Paige's first I9 soccer game and Connor's first Creeks Bridge team game

Today was Soccer Saturday for our family. Paige had her first ever soccer practice/game with her new I9 team and Connor had his first game with his new Creeks Academy U8 Bridge team.

Paige has been watching Connor play soccer for years, but today was her big day to try it for herself. Connor has been sweet about playing with her from time to time, but Paige has never taken a big interest in the sport. We had no idea how she'd do today.

Connor's new soccer season started and initially he wasn't put on the Bridge team, but this week was his first game with them. He's been working hard this year and we were happy he got selected to be on the team. The Bridge team plays with U9 (players under 9 years old), and it is a big challenge for them to play up with the bigger older boys. The other teams have boys up to 1-1 1/2 years older than Connor.

Paige's game was at 10am and since Connor had to be at his soccer field early, we split up initially and I took Paige. Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice showed up to watch for a little bit and Paige was thrilled to see them. When we arrived, we picked up her jersey and she wasn't too thrilled to put it on since she liked her Nike shirt so well. I finally convinced her and she decided to wear it with the Blue side out initially.

I picked out lucky #7 for her. She looked cute from behind with her curly ponytail that Mommy did this morning.

They did some warmup drills, and eventually they broke them off to play some 3v3 games. Paige started off with her neighbor friend Olivia on her team and the two of them were in LaLa Land for a while. They were pretty much just walking around holding hands watching the little boy on their team do his best to play soccer against the other three players. After a short break and some substitutions, Paige started to catch on and chased after the ball with the other kids.

She actually caught the ball a few times and moved it in the right direction.

At halftime they switched Paige to the white team so that the teams would have an even number of players and subs.

It was super hot out, so Paige stayed hydrated.

After the game, the kids lined up to practice shooting one time each. I got a video of Paige taking her shot and she made it!

As we were leaving, Olivia came over to tell Paige goodbye and I snapped a pic of them together.

After Paige's game, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then zoomed over to watch Connor play. His team had just started when we arrived.

The game was pretty exciting and impressive to watch. The level of play is so much higher than most kids at Connor's age. Everyone was playing a position, there were goalies and there were even linesmen and a referee.

Connor's team did a good job of hanging in with the bigger boys and we were proud of the effort Connor put forth. He had a few good possessions and even though he didn't get in a position to shoot, he did very well.

In some of the pics you can really see how much bigger the boys on the other team were.

Connor's team ended up losing 1-3, and Connor was disappointed, but we told him how proud we were of him and he had a good time playing.

Paige had a good time goofing off with Cole and Graydon during the game. Ryan and Amanda sat in the 1-million degree sunshine with us to support our little man today. Graydon got hot, but Amanda poured water on him and Graydon enjoyed playing with Cole and Paige.

After Connor's game, we went home to cool off in the pool! It was a hot day and fun. We are looking forwards to some cooler weather soon!

Orlando trip - Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

This weekend we went to Orlando for a one-night visit. We went down after Connor's soccer game and were hoping it wouldn't be too crowded. We knew Magic Kingdom was only staying open until 7pm. We weren't sure why, but were thinking it was just for some renovations or construction. It turned out it was closed to the public after 7, but there were a bunch of Christian rock bands having a big event. We were worried it'd be too busy, but it turned out it wasn't all that busy at all while we were there.

 

Connor and I had fun on the go-karts.

Everyone loves the People Mover!

Although the kids love it, neither Andrea or I were interested in riding the teacup. We both have been very prone to getting dizzy lately. The kids insisted and I reluctantly gave in. When we sat in the teacup I told the kids that we were riding it together, but I wasn't going to let anyone spin the ride.

I took a picture of their disappointed faces.

I couldn't take the sad faces, so I compromised. I said they could spin it, but I would just take a video and wouldn't help them spin it. I figured they wouldn't be able to spin it very fast.

I was wrong.

I snapped a quick pic of the kids before we got on the Little Mermaid ride.

It was hot out, so we were happy to let the kids play in the Dumbo play area indoors for a while.

Paige really was looking forwards to the Barnstormer rollercoaster and we all rode it with her.

The highlight of the day for Paige was when we went to Belle's Father's cottage. She was selected to be the horse and was a little shy about it at first.

I took a short video of Paige acting out her part of the horse.

She nailed it!

We tried to stay until we were kicked out at 7, but around 5 it started POURING rain. We brought three umbrellas, but they were in the car of course. As it started raining, were about to get on the Jungle Cruise, but it was clear we would get soaked on it so we tried to switch to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride instead. The line was crazy long, but at least it was out of the rain. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes we realized it wasn't moving and people were leaving. Apparently the ride broke down. We decided we may as well leave, so purchased some ponchos and an umbrella and made our way back to the car. Just as we arrived at the car, it stopped raining. Not our best timing, but it was probably a good time to go and we'd already done most of the things we'd planned to do.

On Sunday morning, we went to Hollywood studios. Andrea had gotten us fast passes to the Frozen singalong and the Toy Story ride, which we'd never ridden because of the always-long lines.

Connor and I rode the Toy Story ride together and we snapped a quick selfie afterwards. We all loved the ride, it was probably one of the most fun rides ever!

After we did the sing-along, the Little Mermaid show and a few other things, we decided to leave. On the way home, it rained a crazy amount and it took almost an hour longer than normal to get home. We were glad we left when we did and were happy to get home safe and sound!

Beach day!

This Saturday we went to the beach club for a beach day with Grandma Alice, Grandpa Rick and the Gobles. Andrea went to Orlando with some of her friends to do some shopping, and I'd been trying to think of something fun to do with the kids on a rainy day. At one point, the forecast was 80% rain for Saturday so I figured that the beach was out of the question. Early on Saturday Amanda texted me to let me know it looked beautiful outside. There was still a chance of rain, but we decided to give it a shot anyways. 

When we got to the beach it was nice and sunny. The tide was up and there were some enormous waves. The day turned out to be perfect. We saw some clouds to the East and West, but they never came over us the entire time we were there. The kids had fun as usual. Connor ran around with Uncle Ryan and Paige built some sandcastles and collected shells with Grandma and Grandpa. Graydon chilled out and helped to build the sandcastles, but every once in a while a huge rogue wave would wash over the entire beach and Amanda would have to rescue him. 

We ate lunch, then swam at the pool for a bit. It was a fun day and I'm glad we decided to make the drive out to give it a try!

Michelle's birthday

On Friday night we went to Enza's to celebrate one of Andrea's tennis teammate's birthday. Michelle invited a few of her tennis friends and their husbands to go out with them and we ate some yummy Italian food and got to know each other.

Old St. Augustine for Amanda's birthday

For Amanda's birthday we went to Old St. Augustine for dinner and drinks. It was a little bit hot, but it was a fun night to get out and walk around the area. Happy birthday Amanda!