A soccer mom I am not! But I now have 2 kids that play the game and they love it. Friday night was Harris' first game. He was so excited! For his birthday (back in June) he got a really nice ball from his Auntie Lindsay and Uncle Jake. So he has had a lot of time to practice. I was so proud of him. He is usually very shy but he got right in there and gave it his all . He even had the ball a few times and once kicked it all they way down to the goal only to have it kicked in by another team member. He didn't mind though. He was just so proud of himself for getting it down there! My sweet baby boy is a great soccer player!
This is his game face. Can you see the focus? (Soooo cute!)
He loves his ball! He is taking it in for the coach to use.
Running for the ball with the coach cheering him on. (That girl was a beast! She made all the goals for the other team.)
Practicing with his team.
On Saturday Liv had her first game. She did awesome! She is a forward which means that she is always after the ball. (I think.) She got it several times and knocked a few people down to do it. :) Unfortunately they never scored. You see, their coach has never played soccer! So, he has no idea what he is doing. Fortunately one of the boy's mom played in high school and college, so at half time she went in and took over. (She is now the new assistant coach.) They did a ton better after that. Liv was in the whole game so by the time it was over she was exhausted! I think it will be good for her to build up endurance. She had a great time and hopefully with the new assistant coach they will make some goooooooooals. ;)
Here she is practicing before the game. She is right handed, but kicks with her left foot?
Kicking towards the goal.
I am so sad that this picture is fuzzy. Look at that face!!!
Yep, that is her in the front, in the yellow, in the thick of it with the boys!
Yesterday was Olivia's first day of school. Not just a new grade but a whole new school and curriculum! (For the A.L.L program.) I have to say that I was way more nervous than she was. She was so excited that she got up at 6:45! (School doesn't start until 9:15) We got ready and headed out the door. When we got to her school we had to figure out what we were doing! It was crazy! There are over a thousand students there right now because the new elementary isn't done yet. After we got it figured out we said our goodbyes and left. I was so nervous for her! New school, no friends, new routine..... Finally 3:30 rolled around and I went to get her. She was beaming from ear to ear! I was so relieved. She loved her teacher and made two new friends and actually got to do school work. I hope that the rest of the year goes as well!
And today was Harris' first day of school. I was dreading today! Most of last year was spent with him whimpering in class until we came and got him. Today was 180 degrees different from that. He was actually excited! He said "Mommy, you don't have to walk me to class. Just open the big door for me." What?! When we got there, however, he had changed his mind. When we got to his classroom he took his name tag off the door and hung up his bag on its hook and sat in his seat and waved goodbye. Yep, waved! I didn't get a hug or a kiss or anything! I suppose that it was a good thing that he was excited and not sad, even though my heart was breaking a little. When I got to the car I had to suppress my tears. Not that he was in school but that my baby is so grown up! I am so glad that he had such an awesome teacher last year that he was excited for this year. Lets hope it continues!
On July 29th we packed up Chet's car and headed out for Cali, road trip style. Since I hate to drive we made sure to make lots of stops along the way. Our first stop was in Beaver at the DFA store for some squeaky cheese and ice cream. (I remember stopping there with my family when I was a kid.) We continued on to Fillmore and went to the original state capitol. It was actually not as boring as I thought it would be. There were lots of really cool pictures of the locals that helped build the building and lots of antiques that family's who have lived in the area since the beginning have donated. After we had our fill of Utah history we made our way to Las Vegas where we spent the night at the Golden Nugget. Yep the Golden Nugget. We stayed there because they recently did a 30 million dollar renovation on the pool and built a shark tank with a pool around it and a slide through it. The tank went all the way down to the bottom of the pool so when you were under water you couldn't tell that there was a tank there! It freaked Harris out. He would go under and then pop back up as soon as a shark swam by and say "too close, too close!". We had a great time at the pool and got a good nights sleep before we finished our journey to San Diego. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
7/31
Solana Beach was our first stop in Cali. We spent the day with my dad playing in the waves, boogie boarding and building sand castles. Harris and Liv both did great on the boogie boards! They both got slammed at least once but got right back on the board ready for more. That night however both the kids had sand scratches on their tummy's. Liv said the cutest thing to me when she got out of the shower, she said "Mom, I have sand scratches on my nibbles.". Suppressing a laugh, I just smiled and said "I'm sorry, do you want the Neosporin?" Could she be any cuter?!
