Flag Football

I know nothing about football.  I have never really been concerned about this before, but today I felt a little worried.  The meet and greet for the boys’ team was today.  And I found that I had a lot to learn.  First, they have a racket going on with their photos.  Write your credit card on the line…

Second, I had no idea how a mouth-guard goes in.  “Does this go on the top or bottom teeth?”  I asked.  A kid pulled his hearing aid off his ear, and said, “Like this.”  Then he put his hearing aid in his mouth.  Only it wasn’t a hearing aid; it was his mouth-guard.  Um, is that where you are supposed to store it when it isn’t in your mouth?  It does seem better than on the ground where Jack kept his.  Yummy.

Third, some people take sports (for 6 and 7 year olds) really really seriously… Eric nudged me, “They are talking about adding practice days, you should be involved.  That’s all you.”   I furrowed my brows.  Weren’t practices and games on Sundays? 

“All of the other teams have met 4 or 5 times already!  We need a mid-week practice!” one of the parents insisted.

Why did this sound so much like, “Mom, all the other kids are doing it!”?  But, apparently we are now practicing on Tuesday afternoons too.  There goes my one free day…

Fourth, I don’t actually know any of the rules so that I can practice at home.

Owen and Jack LOVED the short practice and scrimmage that they had today.  I guess the team even won their practice game.  They had tons of smiles, and were really involved and chattered all the way home.  When we got home they ran outside to practice right away. 

Jack had been worried because he had been transferred from his age team to Owen’s because there weren’t enough kids for the younger league.  But Jack seemed to keep up just fine, and the coach couldn’t tell which boys was older…

Jack – Number 19

Owen – Number 12 (in the middle of the photo)

Jack’s Camping List

S’mores, tent, food, hotdogs, ketchup, mustard, root beer, buns, eggs and bacon.

Owen’s New Moves

I figured there would be a lot of playing at gymnastics today since the state meet was last weekend, but Owen was as determined as ever.  The door to the gym was still locked, and Owen told his coach he wanted to do a flip (he called it the proper name…)

Owen landed his flips on the double-mini today for the first time.  His smile was so so big.

He also got closer to the moves for his backflip.  Here is one with help from his coach. (Don’t mind me helping Jack spell in the background.)

T&T 3rd Meet and the State Competition

At his third meet, Owen beat his own score again in double-mini. 

It cracks me up when Owen salutes the judges because he looks like he’s in the ranks of the Hitler youth…

Waiting to be signaled by the judges to begin.

Waiting for the awards…

Owen got a special “judges’ award” that he was very proud of. 

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The state final was this weekend.  It was a bigger competition and Owen was waiting around at least two hours before it was his turn.  Owen seemed a little off the whole time.  Still, he improved his score on double-mini once again, which was great.

My camera wasn’t working during his trampoline, so I didn’t get any photos.  He must have touched outside the lines or something during the event because his score was only about half of his other scores at other meets.  Still, he was happy to have participated and is proud of where he is. 

Trampoline and Tumbling Competitions

Owen was markedly nervous during his first meet in January, but it seemed to help with his focus.  To me, his trampoline routine was one of his best.  He got first place in both of his events.

 

These are his coaches. 

When Owen first saw his uniform, he asked his coach, “You know I’m not a girl, right?”

The routines are fixed, and all participants must do the prescribed routine.

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March Meet - Owen was much less nervous at his second competition.  He got a 2nd and 3rd place medal, though his individual scores went up in each event.  That was hard for him to understand, but he liked that he had medals of each color…

Easter Camping

With the promise of a sunny weekend, I decided that a camping trip would be fun.  Bobby had planted the idea of it, and since the boys had no school on Friday because of conferences, we could go in the early afternoon.  

We planned to camp at Deception Pass like we did in October, but the people at the gate laughed when I asked if there was as spot – totally booked up!

Luckily there were a few spots further south at Fort Ebey, which ended up to be a beautiful place!

It was foggy when I took pictures, but when the fog cleared, you could see all of the islands and the sound.

We saw a river otter, a snake, all kinds of birds and creepy-crawlies, and this little guy who found peanut butter so irresistible, that when I tried to scare him from the table, he just took the knife with him…

On Saturday we found a sunny quiet spot.  We used my handy emergency blanket as a picnic blanket – perfect!  I read for hours and the boys played in the woods finding new creatures and an abandoned camp chair which Owen lovingly cleaned off and cherished like a bird with a broken wing. 

Later, Uncle Bobby let Owen and Jack each help with the fire.  Their excitement over using matches is unparalleled with any boyhood adventure thus far.  Each used up an entire box of matches after the fire was already going strong.  Owen also used the axe and declared himself “much stronger than you, Mama!”

Jack was on a reading and math frenzy.  He stopped to read every sign and when one sign read “Campsites 33-50” he read “33-60” and laughed saying that his “brain made him say 60 because 3 and 3 is 6.”  I love that he plays with numbers like Owen does.  Afterwards he wanted me to quiz him on numbers.  I did for awhile and was impressed when he figured that we will have walked 8 miles at the end of the day since we walked  to the beach and back twice and it was two miles each way.  When I told him that the walk was actually a mile and a quarter, he was quiet for a bit, and then said, “Oh, then we walked five miles.”

By the end of three days, we were all filthy and happy and full of hot chocolate, hot-dogs and sunshine.  Owen took home his newfound chair and lots of dirt in his toes (which he insisted be included in my blog along with a photo – sorry)

Jack brought home his new Easter ball, about 87 splinters in his hands from falling directly on a dried-up dead “pricker” bush, a tick, and a spider in his bag. I would have preferred he stuck with the ball, but what’s a mom to do? 

(If you must know, she slowly removes splinters with magnifying glasses and pins and Power Ranger videos for a distraction – over a three day period; uses tweezers on the tick and obsesses about Lyme disease for several days; and removes all of the clothing from the bag with the vacuum one at at time terrified that the spider will suddenly attack – um, yes it was alive and a darned fast runner, and is now no longer with us.)

Soccer Boys

Owen Flips

Owen is excited about his new flip.  Today he landed 6 or 7 on his feet without falling.

http://youtu.be/CTzQPl7nuNg