Soccer Week 2

This weekend the girls had another soccer game. This may be a long explanation but I want to remember this specific game. Mckenna has a knack for soccer. She's quite athletic (much to my surprise). Each week they do drills for practice and then play a game for the last 15 minutes or so. She does really well at the drills but when the games start she would kind of stand there. When I asked her about this last week she said that her coach said not to crowd the ball. She also said that when the ball comes by her all the kids are around it and if she tries to get the ball then she'll probably have to steal it from her team mate. I like her sense of team, but come on-- get in there girl! Well this week they started the game and the coach set her up to kick off the ball. She kicked the ball and then stood there and looked at her coach and he said, "Go Mckenna go and get that ball and score." Guess that was all she needed to hear because she scored 4 goals after that. She was AWESOME! I also have to say that it would have been 5 goals, but when she got close to the goal she passed the ball to a team mate and being the good team mate she is she said, "go ahead, you can score!" After her 4th goal they made Mckenna the goalie, where she blocked to score attempts. I think we'll be going to many soccer games in the future!

The other plus was that because Kayla noticed that we were cheering for Kenna she finally wanted to go out and play with the team (they are on the same team if you didn't read my previous post). Kayla actually went out to play the game at the end and stayed in with no crying or forcing her to stay. It will be fun to watch and see how Kayla grows and progressed this year and next. Mckenna started out as one of the kids that didn't want to play last year.

One other thing, we made Kenna wear her shin guards and socks in the correct manner which was a fight. She attributed her ability to wearing her socks the right way. Whatever works, right?

Kenna isn't too excited to have her shadow trying to play goalie!

Balloon Surprise #2

Like I said before they do a balloon festival here each year. They usually launch the balloons at the fair grounds, but they change the location sometimes due to wind direction. Jason is on swing shift and I just didn't think I could get three little girls there by myself in all the crowds to see them launch. Last year we didn't end up going either but I knew that because our house is on the hill you can see the balloons in the distance if you can see around all the trees. This was the plan, until we looked out the window and there were balloons every where across the street. I guess because of wind direction they changed the launch site to the (high school fields which our property backs up to). We watched the balloons launch and fly directly over our backyard but the most awesome part of the night was watching two balloons side by side going up our street. They were so close to the ground that we could talk to the people in the basket. I thought they were going to clip a few of the power lines. Home made ice cream, and hot air balloons in your yard was a great way to end the last week of summer!

This is the parachute guy that frequently flies over our house. It was fun to have him there at the same time as the balloons.

Starting Soccer and Balloon Surprise

We woke up this morning to a big surprise. This weekend is the balloon festival here in Presque Isle. There is a developmental center around the corner from our house. I guess this year they had asked a balloonist (is that what they are called?) to come and show their residents a balloon. So we woke up to a balloon right in our front yard. The girls were very excited. Mckenna was pretty sure she was the coolest kid when I took a picture with her and the pilot. We stayed for a few minutes to watch them take it down too.

Also this past week, the girls started soccer. They are on the same team. As I expected, Kayla had a hard time. She isn't a shy little girl, but it does take her a while to warm up to people. She's just like her mom. She wouldn't really go out and play but I think if we keep going, she'll warm up to it. Kenna on the other hand was kickin' butt. She is such a little trend setter. She doesnt' like the way her shin gaurds look under her soccer socks so she (and then of course Kayla follows) wears her shin guards over her socks. She firmly believes that this looks cooler and that soon all the other kids will do it this way. What the heck? She is only 5! What am I going to do when she is 13? Anyway, here are some pics of the little trend setters!

Pre-Balloon Festival Activity

Just for fun picture--First swing ride





The balloon festival is in a couple weeks. The arts center did an early activity for kids this past Saturday. The girls had fun painting and making their own hot air balloons. It was a fun activity to do before the real balloons come to town. Can't wait to take them to the balloon launches in a couple weeks.

Kayla's 4th!

