Memorial Weekend Soccer Tournament!

 

Riley and Ella both had soccer tournaments this weekend in Columbia, MD.  This is the final tournament of the season, so now they have nice long break from soccer until it picks up again in the Fall!

It was a disappointing tournament for Riley's team.... they won one game and lost the other two 0-1.  Her coaches were very hopeful that they'd win this tournament so to lose by one goal in two of the three games and not advance to the championship was very disappointing.  But that's life!  It will be nice to have a break and then go at it again next season!

Ella had a blast playing with all her soccer buddies!  They are such good friends!

Between games, we hung out and played and had fun together as a team. 

Best of friends on and off the field!

They had a great tournament!  They played in the top division of their age level, playing teams from Pennsylvania and Virginia.  They won one, lost one and tied two.  Every game was close and suspenseful and it was a fun to play against such great competition!

These three....

Livia, Ella and Charlotte

We call them the Three Amigos or the Three Muskateers.

They have been playing soccer together since they were probably 4 or 5 years old.  They are all super athletic and competitive and so much fun to watch play together.  Both Livia and Charlotte have decided to transfer to another club for next year and we've decided to stay with this one, so this weekend was the last time these three will play soccer together.  At least in the foreseeable future.  The end of an era.

But their final game together ended in a very exciting win with Charlotte scoring the winning goal with just seconds to go in the game and with all three of them on the field together when it happened.  So if this soccer trio had to end...... I'm glad they went out with a bang!

Maryland Zoo

Riley's 6th grade class had a field trip to the Zoo and she asked me to chaperone.  I love that she still wants me to chaperone and, after missing out on two years of field trips, I was happy to oblige!

I only had three people in my group so that was nice and easy!

Penguins!

And flamingoes. 

And a cheetah!

We loved watching the mama chimp with her baby.

Everyone always comments on how tall Riley is.  She's several inches taller than I am, and she's only 12 years old.  But even so, it's not until I see her around her peers that I realize just how tall she is!

There was another group of just two people who are both really good friends with Riley, so we combined our two groups and these five girls had fun roaming the zoo all day together!

We capped off the day with a trip to the photo booth.

Great weather, cool animals and good quality time with my girl!

 

Blue Angels

 

My favorite part of living in Annapolis!

Each May, during the week of the Naval Academy graduation, the Blue Angels put on an amazing show!  I pull all the kids out of school and head down to the water.  I don't even know why they have school because everyone pulls their kids out of school and does the same thing!

Tanner isn't pictured here with us because that lucky boy got invited to go out on a boat with his friend Jack.

My friend Lauren did the same thing with her kids and so we set up a nice picnic spot together enjoying the sunshine and Wawa sandwiches while waiting for the show to start.  

Riley ran into four of her soccer team buddies.

Lacey relaxed.... 😴

And Ella and her buddy Dom rolled down the big hill, played in the water and ate snowcones!

This girl is happy about 95% of the time.  She's so fun and I love her so much!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...... the Blue Angels!

Disclaimer: I did not take these pics.  My phone camera couldn't do it justice and I was too mesmerized by the show to take many pics anyway, so all photocred goes to the Blue Angels Instagram photographer.  But this is what we saw nevertheless! 

This one actually is my picture.  So you see why I used the others!

Anyway, seeing the Blue Angels never gets old and I look forward to it every year!

Go Navy! 💙💛✈

Tennis Team Banquet and One Act Plays

 

On Tuesday night, Lacey's tennis team gathered for their end-of-year banquet.  They gave Lacey a pin for her varsity letter (which she has pinned to her shorts in this pic), her medal from winning the County Championship and a "Minds in Motion" certificate awarded to Varsity athletes that maintain a GPA of 3.25 or greater.  

Way to go, Lacey!  🎾

Lacey really wanted to try out for the One Act Plays this year at her High School, but the tryouts and rehearsals conflicted with Tennis.  Thankfully, one of her really good friends was the Director of one of the four plays and told her she'd still give Lacey a small part in her play as long as she could make some of the rehearsals including the mandatory dress rehearsal, which took place once tennis season was over. 

She got killed in battle.

Taking a bow at the end. 

Fun to see her on both the court and the stage!

End of School Year Festivities!

Fourth and Fifth graders are allowed to participate in "MakerSpace" if they want to, and of course most of them do!  They meet once a week to form all kinds of creations with a small group of their peers with similar interests.  Ella and her good buddy Ethan made a village out of Duct Tape and created an obstacle course using Duct Tape and a few other supplies.

On Wednesday evening, they had a "MakerSpace Fair" where all the students could showcase what they've been working on.  It was very cute and Ella loved it. 

Afterwards, we roamed the halls and found her artwork on display.

My sweet, spunky, lovable, happy 4th grader!

The very next night, Dave and I went to Riley's chorus concert.

I think one of her favorite parts of chorus is doing it alongside three of her closest friends, Katelyn, Izzy and Kylie.  

And, as per usual, Riley played a lot of sports this weekend - two soccer games and a basketball game.  I didn't get any pictures of her basketball game, but I want to document it for her sake anyway.  Riley won the tip off and scored the first basket.  We got an early lead, and were up 15-4.  But then the other team went on a scoring streak and next thing we knew, it was 15-12 and we were neck and neck the rest of the game!  We were up by just two points 19-17 when Riley got fouled on the shot with less than five minutes to go.  She swished both her free throws!  So then we were up 21-17.  Then the other team scored a basket and a free throw and it was 21-20 with less than a minute to go.  We were able to keep control of the ball and right before the buzzer, Riley shot it in the air and swished a 3-pointer securing the victory!  It was very exciting!

And then we wrapped up the weekend by using our new fire pit for the very first time.