Soccer momming all over the place

The kids had their first soccer games of the season this weekend.  Unfortunately, both of their games started at 8:00am at different parks and Tom had a cross country meet so it was just me.  I had to drop Ellie off at her first game alone.  I felt bad about it, but I knew I had to be there with Jack since he is so much younger and more emotional.  I didn't realize at the time that the team she Ellie playing against had several people from church on it so I did end up getting text updates! 

Jack started out really strong and even scored the first goal for his team.  I noticed him getting upset, though, because he was getting pushed and soon he started running around pushing the other team...even when they weren't near the ball.  So, I tried to have a little chat with him about no pushing in the most positive way.  He was pretty tired and grumpy the 2nd half, but his team won and he got snacks so he ended up feeling pretty good about the whole experience.

Ellie's team won 3-2.  Ellie usually plays goalie or defender.  She scored a goal by kicking the ball from halfway down the field.  She was pretty excited about that because she doesn't usually have the opportunity to score goals from her position. 

I really do like soccer season.  Sam wasn't too bad (he had snacks and Ellie's iPad to keep him occupied) so I was able to enjoy Jack's game for the most part.  I just wish I could have been at both games on Saturday!

We had the cousins come over to play Saturday afternoon/evening and I introduced the older girls to Crocodile Dundee.  They liked it so much that we went on to watch Crocodile Dundee II.  It really is fun when your kids start getting old enough to watch "real" movies.  I even have a few TV shows that I let Ellie and Jack watch with me (Bones and Once Upon a Time).  My kind of bonding.

Sunday Best with an extra kid

Our first family camping trip

This past weekend, we went camping.  Tent camping.  In Texas.  Not something I thought we would ever do. Let me step away from all these sentence fragments and explain.  I grew up camping! I love camping!  But I also grew up in North Dakota and camping meant places like Canada, Montana, South Dakota, etc.  Places with beautiful scenery and cool weather.  Pretty much the opposite of southern Texas.  However, my brother Mark and his family go camping all the time (easy to do when you have a fancy RV, but I digress).  They invited the whole family to join them at Martin Dies, Jr. State Park for a long weekend of camping.  I talked Tom into one night.  Since we don't actually own any camping gear, my brother loaned us a tent and blow up mattresses.  He even set them up for us, that's how nice he is.

My kids LOVED camping. LOVED. IT.  They loved the freedom of running wild with their cousins, going kayaking and paddle boarding, eating s'mores, listening to ghost stories around the fire, staying up late, seeing deer and other wildlife, playing ultimate Frisbee...you get the idea.  What's not to love?  Well, I will tell you what's not to love from an adult perspective: mosquitos, giant spiders, and snakes. Oh, and signs everywhere warning about alligators.  Also, a 3 year old who hasn't napped and woke up multiple times during the night.  But it was totally worth it for the kids.  And now I am going to post about 5 million pictures of our first ever camping trip because it might be quite some time before we go again...at least until Sam is 4.

On the road to our 1st camping trip. Doesn't Tom look thrilled?

The only kid sleeping in the pic is the only one who kept waking up all night long.

The deer would get so close to our campsite

 

It isn't Texas without an armadillo spotting

The giant spiders and webs were everywhere. I know because I kept walking through them and screaming.

Strawberry Sam

All Sam wanted to do was "go in the boat."





His favorite part of camping was marking all the trees

Jack could not get enough of his cousin Leilani

Luckily this rattlesnake was occupied with the squirrel

The best part of camping was seeing how much the cousins love each other

Sam didn't want to walk anymore so Uncle Mark took pity on him