Feeling Nostalgic

As we pored over math lessons at the kitchen table yesterday, I began to miss summer.  Sure the sun was shining, but my feet were cold and I was wearing a sweater to take off the chill.  This is our 7th week of school, and I can't help but marvel at how quickly time has flown since we spent our days basking in the frivolity of summer vacation, and oh, what a summer it was!

Like all summers, this one was spent on the soccer field, but for the first time since she was a Timbit, Zoe played for an all-girls team, and she loved it!  As you can tell from the photo, all of the girls wore different colour headbands, and it got so bad that the other moms and I had a hard time telling who was who if they sported a different colour one day.  We would have been so lost if they stopped wearing them altogether because then it would have just been a sea of pony tails whizzing by.  Sporty girls are so cute!  They had a lot of success too.  In fact, they ended the season in second place, which meant they had the opportunity to play in the Regional games, and Zoe wrapped up the year by winning "Most Offensive Player".  Way to go, Baby Girl!

Derrick coached Elliot's team this year, and they had a blast too!  On occasion, Avery was called up to play with them as well, and he loved it.  This picture was taken after the boys beat out the U12AA Saint John team to clinch a spot in their division's playoff games.  This was the first time that Kingston Soccer Club sent all of their AA teams to the playoffs. We may be small, but we are mighty!  During their End-of-the-Season Banquet, Elliot was awarded "The Sportsmanship Award" for being a good friend to everyone on his team and maintaining a positive attitude even during the disappointing games.  What?!?!?!?! Why can't he do that off the field? . . . tee hee!  Way to go, Mr. Man!  

The kids spent the first two weeks of summer vacation at the British Challenger Soccer camp.  They love this camp, and this year was extra special because we had Coach Jamie stay with us for the two weeks.  He fit in quite nicely with our rambunctious crew and became a great, honorary big brother.  We miss you, Jamie!

Something new this summer was my latest grand idea, a Summer Writers' Workshop for kids, and it was a huge success!  The boys loved having friends come over on a regular basis, even if they were doing school work, and they learned lots!  Creative writing can be a daunting task for kids, and my own boys now approach it with much more confidence.  The biggest bonus to our summer program was that it helped keep the school routine in place for Elliot, which made our transition back to the grind so much easier in September.  Hallelujah!

Although soccer and school seem to be the top priorities in our house, we still managed to find time to squeeze in a whole lot of summer shenanigans, including:

dinner parties gone terribly wrong, 

bonfires,

(and s'mores)

injuries,

So, technically this injury was the first week of school, but it fit so nicely . . . tee hee!   We could also pretend that this is Zoe's foot because she spent the last week of summer vacation on crutches for spraining her ankle in the first ten minutes of her first Regional game.  :(

kilometres run,

bikes ridden,

beach days,

mud wars with friends,

books read,

(mostly by the mama)

a crazy road trip to Halifax,

weapons shot,

weapons made,

 a trip to our favourite island in the world, PEI

 time spent fooling around with younger brothers,

and, finally, enjoying our newest addition to Shenanigans Inc, the pool!

It really was a spectacular summer!  Why, oh why, must they always come to an end?