8/1
We went to Sea World two years ago for the first time as a family. While we were there we bought Harris a small stuffed Shamu that he fell in love with.(He's holding it in the picture with the Shamu character and it's in his shirt at the show. He had to show Shamu to Shamu.) He has slept with that Shamu every night for the last two years! He was so excited when we got to the Shamu show that he was shaking! (Sea World is like Christmas to him.) We went to both Shamu shows that day and got there an hour early for the second show. It was worth it! We were right next to Shamu! He was hanging out right in front of us for the whole hour before the show started. Harris was in Shamu heaven! It more fun to watch Harris than the show. His eyes would just light up every time Shamu would jump out of the water. Needless to say it was hard to leave. Harris was so sad he cried. It broke my heart, but I promised him that we will go back next year.
8/2
The San Diego Zoo is awesome! When we got there is was already lunch time and they were doing some of the animal feedings. We jumped right in line to feed the giraffes. The kids thought it was great and a little gross. The giraffes would stick their long blue tongues out and take the biscuits from the kids hands leaving behind a trail of slime. When we were done with that we made our way through the zoo with our map in hand. The next stop we made was to see the new elephant exhibit. It was awesome. It did a history of ancient animals in California. Like the Woolly Mammoths, and Saber Tooth Cats. (Which the kids are sitting on a statue of.) Which lead to the big cats and the elephants, obviously. We made our way to the Pandas and then the hippos which Harris had to sit on the ground and watch swim. That was cute because last time he was terrified of the hippos and wouldn't even look at them. I really wanted to see the Okapi. They are a giraffe and zebra mix. They are beautiful! Well, the San Diego Zoo is ginormous and we got lost trying to find it! When we did finally find it it was way in the very back of the cage eating! Lame. Oh well. All in all it was a fabulous day.
These are some pictures we took of the animals that we got to see. It was the Panda's 4th birthday that day. He was so cute! The Okapi is in the next picture. Can you see him? The Capybaras are giant rodents that love the water and were swimming around the whole time we watched them. And finally, the most awesome lion I have ever seen! He was gorgeous and knew it!
Chet's grandparents and great-grandparents (Liv and Harris' great and great-great-grandparents!) live in the San Diego area so we were fortunate to spend two nights hanging out with them. The first night we went to dinner at the Fish Market, it was wonderful. The next night we got together they were kind enough to invite us over to their house for a home cooked meal. Chet's grandma Cheryl is a wonderful cook! It was such a nice break from eating out. After dinner, Harris played ball with Papa Jay, his great-grandpa, and Liv learned a little bit of guitar from her great-aunt Lauren. (Who just turned 24.) I am so glad that we had the opportunity to spend time with them and look forward to spending more time with them on our various trips to Disneyland.
8/3
We never go to Disneyland in the summer (too busy!) but since we were in California and we have annual passes we had to go see the new "Summer Nightastic" . I really wanted to see all of the things that they were doing for it but some of them overlaped, so we chose the parade and the fireworks. The parade was kind of lame. I was very disappointed. It was just some dancers and some characters dancing around in the street and then riding around in these little chariot things. The fireworks, on the other hand, were amazing! They were the coolest fireworks I have ever seen. I did wish that they would have played more songs though. We also spent some time in California Adventure where Harris got to do Grizzly River Run and Mulholland Madness for the first time. He has been wanting to do GRR forever and he finally got to do it. Yay! Chet and Liv did Screamin and sat in the front which is their fave. I was happy walking around and looking at all the renovations they are doing. It is going to be so much better when its done! I can't wait!
It was a wonderful week! I am so grateful for the many opportunities that we get to go on vacations together. I look forward to every single moment I get to spend with my family.
