soccer and volleyball

Liesl is having quite the fall, playing club soccer and middle school volleyball, joining the Drama Club that meets after school, taking dance classes. It's a lot. But it's a lot of fun to watch her expanding her social circles and trying new things.

Here she is with her new PCU team, where she plays left and right back (defensive wings), and is having a lot of fun, a lot of playing time, and a lot of collective success.

Volleyball with the West Sylvan team has also been super fun, and the girls are getting steadily better and better. Liesl's serves in particular have improved so much -- overhand serves!

We also found some time last weekend to take in the Thorns last home game of the season. They won 3-0 and it was an exciting match. (Seb was here, but not pictured.)

homecoming

It was spirit week at Lincoln High, culminating in the homecoming football game on Friday and a semi-formal dance on Saturday. Sebastian and his friends happily participated in both big events, watching the football team lose (as usual) and then gathering together for a pre-dance dinner. It was sweet to see the boys all dressed up, heading off to their first high school formal. Cason came here, and then we picked up Opidi, and then I dropped the boys at Bailey's house.

Seb's post-Homecoming report was that it was fun to see everyone, and he'll definitely go again, but the dance floor was a crowded mosh pit, and it was a little loud. :)

LHS soccer season begins!

Sebastian was cleared to participate in contact sports on Wednesday afternoon, yay! He was so thrilled. And the doctor's visit came just in time for the JV2 Red team's 5pm game against Sherwood.

He was a little rusty, and had lost some conditioning, but he still looked pretty good out there. He had some good crosses, he drew a hand ball in the box which led to a penalty kick, he had this amazing slide tackle. It was so fun to watch him play again. The team won 2-0, continuing their undefeated streak.

volleyball begins!

Liesl went to a volleyball camp in August -- designed for middle-schoolers, two hours a day for one week, with the Lincoln high school coaches and players --  and decided to try out for the 6th grade team at West Sylvan. It turned out that they had 24 girls, so they made two teams and invited everyone to join.

They've been practicing three days a week, working on bumping, setting, and serving, and the team of mostly newbies (I think 4-5 girls have played previously) have learned and improved so much. We got Liesl a ball and we've been playing together at the school field. Today they played their first two games of the 8-week season, against a Jefferson team and a Wells team. They won both matches 2-0!! Liesl was outstanding -- great serves, solid passing -- and the team had so much fun. There was a lot of chanting and cheering and high-fiving. It was really fun to watch, both as a nostalgia trip (for me) and because the girls were really into it. Can't wait for next week.

Liesl was chosen as team captain for the first match, and did the coin toss to determine serve order.

happy anniversary to us!

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on Sunday, Sept. 4th, and had a lovely weekend together. We went to the Japanese Garden early, with Liesl, to enjoy the greenery and peace of it. I made buttermilk waffles for breakfast, yum. We had an absolutely amazing and indulgent 7-course tasting menu, with a wine pairing, at Quaintrelle. And we went to the Peninsula Park Rose Garden for a family playdate, with soccer and volleyball and frisbee. It's always sweet to stand in the gazebo where we were married and see the roses.

 

more school pics

It was a really tiring week for both kids, adjusting to the schedule of early wake-ups, packing lunches, navigating new school buildings and teachers and expectation, homework, and after-school extracurriculars. We were so glad to get a three-day weekend to recover and pick up additional school supplies.

Seb with Cason, Nick, and Nico at Lincoln's registration day -- brand new school building! It's so exciting.

 

Liesl with all the other 6th-graders from our neighborhood at their bus stop -- AJ, Elia, Chloe, Campbell, Natalie; Blake, Romero, Logan, Benji.

First assignments: making name tags for her desks and all-about-me posters. (Seb's homework was not as fun to photograph... reviewing a year's worth of Spanish vocab!)