NSC - Game 14

Nashville Soccer Game had another game on Tuesday night.  All the home games are at 7:30pm and that's tough on a school night.  But we were glad it was so late because both Carter and Rylan had baseball games at 5:30pm that last 90 minutes.  We rushed out after post-game speeches and made it inside the stadium and to our seats at about 4 minutes into the game.

One of Carter's friends who plays soccer with him was at the game with his family and sitting a few rows above us.  Carter enjoyed getting to sit with Ian most of the game (not sure how much they watched though).

During half time the boys were on the jumbotron dancing (Gray even got in there!).

We caught another t-shirt!  This time it was Gray!  He was really mad though that the shirt was so big  - but I think it's the perfect size for me :)  I think this is the third one we've gotten this season.

There was a give away as you entered the gates for this game - a fan that plugs into your phone!  My phone was dead by the end of the game :)

NSC had a great game, finally!  They won 4-0 against the Richmond Kickers.

Firstlight

Rylan started art lessons (with Carter) at Firstlight this past Friday.  They are both in the Foundations class (which is a two year program).  Carter is starting Foundations over but will get more advanced projects for the lesson objective.  They are still figuring out class sizes but the boys are currently in the same group with just two other kids (which is a great small class).

The boys were doing zentangle animals with ink on Friday.  Carter is still working on his chameleon but here is the snail Rylan did.

Rylan is so excited about the art classes.  Hopefully there will be no competitiveness and only support between the boys (ha!).

NSC - Game 13

On Saturday night we went to another Nashville Soccer Club game.  It was our first one of the fall when we had our crazy Saturday of two soccer and two baseball games for the big boys.  The boys were pretty tired but held on until the end of the game.

We arrived a little earlier than usually and saw the Roadies walking in ...

Unfortunately NSC lost 2-1 in stoppage time.  But this guy is okay with it ...

Nolensville Kids Triathlon

Carter and Rylan did the Nolensville Kids Triathlon this morning.

This was Rylan's very first tri.  Carter has done a lot (I've lost count - somewhere around ten).  Both boys did GREAT!

Transition closed at 6:45am so it was an early morning (I woke the boys up about 5:15am).  The swim is in the Nolensville Rec Center pool (where we do swim team), the bike is up Sunset Road and around Sunset Elementary and Middle Schools, and the run is into the industrial park next to the rec center.  Both boys did the same length but only competed against kids their same age (age is based on what you will be on December 31st).  The swim was 100 yards, the bike was 2.5 miles, and the run was 0.7 miles.

Carter did awesome!

Carter finished 11th (out of 35) in the 10 year old male division (he has a terrible birthday for triathlons as he doesn't turn 10 until mid-November).  He did amazing but triathlons get harder to place in as you get older because a lot of kids doing them do triathlons as their main activity (unlike us that do baseball, soccer, basketball, etc as well).  But Carter had his BEST time at this year's race by a lot (it's his fourth time doing it).

Swim: 2:30 (Rank - 18th)
Transition #1: 0:50 (Rank - 4th)
Bike: 11:19 (Rank - 18th)
Transition #2: 0:31 (Rank - 9th)
Run: 4:47 (Rank - 13th)

Total: 20:00

For comparison ...

2017 Time - 23:40
2016 Time - 22:46
2015 Time - 23:20 (Carter was 7 so the swim was only 50 m)

Carter took a ton of time off and we are so proud of his effort!  He gave it his all!

Rylan set the bar high for himself for future races.

He placed 1st (out of 18) in the 8 year old male division!!!  He also gave it his all and did so well!  This was probably the first time he's done a race completely solo (I usually run the TryBoro with him as well his 5K last fall).

Swim: 2:58 (Rank - 7th)

Transition #1: 0:48 (Rank - 1st)
Bike: 11:48 (Rank - 6th)
Transition #2: 0:26 (Rank - 2nd)
Run: 4:38 (Rank - 2nd)

Total: 20:35

Rylan won the race with his transition times.  The kids in 2nd and 3rd were 3 and 9 seconds behind him but their first transition times were 2:00 and 2:01 (while Rylan's was 0:48).

Old Stone Fort State Park

Our soccer practices yesterday morning were cancelled because the fields were too wet so we decided to go hiking.  I figured all the rain would be perfect for a waterfall hike.

We drove over to Manchester (about an hour southeast of us) to Old Stone Fort State Park.  We've been hike a couple of times but it's been 2-3 years.

The Old Stone Fort is a prehistoric Native American structure that was most likely built between 80 and 550 AD. It is the most complex hilltop enclosure found in the South and was likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than defense.  The land is between the Duck and Little Duck Rivers.

Before starting the hike we stopped by the little museum at the trailhead.

Blue Hole Falls:

Big Falls:

A small fall above Big Falls:

We let the boys place in the river just upstream of where the Little Duck River joins the Duck River.  Right as we got to the edge of the river, we say a coyote downstream (it ran into the woods after a couple seconds).  Carter also found a couple of small salamanders in the water.

It started sprinkling and we got back onto the trail in case some storms developed (they were starting to pop up on the radar).

Step Falls (on the Little Duck River):

We hiked about 2.5 miles.  It was a relatively flat hike and fun to do with the kids!

Golfing

The boys really enjoyed playing golf this summer.  We started going to Lightning Bug once or twice a week.  We love this course - it's a three-par and free!!!

Gray even got his own putter from Play It Again to use - he'd use to get the ball all the way from the tee box to the hole :)

Both Carter and Rylan improved a ton this summer.  They also had to learn to deal with how frustrating golf can be!  Carter dealt with it better than Rylan, of course.

No matter how frustrated they'd been on the course though, they all wanted to go back again soon, which is pretty awesome!

NSC - Game 12

Nashville Soccer Club had a game last Friday (on the first day of school for Carter and Rylan).  They played Ottawa Fury FC who'd they'd recently played as an away game.  That game had ended with the worst 10 minutes ever (2 goals for Ottawa in stoppage time, a second yellow for Woodbury, Bourgeois leaving with an injury with the ability to sub due to having already used all our substitutions, and Pickens getting hurt which caused him to miss the next few games).  So I'd say NSC was out for revenge on Friday night.

Nissan had a goal set up for the kids to play with and the line was short so we let the boys take a few shots.

Carter and Rylan wanted their faces painted again - these were their own designs!

The big boys got on the jumbotron during a dance contest (to the song Gangnam Style).  I know it's impossible to really see them but they are in the front row in the picture.

One of Carter's best buddies was at their first NSC game and came to visit for a few minutes.  Luke played indoor soccer with us this summer and is on Carter's outdoor soccer team this fall.

NSC won 2-0!  It was a fun game to watch!  And gotta love the smoke bombs after goals!

More Paintings

Now that school and sports have started, we can't find the time to paint.  Hopefully this weekend we can get back to it!

Carter and I did these two before school started.  They are our favorites!!!

Carter

Meghan

Carter

Meghan

Carter & Rylan - First Day of School

Carter and Rylan started school last Friday (August 10th).  Their first day was a half day but they've had full days all this week.

Carter is in 4th grade this year.  He has 3 teachers and rotates through all of them each day for different subjects.  Two of his teachers have been at the school for awhile and one is new to Clovercroft.

Rylan is in 2nd grade this year.  He has 1 teacher and she's been at the school since it opened in 2012.

So far they both really like their teachers.  Carter has one of his best friends (Eduardo) in his class.  Rylan has a friend who he played indoor soccer with this summer and is super athletic (and sweet) like him (Luc).

We are looking forward to a great school year!