Making the Rounds, Part Nine: Soccer and other fun

Elle had a soccer game on Saturday morning. Thank goodness Bonnie was there to help me since we had to get the kids up, fed, dressed, snacks and water packed, and find the field. I made Bonnie drive again, also. :) We were extremely proud of ourselves that we left the house early. Woohoo! We found the soccer park pretty easily, but finding field 9A was a bit more difficult. We could not see any field numbers as we drove through the busy parking lot, we could not see any kids wearing jerseys similar to Elle's, and we could not see any little bitty kids close by. We hollered out the car window to a few parents, who seemed just as confused as we were. Eventually one suggested, "just park and walk around." Which we did. We finally came upon the field and we were the first ones there. Good job, Gigi and Aunt Bonnie!

Some of Elle's teammates showed up right away and we settled in to wait for her game to start while her coach did practice drills with the girls. They were all really cute and had some good skills for only being 3 and 4 year olds!

Sarah said Elle had not wanted to play in the last game, but she was a trooper in this one. The girl ran her heart out, did not want to come out for a sub till I finally made her take a water break because her face was getting so red, and even made a goal! Yippee, Elle! She played really hard and we were so proud of her! She seemed to have a blast and really got into it, though she didn't seem to want to try to take the ball away from anyone else. I heard the coach before the game trying to explain to the girls, "It's great to share when you are playing with your friends, and it's a really nice thing to do, but in soccer, you are supposed to try to take the ball away from the other team!" Not sure how many of them get that yet! They are also learning not to use their hands. His other quote was, "Hands are for high-fives!"

In the "small world" department, Sarah had figured out that Elle's coach is the cousin of Bonnie's college roommate, track teammate and good friend, Katie. How weird is that? So Katie and her cute little guy Carter came out to watch the game and visit with Bonnie and Emery, as well as her cousin.

Emery and Carter had fun running around and playing. Emery was posing and saying "cheeeeese" here.
Beck was all chilled out in his stroller through the whole game. We brought a blanket to sit on but he was content to hang out so it made my life easier than chasing him around while trying to watch Elle! Sweet boy!

Emery loved Katie!

Back home for lunch and naps

After another busy and fun day, they settled down for reading and playing in bed before calling it a night.

This was a great bonding visit for these two little cousins. Bonnie said it was the most fun they've ever had together and it was so cute to see.

Unfortunately, by this time we all had the sniffles and Beck was not feeling the best, waking up during the night and having trouble getting back to sleep. At first I thought it was just teething bothering him, or that he was getting a little scared about why his parents were not there. But soon he was coughing and everyone had snotty noses so we figured Elle's "allergies" were being passed around.

Bonnie and Emery had to leave very early on Sunday morning and I was going to make them take a cab again but decided I would be brave and drive them to Love Field. Actually, I made Bonnie drive us there and our directions took us a little off track but we made it in the nick of time. Poor Bonnie had a suitcase, Emery's car seat, a carry-on, and a little girl who wanted to be carried. But, of course, she pooh-poohed my idea of asking for help from a man walking up at the same time. Off she went, with everything and Emery in tow. Then came Gigi's turn to finally drive in Dallas traffic with the grandkids. Luckily, the trip back to the house was easy and everyone in the car was happy and nothing went wrong. WHEW.