Goalie Girl

 

Soccer season has officially begun!  Since Riley plays on a year-round club team, sometimes it feels like it never ends, but the most important games they play all year happen between mid-September and the end of Nov/ beginning of Dec.  During those 2.5 months, they play against some of the toughest competition in the Maryland/DC/VA area in the EDP 1 league.  Going into this weekend, they were 2-0 and hoping to keep their streak going!

Nice punt!

Half time pep talk with Coach Bobby and Coach Dan

It ended up being a heart break of a loss with a final score of 0-1.  We had so many shots on goal that we just couldn't get in the net and they had one fluke goal that did.  But that's the way it goes sometimes! Seven more games to go......  Go Park!  ⚽

First Place in Sparring and Board Breaking!

 

This past weekend, Tanner competed in a TKD tournament in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Here is the venue, set up and ready to go. 

Happy boy after getting first place in board breaking.

And really happy boy after getting first place in sparring as well!

Here he is with Master Kwon (left) and Master Isaac (Right) and the others that placed in their genders/age groups.  

Way to go! 🥋🏆

Lacey's Rad Night Out

 

Lacey's youth group at church put on an 80's themed dance this past weekend and she and her friend, Olivia went all out!

Ready to Rock.

And then she came back to 2023 this week to be with her Unified Tennis Team at High School.

Ella Bella Boo

 

My little Ella Bella Boo has been capitalizing on these warm September days.

She went paddle boarding with her friend Charlotte.

And getting in some more pool time with all her 5th grade buddies.

Soccer Season

 

Riley and her team just competed in another soccer tournament - the OBGC Capital Cup tournament.  They played against three highly competitive teams finishing the tournament with a record of 1-1-1.  They tied their first game (against Galaxy), lost their next game (against Loudon Soccer Club) and won their last game (against SAC Pre Academy).  

Halftime - a brief respite from the 95 degree heat.

Riley and her SEVP Premier Green 2010 (U14) Team.  Now that they've wrapped up their pre-season tournaments, they're set to start their official season this weekend with their first (of 10) games vs the other EDP Division 1 teams.  Go Park! ⚽

US Open in NYC!

 

Last weekend, Dave and I hopped on an Amtrak and headed to NYC!

And our first stop was Dave's favorite taco shop - Los Tacos Number 1.  We happened upon this place a few years ago and the food was soooooo good that Dave in particular will go out of his way to go back there again and again. Sometimes multiple times in the same visit.  Luckily there are now a few different locations in NYC, so that makes it a little more convenient!

And then we checked into our Marriott hotel.  We had a room on the very top floor (20th floor) with a balcony and beautiful view of the Empire State Building 🌆

The next morning, we met up with our good friends Lauren and Marc and Shawna and Rick and headed to the US Open!  Here we are in front of the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world with a capacity of 23, 771.  

We lucked out with gorgeous weather!

We explored the grounds and then headed to the practice courts where we got up close and personal with Stan Wawrinka who has won three grand slams including the US Open, Australian Open and French Open.

And Madison Keys.  She was a finalist at the US Open in 2017 and made it to the Semifinals this year!

Here we are just feet away from Victoria Azarenka.  She has held the World #1 singles title for a combined total of 51 weeks and won the Australian Open twice.

And my personal favorite..... Caroline Wozniacki.  She has held the World #1 singles title for a total of 71 weeks.  She won the Australian Open in 2018, becoming the first Dane to win a major singles title.  She also retired three years ago to start a family, has had two kids in the past 36 months, including one just 10 months ago and she is already back on the circuit playing some of the best tennis of her life.  Amazing!!!  To be in that kind of shape so soon after giving birth to back to back babies.  After seeing her practice last Saturday (pictured here), she unfortunately lost the following day to Coco Gauff  (Coco took the first set, Caroline won the second set and then lost the third set) in the 4th round.  But to make it all the way to the 4th round of the US Open within months of having a baby...... wow!!!!  Way to go, Caroline!

Here I am with my favorite player.

After getting our fill of watching our favorite players practice, we headed off to see some matches! We sat in the third row watching the Tsitsipas brothers play doubles.  Here is Stefanos Tsitsipas, currently ranked #7 in the World. 

Next we headed to the Grandstand to see Mmoh vs Draper and Rinderknech vs Rublev before heading over to Louis Armstrong to see Wawrinka vs Sinner followed by Zverev (seen here) vs Dimitrov.

The Zverev vs Dimitrov match was amazing!! Some of the best live tennis I've ever seen.

The closest we got to Alcarez 😉

So. Much. Tennis.!  But it was great!  We got there right when the gates opened at 9:30am and stayed until ~11pm.  We packed in as much as we could and had so much fun doing it together! 🎾

From one Z-town to another!

 

We said goodbye to Zermatt and made the long journey back up to Zurich so that we could overnight there before our flight the next day. But traveling through Switzerland is not a burden when you get views like this from your train ride.......

We made a pit stop in Lucerne to check out the city and it did not disappoint! 

We made it to Zurich, checked into our hotel and went to get some fondue for dinner! When in Switzerland......

And after a quick week, it was time to head home. All in all, we hiked over 75 miles and hopefully made some core memories!