I struggle trying to find a title for this post because it’s just a mess of weekend madness all rolled into one…you’ll see!
On Friday afternoon I grabbed this cutie from school a few hours early to make the trip to O’Fallon, IL for the SLSG Soccer Tournament. Despite the fact the Drew’s coach had already tipped him off that it was going to be a bloodbath of goal scoring (and not by our team), we were still excited to make the trip together. And this kid LOVES soccer so any opportunity to play competitively, he’s in!
It’s a little over 4 hours to get from KC to O’Fallon which is just past St. Louis. This is a trip we have made several times before for soccer so we were prepared with snacks, Gatorade, and a PS4 of course. I even bought him a new Big Nate book hoping he would actually do something productive that didn’t involve an electronic device. He read the whole book! Way to go Drewy! Now could someone teach him to not stick his tongue out in pictures? He’s learned this highly unattractive picture pose from his older sister. boo!
One of the mom’s made these awesome posters for all of the boys and hung them on our hotel room doors. By the looks of this thing, she is clearly a Cricut expert! Drew is in love with it and is proudly displaying it on his bedroom door now. And check out these great treat bags they received after the first game. These boys are spoiled!
Game 1 was a bloodbath as expected. Drew played like a maniac and scored our two goals. The team we played was from Chicago, received 3 yellow cards in the game and the parents blow those stupid fog horn whistle things. It was miserable! If I ever hear one of those whistles again, I might go off the deep end. Thank goodness it was at least fun to watch Drew. He was giving it all he had…thank you Drew!
The amount of effort this kiddo puts into a game is so impressive. Maybe it’s the giant double cheeseburgers he eats that helps?? As my sister would say, he’s the hamburglar! Remember this McDonald’s’ marketing character…
Most of the weekend our room was FULL of boys playing PS4….and this actually is only a few of them!
The second game of the day was interesting. The beautiful sunny skies turned very ugly. It was literally raining sideways. I soaked through 3 layers of clothing and that was with me holding a giant golf umbrella! How these kids play in those conditions, is beyond my comprehension.
This is a view from the sidelines and our friend Jason having a teeny bit of trouble with his umbrella…
You can see where his umbrella ended up at the end of the game! Along with many others…this is the umbrella graveyard…
Of course after we were done playing, the weather turned beautiful again. This is our luck!
The boys spent some much anticipated time in the hotel pool/hot tub after the game because the coach has strict rules of no swimming between games.
Unfortunately they were jacking around, like 9 year olds do, and Drew jumped into the hot tub and nailed his left foot on the concrete steps. Lots of tears, swelling, and bruising occurred and I was really worried he had broken his foot. This puts a major damper on the evening and the tournament!
His sweet teammates were really worried about him and kept coming to check on him. Since he couldn’t walk they decided to bring him a cart to get him out of the room and cheer him up…
So this is really what happens in the hallways at night on tournament weekends. Words of advice…stay far far away from hotels with soccer boys trailing into the lobby. If you see kids wearing jerseys or a soccer bag in sight, turn back! There’s very little parental supervision and kids go wild. I did the best I could to keep it all in control but when it’s just me and 13+ kids, there’s only so much I can do!
Meanwhile at home, many exciting things were happening! Reece ran her first 5K!! She’s attended this event in the past but she was riding in a stroller. This is her first time running and finishing! WAY TO GO REECE, you should be really proud of yourself! She finished in 33.57.
And my sister, Shauna, was doing a 5K in Chicago. She finished! You have to know Shauna to understand the magnitude of this accomplishment. This cutie is not a huge lover of exercise and she was scared to death for weeks! She does exercise regularly because she’s smart and knows that it’s good for her. But running 3.2 miles is stretching her abilities quite a bit. I knew she could do it…I was confident! WAY TO GO SHAUNA!
After the race, Brian rushed Morgan to her soccer game and then to his cousin’s wedding reception. Poor Morgan had to attend in her soccer uniform…yikes! Congrats Matt & Angela!
All the while, Jake had been asked to guest play in the Monster Bash baseball tournament. This is a huge local tournament and any chance he can get to play any sport at all, he does! They ended up getting third place and he played great! Way to go Royals!
Back to soccer…
I woke up every hour Saturday night worried I would oversleep for Drew’s 7:30 a.m. game. As he slept with an ice pack around his foot I was making several trips to pack up the car and was hopeful he would wake up better to play one last game of soccer. That’s what we came for, right!? At 6:40 a.m. he was hopping on one foot to the car. This is not a good sign. When we got to the complex, I walked in Birkenstocks about a 1/4 mile with a 60 lb. 9 yr. old on my back, soccer bag in hand, trudging through fog to the field that he wouldn’t even be able to play on. Good times. My back may never be the same. Was I competing in a Warrior Dash of some sort and I didn’t know it!? Is this a boot camp or a soccer tournament? Needless to say, he didn’t play and they got beat. Not to toot his horn, but Drew is a key player on this team. When his buddies realized he couldn’t play, they were a bit panicked.
After the game, we filled up with gas and got the heck out of there! When things go south, you just want to get home and pronto! I drove 4 hours thanking Brian every step of the way for keeping me entertained with updates from Jake’s baseball tourney and drove straight to children’s mercy ER to get an x-ray.
I prayed feverishly that this little foot wasn’t broken but since you have lots of bones in your feet and every parent had me paranoid, I had to get answers. When your kid is in love with sports and he’s injured all you really want is answers. Even if it costs you thousands. Just wait. That massive bill is coming. He has no fractures and just a deep bruise. Thank goodness!
While we were away getting our teeth kicked in, falling in hot tubs, and not sleeping, his Bulldogs baseball team was playing in the Monster Bash. They won the championship of course with help from 3 guest players. Final kick in the gut for the weekend! Actually I’m super happy for the Bulldogs, but sad for Drewy that he missed out on the tourney and the cute little Frankenstein trophy! Maybe next year!?
Whew, that was a lot to cover! See…I told you this weekend was insanity. Lots of ups and downs and we are already to Monday afternoon, all is well, and all of it will be a distant memory soon. But I don’t want my kids to forget any of these crazy moments, which is why I write this journal!
For today, my main message is to my Drew Boo…
Keep up the great work bud, good things with eventually happen! I’m confident in that! You’re awesome!
conleycrew 