ANOTHER Busy Saturday

So, looking at our calendar, it appears that our Saturdays for the next two months while we're in soccer season are busy, busy, busy! It's non-stop go, go, go in our house! This last Saturday we juggled three back-to-back events:

Company Picnic

We attended Peter's company picnic first thing that morning. It was scheduled from 10 am - 3 pm. Unfortunately, the boys soccer games were scheduled right in the middle of this time frame. We were only able to stay for about an hour, saying hi to people (Peter is quite popular. Our friend Mel made the comment "is there anyone you DON'T know?!" I'm actually quite proud of this. Peter is great to treat everyone as an equal at work....from the big-wigs to the guys out on the shop floor) and grabbing some grub. Every year there's a raffle of prizes, but you have to be present to win. There was a bbq and family package to Great Wolf Lodge I would have loved to try to win, but since we weren't able to stay, we gave all our raffle tickets to Mel & James, increasing their chances of winning someone awesome for themselves.

Family Shot!

 Besides bouncy houses and snow cones, there were horse rides as well. Here I am riding a horse....for the FIRST time ever!!! Peter knew it was on my bucket list of things to try, so he made sure it was the first thing I did at the picnic.

 Peter helping Madeleine take a ride on a pony

 Clifford and Kristjan taking their turn. 

Soccer Games

We went straight from the picnic to the soccer fields. Boys had to change in the car as we drove. We arrived just as Kristjan's game was starting. I kicked him and Peter out of the car, and then drove Clifford down the street for his with enough time to warm up with his team. I heard Kristjan won his game (yay!). As for Clifford, he got off to a rocky start. The game had only started for 10 seconds when Clifford got hit hard in the face with the soccer ball. The game immediately stopped. He stood there for a few seconds trying to shake it off, but then he went down on his knees and tried covering his face. Teammates took a knee while the coach ran onto the field to check him out. Being mom, I really, really wanted to go out there and give him a hug. I could tell by his body language that he was hurt but was working hard on trying to collect himself. Coach talked with him for about a minute before Clifford finally stood up and the game resumed. After that, he gave his all in the game. Sadly, Clifford's team lost 2-5.

Here are pics from Clifford's game. Unfortunately, Peter didn't take any at Kristjan's :(

Snohomish Zombie Walk

After we were done with the soccer games, we quickly went home to grab a few things before making our way up to Snohomish to attend the 2nd Annual Zombie Walk. I heard about this when researching Halloween festivities in our area. Since we'd never been, I wanted us to get there as soon as possible to check it out. For a $5 fee, a local business was offering zombie makeup. With all my years experience making Clifford up as a zombie, I'm pretty good at it. But since I didn't know what to expect from this event (would it be super crowded and busy?can't find parking?), I didn't want to take a lot of time making all of us up and then be late. So instead I went ahead and paid to have it down. We won't do that again. I wasn't expecting much for $5, but yet I was expecting a little more than what we got. Or maybe it was the makeup artist because the guy sitting next to me looked awesome. Oh well. We had some time to kill before the walk started so we walked up and down the main street of businesses. When it was close to time to meet up at the park for instructions, we made our way over, as did all the other "zombies". Some people got really creative. It was fun to see as people started arriving. So instructions and dos & don'ts were read aloud, then we were finally able to creep and crawl our way through town. It was a lot of fun!!! Afterwards, we went out for dinner at one of the local pizza joint.

Getting Make Up Done

 A mom was there at the same time as us getting makeup put on. Her baby participated in the event as well. Too Cute!

 Having fun while killing time

Weekend Fun

After the soccer games on Saturday, we had a busy afternoon and evening full of fun activities. First, we headed to Everett to attend a birthday party at an indoor pool. I opted out of swimming, but the boys and Peter joined in on the fun. The main attraction was the huge inflatable that was floating on the pool. All the kids and adults had fun racing one another. At the last half hour of the pool party, the lifeguards put away the inflatable and opened up the rope swing. After swimming was over, everyone changed out of their wet suits and headed over to the park across the way for cake and presents.

Peter and Clifford racing each other

Clifford and his friend Jackson

Having fun on the rope swing

Cool cake for the birthday boy!

After their friend Noah opened his gift from the boys, we had to leave and make our way to Stalker Farms to attend their 3rd annual free outdoor (scary) movie.  We'd never been before, so I had no idea what to expect. It was advertised first-come first-serve, so we made sure to arrive early to guarantee ourselves decent seating. Peter and I first decided on sitting on a bench in the front row and had the boys lay on a blanket in the grass right in front of us. We brought some sub sandwiches to eat for our dinner to munch on, as well as some candy, much to the boys delight. Right before the movie started, Peter and I decided to lay down and cuddle with the boys on the blanket (this was mainly due to the people who decided to sit right behind us, who were loud and obnoxious). This years movie was Trick 'r Treat. Peter and I had already seen this movie before on Netflix, though we couldn't recall if the boys had as well. Come to find out they hadn't. The movie itself wasn't overly scary or graphic, but the plot line had a fun twist to it. We had so much fun going to this, plus add in that it was free to attend. If Stalker Farms continues to do this every year, I think we'll add this to our list of yearly Halloween family activities.

First Soccer Game of the Season

Last Saturday the boys had their first soccer game. The soccer game schedule is a little crazy for us, with us having only one car and their games close together time-wise and at different locations. So I had to drop Peter and Kristjan off an hour early for his game so I could drive Clifford up to Marysville in time for warm up before Clifford's game (start time was 10 minutes apart!). Peter said Kristjan and his team did good, though they need to not be so timid and go in for the ball. Sadly, they lost. On a happy note, they used Kristjan's idea for a team name - Silver Dragons. As for Clifford, he was amazing!! He does best as a Forward, which was the position he played for this game. He runs really fast and is focused on getting the ball. Their team won 12-2, with him scoring 7 of those points!!! I guess at practice Monday night some of his teammate were mad at him for scoring so much. I told him to ignore what they said, and that if he has the opportunity to score, to take it! One of the mom's jokingly said Clifford is expected to score that many points minimum at each game :)

Pics from Kristjan's Game

(Peter was with him and, much to MY dismay, didn't take as many action shots or close ups)

Pics from Clifford's Game