Thanksgiving
We drove back to Michigan to celebrate Thanksgiving. While I was there I carried around two cameras and failed to take a single picture. We spent a good bit of the time aside from eating turkey, painting Vangie's Mom's home. We did get out to Dave & Buster's one night and visited with my old college friends Ross and Greg and their families. We drove home on Saturday and spent Sunday afternoon doing some leaf raking. The kids had a good time playing in the leaves. It was good to catch up with family and friends over the holiday.
Cub Scout Camp
This weekend Max and I were at Fall Cub Scout Camp all weekend. Jake came up just for the day on Saturday. We all had a very good time. It was very cold this weekend; we had to dress warmly. We stayed in cabins which were heated. There were about 30 of us sleeping in one room in the cabin. The first night the snoring was so loud. I thought it was Max in the bunk bed above mine. I reached up and shook his arm but he did not wake up and the snoring only grew louder. I gently pushed the mattress up with my feet. No response! The snoring continued!
I finally got out of the bed concerned Max was keeping everyone up and stuck my head over Max and found he wasn't snoring. He was sound asleep! Despite all my harassment. It was a guy six bunks over on the other side of the cabin. He was a very load snorer.
On Saturday we had several presentations we attended which were put on by our local boy scouts for the cub scouts. We had fire making, cooking over an open fire, Indian dancing, first aid, a wilderness survival talk and we had a craft. Above is a picture of Jake and his dream catcher he made. Max got to light his first match in the fire making class. He was very excited about that. Think I need to have a talk with him to reinforce the importance of safety. Overall it was a great weekend and I believe the guys had a good time.
Last Soccer Weekend
Jake and Max each had two games this weekend and they each also had Pizza Parties with their teams. We spent the weekend running from one event to another. Jake had a great season and a really great coach. He took the time to write out player evaluations for each member of his team and gave them to the parents at the end of the season. It's amazing how well his evaluation matches Jake's overall personality. Here it is:
"Jake is fun to coach and fun to watch on the field. His playful demeanor in practice belies his "sneaky" aggressiveness in games, which will serve him well as he develops his other ball-handling skills. He backs down from no one and more often than not will come up with a 50-50 ball no matter how many players he's up against. And he knows what to do with the ball once he gets it, willing to pass or shoot when appropriate. I enjoyed having him on the team."
Jake got a goal this weekend on a crazy shot from an impossible angle. The other teams parents didn't believe it went in! They demand to view the replay. Not sure if the goal would have held up under a video review. Thankfully this technology has not reached the rec. program quite yet.
No pictures of Max this week. I was so nervous during the games that I forgot the camera was in my pocket. I have become a yeller at the games. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I know all the kids names and find myself yelling instructions. I must be annoying to the coaching staff. Perhaps I should volunteer to be an assistant next year to legitamize my hysterics.
Anyway the first four games of the year the team got off to a rough start they tied one game and lost three. In between they had a tournament where things seemed to come together. They won two games, tied one and lost another. In the final four games of the season they won two, tied one and lost one. In the last Eight games they had four wins two ties and two losses. They came a long way.
This weekend they played two games on Saturday and they won them both. The first game they played a team they had played twice. Once in league play where they lost 4-3 and the other meeting was in the tournament where they won 3-2. This Saturday they won 5-1. Max played goalie in the first half and shut them out! In the second half he got to play some left wing and had a good run on the goal getting of a shot at a tight angle. The field they played on was on a slight hill that rolled toward the goal that Max had to protect in the first half. Most of the action was down on his side of the field. He made one particulary tough save. They were only up one nothing at half time before they got to play with the benefit of the hill. In the second half they scored 4 goals.
In the afternoon they played a team which they tied in the first half of the season. Max played left wing again and got an opportunity to play striker in the second half. In the course of the game he had several instances where he carried the ball well. Max carried the ball into the center on the lone goal of the game and passed it off to a team mate who drove it home. In the second half when he played striker Max had two break aways where he dribbled the ball down field and got off shots on the keeper. In both cases he was being attacked by the defensmen and was unable to get the ball in the net. But they were great efforts.
Now that the season is over we going to rest and be sports free until the end of the November at least. Then it will be time to check out some baseball instruction or indoor soccer leagues for the guys. Hopefully I'll be able to remain calm and remember I have a camera.
