Friday, March 12, 2010

Arlington Spring Invational Tournament


035, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Sorry for the delay in posting....I'm going to try to get back on track. Last weekend, we made the easy 6 hour drive to Washington DC for a soccer tournament, and what a super fantastic weekend it was. It really couldn't have been any better.

The weather was spectacular (65 and sunny).

The boys did AWESOME! The lost in the championship by 1 in double overtime - but they weren't expected to do well. They were playing up a division (they're U9 boys and were playing U10) and this was a really tough tournament. So, it was AWESOME!

The hotel was perfect! (I highly recommend Embassy Suites). Free breakfast and not like your regular breakfast - I'm talking made to order omelets - pork sausage AND turkey sausage, waffles, pancakes, and french toast every morning. My grandpa would have been speechless (and that's hard to do!). And, not only was there a free breakfast, but we also enjoyed cocktail hour (FREE!) every evening. The boys ran around like...well...9 year old boys and no one cared.

Everyone got along. Everyone played well.

I guess the only bummer was that since the boys played so well, they had extra games, so we didn't get to tour anything or see any sights. We did drive by Arlington National Cematary (sorry for the misspelled word). It was only a mile from our hotel. We drove by the Capital. Saw the Pentagon.

I'm not naive enough to think that every tournament is going to go this well (we go to Philadelphia in May and Lancaster, PA in July amongst others). So, I'm going to savor every minute of this one. Perfect.

Champions!


042, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Do you see the little imposter in the middle? The soccer boys call him their mascot :)

Emmett


008, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

had a great time, too. He played w/ his buddy, Hannah (a sister of another player), most of the time. And, he did a LOT of hotel swimming. The soccer boys weren't allowed to swim in the AM before their soccer games, but Emmett and Hannah got to go every morning.


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Owen stopping a ball from going out of bounds...

Day 1


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Henry napped on the fields both days. Can you tell he's used to being dragged around? And napping on the fly?

Day 2


050, originally uploaded by megan bauer.


048, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Super smart ice cream truck came by during one of the boys games. All of the kid spectators got ice cream. The soccer players were out of luck. Henry chose a Dora ice cream!

Medal time


054, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Because the boys got second place, they got to participate in a medal ceremony. The director of the tournament was there and said some words, and the coaches said some words...and then each boy had his name called and a medal placed around his neck by the coaches. This is Owen getting his medal from Coaches Freddie and Ile.

Back up captain


043, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

There are 2 captains for Owen's team, and Owen is the back up captain. The captains are captains all season long, and it's a big honor. They're the players that the coach says could stay on the field the whole time if needed. They also lead the team in warm ups and do the coin toss (seen here). Anyway, one of the captains got hurt the second game (big loss for our team) and so Owen, as back up captain, got to step in for the rest of the games.


059, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Matching robes.