McKenna! This one's for you!

These shots are from Lauren's last season of soccer. This was 7 and 8 year old co-ed soccer. Her Dad helped coach. She was always right in the thick of things. The boy next to her in the 3rd and 4th pictures is Mason. He was always on her team. They were the top two scorers and would take turns scoring at will.

She really enjoyed playing soccer. Renee had already played for a few years. While we were at Renee's practices, Lauren and I would kick the ball around on the sidelines. By the time she started she had pretty good skills. Her first season was rough because a boy pushed her over in the very first game and she was mad for the rest of the season.

The next season, when she was on 4 and 5 year old co-ed soccer she must have forgotten all about that boy. That was when she really started to dominate. One of the boys she played against introduced her to his friend like this:

Seth: "This is Lauren. She kicks my butt."

Friend: Mouth drops open and says, "Huuuh??"

Seth's Mom: "Seth!"

Seth" "At SOCCER! She kicks my butt at soccer!"

Word of warning to Kim. If you are cheering on the kids to "run" and "kick", make sure you don't repeat my mistake when I was encouraging a boy named Forrest. Yep, I said it. "Run, Forrest, run!" Once it's out there, you can't get that one back.

We hope you enjoy soccer as much as my girls did. They played every Spring and Fall for a number of years before switching to softball.

Go McKenna!!

Professional Softball!

Saturday we went back to Disney's Wide Wold of Sports for more softball. We brought Lauren's friend and teammate, Stephanie. (We met a lot of girls from the girls' teams at the game.) This time we went to watch the Pros play! The Central Florida Pride was playing a double header against the Chicago Bandits. The Pride has lots of big names in softball: Olympians Natasha Watley, Jessica Mendoza, Kelly Kretchman, Cat Osterman, Lauren Lapin, and Andrea Duran, and other outstanding College players like Megan Willis and Francesca Enea.

The Chicago team's biggest name was Jennie Finch who will be retiring from softball after this season. She was the big draw for many of the fans. The Chicago team also featured 4 of the best bats in the league. One of the girls we were with actually got the home run ball that the league leader hit. They had to leave early and asked me if we could get her to sign it for them. We were able to get her signature along with lots of others on balls the girls had brought from home.

After the first game they had a really nice tribute to the career of Jennie Finch. It was crazy to hear Jessica Mendoza telling about how she and Jennie had been playing against each other since they were 11 years old. Team USA was the only time they finally got to play together. All the players said what an asset she has been to the success of softball and the her genuine niceness has been so nice for anyone who has ever come in contact with her.

We were able to line up after the game and get signatures. As you can see the kids were several girls thick. I was impressed that Lauren and Renee were able to get as many signatures as they did. We also got a "picture" with Jennie Finch. Of course half the girls and Jennie weren't quite ready for the shot, but we got it!
One of Lauren's friends and I chased down a foul ball that bounced off the upper deck and landed down the row from me. I gave it to Stephanie because she was the closest kid to the ball. Later the girls went up into the upper section to try for some more, but no more fouls came their way.

By the time two games were played and signatures were gotten, it was really late. We drove through McD's and then headed home. By the time the girls got in bed it was 2am. The girls had such a great time!

Cool experience for Lauren!

Yesterday, Lauren went to Disney's Wide World of Sports to participate in an ESPN Rise clinic with 30 of the top High School softball athletes from across the country. These girls are going to schools like U of M, Florida, UCLA, Northwestern, Arizona State University and other tops Universities.

They went to a variety stations where they did fun and serious activities. The first picture is juggling, the second is a dingbat relay, the third was a pitching challenge. She also had a hitting station where she hit everything and a throwing challenge where she also excelled.

After the stations, they had lunch with the players. They mixed in with them and talked. They gave each of the girls a softball and a Sharpie to get all of the signatures. Lauren now has a ball with 30 signatures of some of the hottest new players in America. No doubt some of these players are future Olympians!

Lauren really had a great time! Some of the players were quite big, but one 2nd baseman from FL was shorter than Lauren! That gave both my girls hope!!

(The tall blond in the back of the dingbats picture is Leah, she's 6' 2" and is an 8th grader at Lauren school.) The short player, Ryan, wanted her picture taken with Leah. They had to turn the camera portrait instead of landscape.

Belated Birthdays!

Lauren is practically a teenager. This is her last year before the teen-age angst begins. We all went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Lauren and Janie's birthdays. Janie looks a little more festive with her bow. Janie is in her last teen year. It's always fun when the cousins get together. Even with the age differences (Mike 22 down to Lauren 12.)

Lauren's Success!

Lauren's team finally got a taste of success! They placed 2nd June 20th at the State Warm-ups in Apopka! The final score was 7-8 to a team that has beaten us quite badly in the past. The team has struggled with having enough girls all season. As you can see here, they only had the 9 girls, so everyone played all weekend.

2nd base is Lauren's usual position. She also plays some Right Field and Pitches some. 2nd is her favorite and she is awesome in that spot!

She's been batting 2nd for the last few tournaments. I have to say that she is the "Queen of the Suicide Bunt." We would put that on her uniform, but that would give it all away. She gets on base with her bunts about a third of the time. She has great placement and can get that ball down so that they think it's going to roll foul and hold off while she legs it down to 1st. We still love it when they let her hit. She's got this nice spot over 3rd base she likes to hit to.

She has a great group of girls on her team. They all get along great together. They have had to borrow so many players over the season, that they are always complimented on how welcoming and friendly they are to guest players.

Lauren and April had birthdays 2 days apart. So we made Future Rebel cupcakes for the practice that fell on one of their birthdays. These were practically gone when we got the shot. We all love cupcakes!!

We're Back!!

It's been a very busy Spring! Renee is finally doing much better. She lost some time and confidence with her eye/thyroid incident. She had to sit on the sidelines for almost 2 months. Her vision is back to 20/20 (with contacts) and she feels really good. She has learned a new respect for medicine and proper usage.

Lauren just kept chugging right along the whole time. She did wonderful in school and balanced that and softball very well.

I have to remember how to use this wonderful technology. I still never figured out how Mandy can put so many pictures on at once.

This picture is from Memorial Day weekend. The Future Rebels had 4 teams entered and all 4 placed. Our 14U '95's won the 14U's, the 18U's won the HS Gold division, the 16U Teal won the HS Silver and the 16U Black took 2nd in the HS Silver division. This all of them. Can you find Renee? (She's on the left of the red-headed 1 with white sunglasses on her head.)

Better News

Renee went to the Opthamologist and was diagnosed with inflamed corneas. She also has seriously dry eyes, which could each be factors of the other. She has steroid drops to use 3X's a day and tear drops to use as often as she wants. She goes back on Monday to see if this has helped.