Aunt Jo

 

I only have one biological Aunt.  My Dad doesn't have any sisters and my mom only has one - my Aunt JoEllen.  She is my mother's very best friend so as a result, we've always been close as well.

It's been over year since I last saw her, so I was thrilled when I found out she was going to be in town.

Her husband, my Uncle Dan died in 2007, when Lacey was just four months old.  Lacey and I flew out to Utah for the funeral.  Over the last couple of years, she has been spending time with her friend Gil - someone she has known for decades and who lost his wife to cancer several years ago.  I met him for the first time this weekend and we all really liked him.  He's a really nice guy, talented, easy to talk to.  I'm so glad they have each other for companionship.

JoEllen's grandson Johnny and his wife Youngjin and their son Ollie (who all live in Virginia) came up as well.  Dave's parents came over for a while as well.  We ate pizza, drank soda and watched the BYU football game.  Fun night!

Old Man and the Sea

 

Tanner went on another Scout Campout this weekend, this time to the Atlantic Ocean, setting up camp on Assateague, famous for its wild horses.

One of the leaders texted me this picture with the caption "Old Man and the Sea."  

That pretty much sums it up.... In many ways Tanner is an old soul in a 13 year old body with lots of little boy mannerisms.  He's in the in-between stage of boy and young man.  But he still snuggles me like my little boy and I hope it stays like that forever.  

Unfortunately, it rained for a few hours, so they hit up an indoor miniature golf place.

Ocean Sunrise

Tanner came home from the campout absolutely wiped out because the rain and sand got inside his little tent, so he ended up sleeping outside in the wet sand and was awake and miserable for most of the night.  But I took him straight to his baseball game upon arriving home.  He fell asleep in the car during the five minute drive to the game, so I wasn't sure how he would function.

But he rallied.  And was thrilled when they put him in as Pitcher - his favorite place to be!

He was also up to bat twice.  He walked the first time, but got an awesome hit his second time up to bat.  He was very happy about that!  Go Orioles!

Soccer Plus Chocolate = Pretty Sweet Combination

If you read my previous post about Dave being with Ella at a soccer tournament, but me not being there, well that's because we had to divide and conquer this weekend!  I was with Riley in Hershey, PA all weekend at a big tournament.  

We arrived Friday night, checked into our hotel and had dinner with the team and explored a little before getting a good nights sleep.

First thing Saturday morning, Riley was in her goalie gear and ready to go!

Pre-game team huddle.

The first game we played was a very tough, competitive team from Pittsburgh, PA.  We ended up tying 1-1.

The second team we played was a tough team as well, but girls all played great and we won 3-1!  That win put us in the semifinals the following morning.

Riley in action.

Once our games were complete for the day, we went back to our hotel, called "Warehouse Hotel at the Nook."  Once we checked in, I quickly realized why it was called "Warehouse" Hotel.  You pull up to the biggest warehouse you've ever seen in your life.  It's like one of those Amazon warehouses you pass on the highway.  But instead of being filled with random items, it's filled with shops, restaurants and thousands of square feet of state of the art fitness equipment.

The girls all had fun in the arcade.

And rock climbing.

All of this.... INSIDE the hotel!

Or I guess, a better description is that this huge sports facility had an attached hotel and that is where we stayed.  It was pretty incredible!

In addition to the huge rock wall area (this was also open to the public and there were some legit climbers in there) and the Arcade, The Nook also houses:  5 sport courts, a football field on turf, group exercise studios, 10 basketball courts, a fitness center, pickle ball courts, outdoor sand volley-ball courts, an indoor baseball diamond, batting cages and pitching lanes and more.  It was truly unbelievable.  It's a place I picture Olympic athletes going to live for a few months to train.  Really quite something!

And then that night, we headed out to the team dinner.

It was a lovely evening and we all sat outside in the Biergarten with lights strung all around.  It was beautiful!

But the next morning, we were back on the field with our game faces on playing another team from Severna Park.  Our best friends (we practice together every week) and also our arch rivals (they are supposedly the "A" team and we are the "B" team even though we are ranked the same - this has always bothered our coach, so it was important to him that we win this game!!).

And we won 2-0!!!

Our coach went CRAZY and our girls were SO excited!  That win proved a point and it also secured us a spot in the Championship game against the team we had tied 1-1 the day before.

From left to right:  Sophia, Teegan, Elsa, Marin, Lucy, Charlotte, Riley, Gianna, Elena, Chelsea, Carmen, Addy and Delaney.

⚽🖤⚽

Ready for the championship game!

At halftime, we were up 2-0!

But by the end of the 2nd half, the other team clawed their way up to a tie.

They fouled and injured one of our best defenders and we had to pull her out for the rest of the game and then with just a minute left in the game, the other team scored and we lost 2-3.  It was painful.  Riley sobbed into my chest.

But I honestly have never been prouder of how all of these girls played all weekend long.  They all played hard and they all played full of heart and talent all wrapped into one.  It was so exciting to be on the sideline cheering them on!

And even though the loss was tough, they all decided the taste of Silver, wasn't so bad after all!

Goooooo  Stingers!!

Goofballs.

To lick our wounds, we decided a quick visit to HersheyPark (just 5 miles up the road) was just what we needed.

Nothing like a little chocolate and roller coasters 🎢 to make us feel better!

Hershey's newest ride.... we walked right on with no wait.  So fun!!

Addy was NOT happy that we talked her into going on the Hershey drop tower.... but then loved it so much, she went on it again!

So glad I got to spend so much quality time with my favorite 10-yr old goalie.  Love my Riley Jane!

Iron Man

 

I just have to do a Brother Brag here for a second.  My little brother Ricky just finished his SECOND FULL IRON MAN (2.4 mile swim followed by 112 mile bike ride followed by a full marathon -26.2 miles- run) in less than two weeks 😲

It's seriously the most amazing/crazy thing in the world!

Smiling through it all.

Super proud of my little brother!

Way to do hard things.  You are a total rockstar. 

Ella's First Soccer Tournament

 

Ella is just 8 years old, but she has already played soccer for several years.  She joined a travel/select team last year, but with COVID in full force, there weren't any tournaments going on.  So even though soccer has been a part of her life for quite some time, this is the first weekend where she has traveled out of town for a tournament.

Tanner begrudgingly joined at first - he wasn't sure he wanted to spend his Friday night and Saturday hanging out at his little sister's soccer games.  BUT, he quickly changed his tune once he discovered  Mr Beast was in town.

I will not pretent to know what this is.  If you are between the ages of 8-18, then you know what this is.  It's a virtual brand.  Mr Beast is a digital content creator known for his over-the-top stunts and also for his philanthropy.  He has a youtube channel and kids are obsessed with him!

And then they followed that up with Cold Stone.  Yum!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go!

They won the first game and then lost their second game (their first loss of the season).   As I'm writing this post, I'm realizing that I forgot to get pictures of her playing soccer off of Dave's phone!  Anyway, she rolled her right ankle, which was a bummer, but she played her little heart out.

They had several hours to kill between games, so Dave discovered a close by Top Golf.  He said it was a total hit and that they all loved it!

Tanner at the Tee. 

I seriously cannot wait until we can ditch these masks!