Happy 42nd!!

 Matt had to work on his birthday and wasn't feeling so well for his birthday dinner at Black Angus, but we spoiled him anyway and tried to make it a fun 42nd for him.  He loved, loved, loved his new iPad and can't wait to get it up and running!!

 Taylor made him a very sweet card

and Allison did the same, along with a cute quiz!  We are hoping he will be feeling better soon and that his 42nd year is the best yet!!

GU13 State Cup

 The GU13 girls began State Cup in Lancaster as well, with 2 games on Saturday and 1 game on Sunday. They had quite a showing...winning 3-0 over LB Havoc, 3-0 over LA Premier and 2-0 over Westside Breakers to advance to the 2nd weekend.

 Unfortunately, Taylor spent most of the weekend fighting a sore throat and fever, but battled through.  She took a long nap with May in between games and rested and hydrated as much as possible.  What a trooper!!

I wasn't able to see this Saturday's game against Redondo Beach because  I was in Lancaster with Allison's team, but they pulled off a 1-0 victory to advance to today's Round of 32.  

We were up again early this morning for a very tough opponent, South Bay Force.  Although their team got a red card early on and had to play a "man down" we still couldn't take advantage and lost a tough one 3-1 to end our season.  It was a tough way to go out, but the girls have exciting futures ahead and even better friendships!!

GU11 State Cup

Last Sunday, our GU11 team had two games in Lancaster to kick off bracket play for State Cup.

 Allison spent all but 10 minutes in goal and did a great job for her team, although we faced some tough competition.

We lost 2-0 in the first game against Strikers FC and lost 2-1 that afternoon against CVU Blue.  

 Reanna battling hard!

Even with two losses, we advanced to the Round of 64 because of our bracket draw.  So it was back to miserable Lancaster today for a 9:00am game against Arsenal (a team that won all three games last weekend 6-0, 5-0 and 4-0).  Unfortunately, Charlie couldn't join us because the olders advanced to Escondido and he went with them.

It was an uphill battle from the start!  The wind was howling like I've never seen and Arsenal scored in the first minute.  We played most of the game in our defensive half of the field and struggled just to keep the score down.  We lost 4-0, but our girls never quit and battled the conditions.

We are sad to see the season come to an end, but we just finished tryouts and are excited for what the new season will bring!!

Walk Thru Revolution

 Today was Colonial Day/Walk Thru Revolution for Allison's 5th grade class.

We borrowed this costume from a friend and she looked so grown up!

 I joined her in the MPR for the afternoon program.  It always amazes me that the instructor can keep 30+ 5th graders interested in 1 subject for 2 1/2hours!

 Allison and her friend Maddie were members of the RED COATS team.

 Students portrayed different characters from the time period, were experts on words like tariffs and proclamation

 and helped do puzzles representing the 13 colonies.

 Each team re-enacted an important battle or event during the revolution

and Allison joined several other women on stage to discuss their important role in history, like Martha Washington and Abigail Adams.

Allison was Deborah Sampson...an American women who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Goodbye GU13 Hawks

 It was time to now celebrate this group of girls.  We held their party at Get Air as well and gave them a chance to jump around for an hour before getting the festivities underway.

 Joey even joined in on the fun!

 The Dads quickly created a "guys only" table once in the party room.

As always, Mary put together another fantastic, emotional DVD from our season together.  Charlie gave a nice thank you speech to the players and parents. Since I've decided to stop coaching for now, he also presented me with my own sideline chair and some goodies to keep me occupied as a spectator.  It was such a sweet and thoughtful gift!

Then he took the time to call up each girl and present them with their Presidio Runner-Up trophy, 2013 Championship game ball and a copy of the DVD.  He talked about how he has coached Taylor since U8 and about the bond our families have.

 We have been blessed to have him as a coach for so many seasons

 and love the group of girls she has been surrounded by this year!

Catching Up with Auntie Lisa

We were up in Lancaster this weekend for the first round of State Cup.  Since it's 122 miles from home, we called up Auntie Lisa to see if they would let us stay overnight with them in Valencia to spare us the drive each day.  Of course she agreed and we had a wonderful afternoon/evening with them!
The girls played games and read books with Olivia and Lisa and Daniel took us to a wonderful Asian Fusion dinner.  We topped it off with frozen yogurt and after the girls went to bed, Lisa and I were able to have some much needed "catching up" time.  Oh I miss having her closer!!

Goodbye GU11 Hawks

Tonight was the End of Season team party for Allison's Hawks team.  We celebrated at Get Air Trampoline Park.  The girls had a great time playing Dodgeball, jumping on the trampolines and diving in the foam pits.

 Zoey, Reanna and Allison

 Bailey and Hannah

Taylor was happy to have Madison and Maylie there too!

After an hour of jumping, we moved to the party room for snacks and drinks.  The team watched the awesome DVD that Mary put together and Charlie presented the girls with a championship ball.  We will finish the season with State Cup this weekend and next weekend in Lancaster and dive right back into tryouts next week.
This team grew so much and we are hoping to see most of the team return next season for another chance to play together!