Start of Lax Season!

 

Riley started with Maryland United Club Lacrosse Team in 2019.  They're a great club and all the girls have improved so much.  Spring season started this weekend and they had two games.  And they went 2-0, so off to a great start!

Fun to see Riley in action.  Great run, moves and goal to seal the deal, Riley!

Black Belt!

 

Tanner just earned his Black Belt!

This is the culmination of years of hard work.  He started Tae Kwon Do several years ago and has faithfully gone to classes on a regular basis working his way up from White to Yellow to Green to Brown to Blue to Red to Bo Dan then to Super Bo Dan I, Super Bo Dan II, Super Bo Dan III and finally..... BLACK BELT!

Once he earned all the belt colors, in order to apply for the Black Belt Test, he had to get a letter of recommendation from a teacher at school, he had to write an essay of what earning a Black Belt meant to him and he had to show up early on a Saturday morning to perform a 2 hour long physical fitness exam which included running, push-ups, leg-ups and a series of other things.  With all of that done, he was invited to the TKD studio on Friday night to test for his Black Belt.  We were there for almost three hours watching him test. 

He went through all of his forms. 

And he had to perform several different board breaking techniques using both his hands and feet. 

Psyching himself up.

The result of all his board breakage..... that's a lot of boards!

And he did it!!!!!

I couldn't be more proud! 

It's tradition for the newly-belted black belt to tie their former belt on to a family member.

Father and son.

Dave better stay in his good graces..... 😉

Lacey was at the Naval Academy dance, but his other sisters came to cheer him on too!

Back of his new uniform.

Way to go, Tan!  We're all super proud of you! 🥋

Beauty at the Ball

 

Lacey, along with several of her friends from church, was invited to go to the Cadet Ball at the Naval Academy.  This is a very formal affair, so we went out and got her beautiful new dress.

Looking so grown up!

Being introduced at the Ball.

Dinner time.  Followed by dancing.  She had a great time! 

New Jersey Soccer Tournament

 

Riley (and Dave) just got back from a 2-day soccer tournament in New Jersey.

Here's Coach Bobby getting them pumped up before Game One!

Riley's ready to go!

After Day One, the girls were feeling pretty good.  They tied their first game 0-0 and won their second game 4-1.  Riley played goalie 100% of both games, so she was happy she had only let one goal in over the course of two full games.

So that night, it was time to party!

Then they were up early for Day 2!  Riley gave the team a little speech (that I helped her prepare) and then they did their cheer and got pumped up to play in Game 3!

And they won Game Three 2-1!  So we all thought that guaranteed them a spot in the Championship game since they had 2 wins and no losses.  But apparently there was one team who had three wins and another team with our same record of 2-0-1 so then it went to goal differential to determine who got to play in the championship game.  And the other team had one more goal than us and so they got to play in the finals and we then played for 3rd place.  So those four teams stayed while the other (four) teams all went home.

Unfortunately, this proved to be our toughest competition yet.  We went up by 1-0, then they tied it 1-1.  Then we went up 2-1 and they came back and tied it 2-2.  Then the other team got one more goal off us and we lost 2-3.  It was a heartbreak and there were definitely some tears.  But these girls rallied enough to put some smiles on their faces for one last team picture.  This is an awesome group of girls and a great team.  And even though that last game resulted in a crushing loss, I have a feeling these girls have a lot of Wins in their future and I can't wait to get Spring Soccer started!