Sports shift

Well,  Isaac finished up his last two soccer games
and Michael ran in the All-Island Meet for cross-country.

Starting next week,
Michael will be doing soccer and Isaac will be doing cross-country.

So expect more of the same in the way of pictures....just switch the boys.

Zion and the girls have been troopers to spend MANY hours in the van back and forth
to practices, meets and games.

Doing lots of homework in the van too.

Kudos to all the little brothers and sisters out there that spend their lives on the sidelines.

Your turn is coming!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaac got a good bit of playing time in the last two games.

They finished the season at 6-2

Great job Seahawks!!

Love this photo of the boys praying before the meet - amazing!

First Harvest runner - Kyle

Joe Cook - son of our dearest friends here on Guam

Our pastor's son,  Levi

one of Michael's swim team buddies
and son of friends

the son of Michael's coach - Andrew

so many people in the pack that Michael came in with.....

my photos are just horrible!  SO BUMMED!

most of the team with their super muddy feet!

Although they were undefeated in the regular season,
they couldn't pull off the numbers somehow at All-Island and came in 3rd.


Congratulations Eagles!!!

Running update and "The BEAST"

I haven't posted a running update since July -

so here it goes.

On August 6th, the ladies that are part of the running group on base convinced me to sign up for a half marathon.  (okay, actually, in true women fashion, the kicker was that the first 100 people got a "free" shirt)....never mind that the registration was $30, it was a "Dri-fit Training Shirt"!!   So in a moment of some form of IMPULSE shopping, I dug out my credit card and registered online.

and then for a week I was walking around thinking....

WHAT

HAVE

I

DONE??!!

So anyway....here are my August and September stats as I ramped up the mileage and trained for the 1/2.

We did a couple of races to get us ready for competition -

On September 1st - I did the Two Lovers Point race.  It was 8.6 miles.

The following Sat. was the 9.11 run (*9.11K - is about 5.6 miles)

and then, the runs that are the most fun - the relay race,

THE BEAST

Our team of 10 ladies had a great time spending the day together,
encouraging each other -
laughing -
sucking wind (that was me)
and leaving a little of ourselves all over  the island of Guam.
(runners will get that, others, maybe you will have to think about it)

I love these ladies and how SMOKIN' HOT they are in make-up and heels,

but what I love the most about them is when they are pushing themselves to the limit.

they are
STRONG

they are
POSITIVE

they are
FUN

they
NEVER GIVE UP!

My favorite thing to say in our group is:

"Well behaved women seldom make history!"  (*by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich)

We came in second in the female division and 11th or 12th overall.
(for some reason, I can't open the links?)
I don't know, someone tell me our time!  (*results - click here)

Here are some photos from the day!

Erin's rainbow!

Emily - smoking the men 

Jane

hand off to Diane

Jaime coming out of the MUDDY jungle leg

hand off to Emily

Emily had a tough hill,
but of course, she smoked it!

Tough second leg for Erin too -
I think of all the morning legs of the race -
she had the most sun
(not a good thing!)

the two with the biggest smiles are DONE!
Good job Emily and Erin

Lisa had a hot second leg too....good job!

Lisa to Tricia - these ladies,
for real - they ROCK!

We think Shea was trying to beat the car
she BOOKED down this hill

Hand off of LEG 20 - the last one!
Jaime kicked it in to home for the 2nd place victory!

(left to right - Lisa, Sara, Shea, Diane, Emily, Tricia, Erin, Jaime and Melda)

The only bummer of the whole day is that we never got a picture of all 10 of us together.

Of course, during the race, one person was always running - and after the race - we had one member (Jane) who had already gone home to attend her son's soccer game.

But aside from that one issue, the day was AWESOME!

(*oh yeah, the half marathon, Sunday, October 14th....
of the ladies above,
I think the five on the left are all doing it too -
looking forward to running alongside (okay, BEHIND) these ladies on Sunday!)

The Taco Wagon

So.....you may have seen the video about the Swagger Wagon.

If you have kids, you will think this is hysterical.

If you don't have kids, the humor will probably be lost on you.

But nonetheless....My mini-van is a silver Honda Odyssey
and there IS a story behind the name (*which does NOT involve a rap or music,)

So here it goes....

Over the summer our foster kids were visiting their parents.
They were returned to us kinda late at night, and we met the social worker at a Taco Bell right outside the base.   The kids were hungry, (what kid isn't when you are parked in a fast food parking lot)
so I got them tacos.  
But like I said, it was kinda late and the kids were more tired than hungry, so we headed home.

For the next 5-6 days I would get in the van and fuss at the kids about wet towels and dirty socks
and "YOU GUYS BETTER GET YOUR JUNK OUT OF MY VAN!  IT STINKS IN HERE!"

Finally, I broke down and decided, if you want something done right
something done YOUR way...... you gotta do it yourself.

I got out in the driveway and started collecting
towels,
socks,
trash,
melted crayons
and forgotten Happy Meal Toys*.

Almost satisfied with my efforts, I decided to make one last effort by checking the pockets on the back of the two front seats.

And there is where my hand found GOOP ....

I pulled my hand out and had maggots on my finger tips,

Yes, I did say maggots.

It was TC's taco from the week before.

And so....I present to you,

The Taco Wagon.....with it's newest upgrade....a purple mirror,
'cause that's how we ROLL!!!

Swagger wagon got NOTHING on us....

My sexy man can fix anything!  :)

LOVE YOU BABE!  





(*registered trademark for things I throw away within 10 days)

McCool Middle School Soccer

 Isaac is on his own this year without big brother's shadow -
and he is making good on the family name.
He is a great defender and speedy too.

The first game was a rainy one and I was on the road picking up Michael from cross-country.

The Seahawks beat the Andersen Dragons 6-0.

Second game was a beauty and I probably got a little carried away with the photos.
(*I'll condense)

What happened to my OTHER little boy?  

White uniforms - on Guam - during rainy season
A man ordered those I'll bet......
a man that doesn't do laundry.

We call these photos the CHASEDOWN -  Isaac is totally plottin' on that boy right here.....

getting past him.....

and getting in front to kick it out of bounds.....
that is classic Michael right there.
Just sayin'

Our coach is super dedicated to these kids....
I mean, seriously, she has her own kid on her back!

The boys won the game 4-0.

The third game of the season was on Tuesday, the 25th of September against Harvest.

(Yes,  the same Harvest that Michael goes to - Isaac played against his best buddy, Josiah.)

Harvest Eagles took that game.

another chase down....

love it!

The team continues to do well -
they are 5-1 with a few more games to go.

Good job Isaac

and

Good job Seahawks!!