Climbing Trees

TreeAudrey discovered a bird’s nest in our Japanese Maple tree.  She has been climbing the tree everyday watching the baby birds hatch and grow.  Megan has been disappointed, because she wanted to see the babies too.

She has been trying hard to climb the tree with Audrey.  If someone gives her a boost up, she has been comfortable sitting on a bottom branch.  However; today, she really wanted to see the babies. So she managed to get over by Audrey and excitedly watched the birds for a few minutes.

Instead of hugging the tree coming down, she faced out. As she got to the last branch that someone needs to help her down at, she smiled big. Then she let go and jumped for me to catch her!

Challenge Cup Soccer Tournament

This weekend, Andrea had a soccer tournament.  It was different than others we have gone to because instead of earning tropheys, they earned the chance to play in another tournament next month.

IMG_9482_shareThe first day was so cold and windy, that everyone did their best to stay warm. We had taken hot drinks and wore many layers.  The IMG_9507_sharerestrooms  and cars were the only place to get out of the wind for a few minutes.  We were very thankful that no one planned a tailgating party.  We went out for lunch and took our time eating it while we warmed up!

Andrea’s team played hard.  Even though it was so cold, the first day’s games were the most fun to watch.  Both teams were evenly matched, so the girls worked to earn points. They ended up with a draw on the first game and 1-0 for the second.

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The final game was not so much fun to watch.  The girls played a team that played mean; 3 yellow cards and the referee kept talking to the girls. The girls even praised their team members for the yellow cards!

It was hard, but the our girls played fair and did their best.  We won 1-0! Once points were added up at the end of the tournament, we won this round and will be playing another tournament in a few weeks!

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The Importance of an “A”

SoccerAndrea has enjoyed being able to sub for a younger team that practices with her.  She enjoys the girls and is learning new skills because the girls play differently.

Yesterday, Andrea was going to sub in a game near Fort Wayne.  We had a map and directions for street 11.  However, the street address was supposed to be 11a. We spent over 35 minutes searching for the soccer field, asking at four different places for help. The whole time we were within 5 miles of the field!

Andrea made it to the soccer fields 10 minutes late but was still able to play.  One girl came just after her and one of the moms commented that many had trouble finding the field.  And all because the address was missing an “A”.

The game went well.  In the first half, our girls scored 5 points.  We could not figure out why the other team improved so much during the second half.  Andrea told us on the way home that Coach promised the girls when they made 9 goals, after that, unless they headed the ball into the goal, that girl would have to sit on the bench for the rest of the game.  The girls made one goal, and then missed the goal the rest of the game.  But, they made all the attempts on goals look really good.