Our Beautiful Freckle Face

Tessa's first soccer game was last week and I was sad that she had her first 'trash talk' experience. I couldn't believe it was starting already! I was running late getting to the game because I had to pick up/drop off other kids to their activities. When I finally did get there, I found Tessa on the sideline looking sullen. As soon as she saw me, she got up, ran into my arms and broke into tears. When I finally got her comforted enough to tell me what happened, she told me that one of the girls on the other team had called her 'freckle face'...

Trevor: Which one? Tessa, show me which one!
Me: No, Trevor, you don't need to know which one. (I could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears)
Trevor: Yes, I do! Tessa, which one was it?
Me: Tessa, don't tell him which one. (at which point she simply pointed - fine, no telling needed).
Trevor: Her? Oh, you should have called her...
Me: No, you shouldn't call her anything!
Trevor then proceeded to pull her away from me and whisper into her ear. Sheesh, okay, I gave up fighting that one. Whatever he said, I didn't hear, but I can certainly imagine. Tessa giggled.

She still refused to go back into the game, which gave me a turn to whisper into her ear, "That little girl paid you a compliment! I love your freckles... every single one of them. They are a part of who you are... no one else in the world has freckles placed as perfectly on their face as you do. They make you unique and precious... I've never seen a more beautiful face!"

She calmed down considerably, but refused to play the rest of the game.

When I told her how proud I was of her going out after the game and giving high fives to the other team, even though I knew she didn't want to, she quickly retorted, "Oh, I didn't touch that girl!"

Oh well, one learning experience at a time... I just really hope she'll play soccer again, and if anyone ever calls her 'freckle face'? I hope she smiles and says thank you... and Trevor hopes she kicks 'em in the shinguards.

Weeeee Are the Chammmpiooons, My Friee-eeend!

Besides having that song in my head, all we can say is 'WOW!' and 'that was awesome'! All summer long, Chris's team has thought that of their three tournaments, this one would be the hardest... and lo and behold, they took the cup! This morning they played Sparta 93 Premier - which are ranked at 19th in the nation, and won state cup (1st in the state) last season. I couldn't believe the heart these boys played with - it was INTENSITY at its best! The entire sideline was screaming through the entire game... and we won 1-0... a shut-out!!! Just to put into perspective how intense this game was: (1) one of our goalies was injured after an awesome save and not only was he out for that game, but he couldn't play in the final either; (2) another boy on our team got a red card (nope, it wasn't Dante this time) for something misconstrued by the ref, but a red card nontheless, so we were playing a man down (one less player on the field), and (3) here is a pic of one of our boys after the game, with a shredded jersey - and yes, those are claw marks on his neck:

Then for the final game, we faced the Blue Knights who had beat us the day before in their own shut-out of 3-0. I was a little worried about the boys playing a second game in the same day, in the heat, against a team they already had a loss to... especially with how hard the first game was. We brought Chris home between games so that he could ice bath and warm shower... and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Wow - they played with great intensity again and came out with Champion medals and the Sparta Cup trophy... with another shut-out of 1-0. Sweeeet!!!! Way to go Rangers 93 Premier!!!

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Trevor played too!

Trevor played in this tournament too, which was super fun to watch! Unfortunately, because of some poor alignment on the part of either the tournament board or who-knows-who, they didn't get to semi-finals, even though they earned enough points to put them 3rd in their bracket (yet a team that had 3 losses got to continue play... hmmm). They finished the tournament with 1 win, 1 tie and a loss... which we thought was awesome, since these were their very first games to play together as a team! Way to go Rangers 99 WCL Premier team!!!!

Second Sucks

That's all Chris had to say about it when we were all done.

But you should have seen how hard these boys played. I knew how completely exhausted they were... I desperately needed a nap and I hadn't played 6 games in 4 days.

The semifinal on Thursday morning was very well played - we could tell that Colorado Storm really wanted the win, but we were still able to take it with a final score of 4-2.

The final match was on Thursday afternoon against the Pride Predators out of Colorado. We took the first goal, ending the first half at 1-0 - but they came back late in the 2nd half and tied it 1-1. In the last minutes of play, the Predators were able to score again off of a corner kick, ending in a heartbreaking 2-1. Our boys played with so much heart and hustle it was AMAZING - I'm so proud of each and every one of them!






This is a B-52 Bomber and those two super cute little things underneath are Mike and Trevor.

Meanwhile, the girls had so much fun playing at Uncle Rich and Aunt Randie's house with Sarah... and the gerbils... and Jake. They were able to go swimming in their neighborhood pool and enjoy hanging out, which was way better than being tortured into watching another soccer game. We all had a great time relaxing with them when all was said and done... and spent who-knows-how-long sitting around the table doing a puzzle and laughing our heads off... a really great end to our trip!

