Last Soccer Tourney of 2011. Second Place!

Some of our girls & coaches with "brown sugar", aka Carole.
She wants a copy of this mailed to her. Such a sweet, sweet lady!

Kendall & Peyton with second place medallions as we prepare to head home.

After two wins on day 1, the girls decide they need to bungee jump. Because they haven't had enough exersize or excitement for the day. Here, Kendall does back flips. They all did flips of some sort!
Kendall and Mr. Lucas celebrating her hat trick after the first game. :)

What an adventure this weekend was! It was Kendall and I in Hickory with her team this weekend. The boys had "boys weekend" with shopping for winter duds for Justin and a planned but cancelled trip to Charlotte for football (they were having too much fun in the house hanging out).
Keith's flight was delayed severely on Friday evening. Meanwhile, I had sent Kendall with a soccer buddy and mom earlier in the day, with the intent of me joining them at 10pm after driving when Keith returned from Alabama. When he got delayed by several hours, I was stuck in a hard place as to what to do. Pawn my son off on neighbors or pawn my daughter off on a soccer family. I had no intention of driving almost 3 hours by myself late at night in unfamiliar territory. I fall asleep when trying to drive late. Especially on interstate roads.

I decided (heavily influenced by my soccer mom friend, Lissah) to stay home and get up early to make the drive to Hickory. The plan was for Kendall to bunk with them and she was okay with it. I could NOT get myself to bed prior to 11, though I tried. I tossed and turned all night. I woke at 3:30, unable to go back to sleep. So...I got up and got dressed and was on the road at 4:30. In-The-Morning. Not my cup of tea. (Keith made it home by 11pm Friday night)

I arrived in Hickory at 7am sharp. I met up with the team in the lobby where I met "brown sugar"; a sweet African American lady who quickly became our teams biggest fan. She was unbelievable to everyone on our team. She baked cookies and delivered them to my room so the girls could come in and have them. She plopped down on one of our beds and visited for 20 minutes! So sweet. So helpful. So much so, that we bought her a card and all pitched in to give her a really nice "thank you" tip.

So, back to the soccer field on Saturday morning. The girls played an 8 o'clock game on a frosty field in 28 degree temps. Piece of cake. 6-0 victory. Kendall scored 4 goals in that game! A hat trick plus one! We went back to the hotel and had coffee, bagels and apples and then went back for a noon game. We won that one 1-0. The girls then swam for a bit in the indoor pool, played soccer in the hallway (not very polite, but almost impossible to stop), then showered for dinner at Carrabas. We had three different tables of patrons come over to compliment the behavior of the girls at dinner! The girls were all at a large table together with parents nearby at their own table.

After being up at 3:30 that morning, I, along with most others, were in bed early that night. The girls and I (Ella was with us Saturday night) slept til almost 9. It felt great! They had a short practice at 11 and then played in the championship at 2. They lost 2-1 and took second place. Kendall made the one point for her team on a corner kick, which I mailed a video of it to lots of you!

We were on the road at 3:30, where Kendall promptly fell asleep and napped all the way home. I had a pleasant drive and we made good time, getting in at 6pm. She is all bruised up and sore. She got a cleat to the knee on Saturday which has cleat marks along with a nasty bruise, plus all the running. Of all things, she ran the mile at school today in gym! She was first in her class (of course), but lost a few seconds compared to the last time they ran the mile. Her gym teacher still fist-bumped her :)

It was another great weekend with our soccer family, but I am so happy t0 have this break from driving all over creation for the sake of soccer and also dealing with the never-ending mess those cleats bring into my vehicle on a regular basis!! That break will last til mid-January at the most. I'll enjoy it while it lasts!