We celebrated Kayla's birthday this week. My little sunshine is 4 now. My baby is 4. She'll be starting school in a couple weeks. I just don't know where the time goes. We did a luau themed birthday party. When I was shopping and trying to find something that she would like I saw a little keyboard at target. It was really small but when I saw it, I knew that I needed to get her a keyboard, but a bigger one. For the past few months she will sit at the piano and play. Of course the songs don't sound too melodic, but it is the amount of time she sits there that is impressive to me. She'll sit there for half an hour or more. At such a young age she shows such a passion for music. Most of you know that I play the piano. I don't know if I showed this kind of interest at this age, but for as long as I can remember I have always been passionate about the piano. Mom never had to make me practice and something about music just makes everything in my mind make sense. I know that if I didn't have kids I would spend what free time I had working with music. Anyway, She flipped for the pink keyboard we got for her. It's fun to watch her play around with the all the sounds. I can just see the duets we will play together in the future! I think I'm going to start teaching her and Kenna basic piano.


Kenna got Kayla a lunch box. You can tell she is very excited about it.

Kayaking

We bought kayaks this year and finally took the girls out a few days ago. Of course they loved it! We'll go again before the summer ends. Here's a few pictures of the fun. I'm mad that I didn't have Jase take any of me in the kayak with the girls. I'm always the one taking the pictures, so I'm never in the pictures. O'well.

New Cam and a Few other Things

I got a new camera. After being dropped too many times my other one finally died-- or at least the flash on it did. Here are the pictures from my new camera's uh maiden shoot--just a little of the everyday things that are too often forgotten.


Mckenna was in trouble for something this morning. When I came down stairs she handed me this.

Translation:
I am sorry ok. Can you give me another chance mommy.
(Pictured is our family with matching initialled dresses for the girls and shirt for dad).

I don't remember why she got in trouble, but I will remember this apology.

Kenna's been working in her journal. Her latest creation-- "Plants need love, water, sun, soil." I love her pictures. I love being able to see the world through a child's eyes. It makes me pause and remember what really matters!

Halle laughing at my new camera! (Everything is funny to her!)


Love the tongue out!


Kayla was crackin herself up by shakin' her booty to some music! She wanted me to post her dancing, but this will do I think. Can't believe how old she looks in this picture!

Bangor

Jason and I took a much needed trip to Bangor without the kids. Well, we took Hal with us but going from 3 to 1 was pretty great! We did some shopping of course, but Jason had kind of planned this trip for me while he was in Arizona. When we go to Bangor we usually just get our major shopping done but Jason planned some different stuff for us to do. When we got there we drove a little further out to Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows Observatory. The observatory is a huge bridge that contains a tower which you take up about 420 ft into the air. It's was an amazing view and a really fun thing to do. We are already planning to go back in the fall so we can see all the leaves changing from that vantage point. Fort Knox was equally cool! I am a sucker for American history. There is just something so intriguing about being in a place like that. It was a kids paradise becuase they pretty much let you have free reign to look around the fort. Talk about a good place for hide and seek! Wish we had brought our flash lights because they would have come in handy for the tunnels. We are definitely taking our kids to see this in a month or two. To my girls, it would be like a huge (princess) castle.

Cool Architecture!






Fort Knox- This staircase reminded me of the staircase in "Sleeping Beauty" that she ascends only to prick her finger.


View from the observatory of Fort Knox and the Penobscot River.


New Bridge (completed in 2006) and old bridge (built in 1929).


Old bridge


The observatory is at the top--see the windows?!

The second day I thought I'd just be getting some shopping finished up but Jason had booked me a full body massage so that's what I did in the morning! AWESOME! That was my first ever professional massage and it for sure won't be the last! What a sweet husband I have!

This week we finally got to meet up with some friends and take our kayaks out this season. We weren't able to take them out since Jason had to go to AZ. It was very relaxing and I just wish the season wasn't winding down so we could go out more. We were able to go without any kids and it was so relaxing to just ride the river down with our friends. I wish I had brought my camera but of course forgot it.