14-year-old perks and a trip down memory lane

I didn’t end up posting on his birthday, but I didn’t want to neglect mentioning that Asher turned 14 on Saturday!!!

This blows my mind, but at the same time, he’s ready. I am sensing a feeling of him being “over” middle school, excitement to move on to high school next year, an increasingly developing “sense of self” (his own style, opinions, etc.) and more.

A big perk:

I think he is most excited to turn 14 because it means that he no longer needs to use the “Teen Tag” program at the gym.

Background: Kids ages 12-13 at our gym are allowed to be there independently without parents on site, but they have a lot of restrictions. They can’t use the real weight rooms (unless with a parent) and they are limited to a 2-hour max stay (which sounds like a lot, but if they want to say, work out, then play around on the indoor soccer field, and then go swimming for a while on a Saturday, 2 hours goes really fast).

Also, they can’t use all of the cardio equipment (only select areas) or attend most fitness classes. So while the kids can GO to the gym, they can’t use it fully and freely, alone. (Not complaining- I think the restrictions make sense for that age group. Some kids act really stupid and can be obnoxious and/or do dangerous things at a gym! They also had some issues with kids essentially loitering there all day with friends, just hanging around, not doing much of anything.)

For a while they weren’t really enforcing these rules, though, so some of the kids, like Asher, who have been lifting with their sports teams and are pretty knowledgeable/safe while strength training, could sort of get away with stretching the boundaries a bit. He would sometimes use the big weight room and no one usually said anything.

Well, recently they really cracked down on the rules, so he’s only been able to go and lift if I’m there, too. Which doesn’t always work with our schedules, logistically! He really wants to just go on his own and do his own thing at this point.

Anyway, he is now 14 and has a full blown, adult gym membership! No more restrictions! He’s VERY EXCITED. Some of his good friends he goes to the gym with are older, so it’s been driving him crazy to have all the restrictions while they don’t.

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Asher by the Year!

When I woke up on Saturday and scrolled to Facebook, the Memories feature took me down a really lovely trip down memory lane. I apparently have posted a picture of Asher on Facebook every year on his birthday, and they were all there for me to look at, in a nice little collection. 🙂

2009- Birth

2010- 1 year old

2011- 2 years old

2012- 3 years old

2013- 4 years old

2014- 5 years old

2015- 6 years old

2016- 7 years old

2017- 8 years old

2018- 9 years old

2019- 10 years old

2020- 11 years old

2021- 12 years old

2022- 13 years old

2023- 14 years old!!

We are celebrating tonight with dinner out with Ivan’s sister and brother, and he’ll open his presents tonight, too. So I may have a few updated 2023 birthday pics to come! 🙂

Happy Birthday, Asher!!

(I looked back on this really cute post I posted when he turned 11… check it out for a nice summary of Asher’s personality. I don’t think a whole lot has changed! I’ll maybe have to do an updated one though next year or something.)

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful that Asher’s swim team made it safe and sound on the long 5+ hour bus trip to/from Iowa this weekend! Sounds like it was a lot of fun.