Famille Du Pentium

Aaron’s last Varsity game for McCracken Middle School was last night, an exciting game but sadly they lost 2-1, but not for lack of effort, especially in the last two minutes.

Tourney Pictures are on the gallery site; bear in mind that I was using my Sony point-and-shoot and I had to take all the zoom it would give me, including the crappy digital zoom, in order to get anything.  So hopefully you can find Aaron in the pics – he’s the one in Purple!  A few of his brothers too.

It was also time for a Symphonic Band concert, and they sounded just great.  We didn’t record it, but took a few snaps (again, bear with the long zoom).

Things have calmed down a bit now.  Aaron was quite happy that he was able to come home from school right after school, for only the second time this school year, since he had band in the morning and no more soccer practice after school.  We still have AYSO, but that’s on Sundays and it’s over in three weeks and then things will start to really slow down before the holidays.

McCracken lost last night to Park View, but they move on in the tournaments to play Lincoln Hall tonight at Niles West.

Updated brackets and pictures have been posted.

The post below has a link to pictures; here are some videos, all of Aaron zip lining in Wisconsin.  All on Youtube, so you gotta have some sort of browser add-in… After the jump…

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Back about a month ago, Aaron went on an overnight school field trip to Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin called the “8th Grade Adventure Trip”.  There, they did rock climbing, zip lining, and general spelunking plus they had to make a camp (and sleep in a tent) and make several of their own meals.  It was a great experience for them, and Aaron of course had a blast.  He took pictures, and I’ve finally gotten around to uploading them tonight.  So have a look at Aaron’s 8th Grade Field Trip Pictures, and enjoy!

Between Soccer, Band, and other activities this coming week shapes up to be our worst, as far as schedule overlaps.  A sampling:

– Today: Aaron has a 12:30-2:00 AYSO game in Glenview.  Ethan’s game starts at 1:20, in Skokie, and then he has a birthday party at 3:00 in Niles.  Which is also when Justin’s game starts, and Mike ref’s another game, in Skokie.

– Tuesday: Aaron has a Varsity tournament game, 4:30 to 6:00 in Skokie but Justin has practice from 5:00 to 6:00 and Ethan has practice from 6:00 to 7:00 in Skokie.  Oh, don’t forget about Aaron’s band practice from 2:10 to 3:30.

– Thursday: Aaron Tourney 4:30 to 6:00, or 6:00 to 7:30, depending on standings.  Aaron also has a concert from 7:00 to 8:30, and we have a “Transition to High School” parents meeting from 7:00 to 8:00, and Aaron has an AYSO practice from 5:30 to 7:00.  If he can manage to be in three places at once (and we can manage to get him to all three at once and still attend the parent’s meeting), he can relax and enjoy some cake later because it’s Marla’s birthday.

At least we all have Monday off.  Now I’m off to run kids around to their games (and ref a few…)

Aaron’s McCracken Varsity Soccer team has made the playoffs.  The team is part of the “Little Nine Conference” in Northeastern Illinois.  They have tournament games next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoon to determine the conference champion.

You can find team standings, and (scroll down a bit) playoff brackets at the Little Nine Conference web page.  I’ll update as well.

Aaron’s team won, 6-3.  Justin’s team lost 1-7, and Ethan’s team lost 0-5.  Both Justin and Aaron’s teams have W’s on the board now, and I’m working on putting up a W for Ethan’s team (8 year olds – will they ever play their assigned position?)

Sorry, no pictures, maybe next time 🙂

Today was the first game of the kid’s fall soccer season.  Justin scored a key goal, Ethan played goal keeper in a regulation game for the first time, and Aaron held off a very strong team’s attack at goal keeper.   Not everyone won, but everyone had a great time playing.

The kids, in their new uniforms.

School has started, everyone’s back to their routines, and everyone seems to be adjusting to their new grades (and new school, in Justin’s case) very well.  Aaron is in eight grade and Symphonic Band, which means he has to practice every day at 7:20 A.M.  Wow, seems like school starts a lot earlier than when I was a kid, but hey… it’s Symphonic Band, I guess that’s the price you pay.  Ethan’s in third grade and high math.  Justin’s starting 1st grade.

All the soccer schedules are out, and amazingly we have very few conflicts.  I’ll miss one of Aaron’s games because I have to coach Ethan’s team (in a game).  Otherwise, overlaps are minimal.  I’m coaching Ethan’s U10 team, and assisting Aaron’s U14 team.  Marla is my assistant coach on Ethan’s U10 team, and she’s coaching Justin’s U8 team.  Games, practices, and school… that’ll be our life for the next eight weeks!

By the way, if you’re on Facebook, look for my video page (friend me up, if you haven’t already) and you’ll see some cool videos of our trip.  Enjoy!

Aaron has been invited to join the McCracken Middle School Varsity Soccer team!  Since he also is on the Symphonic Band, which means he will be very busy this fall.  He’s also still playing soccer in AYSO.  So he’ll have plenty of games!