Six on Saturday

I missed my Thankful Thursday post this week so here are six things I'm thankful for this Saturday. :)

1. New to us vehicle. Back on Asher's birthday, Nathan and I drove down to Golden to look at this Nissan Xterra. The drive, itself, took an hour longer than the anticipated hour and a half thanks to torrential rains, construction detours and two semi-truck accidents. It was a bit stressful. But. We made it and were able to check out the vehicle and (insert numerous variables and weighing of information here) decided to get it. Yes, it's remarkably similar to our Nissan Pathfinder, Reg. That was kind of the point. Asher will be taking Reg with him to Omaha so we were looking for a replacement...something with 4WD and cargo space. So, allow me to introduce Daichi...

Daichi is the captain of the volleyball team in an anime show called "Haikyu!" that we've all watched here recently. He's reliable and sturdy and a good leader...traits we wouldn't mind having in this vehicle, lol. Thankful we were able to find him and that we're in a position to add him to our family.

2. Shopping trip in Denver. Last weekend, Micah was invited to a birthday party at Water World. After we dropped him off there, Asher and I spent the day doing some more shopping for college...at IKEA and the Container Store. We also wandered around Park Meadows Mall and had a nice time just picking up a few things and chatting and people watching. Asher now knows who his roommates will be and has been communicating with them. It's starting to get real. :)

3. Reactive antibody test! On Tuesday, Micah had his covid spike protein antibody test to see whether his immunosuppressants had prevented the covid vaccine from working. While not absolutely conclusive, since there are many immune system variables at play, the results said "reactive" which means that he has antibodies. Whew!! 

4. Barbells. This past week, I started using Micah's barbell set up after boot camp. I'd planned to start a couple months ago but my sprained wrist kept me from doing it until now. I'm still working on my form and am starting with relatively low weight and such, but it's nice just being able to use them. As with getting back to climbing, it's showing me that I need to build strength back up...and it feels strangely good to be sore.

5. Streaming services. I've said it before, I think, but I just have to reiterate how thankful I am for streaming services. Having them has been such a blessing throughout this pandemic...enabling more time spent with my teenagers, together and safely. And while I miss the theater experience a wee bit, I really enjoy being able to pause shows and rewatch them...to see even some new movies in the comfort of our own home...and to subject boys to older shows, lol. We've done plenty of all three over the course of this pandemic. :) 

6. Demo team friends. You may recall that Asher didn't have an actual graduation party back in May (when Micah was still not vaccinated). With Micah being cleared, Asher opted to just get together with his demo team friends to belatedly celebrate. Yesterday, they met up at a local park and hung out for the morning and walked into Old Town to enjoy lunch and dessert and window shopping together. They even took a group picture for me...

One friend had to leave early and a few couldn't make it but they had a great time. I love that they love hanging out together even with about a six year span in ages. Having had such an atypical high school experience (homeschooling to start, having mostly community college classes, and then being shut down for a pandemic), most of Asher's friends are from homeschooling and karate. So incredibly thankful for this group!

Off now to try to be productive. Happy weekend to you all!