Portrait

Sixteen!

Standing above from left to right behind Emilio: Case Stafford, Carlos Morales, Augustin Palma, Sam Rhynes, Jose Palma, Saul Palma, Tyler Walker, and Caden Mitchell.

For his 16th birthday, Emilio invited some of his friends to the Stanley Wagner Ballroom at ECU for pizza, birthday cake, and an evening of contests, including: 1) a cup pyramid-building race; 2) a tissue paper-pulling race; 3) a spoons card game; 4) a cup-stacking race and 5) an egg spoon race. In each contest, individual competitors score points on their finish between first and ninth place. Several races ended with competitors racing to the opposite end of the ballroom to look for playing cards (ace through 9) that would determine their ranking in the competition.

At the end of the evening, the competitor with the highest point total got to draft two prizes from the prize table; the second-place finisher also got two draft picks; and the rest of the finishers got a single draft pick. Most of the prizes were oversized chocolate bars. There was also ginger candy; lip balm; and poop emoji wipes.

I think everyone had fun, but Emilio had the most fun.

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Fall Formal

From left to right: Augustin Palma, Maci Solario, Emi, Kennadee Bickerstaff, Caden Mitchell, Adilene Solario, Carlos Morales, and Peyton "Beans" Factor.

For weeks, Emilio told us he wasn't going to the Homecoming Dance. Then they talked him into it, and he presented Kennadee (who also plays soccer) with a poster that read "My goal is to take you to HoCo."

The evening started with photos (taken by Caden's mom, Kristi). Caden's parents then ferried everyone to Roma's for dinner. The dance was held in the Indoor Practice Field. The after party was at Caden's house, and everyone brought a change of clothes. Curfew: midnight.

Practicing the duck lips pose... 

The Duck Lips Portrait

NYC

Emi's favorites from his first trip to NYC:
1) Taking the East River Ferry to Brooklyn (see image below) and the ferry to Ellis Island;

2) Margherita Pizza at Grimaldi's near the Brooklyn Bridge

3) The taxidermy at the American Museum of Natural History

4) Seeing "To Kill a Mockingbird" on Broadway starring Jeff Daniels

5) Banana and coconut ice cream at Ammorino

Emilio's First Cross-Country Meet: Purcell

From left to right: Sam Rhynes (Jr.), Saul Palma (Sr), Carlos Morales (So.), Emilio Benton (So.), Elliott Riden (Jr.), Jose Palma (Jr.), Caden Mitchell (So.), and Carver Gregory (Fr.).

Before the race, the team walks the route using a map handout.

Looks like a prayer circle to me.

85 runners are about to clock an official time in this 2-mile race. I counted 13 team colors.

Emi reported later that at the start of the race his legs felt like jelly.

Emi said that when the race started, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to finish.  It was 93 degrees.

At this point in the race, Coach Jones urged Emi and Sam to pass ten runners, and Emi took off.

Emilio was flying at the end, and it looks like the guy ahead of him was somewhat concerned. One of the two guys behind Emilio is from Lexington. Because Emi beat him, Ada beat Lexington by a single point.

Emi finished 2nd on the Ada team and 25th out of 140 . His official time: 11 minutes, 53 seconds.

Emilio and Saul (#15, 11:35) finished in the top 25 and won medals!

The boys team finished in 5th place behind Seminole, Sulphur, Bethel, and Tecumseh and ahead of Lexington (we beat them by 1 point!), Washington, CHA (?), and Luther. Sam (#35, 12:09), Jose (#39, 12:18), and Caden (#52, 12:45) also scored for Ada. Carlos was immediately behind Caden (#53, 12:46). Elliot Riden finished #60, 12:53.

I was thankful that Nina joined me for the trip. We stopped afterwards at Sonic.