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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Chicken N Pickle League Recap
Posted on June 18, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies.
This has probably been the most uneventful league session I’ve ever had. Not enough people want to play singles so they stopped the singles league at Chicken N Pickle. I only had one league this session, Mixed Advanced (which is a step down from the Mixed Competitive league that I normally play in). Chris Wilson and I were playing together to practice for the Middle States Regional Championships tournament in St. Louis and he couldn’t play in the later league because he gets up super early everyday. However, it was clearly the wrong skill level for us because we never went to a third set and we gave up very few points.
Anyway, we really should have won that league but Chris was out on tournament night (vacationing in Minnesota) so I had to get a sub. The downside of getting a sub is you’re not allowed to get anyone better than your partner and, even when you try to get someone equivalent to your partner skill-wise, they’re never going to be as good because you haven’t been playing with them all session as you have your normal partner. I usually try not to drink while I’m playing in a tournament but I was drinking that night so you can tell how seriously I was taking things. LOL.
Obviously, I hoped that we would win but I didn’t really care one way or the other. I just wanted to have fun playing and Bryant was the perfect sub. He can be hard on himself sometimes but he is so fun to play with.
The one thing I learned that night is that doubles is truly a team effort and that I am not as good without Chris. Just as my some of my shots set up my mixed partner for put-aways, Chris’ shots put me in a better position to make my shots. I feel like, having played together for some time now, he knows what why weaknesses are and he does what he can to protect me from making these shots.
This past Tuesday night was the Mixed Competitive league tournament. Jen T hurt her knee so Steve asked me to fill in. I took advantage of the opportunity to wear my “Vetter Luck Next Time” headband from last year. LOL.
We ended up finishing in third place. The Conrads (Matt and his daughter Lauren) ended up second, and the Lesperances (Tiffany and Donnie) took first place. I think Steve is hands down the best male player in that league but he was a victim of the whole sub situation. It’s so hard to play with a sub on tournament night and I feel like we have absolutely zero chemistry on the pickleball court.
I have never been one to stick to one doubles partner but I’m starting to rethink my whole stance on this. There is a huge advantage to playing with the same partner on a regular basis because they know your strengths and weakness and you have plays and strategies that you can use in various situations and it is so hard to do this on the fly. And, I’m not very good at adjusting and being spontaneous. I can’t just do things without practicing it repeatedly first.
Anyway, I might take a break from league play this coming session. None of the other leagues fit my schedule and the Mixed Advanced league was not as fun for me. Mixed Competitive would work but Chris can’t do an 8:00 PM start. It’s just way too late. But it’s all good because I prefer playing in the mornings anyway so it’s not ideal to be up late when I’m trying to pay at 5 AM the next day.
That is all for now. Until next time. 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.
Kishan, Alex, and Krystee volunteered the same day so we had a little reunion.
I originally volunteered to help on Friday but they had too many people helping that day already so we switched our volunteer day to Wednesday.
Thousands of people came out for the sunset symphony concert.
We had a nice evening hanging out with Kishan and Alex.
The weather was absolutely perfect. It was such a nice night for the symphony. I hope we get to go again next year.
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Fun Times with Pickleball Friends
Posted on June 11, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies.
A bunch of us went to lunch after pickleball play on Memorial Day. Debbie had a group playing at Riverside Tennis Center, while Kimberly, Tiffany, Karen and I played at Nahola. However, we all got together at the downtown Old Chicago after.
Some days later I snapped this pic of Dan Leddy (in red), Craig Clark (middle), and Lonnie Lollar (right) at Chicken N Pickle. These guys are so fun!
Here’s me with Michael, showing off our new Chicken N Pickle “Pride Month” shirts. I love how soft this shirt is!
Finally, here are some pictures that I took at the Port of Wichita on Saturday when a bunch of pickleball peeps got together for an “Epic” night there. Epic is the name of the cover band performing that night.
Donnie with his ladies.
With Vicky, Robert and Janelle in the background.
Robert and Bruce.
Dave and Debbie.
Credit goes to Debbie for reserving a bunch of tables for us on the dance floor.
Then this was the next day at Seneca Park. It was a crazy day. I started by playing at Edgemoor at 6 AM, then went to Seneca Park before going to Nahola for the noon open play. It’s been a while since I’ve played this much pickleball and spend so much time with my pickleball buddies in one weekend. I love it!
