Saturday, August 6, 2011
UK International Soccer Camp 2011
For a week in July Brendan attended an all day Soccer Camp here in Kalispell. He did the half day last year and was ready for full day this year. The program brings a team of coaches over from the UK to teach soccer skill and does an excellent job.
I took these pictures on the last day of camp. Brendan really improved his skills, especially in just getting in the middle of it and fighting for the ball. He took a couple of tumbles for the team and scored a goal during one of the games. The bottom left picture is his group with their coach, Elliot.
We volunteered to host a coach again. Marlon was assigned to us. I didn't get to meet him until Monday morning as I had to work Sunday night. The next time I saw him was Monday afternoon as I was making dinner and getting ready to go to work again. He told me that two of the other coaches, Elliot and Fletch, had been put up in an empty house with no furniture and no food. Not exactly how you are supposed to host a coach. Basically they are part of your family for a week, so feeding them and including them in your life is what it's about. I told Marlon to call them and have them come for dinner and that, if they found the extra futon and sleeper couch acceptable, they were welcome to stay. I came home Tuesday morning and there were bodies everywhere! Our home was like a college dorm for the week but it was great fun. Weird to think that Karl and I are old enough to be their parents!
We coordinated with the other host family that had the fourth coach to do some activities with them. They were able to go rafting, do the zip line on Big Mountain, and drive the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park. The photos below are from July 15 at the visitor center at Logan Pass, two days after they had finally plowed the pass through, the latest opening ever.
This picture of the boys was a nightly event.
All lined up on the couch with their laptops e-mailing and facebooking home. They weren't really boring, as the picture might imply. It's kind of a hard job. They travel, mostly by car, on the weekends to get to the next camp. They teach camp all week and have to squeeze in their own fitness time. Then they are part of the host family for a week, new people with new personalities and as host families, we vie for their time to chat in the evening or show them around. Most nights, since Karl hails from that side of the world and they had much in common to talk about, no one got to bed before midnight. Poor Fletch got the living room sofa and received a good morning kiss from Chad (the dog) every morning around 7. Still, they thought it was better than the empty house and we were happy to have them. We have since been talking into hosting a AA league hockey player for six months for our new team, the Glacier Nationals.
On Saturday, it was time to say goodbye. This was our "family" for the week:
Carmen, Brendan, Marlon, Elliot, Anthony, Karl, Rita and Fletch.
Can't wait for next year!
I took these pictures on the last day of camp. Brendan really improved his skills, especially in just getting in the middle of it and fighting for the ball. He took a couple of tumbles for the team and scored a goal during one of the games. The bottom left picture is his group with their coach, Elliot.We volunteered to host a coach again. Marlon was assigned to us. I didn't get to meet him until Monday morning as I had to work Sunday night. The next time I saw him was Monday afternoon as I was making dinner and getting ready to go to work again. He told me that two of the other coaches, Elliot and Fletch, had been put up in an empty house with no furniture and no food. Not exactly how you are supposed to host a coach. Basically they are part of your family for a week, so feeding them and including them in your life is what it's about. I told Marlon to call them and have them come for dinner and that, if they found the extra futon and sleeper couch acceptable, they were welcome to stay. I came home Tuesday morning and there were bodies everywhere! Our home was like a college dorm for the week but it was great fun. Weird to think that Karl and I are old enough to be their parents!
We coordinated with the other host family that had the fourth coach to do some activities with them. They were able to go rafting, do the zip line on Big Mountain, and drive the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park. The photos below are from July 15 at the visitor center at Logan Pass, two days after they had finally plowed the pass through, the latest opening ever.
This picture of the boys was a nightly event.
All lined up on the couch with their laptops e-mailing and facebooking home. They weren't really boring, as the picture might imply. It's kind of a hard job. They travel, mostly by car, on the weekends to get to the next camp. They teach camp all week and have to squeeze in their own fitness time. Then they are part of the host family for a week, new people with new personalities and as host families, we vie for their time to chat in the evening or show them around. Most nights, since Karl hails from that side of the world and they had much in common to talk about, no one got to bed before midnight. Poor Fletch got the living room sofa and received a good morning kiss from Chad (the dog) every morning around 7. Still, they thought it was better than the empty house and we were happy to have them. We have since been talking into hosting a AA league hockey player for six months for our new team, the Glacier Nationals.On Saturday, it was time to say goodbye. This was our "family" for the week:
Carmen, Brendan, Marlon, Elliot, Anthony, Karl, Rita and Fletch.
Can't wait for next year!
The Circus
There was a little circus that came to town in July. Karl took the kids and of course that was the evening it decided to thunderstorm. So this is the only picture Karl got because he was busy calming kids down who were not happy about high wind and thunder!
Fire Pit
Karl built a fire pit in the back yard one Saturday in July. Great for cooking hot dogs, roasting marshmallows and keeping warm on cool nights. Given that we haven't had time this summer to go camping yet, it's a good way to get that campfire smell and smoke inhalation we've missed.
Monday, July 4, 2011
St. Brendan Would Be Proud
Brendan earned 111 accelerated reader bucks in school. At the end of the year he was able to use them at the AR store. Candy is 10 buck, books are 1, and they have other things for sale as well. My sweet child bought himself one book, one piece of candy and spent the rest on this Holy Family figurine for me. I am telling you, I still look for wings on that kid sometimes because he is an angel. Thanks Brendan, I love you!
Smiling in Seattle
We went to Seattle for 5 days in June. Karl had a class to attend for two days, which left me to wander the city with the kids and find things to do. First stop was Macy's to find a belt to keep Rita's shorts up because I didn't bring one. But then I also found clothes on sale so we had a fashion show.
Do you love Rita's hat? She turned a lot of heads with it.
Next stop was the "Duck Tour". A Duck is a land/water vehicle, WWII era, that was used to land troops on the beaches of France. Now they take folks around Seattle for a cheesy tour that was a blast. They play silly music and every time you pass a Starbuck's, the driver yells "Star" and the tourists yell "bucks", which happens about once every other block. Follow this link to see the picture of Carmen, Rita, Anthony and Brendan that they took before we got on the "Duck".
http://www.sharpshooterimaging.com/Templates/friendphoto.php?s&5e3c44e11c1f2d8cf1
I couldn't help but buy the picture since it was a good picture of me and the boys and I laughed out loud at Rita's face. That girl is going to make my hair gray.
Our captain for the trip was "David Buoy".
More to come with pictures :)
Do you love Rita's hat? She turned a lot of heads with it.
Next stop was the "Duck Tour". A Duck is a land/water vehicle, WWII era, that was used to land troops on the beaches of France. Now they take folks around Seattle for a cheesy tour that was a blast. They play silly music and every time you pass a Starbuck's, the driver yells "Star" and the tourists yell "bucks", which happens about once every other block. Follow this link to see the picture of Carmen, Rita, Anthony and Brendan that they took before we got on the "Duck".
http://www.sharpshooterimaging.com/Templates/friendphoto.php?s&5e3c44e11c1f2d8cf1
I couldn't help but buy the picture since it was a good picture of me and the boys and I laughed out loud at Rita's face. That girl is going to make my hair gray.
Our captain for the trip was "David Buoy".
More to come with pictures :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
