Founders Cup champions

Sebastian's team played in the 2006 (U-16) Founders Cup tournament this April. In the round robin, they tied one game and lost one, but made it through to the playoffs on goal differentials. The semifinal was on Saturday at 5, against PFA. It was an intense and tough game that the boys won 1-0. The other team missed a penalty kick in the first 5 minutes of the match (our handball in the box), and then we scored on a beautiful cross from Cam to Charlie at the end of the first half.

The championship game was Sunday at 2pm, against PCU (who had beaten us 2-1 in the round robin). Unfortunately, our keeper Evan had gotten kicked hard in the Saturday game and was out with possibly broken ribs. So Seb was not feeling super optimistic about their chances ahead of time. But the boys came out strong and started attacking immediately, and started scoring -- Roman had two, Cam had one. In the end, it was a blowout victory for LYS, 4-0. Yay!

The boys were thrilled to win, and happy with their medals and their trophy, and it was just sweet to see all their smiling faces.

Seb and Zak, his fellow defender/centerback.

AJ's birthday party

Arianna, one of Liesl's best friends, celebrated her 11th birthday on Saturday with a really fun afternoon adventure. The girls started with boba tea at 5 Flavor.

 

And then they went to an escape room, where they carried out a prison heist. Liesl gave me a minute by minute accounting of how they solved all of the puzzles and codes and escaped with minutes to spare. She loved it and wants to return for another one.

And finally, dinner out together at PF Chang's. Much silliness and joy.

 

sports Saturday

Sebastian had a really busy Saturday -- two baseball games in the morning and afternoon, and a soccer game in the evening. The first baseball game was not terrific; the boys were sluggish at bat and in the field, and lost 10-0. But the second game was much better. Seb pitched four innings and looked great; he also hit a double and got two RBIs. They ended up losing 10-9, but it was a good showing.

In the evening, he played the second round-robin game in the Founders Cup soccer tournament. It's a combined team of 2006 and 2007 boys, playing at the 2006 level, and the size, speed, and skill of the players is definitely a step up. You can see the difference that a year or two of high school competition (and development) really makes. Seb's team played well but lost 2-1; the other team scored their second goal off a penalty in the box.

Seb was marking this dude -- look how tall he is! He played well on defense, but in the second half got moved to the midfield for the first time in forever. It was a new experience, and not entirely welcome or comfortable for him. Anyway, the team made it through to the semi-finals, which will be next weekend, so he may get another chance to explore midfield and to mark up against guys who are a foot taller.

He also played pickup basketball for a couple of hours on Friday night with some friends, and some soccer on Sunday at Ainsworth, so he's pretty tired out this Monday morning.

Easter

It was a very happy Easter Sunday at our home. Liesl and I had fun decorating eggs, with both traditional dye and with her favorite, the Eggmazing spinner.

The Easter bunny delivered a lot of chocolate overnight -- of both the kid and grownup varieties -- and much munching was done by all. I made a blueberry baked oatmeal to provide some ballast under the candy.

I stuffed plastic Easter eggs with candies and chocolates, but mostly for table decoration (and tradition), since both kids are a little old for the usual hide and hunt. But then they decided they wanted to flip the tables on us, and made us go outside for half an hour while they hid the plastic eggs all over the house. It was really fun for Steve and me to be the hunters, and really fun for the kids to laugh at our cluelessness and occasional blindness to hidden eggs. We had a really fun morning together.

And now they're off -- Liesl and Arianna playing in the woods, and Seb hanging out at Gabi's house -- and we are catching up on spring cleaning and errands and chores.