We love our Ginger! Especially after being at the groomer all day!

Nature Camp 2012

Audriana - 9, Nikki - 9, Sofia - 6, and Sophia - 7

This is our 4th year in a row attending Liz Sinclaire's Nature Camp at Finch Arboretum.  This year, Audriana and Nikki are assisting Liz and her assistants as "Junior Camp Assistants".  Very cool.  Very Montessori -- older teaching the younger.  Liz is a Montessori teacher, who is very interested in teaching the kids about nature and Native American ideals. They do stream walking, animal tracking, eat quesadillas that are made from a solar oven, make hand-cranked ice cream, exploring trails, trees, leaf's, animal homes and habitat etc.  This year she has had Martin 2 of her camps as a special guest to do drumming with the kids (drumming circle).  

Nike Crossfire Tournament -- Redmond, WA

We had a blast this past weekend -- in Redmond for the Nike Crossfire Soccer tournament.  We were lucky enough to score a room at the Downtown Bellevue Courtyard by Marriott (thank you, Rick Tupper, for the free room and the awesome upgrade to a spa suite!).  It was so fun for us because it was our last family weekend together before Martin leaves for his trip home to Nicaragua next Tuesday.  We checked in late Friday night and were delighted to get to our room and discover that we had been upgraded!  The room was huge and the spa bathtub was awesome!  A few minutes after we got to the room, there was a knock on the door and when we opened the door, we were handed a plate of hot chocolate chip cookies and cold milk!  We munched on the hot cookies and had fun washing it all down with the milk.  What a fun treat!  The  hotels in the area were all sold out due to this big tournament, so I was not able to secure rooms for the team.  They had terrible luck at the Bellevue Days Inn and actually check in and checked out -- I guess it was just filthy.  They moved to a different motel that was not much better (for $150!), then moved to a Motel 6 for Saturday night, which was also just terrible.  No one got a good nights rest and they were all disappointed, tired and cranky.  We all joked that we would never stray from Marriott again!  I am so thankful that we had such a nice room for the weekend!

 The bathroom was huge and the girls couldn't wait to get into the tub!

 Ok, so after a really good nights rest, and then a quick breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to 60 Acres in Redmond (off Willows Road and 116th) for Audriana's first game of the weekend -- 11am playing the Marauders.  

Here is the team below -- stretching and warming up before the game!

 Bubs and Sofia.....waiting for the game to start.  Bubs is Hailey G's little brother....

Martin is ready for the game, too!  He just loves these games and is so proud of his girl, #14 -- Audriana!

Audriana, Sailor, Bailey, Rachel and Dori

 A quick team picture before the tourney begins.....everyone is here except for Taryn (who was in Disneyland!)  The girls did end up winning this first game, but sadly, they lost the next 3 games -- they played so hard and so well!  The competition was very tough and we were proud of them all!

We were so happy that Uncle Tom made it out to Audriana's game......there was so much traffic getting in here, and he had to wait about 30 minutes to get parked, but he finally got to the game and was able to catch most of it with us!   

 Uncle T and Audriana

 We found these slides on sale at the Under Armour outlet in Northbend -- they match their uniforms perfectly!  Love it!

Very good soccer buddies....Rachel, Bailey and Audriana

 Audriana practicing her goal kicks with Hailey G.

The girls were all sad to walk away with 3 losses......but it really is a good opportunity to teach them to lose with pride.  Losing makes winning all the more sweet!  Nice job girls!

Audriana's summer soccer tournaments! This was the Kent Cornucopia Cup!

This was taken just before their very first game on Friday -- only missing Sailor (who was sick Friday and missed those games, but arrived Saturday), Gracie (who couldn't attend this tourney) and Dori (who was here for the tourney, but had not yet arrived when I snapped this shot).

What a weekend!  Lots of fun was had, but best of all.....

WE WON THE KENT CORNUCOPIA CUP TOURNAMENT!

Audriana's team won their first 2 games played on Friday in Kent.  They went on to win their 3rd game on Saturday morning, which put them into the Semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.  They won that game, which put them into the finals on Sunday morning.  What a game!  The girls worked so hard -- I really don't think I have ever seen such dedication and hard work at such a young age.  Every one of these girls gave it their all. Super job, Black Widows!

 Audriana and her coach, Rik Robles.

 Relaxing between games.....the weather was very warm (mid 80's?) and the girls were enjoying a cold slurpee from 7-11 to cool off.  Thanks to Monte and Martin who left and brought them all back for everyone!

 Sofia and Emily being silly with their nerd glasses -- Sofia sure loves Emily!

 Both Skylar and Audriana suffered hurt knees during the semi-final game -- thankfully, both recovered just fine.  

 Now for some fun!  We stayed at the Springhill Suites in Renton and the girls just loved the pool.  The hotel had just been renovated and it was so cool -- felt like a very swanky, retro, upscale hotel!  $84 group rate -- included a great breakfast, too!

 Emily, Taryn, Rachel, Audriana and Bailey....and the moms, Jamie, Jayme, Kyla and me!

 WINNERS!