CRAZY Windy!

A cold front is coming in and the winds are 44mph and gusting to 61mph!

The temperatures are expected to drop from 75 to the 40's this afternoon... brrrrrrrr!

Yesterday it was almost 80... tomorrow morning it will be almost freezing... I love this time of year!

Cheetah Girls

Actually I thought I had gotten tickets to the Pussycat Dolls, not the Cheetah Girls ... I guess I got my felines mixed up!

I'm kidding! I took the kids to the Cheetah Girls concert tonight and learned about Growl Power and Cheetah-licious. The concert was fine (as in OK... as in they ain't the Black Eyed Peas), but Lord, is there anything more piercing than pre-pubescent girls screaming?!

The trio first gained fame with their character portrayals of singing sensations Dorinda, Chanel and Aquaneta in two Disney Channel Original Movies - "The Cheetah Girls" and the "The Cheetah Girls 2"

The group is comprised of Sabrina Bryan (Dorinda), Adrienne Bailon (Chanel) and Kiely Williams (Aquaneta)

In August, "The Cheetah Girls 2" soundtrack debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Chart at No. 5

Their first studio album set for release next summer on Hollywood Records will feature music produced by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas

Long day...

Today they played the two Mexican teams who eventually placed first and second in the tournament, and although they lost to them both, they played better than any other team who played them.

Kees was marked by their largest defenders and it was a frustrating day for him getting only one shot on goal because the defenders and midfielders could never get the ball up to the forwards because the other team was so fast.

Their defenders never took their eyes off of him...

... but he played his heart out and never gave up!

Spiderman ;-)

Down 4-0, the coach placed him in the goal figuring Kees' larger size would help in the goal... and it did... he did an awesome job, but it left them with less offensive firepower so he spent only one quarter there before being moved back to forward.

Here he is running out to snag a ball... I'm telling you this kid did a stand-up job in the goal!

Cool shot sequence

He's only played goalie once before ... and it was two years ago... so I asked him if it was scary and he said he enjoyed it!

Here's a cool shot sequence of the opposing team driving into and shooting into the goal.

In this shot he's got his eye on the ball and works the angles to make their shot tougher...

Intensely focused on the ball ...

Another ball in his grasp and not in the goal!

Here he is after snagging a ball and starting to run out and kick it.

The players watch as he booms this one almost to midfield!

Number one man!

His team was sure glad they had him because he was the only player on his team that scored a goal in their first game!

 

Guest Player

Kees was asked by several teams to play as a guest player in the Thanksgiving tournament, and since we had too many players that couldn't make it we didn't field a team so Kees will be playing on the team with the next-best record to ours. He was excited to find out that he will be able to wear #10 with his guest team just like he has all season long (he likes to wear his age as his number ;-)

Today in the scrimmage against the older girls' team Kees scored two of the three goals in the 3-0 win. His new teammates were instantly impressed with the "scoring machine" as his regular teammates called him. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Feet

Cute movie... three thumbs up! 

The 2007 Champions!

 

The big guys up front and my leading scorers for the championship season :

Kees: 43 goals
Kamren: 18 goals 

And a silly one ;-) 

"1, 2, 3, CHAMPION Evil Leprechauns"

(I didn't pick the name!) 

Opening night!

About 45 minutes before the big show, dance leader Kristen (who's Kiersten's stage mom ;-) and takes care of her makeup) leads the actors in their stretching and warm-ups.

An half-hour before the curtain went up... Kristen leading the actors in their vocal warm-up. 

Backstage right before the curtain went down and the house doors opened... I told her "break a leg" and then Kees and I went to our seats and enjoyed a flawless and wonderful opening-night performance.

Even little brother said: "the play was awesome" and "Kiersten rocked!"

Afterwards with the narrator (Carolyn).

Kiersten said a couple of times she had to hold back giggles when she looked down and saw me and Kees on the second row smiling at her while she was on stage... especially during the serious parts!

Aunt Cici (Lizzie), who many years ago acted in this theater and even won an award or two, sent Kiersten these beautiful flowers for her opening night.

With Joseph (Hank), who's grandmother lives across the street from Kiersten's!