Grandma Polzer Visiting

Mark successfully completed kindergarten this June at Jefferson Elementary School. He then embarked on a busy summer that found him spending much of his time at the Polo Park Recreation Center here in Winston-Salem. He took swim lessons and played t-ball and soccer. He also spent as much time as possible swimming at our neighborhood pool. He scared his father one day when he flung himself into the 10 foot end of the pool, but proved himself to be quite a proficient swimmer by swimming his way across without incident. He also spent a good deal of time on the neighborhood tennis court hitting balls with dad and Hannah, and even with mom (who is developing quite a serve!).

Mark has begun 1st grade at Jefferson. He reported at the bus stop on the third day of school that 1st grade is much harder than kindergarten.

Favorite Player: Roger Federer

Mark playing tennis

Mark coming home after a hard day of kindergarten

Hannah finished third grade at Jefferson Elementary School in June. Hannah then did some amazing things this summer. She was on the Polo Park Recreation Center swimming and diving teams. On the swim team, she competed in the 25 meter breast stroke, and she represented the pool in her age group in the city dive meet. She also was part of the drama club there and played a leading role in their performance of "Cinderella." With Mark, she also played t-ball.

Beyond these organized activities, Hannah spent plenty of time at the neighborhood pool and enjoyed taking breaks from swimming to play some tennis.

None of her friends from 3rd grade are in her 4th grade class, so Hannah is working on making some new friends at school this year.

Favorite Player: Maria Sharapova

Hannah hitting against our tennis backboard

Hannah's 9th Birthday

Paul's big news this year so far is that he fell off his Razor scooter and broke his wrist in May. This picture shows them cutting his cast off. Although he didn't have a chance to try it out, Paul reportedly was one of the first people to get a new type of cast that can actually get immersed in water.

He recovered fairly quickly (he had the cast on for about 2.5 weeks) and was able to play baseball on the 11 year-old all-star team for the Winston-Salem National LL. With this, the "spring" baseball season extended well into July. After baseball ended, Paul played some soccer and went to the Josh Howard basketball camp in Winston-Salem, but his passion became tennis. He played in his first two tournaments and did well. He was 4-1 in the first and 3-1 in the second (they were round robin events). He played in his first USTA sanctioned event on Labor Day weekend, and hopes to earn a state ranking in the 12 and under division (he is training now with some kids in the area who have such rankings, so he thinks he can do it, too!).

As for school, Paul began MIDDLE SCHOOL this fall at Hanes Middle School, former Wake Forest star and NBA Rookie of the Year Chris Paul's alma mater.

Favorite Player: Rafael Nadal

Paul serving

Paul batting

Megan's spring was largely occupied with her job volunteering at the kids' school. She did art for Mark's kindergarten class, "Global Olympics" for 3rd and 5th grade, and otherwise expended an inordinate amount of energy staying on top of Paul's and Hannah's less than stellar teachers. She also taught third grade (Hannah's class) Sunday school at Our Lady of Mercy, which she will do again this coming year.

Since the Yamane family was rapidly turning into an All-American Tennis Family, Megan felt a little left out so she accepted Hannah's offer of an introductory lesson at the cost of $.10/half hour. Mark taught the second lesson at the same bargain rate and declared that Mom had mastered everything perfectly even before the lesson was over.

Dave spent the spring teaching, as usual, and also playing in a USTA tennis league for old people (really, for anyone over 18). He also assisted often with Paul's little league team, pitching batting practice and keeping score at the games. The first 8 weeks of the summer were eaten up because Dave (for the first time ever and out of financial necessity brought on by having to buy a new car this spring) taught summer school -- a sociology of religion class for the Wake Forest Divinity School. The class went well, but was very time consuming. He spent all of July trying to do the 12 weeks of summer work that needed to be done that couldn't get done because of the teaching. He did manage to find time to play on a USTA mixed doubles team, which recently receive a wild card invitation to play in the state tournament (having finished second in the local league). Other than that, he spent what little extra time he had taking the kids to the pool to swim and play tennis.

This fall he is teaching sociology of religion and a seminar for first year students called "sociology of vocation." He's also looking forward to cheering on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in various arenas.