Continuing the Journey

'Tis the Season...

The start of the school year also beckons another start...fall soccer! (Surely you didn't think this post was going to be about Christmas...)

This year, Carson is back in a red uniform and their team is known as the Tigers. (I've never seen a red tiger, but that's obviously unimportant to a team of five- and six-year-olds.)

They've been practicing since early August (while Daddy and I were in China and poor Grandma and Grandpa B had to drag him to practice) and Saturday morning they had their first game. Carson, are you excited to be back in uniform?
Looks like it. Molly, are YOU excited to watch Carson play soccer?
In case you don't speak Chinese, what she's saying there is, "Huh?" (You're welcome...I'm glad to translate any time.) I have no pictures of Meggie from the soccer game because she chose to skip it. Teenagers! (Didn't want you to think I had stopped photographing my firstborn for the blog...)

Carson has never been the strongest player on his soccer teams, but this year we're at least hoping he's not the weakest. Gotta admit, he looked pretty good in warm-ups...
...so good, in fact, that Molly removed her sunglasses to get a better look. LOL!! During the game, Molly was quite irritated that we wouldn't let her go out on the field with Carson. The past few days, he has been her MAIN concern (she needs to know where he is at all times) and she hated being separated from him. Even though she was aggravated, I thought it was adorable. (Does that make me a mean Mommy?)

After the game...
...running through the tunnel-of-fans...
...and acquiring the after-game snack...
...Molly grabbed Carson's hand for the walk to the parking lot. (No matter how many times I see that, it will NEVER get old!) About midway on our LONG walk to the minivan (since Daddy parked in the wrong lot, but I'm not blaming...) Molly had to stop...
...because she saw a purple wildflower that she just HAD to have. (See how she didn't let go of Carson's hand?) When Molly couldn't pull the flower...
...Carson did his best to pull it for her. (What an awesome brother, huh?!) Unfortunately, he also had no luck, but Mommy finally got it loose...
...and Molly was so happy! (I'm gonna have to video her saying "Sank you!" 'cause it's the cutest sound you'll ever hear.)
They then resumed their hand-in-hand walk to the lot...until Carson saw the playground at the soccer fields...
...and left poor Molly in the dust before she knew what hit her! She eventually caught up...
...and they spent a few happy minutes goofing off together. Ahhhh, the joys of childhood!

So, has Carson improved at soccer? Yes! He actually got in a few good kicks and did a great job of staying with the pack and keeping his eye on the ball. (This is a HUGE improvement over last year, when he mostly just ran around the field with his head down.)

After the third quarter, he was down in the dumps because he -- in his words -- "wanted to cause a goal" and hadn't done so yet. No worries, he handled it before the game ended. He got the ball near the end of the field and couldn't resist...he shot an awesome goal FOR THE OTHER TEAM! I'm pretty sure he knew he was scoring at the wrong end of the field, but at least he can say he "caused a goal" in his first game of the season!

Gotta love that!