. So when their last match went on around 9:30ish-10pm, the mosquitos were out, and the playing environment was bad. Not to mention how tired they must have been.

He was excited to be there.....

Losing interest and getting tired......

Now excited for Ice cream! In between the two doubles matches, Hannah Ashton and I went to get some ice cream.  We had to get him Sugared up to stay up late! ;)  I did get Mark and Ben some and put it in the freezer at home. They sure deserved it after a very long weekend!

They played hard, but lost in the end. Ben made some money towards the Tennis club's pro shop, so that is pretty exciting.  We are all extremely tired this Monday morning. Feel the worst for Mark who had to work early today. Hopefully he can get some good sleep tonight!

Quarterfinals 1   Mark Bergman (1) Benjamin Mietzner (1)   Northwest Washington Northwest Washington     2   Bye   3   Nelson Asaba Brandon Lucero   Northwest Washington Northwest Washington     4   Tyler M. Parsons Derek R. Welch   Southwest Washington Northwest Washington  5   Roger A. Mark ted kim   Northwest Washington Northwest Washington     6   Steve Fong Ashley L. Stout   Northwest Washington Northwest Washington  7   Bye      8   Marco L. Del Rosario (2) Ryan Johnson (2)   Northwest Washington

Semifinals  Bergman - Mietzner (1)          Asaba - Lucero    6-4; 4-6; 10-2   Mark - kim    6-4; 6-7; 13-11      Del Rosario - Johnson (2)

Finals  Bergman - Mietzner (1)    6-1; 6-4      Del Rosario - Johnson (2)  6-2; 3-6; 12-10   Del Rosario - Johnson (2)    Wo (admin)