Cracking the Top Ten

Today was the individual Indiana state chess tournament.  Cam and Doug were up early on their way before the rest of us woke up.  Cam was seeded 12th in the 8th grade and under varsity championship division.  To begin the day his rating was near 1050.  His first draw of the day was rated over 1600.  He knew it would be a tough match, but he was confident in his playing.  Cam did end up losing, but made it over an hour before he did so.  The next match was the same length, but had a different outcome with Cam coming out victorious.  There was quite a bit of time between matches today.  Thankfully, both Kayden and Evan were also a part of the tournament so Cameron had someone to hang out with most of the day.  Doug took his work computer and a book, so he was occupied as well.  The most disappointing match of the day for Cam was his third one.  He felt that he had a lead and should have won, but in the end lost.  His fourth match was the longest of the day for him at one hour and forty minutes.  Cam needed a victory to finish in the top ten and to reach his goal of two wins.  He worked hard in the match and stayed focused.  It paid off as he earned the 9th place trophy and congratulations from all of us.

While Cam and Doug were at the chess tournament, the rest of us spent the day in Bloomington.  Cal, Brett and I went to The Siam House for lunch.  Cal had been there before and loved it.  It was delicious.  Meg spent time resting today and doing homework.  She had a horrible head cold and was emotionally drained from the funeral yesterday.  She did join us for a shopping trip to Kohl's, the College Mall, Kroger and TIS.  It was a lot of fun.  Brett got groceries.  Meg found new Prince tennis shoes.  Cal bought a sports coat and I made my normal stop at Yankee Candle.

Originally, I thought Doug and Cam would be back close to 7:30.  Instead they returned at 9.  We used the extra time after shopping to hang out at Brett's.  While Meg was resting, Cal suggested that we watch "IT."  He hadn't seen the original version and had just finished the book.  Brett, Cal and I had a lot of fun with the movie.  Once Doug and Cam got back we headed to Opie Taylor's for dinner.  Parce had just gotten to Bloomington from work, so he decided to walk up and join us.  We all had a great time catching up with him.  It was the perfect way to celebrate Cam's success and unwind from a busy couple of days.