NSC 2019 - Game 1

We went to our first Nashville Soccer Club game of the season on Friday night.  We have season tickets again this year and the same seats.

On Friday, NSC played MLS team New York City FC in a pre-season friendly.  Just like the first game last season, it was VERY WET.  It rained the entire game (the boys actually had the day off of school because of all the rain we were getting and the potential for flash flooding).

Carter and Rylan wanted to start the game sitting in our actual seats in the rain. 

We made it about 30 minutes before I suggested we move up to where Brian and Gray were sitting under the overhang several rows up.  It didn't take much convincing.

It was still cold but so much better out of the rain!

NSC ended up losing 2-0 but they had some good opportunities.  The majority of the players who had playing time are back from last season.  Plus we got to see some of the new guys and are excited for the season!

School Valentines

Here is what the boys did for Valentine's Day at school this year.  Rylan and Gray repeated ones they've done before (Rylan has a little different saying though).

Gray had a Valentine's Day party at school that the parents got to attend.  He talks about the girls in his class way more than the boys.  I think he really likes their calmness compared to the crazy boys in his class (he gets enough of that at home).  Here he is with his currently "love", Aubrey.

Clay

Carter and Rylan worked with clay at art class on Friday.  Carter made this creation at the end and wanted me to take some pictures of it.

The Crag

Yesterday was cold and wet so I took Carter and Rylan to The Crag to try out rock climbing.  I had gotten a Groupon so it was reasonably priced (and they have 4 more visits to use).  This was my first time at a climbing gym since college!  If I weren't so cheap, I would have climbed too using the self-belays but $22 for me to only do 5 routes was too much.

Because it was their first time, they just did the self-belays.  That meant they could both climb at the same time instead of my having to belay one at a time.  There were only five self belays but it was enough for their first time.

They both did great!  Neither was scared of the height and they both got better over the hour and a half we were there.  And because we were there right when it opened, we had the place to ourselves (there were only a couple of guys in the bouldering area).

They were both completely worn out by the end.

Here are a couple of videos:

Long Hunter State Park Hike

We took the boys hiking a couple of weekends ago at Long Hunter State Park since we had a warm day for February and late basketball practices.  Long Hunter is a small park along the eastern shores of Percy Priest Lake in Nashville.  We did the Day Loop Trail which we also did the the big boys back in 2011.

Gray is starting to get a little big for the backpack but it beats carrying him on my hip or shoulders when he gets tired.  He was trying to walk around at the trailhead while it the pack :)

Gray did use the pack but he also ended up hiking quite a bit.

We took a side trail to get a better look at the lake early on and decided to stay off the trail and on the rocks for about a mile.  The lake is low for the winter so it was fun to explore this area that is normally under water.

 

After returning to the trail and hiking for a bit, we came to the bluff section.  There are some great views and fun ledges to hang out on my here.

Hopefully we get some more warm days when we don't have spring sports that take over our weekends to get in a few more hikes!