But the drive home? Ugh. I don't even have any funny conversations to tell you (although I'm sure there were some, I just wasn't laughing.) Oh wait, here's one:

Mike: I'm sorry, Officer, we're just on our way home from Colorado and these kids are arguing in my ear, so I know I was going way too fast.

Officer Friendly: Yes, sir, I clocked you at 86. How fast do you think you were going?

Mike: Well, right before I saw you, I was closer to 90. (Yes, he really said that!)

Officer Friendly: (after taking our license, registration and insurance) Well, sir, I appreciate your honesty, so I'm just going to give you a warning this time (woo-hoo!), but remember that arriving home safe is more important than arriving home fast.

We really liked Officer Friendly.

Thanks for the pics, Rich - super cute!
And all I have left to say is, ahhhhhhhhhh, my bed, my very own, wonderful bed.

Vacation - Days 3 and 4



Whew! It's been so fun... and busy... and exhausting! Here are a couple of swim pics of Trevor and Tessa... Katy didn't want to go swimming again after they had been about 4 times that day. I felt bad for housekeeping, since they grabbed a new towel every single time, and this morning there was a mountain just outside our door because I was so sick of tripping over them, or stepping on them wet.





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Meanwhile, back on the field....


Tuesday morning, Game 2:


The boys played one of Colorado's best teams, Rush Pikes Peak Nike 93, and really brought their game. We were able to put three in goal and hold them from scoring, earning the shut-out, 3-0.



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Tuesday afternoon, Game 3:

Our team played a team from New York, the Ossining Falcons. We're thinking that they were more than likely altitude sick, and possibly were playing up a division - but they had a tough stretch of games while they were here. We were able to hold them and earn another shut-out, winning the game 10-0, keeping us in first place so far. They all played with heart and good sportsmanship, as did our boys. Their goalie was awesome, making some great saves... he definately got some good playing time:







Here was a great run by Chris:





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Wednesday, Game 4:


Today we got to play Minnesota's State Champions, Sting. We knew it would be tough going in, and we lost a goal shortly into the first half. But we were able to come back, putting in five of our own and holding them from more, winning the game 5-1. Their keeper was awesome too... if you look at this bottom pic, you can see him on the ground from diving for the ball, but you can see the ball hitting the net - it was awesome! You can also see that Chris and the ref were 'friendly' at one point, when Chris was getting warned for a slide tackle. Tomorrow we play semi-finals in the morning, and if we pull a win there, we will go to the final championship game in the afternoon. I can't believe how well these boys are playing, given that they are so extremely exhausted. Chris took 3 ice baths today, alternating from ice cold to warm, to try to get his muscles to heal up quickly. He says it really helped... right after his game it was painful just to walk, but he can feel a huge difference already. Now, if we can just get a decent night's rest...

Vacation - Day Two




Today was the first game of The Pike's Peaks Tournament for Chris's team. They played well and it was fun to watch them. Our boys had lots more shots on goal than the other team did, but we just weren't getting the ball in the goal. Chris had a couple of opportunities, but one went up and over and the other went out wide to the left. At half time we were down 0-1, and with ten minutes left of the game, we were losing 0-2. But with only those ten minutes or so left of the game, we scored one. That pumped our boys (and parents) up and they got our 2nd with only about 5 minutes to spare. They worked super hard to pull off the win, but their last couple attempts just couldn't quite make it in, so the game ended in a tie, 2-2. It was a great comeback from being down by two... way exciting to watch! These are the fields that they get to play on... the tournament is at the Air Force Academy, which is really impressive. This photo is from the top of a hill that you drive down to get there... it doesn't do it justice, because you can't see everything... this is an amazing venue! Click on the photo to get a better perspective - those lower fields aren't even being played on... those little tiny dots you see on the fields at the top right are people, then you can see another hill, and there are some fields up there that we're playing on too.


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This set of photos is him going for goal. I didn't get a pic of where the ball went, because I was so excited and screaming, I forgot my camera for a second... I thought he was going to put the ball in!



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This was one of the several times that our goalie, Jared Chichia, saved the day. It looks like he got ran over, but if you click on the photo and look at his face, you'll see that it didn't even faze him... he's awesome!


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A couple more shots of Chris playing hard, and by the end he and the other boys were exhausted. Tomorrow we have two games, which will be fun, but very tiring for the boys - especially with the heat and altitude.



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The girls weren't much into the game, so they sat and played on the sidelines... finding ladybugs and rolling down the hill. We went swimming when we got back to the hotel... I'll try to post some swimming pics later... see you soon!