The Adventures of a Soccer Tournament--Part 2

The tournament ended on an exciting note!  The girls played great in spite of the very hot weather and some issues with the tournaments organization.  

Thought I would share with you some things that every soccer mom should know about soccer tournament weekends.

• Take laundry detergent with you.  After returning to a hotel room with stinky soccer clothes, you will feel the need to hand wash all items.  
• You can never, ever have enough ice or water at the field.
• Make sure that your player removes all cleats, shin guards and socks BEFORE entering the vehicle.  This will help avoid gagging as the smell wafts up to the front.
• Fruit is always better when purchased at Kroger instead of Wal-mart. (right Becky C?)
• Your drinking glass, keys, hairbrush, silverware, etc. will all end up being used to diagram the next and greatest play.
• Trust and love the girls and their parents.  You will spend a lot of time with them.  Love them like your own family.

There is nothing as exhilarating as well played tournament.  Great girls, parents and especially coaches make it happen!!  Thanks CSC Gold girls, parents and coaches for a great weekend!!

The Adventures of a Soccer Tournament--Part I

We are finishing up the first day of a two day 3V3 soccer tournament.  This type of soccer is fast paced with lots of scoring.    Preparation for the tournament started yesterday.  We packed bags, tents, coolers, blankets and pillows on Friday night so that we could pull out at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning and drive to Cincinnati, OH.

Here's a glimpse of what Abby packed in her soccer bag

We arrived at the field about 8:00 ready for a full day of soccer. 

These tournaments are great for the on-the-field advancement but one of the great benefits is the team bonding that takes place. 

I feel blessed to be part of a great group of girls, parents, and coaches. 

More tomorrow!

Sometimes you just have to improvise....

It never fails.  I am always running out of something I need in the kitchen.  There are lots and lots of stories about me starting to cook a meal and realizing I am out of a critical ingredient.  Being the stubborn person (and incredibly pressed for time) that I am, I usually refuse to run to the store and just "make do."  Sometimes these little experiments work and sometimes...well....lets just say it can be interesting.

Yesterday as I was packing Abby's lunch for soccer camp and Anna's lunch for Wilmore Summer Day Camp, I grabbed for the bread and realized that I had just enough bread for one sandwich.  Not good!  Two girls (one of which eats TWO sandwiches--see yesterday's post) and two slices of bread...it is 6:00 in the morning and everyone needs to be out the door in about an hour and a half.

So, I looked around and saw tortilla shells.  I had done this before when they were little.  They loved it.  That's what it was going to be!  Peanut butter and jelly roll-ups!!

Here's what you need:

1. tortillas

2.  peanut butter

3. jelly

So simple...

I started by heating the tortillas in between two moistened paper towels in the microwave for about 20 seconds.  Then spread peanut butter over the entire surface and jelly on only half.

Then you start rolling it up

If you have put jelly on the entire tortilla this will become a very, very messy event!

They should look like this

I then cut them in half simply so that they can fit inside a sandwich bag

Here they are ready to be packed in a lunch

Sometimes...you just have to improvise!!

What a 10 year old soccer player eats....

Abby is going to Conditioning Camp this week from 9:00-4:00.    As the name implies, it is a bunch of conditioning activities--lots of running, jumping, push-ups, sit-ups, etc.  Not my idea of fun, but she loves it!!  

That's her doing hurdles.

As you might imagine, she eats an enormous amount of calories during a week like this.  I thought I might show you.  For breakfast she normally eats 2 packets of oatmeal and 2 hard-boil eggs and a glass a milk.  Some mornings she adds a banana to this as well.  As for lunch....

This is her lunch and snacks for the day.  It consists of 1 PB&J sandwich, 4 PB&J roll ups (more on those on a later blog), strawberries, a banana, 2 clementines, snack bag of pistachios, half of a cucumber, 2 yogurt tubes, half of an apple, a chocolate chunk granola bar, a bag of fruit snacks, a cup of applesauce and a pudding cup.  This is in addition to the 32oz of Gatorade, 3L of water and the 2 Kool-Aid bursts she will consume today as well. 

Last night at dinner she consumed 4 bowls of cheese ravioli.  

 

She's eating me out of house and home!!