1. Celebrated 3 kids birthday parties.

2.soccer tournament

3. soccer tournament

4. yes..yet another soccer tournament and this one was in Oregon. We have never been to Oregon and we all had very high expectations. As we drove over the bridge that welcomed our family into the state my big blue van became quiet. I think my kids thought something special would happen once we crossed into a new state. We also camped this soccer tournament, and listened as the other soccer parents spoke of things called hotels with swimming pools.

5.hummm….oh yeah…we had another soccer tournament.

6. And of course what summer vacation would be complete without a soccer tournament. This one took place in beautiful Bellingham. We camped a a RV RESORT, yes an RV resort. From our campsite we could see the miles sign posted on I-5 stating that we were 30 miles from Vancouver, B.C. Now my children have never been to Canada, but for some reason it is a dream of theirs. They would look at the sign and wonder what happens when you arrive at the border. H said if he could just SEE Canada he would be happy.

So as a recap to my summer vacation, I watched my 13 year old, O, play a lot of soccer. He is of course a soccer genius, so that helps. I also had to keep my soccer blooded Brasilian hubby in check during our 13 year old games. “They are just 13″, I would remind him. I also said things like”calm down”, “you know this isn’t a professional game, right?”, and “did you just cuss at a kids soccer game?”.

As well as make sure my husband did not get into fights with the ref, I also had to care for 4 other semi-behaved children. I say semi, because that makes me look so much better. Although there are things at soccer tournaments that siblings think are super cool. Port-a-potties are probably #1. They boys would come back with gory stories of smells and nasty things they saw inside. Miss P just thought that they were a pretty blue!

I have also learned some deep stuff this summer.

• beach chairs are not considered cool soccer mom chairs.
• rv resorts rule(you don’t pay for the shower, and the toilet isn’t some ultra scary big never ending hole like at state parks)
• you cannot light a fart on fire over the camp fire.
• kids will still fart in the car on LONG car trips to soccer tournaments even if you threaten to take away everything they have!

 

But it was a great summer…..