Another first...soccer game!

And so, to round out the week of 'firsts', Luke and Laurel participated in their first ever soccer game. They were so excited to don their uniforms-
And then await their fan club. Good friends, whose boys are on G and J's team, watched for a few minutes. L and L seemed to think they came to see them play, but really they brought their boys for soccer practice with Bill on another field......we didn't tell them that though! Zach is our team ref and Laurel loves him! I got to play pretend coach. At this age, there isn't a coach for game time, rather the coach (a different one each time) is on the field running the game. So I sat on the sideline and subbed in players, 3 at a time. Right now, our team is comprised of our twins, another set of B/G twins (that we actually know as siblings of a classmate in Eric's last year of preschool class), a sibling to one of the boys on G and J's team, and a son of a friend of ours who helped coach Eric's team the first year. And the initials? L, L, M, M, A and A....too funny! Go LAM's...no, GO MLA's....no, GO ALM's...no, GO LMA's....oy.....

I have to say I was way more impressed than I thought I would be, especially since they have only practiced once. Now, keep in mind the term 'practice', when using it in conjunction with 4 year olds, means a totally different thing compared to 7 and 10 year olds.

After watching them run around the field, I am pretty confident that Laurel is better suited to soccer than ballet. Considering she lives with a bunch of boys, why WOULD she be a quiet, repetition-loving girl? No, the carefree running and wild abandon that soccer requires suits her quite well. Aside from a couple stomach complaints, given that it was 94 degrees and she slugged her water like a champ, she kept asking if it was her turn to go in. She still needs to work on the whole 'team' concept! She is far right in this picture-L and L-left and right in the picture

And Luke....he kept up really well with the 2 other boys on the team! He was actually in the lead several times...and for a Barry, that is nothing short of AMAZING!

Of course, he turns beet red when he exerts himself, the exact same way Gregory did when he was little (and requires the tongue to be out of the mouth while concentrating, just like Eric). After only 5 minutes in the sun and heat, he looked like he had been out for 3 hours in the sun. Now I bring along an extra water bottle to dump on his head!

So, one game down, 7 to go. So far no complaining.....a miracle in itself! I think this is going to be a great experience for them and for us.....but I hope it cools down SOON!