Full Bus: What a weekend!!!

The weekend started with our first summer outing on Friday. It was an overcast day so in anticipation of rain we chose an indoor outing. The kids had a blast at Jumping Jacks in Ashburn. We went to spend an hour and a half at their open gym time. Everyone (including me) got into this fun place. There was something for everyone to do and even a 'coach' in the gym to keep an eye on everyone and enforce any rules if needed. This was an awesome place to spend time releasing energy indoors when the weather is 'ify'.

I played a little soccer with #5!

The bouncy obstacle course was a hit! All 6 could manage it alone.

Friday night #1 and I enjoyed playing volleyball together. We went up to the Jr. High gym and played with some of her friends. I'm looking forward to being their coach this year. They're a great group of girls! Its been a blessing to start getting to know them and their families this past school year.

Saturday morning, bright and early, we started our day of sports. DH and I truly love and enjoy watching our kids play sports. We both grew up in the gym or on the field almost all year 'round. We get the rules to almost any athletic game, we understand the joy and the sorrow in all events and the virtues and lessons that are learned through team sports. We happen to have a few athletes in our family so watching games and even some seasons coaching teams is part of our family life and something that will always be what we spend some of our together time 'doing'.

Here the U8 girls are getting a bit of a 'lesson' in soccer positions before their first game.

The crazy thing about this tournament was that our girls had only had 2 practices together the week before due to 2 practices getting rained out. Not only that, but the league decided that our team would play 'up' in the U9 bracket. Know what that meant? It meant first time EVER with goalies and a LOT of new rules that we were for sure not use to, BUT even with several things against us our girls played really well. They won their first game 7-5!!

We left this tournament game and headed to the baseball diamond where #2 and his team were playing in the Majors Championship game.

#2 says this was in favorite baseball coach EVER and his best season EVER. That's saying a lot.

We feel really blessed by this Coach. He never had anything negative to say. He's a godly man of strong character and really taught the boys a lot about life this season. His son is moving out of little league in the fall, so we won't see him again...except around town.

Feeding #2 some encouragement before his time at bat.

In position to hit!

Cheering on the Phillies! Coach never let them sit in the dugout. He wanted them at the fence cheering and paying
attention.

The Phillies fought hard and certainly didn't 'give the game away'. I imagine the Dodgers were a bit nervous at points in the game. The Phillies lost 4-3, but went away with their heads held high because they left that field getting 2nd place in their division. I'd say they ended this season with many lessons under their belt and with some amazing memories and experiences.

Later in the afternoon we went back out to the soccer field for game #2 of the tournament. Our girls tied this game.

Warming up with Coach Karen.

After this game we went to dinner to celebrate DH's birthday! Yep, his bday was spent cheering for the kiddos. He loves spending it that way!

Sunday morning we started early again with game #3 of the soccer tournament.

Talking through defense. How to move on the field depending on where the ball is.

The girls played really well and WON again! This team really plays well together even though they've had very little
practice playing together.

Winning the third game meant the girls would get to play in the championship game. We were all beyond excited! Like I mentioned before we had no idea what we were 'getting into' in this tournament. The girls had a lot going 'against' them going into it, but they rose to the occasion and didn't let anything stop them from playing their best and giving it their all.

The Championship game was late in the afternoon. It was HOT!!! But the girls had prepared their bodies by eating good foods and resting during their break, so they came on the field with 100% heart and ready to play. It amazes me how much energy they have! They WON the championship game 5-1. I think the other team was quite surprised. At one point we heard their coach say to his girls 'hey, if you aren't going to come to the game- we can go home now.' Kinda sad that he said that, but honestly it looked like his team 'wasn't all there.'