Nijntje

Our newest addition... a Netherland Dwarf bunny we named "Nijntje", which is "bunny" in Dutch.

She's a cutie-pie!

Another victory

Tough game against some big girls... same result: won 5-0

More soccer

Another win... 5-0...

Cross Country Race #2

Race #2... their bus arrives 6 minutes before the start so with no warm-ups they make it to the line (of almost 400 kids) right before the gun goes off!

It's funny to watch... at the start it's all laughs and grins, but that disappears at 400 meters and by 1500 meters the walking and throwing up begins! Most kids are pretty much good for a mile before they blow up, and then for some the death march begins ;-)

Kiersten had a decent race... finishing two places back from the last race but with 100 more racers, percentage-wise she finished higher. This time, however, she was just first girl from her school because a boy came in about a minute before her.

Cool sequence of shots where Kiersten outran two opponents into the corner for the ball, then turned it around and took it out to open up the defence and then crossed it to her teammate for a goal.

It's soccer time!

Today was our first game for Kees' team, which is a select team created from the core of last year's rec. team which went undefeated for two years straight!

Every single kid did an incredible job, and I was truly amazed to see them do everything I had taught them and do it well in the very first game of the year!

We won 5-0, with Kees shooting in three of the five goals, and having two others called back because a teammate was called offsides.

Good way to start out the season, and extend our unbeaten streak into it's third year!

Cross Country time!

This was the first middle-school XC meet of the year.

Cute story: the night before she came to me and said she was nervous and I asked her why. She said "no one else is nervous from my school because they don't think they'll do well, but I want to win!". I told her what I always tell my kids before starting events: "Just have fun and do your best."

It's hard to see in the top picture because I can only get the middle of the line, but there were over 300 7th-grade runners... with Kiersten's school fielding almost 50!

The race director lead the runners in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and the course was marked perfectly... it was a very well-run race!

If you notice in the last picture about 100 meters from the start Kiersten is smiling and talking to her teammates, so it was clear she was having fun!

Being as this was her first-ever cross country race she took it conservatively and started out easy. She said she was never passed and from about 1/2 mile in started to pass people and on the uphills passed people in droves.

In the second mile is when she started to do the most damage and the top group really separated themselves from the rest.

Coming into the finishing chute a couple of girls tried to pick up their pace and hang on but she has a good finishing kick so she looked back to see where they were and turned it on!

12th out of 300+ runners... not bad!

Cooling off in the misters at the finish line and being congratulated by her classmates/teammates for being the fastest from her school.

Funny story:

The last picture is with Jamie, the fastest boy from her school. At about 3/4 mile into the 2-mile race he was starting to hurt but kept looking back and every time he saw Kiersten he sped up again... this happend about four times until she got by him. They talked afterwards and he said "I didn't want you to beat me so every time you got closer I tried to go faster, but you just kept getting even faster and I finally said 'screw it' and let you go by!"

She LOVES beating the boys!

Cross Country

Kiersten's first cross country race... she placed 12th out of 300 or so 7th graders and first in her school (boys and girls)... more pictures and scoop later...

New iPods released today!

The new iPods...

The "touch" is an iPhone without the phone... with Wifi, touch interface, 3.5" widescreen display,flash drives and all.

The "classic" has up to 160g drives and 40 hours of continuous music.

The new "nano" now has a screen for video playback.

Wow!

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

XC "Brick"

Feeding the ducks after a cross country "brick".