Events

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Picklemania MMXXI

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Ching under Community, Events, Hobbies.

My Rotary club held our first pickleball fundraising tournament a couple of weeks ago at Terradyne Country Club and it was a huge success. We had a goal of 64 players (32 teams) and we actually had 70 players sign up.

Here are some pictures from the tournament.

We had eight courts for the tournament so we had two brackets going in the morning and also two brackets in the afternoon. In the morning, we had a competitive bracket and also an all women’s bracket.

I loved how some of the ladies wore matching outfits like Michelle Pease and Lesli Toubassi (aka Tou Pease in a Pod).

Karen Fox and Jody Vinson (aka Drop It Like It’s Hot) won the women’s bracket.

As you can tell, we love our Electrum paddles.

After a long championship battle against Kim Knotts and Chris Heck (aka FSU) that ran all the way past lunch, Lori and Dave Belew (aka Notorious D.I.N.K.) won the competitive bracket in the morning.

My friend Erica and I won our bracket in the afternoon, which felt a little silly to me. I think I won’t play in the future. Mostly I signed up because I wasn’t sure if we could get enough players.

Erica and I wore our matching BIA shoes for Steve. LOL.

Mike Ellison and Adam Korfhage (aka Mike and Adam) won the all men’s doubles bracket in the afternoon.

I am so grateful to everyone who played, volunteered, and came out to support our event. I’m look forward to making this an annual fundraising event for our club.

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Birthday Celebrations

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Ching under Events, Family.

We had a lovely dinner with the Dills last Thursday. Jay and Becca wanted to get together to celebrate Brian’s birthday since they couldn’t make the birthday celebration happy hour at the Belmont. Brian’s mom and dad arrived that day to spend Father’s Day weekend and to celebrate grandma’s birthday so they joined us for dinner. I had no idea Jay was buying. It was very nice and generous gesture.

It was great to catch up. I feel like we never really get to see them any more. BTW, check all the short hairstyles. Seems like Mama Dill, Becca, and I all have the same idea for the summer.

Saturday night was grandma’s night. We celebrated her 99th birthday at Carrabba’s. It’s a huge deal because it her last double-digit one. Their relatives Jill and Cinda joined us for dinner.

Here are some pictures of grandma reading her birthday cards and opening presents from everyone.

Our friend Joe photo-bombed one of the pics when grandma was reading one of her cards. She and Brian had no idea that he was behind them.

Here’s a video of grandma opening her presents from Dave, Donna, and the cats.

One final video from dinner on Saturday night.

We are so blessed that grandma has her health (for the most part) and that her mind is completely sound. At my Rotary club meeting last week, we learned that one in three people over the age of 85 have some form of dementia. Granda’s eyesight may be failing and her body is as frail as that of any almost centenarian but her mind still as sharp as it ever was. I hope that, if Brian and I ever live to be her age, that we are as blessed with a strong mind as she is. Until then. GNG.

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ICT Classic Pickleball Tournament

Posted on June 22, 2021 by Ching under Events, Hobbies.

The ICT Pickleball Tournament is our big pickeball tournament in Wichita every year. Last year the tournament got pushed to September because of the pandemic but it was as huge success so this year they decided to have it twice, calling the June tournament the ICT Classic and the September tournament the ICT Fall-out.

Here are some fun pictures from the tournament.

Me with Tiffany and Karen

MariAnn and Jody

With Fong and Chef Jen

Brandon and Tommy

Michelle and Krista

Erica and Traci

Kimberly and Brooke

Ramon and Karen

Matt and Sammi

The tournament was a two-day event with men’s and women’s doubles on Saturday, June 12, and mixed doubles on Sunday, June 13. I really only had a mixed partner lined up because Mason asked me to play with him but it was only $5 more to play a second event so I decided to play women’s doubles on Saturday also (knowing it would be crazy with Symphony in the Flint Hills that same night). I originally asked Karen to play 3.5 19+ women’s doubles with me but then she decided she would prefer to play 4.0 50+ with Tiffany so I was left without a partner. I knew that Amy wanted to play in women’s and since I didn’t have a partner, the two of us teamed up last minute.

Amy and I have played a handful of times together but I haven’t played with her quite as much as the other ladies so I figured we would do decent but didn’t expect us to do quite as well as we did. Brian and I had plans to drive an hour and half (almost 2 hours) to Symphony in the Flint Hills that same day and so, when he asked what time I would be home, I told him I would be back by noon — which is reasonable considering we started at 8:30 AM that morning and there were only 7 teams in our bracket. Well, 2:30 PM rolled around and I was still at Riverside Tennis Center.