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Middle States Regional Championships
Posted on June 7, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies, Travel.
About thirty players from our #ICTpickleball family traveled to St. Louis last week to compete in the 2021 USA Pickleball Middle States Regional Championships. My friend Karen Fox rode with Brian and me. We left Wichita first thing in the morning and arrived in St. Louis around three in the afternoon. When we arrived, Dave New had already scoped out the location and grabbed the perfect spot for our crew.
They converted the Dwight Davis Tennis Center into 40 pickleball courts and we set up our #ICTpickleball base camp in the grassy area right by court 27. We really had the best spot there because it had great access to all of the courts and was pretty much the only grassy area available. We also grabbed one of the picnic tables tucked under the bleachers and moved it to Dave’s tent canopy, and claimed it as seating for those in our group who flew to St. Louis (instead of driving up) and couldn’t bring their lawn chairs.
Here’s a picture of the early crew. Besides claiming a spot for Dave’s canopy, we also decided to play a few practice games.
After playing some games with my #ICTpickleball fam, Brian and I went to meet “my friend I hadn’t met yet” Kat Tomlin at Des Peres Park. The park only has three pickleball courts but they are lighted and beautiful. The park itself is expansive and amazing and is a real neighborhood gem. The park is so nice that if I were looking for a house to buy in St. Louis, I would totally pick that area.
I made all sorts of new friends on this trip. This is Bob Myers, a pickleball player from Texas who also knows my friend Rodel Chiu who is another friend who falls under the “friend I haven’t met yet” category.
Here’s a picture of me and my friend Tiffany Lesperance on singles day.
These are Ramon Lozano and Kyle Starkel (aka Nick Soapdish). Ramon is from Hays but we claim him as part of our extended #ICTpickleball family.
My friend Kat and I decided to wear our navy Lucy Kovalova FILA pickleball outfits and be matchy matchy on singles day. It’s still fun to twin even though we weren’t actually playing together.
They had a roving professional photographer at the tournament who snapped this picture of me while I was playing one of my matches. I thought it was cool that you could see Kat in her matching outfit in the background.
This is the Women’s Singles 3.5 50+ podium picture with Karen taking Gold and Tiffany taking Bronze. Singles was a good day for our group, despite the afternoon portion of the tournament being pushed to the next day due to sudden torrential downpour. We took home ten medals altogether — 4 Gold medals, 3 Silver medals, and 3 Bronze medals. You can see the full results tally here.
Anyway, because of the rain, they canceled all of the matches for the rest of the day so Erica and I didn’t get our singles medals until the next day. Since the rain put a damper on things (literally, no one could play pickleball because it was pouring outside and the courts were wet), a bunch of us decided to get some BBQ instead.
Friday was Women’s Doubles day and our group did pretty decent. Karen and Jenny (Cole) took Bronze in 3.5 35+ division.
Jen Reifschneider and Jennifer Tiano (together they are known as “The Jens”) took Silver in 3.5 19+ division.
Laurie Newton and her partner Karen Fielding took Bronze in 3.5 50+ division.
While Erica and I took Bronze in the 3.0 35+ division. I thought it worked out great that all the ladies played in different divisions so we weren’t all competing for the same medals. We all had an opportunity to reach the podium in our respective groups without having to fight one of our friends for it.
I really liked their magnet board where you could tell which referee is assigned to which court and which refs are available or on break at a given moment.
Saturday was Mixed Doubles day. The roving photographer got some pictures of me and my partner Chris Wilson.
We marked our spot with a Wichita flag to make our group easy to find for #ICTpickleball players arriving later that week. I love this pic because the ladies were all sporting their Chicken N Pickle gear.
We were more spread out early in the day but then we had to move everything (and everyone) under the canopy when it started raining.
Just some of our group trying to stay dry.
Picture of me with Erica and Karen.
Friday was a cold and wet women’s doubles day.
Brian, pretty much the entire time we were there. LOL.
Saturday was mixed doubles day. Here’s a pic of Tiffany and Donnie. They earned Gold in mixed 3.5 50+ division. You can see the full results tally here.
This was such a fun trip. We get to do it all again when we go to the Great Plains Regional Championships in Colorado in a few weeks. Stay tuned for pics from that. Until then, GNG.
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