Soccer, Birthday & Cheer ....Oh My!

As the JV High School soccer season comes to a close, we find ourselves in the thick of the All-Star Cheerleading season.  It seems that we don't have a break from one to another.  We just learn to arrange our time differently for the shift in activities.

Last weekend we have the pleausure of having the whole family hit the road for one of the last soccer games and threw in a cheer competition for good measures.

Friday we found ourselves heading to Mariannia for Ashley's JV Soccer game.  Nice 1hr drive  north of us.   It was a great game.  Lots of rough play - to the point of multiple yellow cards on the other team.  But all in all we did pull out a win.  Its such a joy to watch Ashley play.  I can't believe how much she has grown up from her days of Seminole Youth Soccer at 3 holding hands with her BFF, Ashley chasing butterflies and looking for flowers on the field.  Goodness, if I blink she will be graduating.  I am going to enjoy these 4 years and soak up as much mom/daughter time she will let me.  And that means I will be at every soccer game - even if it means driving all over Bay County to get there!  I wouldn't miss it for the world!!!  

We rented a car to throw all three kids, luggage and me and Tim in to drive comfortably from Mariannia to Biloxi, MS.  Ashley's game got over at around 7pm and by the time we loaded up the car and got onto the road it was after 8pm.  So off we went for part 2 of our adventure.  Biloxi here we come!  I was extremely thankful for sleeping kids.  It was a rather long ride...but we pulled into our hotel parking lot just after 11pm.

Cailin had to be up and dressed at the civic center by 730am.  Ugh.. not much sleep.  Cailin was actually the first one up and ready to go.   I am not sure if it was the excitement of having dad at her competition or the fact she had a huge surprise for us that she has been working on at the gym.  Either way we were excited for the day and the chance to watch her perform with the Mini Level 1 team and the Junior Level 1 team.

                                           Cailin & Peyton

The girls did a great job performing.  They had some tough competition.  Cailin pulled off a few unexpected stunts with the girls on her Junior 1 team, even with a shoe that decided it needed to come off in the middle of the performance.  She was so excited to perform for both mom and dad and add her new stunts on top of that....life was pretty good in her book.  Needless to say we were pretty darn proud of all that she has done and how far she has come and how far she still wants to go.  For her to be able to fly with her big kids is the best thing ever!  Brings a huge smile to my face, and some bit of OMG these little girls have MY girl in the air...they better catch her.   But they always do...

                                                          Cailin & Peyton  (Mini Level 1)

Hit, Hit, Hit

Cailin & Savannah

       

That smile says it all! 

 Wow girl...you sure surprised us.  I really could use a lesson from her.  Not giving up on her dreams and not letting other people tell her no.  She wasn't on the team she wanted this year and she thought it was going to be terrible.  But out of it, she has a new BFF, landed a role on the older level 1 team as a flyer and now is achieving her dreams.  All because she didn't give up on herself.  She has a long way to go to get to where she wants to be next year, but I see big things in her future!  So stinkin proud of her!!!!!

After we were done cheering we toured around Biloxi a bit.  Not the prettiest city in the world.  Casinos, beach and that is about it!  We did walk through the Margaritativille Casino just for kicks.

Pretty ugly.  It was definitely not what I expected.  I had seen drawings of it years ago when they were first talking about building it.  This is nothing like the pictures I saw.  Very odd....and in crack town....

After some shopping and dinner for my birthday, we drove home Sunday and made a stop at the USS Alabama in Mobile.  It was fun to walk on the battleship.  This part was more for Tommy and Tim - the forever history buffs.

When we got home Sunday, we knew we would have to turn around and do it all over again.  Monday was Ashley's last soccer game for JV Soccer.  Wouldn't miss it for the world.

We drove 241 miles from Marianna to Biloxi and back....we got to see our daughter play high school soccer, we got to see our other daughter cheer her heart out and we got to learn some history along the way.  Can't think of a better way to spend my weekend...doing what we love, with the people we love the most!

More soccer adventures to come!