Amy and I somehow found ourselves in the the championship match against Krista and Michelle. We defeated them earlier in the winner bracket final but they came back with a vengeance and decisively won the best 2 out of 3 games to 11 and also the game to 15, earning the gold medal. They were fierce competitors and truly earned their win!

I didn’t really have the greatest expectations that day. I was just grateful to have a partner and be able to participate. Making the podium was just icing on the cake.

Me and my mixed partner Mason. You can tell the players that teamed up because their outfits coordinated for the most part.

I met Mason during the pickleball event of the 2019 Wichita Corporate Challenge. He was representing his employer and I was representing mine. We were competitors who were united in our common desire to beat the Koch Industries team. Little did we know that Genesis Health Clubs would bring in ringers to win the whole pickleball tournament. Fast forward to two years later when he asked me to play with him in ICT Classic. I’m not sure how many other female players he asked before he got to me but I was flattered to be invited to play.

I don’t get to play with Mason much because our schedules don’t typically align but I have always enjoyed playing with him because he gives me room to play on the court treats me like a true partner and not just a body to take up space. He allows me to play but is there to cover for me when I get myself in a bind. He is super solid and reliable and and encouraging. He did not yell at me one time for making errors, which I was grateful for.

I felt like we played pretty well together, considering we’ve only played together a few times. We didn’t stack and strategize too much but with stacking, practice, and more strategy, I think we would be a really strong contender in this division.

I was super proud of our 0-8 comeback in the first game against Deana and Michael (#TeamOklahoma). We managed to dig deep and win that game 14-12. We didn’t get as far as I hoped we would but our first loss was to the team that won bronze and our second loss was to to the team that won silver (#TeamKC — Williams/Gleason).

I was happy with how we played. It was just unfortunate that we ran into these two teams so soon in the bracket before we could build more momentum behind us. I look forward to battling against these teams again in future tournaments. We didn’t make the podium but I had a lot of fun competing with Mason.

Pickleball peeps are so much fun!

Here’s a link to the full results of the ICT Classic Pickleball Tournament. Last weekend was super hectic with two days of tournaments, Symphony in the Flint Hills, and the happy hour joint birthday celebration at the Belmont but so totally worth it. I live for crazy busy weekend. Until the next one. GNG.

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It’s a Joint Celebration

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.

Brian’s birthday was on Sunday, June 13, and Karen’s was on Monday, June 14, so we decided to have a joint birthday celebration for them at the Belmont – our favorite place for happy hour. None of our regular friends could make it so it was just mostly pickleball friends plus mom and dad who, now that they’ve gotten hooked on pickleball, are part of the pickleball community now too.

Here’s a pic of Karen with the birthday hat from her neighbor.

Chandi stopped by briefly but could not stay. We made sure to snap a pictures of her as proof that she came, though.

We had a great turnout for the celebration.

Beth and Erica had already left by the time we got around to taking group photos. But we made the times flexible so people could come and go.

Here are some pictures of the food.

Mason had a ginormous chicken sandwich. I don’t know how he managed to fit it in his mouth. I guess you just have to smoosh it really good.

Karen got the bruschetta trio. I wish I could remember which ones she picked.

The Belmont also has a great veggie tray, which isn’t my thing, but Erica seemed to enjoy it. I’m sure it tasted as good as it looked. It looked amazing but I’m just more of a meat-eater.

The smoked salmon is so good.

Of course, we can never go without getting the cheese course. That’s kind of a staple for us when we are there.

I didn’t get pictures of all the pretty drinks because I’ve gotten pictures of them previously but I got a picture of my Doctor No and Brian’s Rackhouse. There was only one drink left on the list that I hadn’t tried yet and when I ordered it that night, the server told us that they quit making it because no one liked it. I was so relieved! I didn’t want to drink it either. That’s why I had been saving it for last. I was so glad that now I didn’t have to.

Here’s a picture of the Rackhouse drink. It’s Brian’s favorite at the Belmont.

And, what’s celebration without cake? We got a chocolate sheet cake from our go-to cake place, Costco, to share with everyone. We had so much cake left that we brought what was left to Chicken N Pickle and had them store it in their cooler so Karen could enjoy it the next day with others on her actual birthday.

Celebrations are fun but it’s even more fun to celebrate with these guys. GNG.

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Symphony in the Flint Hills 2021

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Ching under Date Ideas, Events, Things to Do.

After two years Symphony in the Flint Hills is finally back. Brian and I went to volunteer last week and attended the event on Saturday. Here are some pictures from our volunteer day with the Evergy Green Team.