Fall Soccer

Lyla played soccer again this fall.  She played again for the ’08 Girls Black Loudoun Soccer team that she’s played on for the past two years.  This year was a change in quite a few ways from the seasons in the past.  For the first time playing travel, she had a new coach.  Her former coach who she loved moved to the west coast.  Additionally, there were quite a few new players on her team.  Her new coach (who is also very nice and who Lyla likes) asked her to try playing a new position.  He wanted her to get more experience playing in the center of the midfield whereas Lyla has always played out wide (either as a midfielder or defender).  

 

She’s had to work out of her “comfort zone” playing in the center, and while she hasn’t loved playing that position this season, we’re encouraging her that there is benefit from learning how to play quickly and in tight spaces, and we’re proud of her willingness to play where her coach wants her to without putting up a fuss.  She’ll have some limited training this winter and a handfull of futsal games, but there will be a lot of downtime, then the team will resume outdoor play again in March for the spring season.  We’re happy that Lyla continues to enjoy soccer.  It’s been a great way for her to be active (she loves to run), make great friendships, and develop the attributes of confidence and teamwork that comes with sports.  

  

 

  

 

 

Halloween 2018

I’m behind again in my posts.  Most of my free time on the computer has been spent studying for a test that I have to take before the end of the year, so I’ve put a couple things on the back burner until I get more prepared for my test.  However, I realized how far I was getting behind, so I thought I’d try to do a little catch up.  

Sadly, the night of the Halloween party at Mouse and Pops’s house, I had my camera on the wrong setting so many of my pictures didn’t turn out the best. It was also a bit sad that the word through the grapevine is that this year was the last year for the Halloween Party.  There was something about maybe the kids getting too old, but I certainly didn’t see any of that this year (wink, wink!!).

 

We ended up with a beautiful evening for the party.  It was warm enough and it wasn’t raining, so it was a perfect evening for everyone to be outside.

Nina brought three friends from school, and along with the cousins, the Rumples, and the neighbors, there was a great group of kids.

Mouse and Pops work so hard every year to make the party a blast.  The kids always look forward to it, and every party is a hit!  We so appreciate all the hard work that goes into the party.  We know it’s a labor of love every year, but it has been something the kids have genuinely loved.  At the campfire, we counted back the years of the party, and they’ve been doing it for eight straight years.  We’ll certainly miss Madame Vanish and her trusty sidekick, Lucius.

The first activity was a bit HIT this year (no pun intended).  There was a rowdy and fun game of dodgeball that got things started with the adult men (including Jonathan) versus the women and children.  :)  No one took it easy on anyone - young or old!

 

 

 

 

They had more activities until it got dark, then they took a dinner break before heading out for more.  I had snapped a picture of the girls before Layne got over in the group, so I think I’m getting a littly pay back here on that!  :)

 

  

By the end of the evening, it was time for the haunted walk through the forest and the concluding bonfire.  As always, the haunted walk got plenty of screams, and again this year the kids wanted to put on their own haunted walk for the adults to walk through afterwards.  We had another great party, and it was awesome to have the Rumples there again as they’ve made it to every Halloween party since it started!  I’ll miss this fun night in the future, but maybe we’ll just have to find a way to carry on the tradition of getting together just in another way.

 

Halloween followed about 1 1/2 weeks after the Halloween Party, and it was another beautiful evening!  Halloween was on a school day, and the kids weren’t allowed to wear costumes to school, but Lyla had the coolest dress to wear to school on Halloween.  I loved it!  Her costume that year was a 7’3” tall inflatable dinosaur.  My mom had bought it for the Halloween party, and Lyla loved it so much that she was allowed to borrow it for Halloween.  She got so many compliments and comments on it everywhere she went.  While it wasn’t the easiest costume to navigate steps, tree branches, etc with, it was worth it to have such a memorable costume.  She even met a mini-dino on her way around that evening.  

Nina was a panda and Grace was a zombie softball player.  Nina wasn’t supposed to be a zombie panda, but I guess her make-up artist, a.k.a. Mom, kind of made her look that way.  All three girls had a great time, got loads of candy, and enjoyed another awesome neighborhood Halloween.

  

 

  

Columbus Day Weekend at Hartfield

Since we had a rare weekend with no soccer, plus a bonus of Monday with no school, we took the opportunity to head down to Hartfield to enjoy some relaxing family time and check out Howl-o-Scream at Busch Gardens.  We had a beautiful weekend of warm weather and sunshine.  It was actually warm enough for the girls to take a swim in the river!  We really enjoyed the chance to relax and play at the river, do some fishing, and enjoy the time outdoors.  

   

 

Mark and the girls found the perfect little fishing hole for bass.  Lyla caught five or six fish this size - one right after the other.  They were having a blast!

 

Catching minnows, swimming off the dock, and filled the afternoon until everyone was tired enough to head in for showers and dinner.

 

  

Right after her shower, Nina wanted to accompany me down to the water as I was going to try to catch the sun setting on the water (although I missed it by a few minutes), but I did get a picture of her instead.  Just as beautiful!

We went to Busch Gardens on Sunday to check out Howl-O-Scream.  It was actually a really hot day for October, and there were a lot more people there than we thought.  Lyla did a great job playing the Soccer Challenge goal scoring game and won herself a candy corn! :)

 

We had never been to Howl-O-Scream before, but i was reallly impressed with all the cool decorations that the park had.  They certainly did a great job making the park Halloween themed!  Things were very kid friendly during the day, but at 6:00pm, the haunted houses opened and some of the “scary” characters came out to ride rides and spook people around the park. We didn’t stay too late into the evening as they girls weren’t too sure about some of the really scary haunted houses, plus we had to get back to the baby dog, but by the time we headed home, we were plenty exhausted!  

   

  

We packed up on Monday to head back home, so it was a somewhat short visit to Hartfield, but I’m so glad we went.  After a busy couple weeks of school, work, sports, etc., it was great to have some laid back family time together.