KC Chiefs Training Camp

We decided to take the girls to St. Joseph for the KC Chiefs training camp. It rained almost the entire time, so there was some whining, but overall, it was rather enjoyable. 

As we were driving in, KC wolf came up to the car and played around with the girls, so that really got them in a great mood. Then at the pancake breakfast, he was wandering around, and even cooked some pancakes. 

We also met several cheerleaders and they all signed posters for the girls. Evie was the most excited about the cheerleaders. 

Ben got Evie a Travis Kelce jersey, since he's her favorite player. I don't think she even knows what position he plays, she just likes him because the announcers say his name a lot, and he's good looking. She definitely appreciates a guy with muscles.  

Ben and the girls went wandering, and I stayed put watching the practice. I did like watching, and it was more entertaining than I expected. I will admit that my true reason was that I wanted to sit there under the umbrella, and didn't want my chair to get all wet in my absence. I tried turning the girls' chairs over to stay dry, but it didn't work. It was raining too hard, so they got soaked. 

Evie got her face painted, but the rain washed it away in no time. I'm glad Ben took a picture. I didn't see if before it was smeared all over her face. 

My littlest trying out the rock wall, brave in the rain. 

Kara loves obstacle courses. 

They waited in line until they could both tackle the blow up obstacle course at the same time. Kara narrowly beat Kiersten. 

Kara gloated a little, and Kiersten insisted that it was because she was shorter, and couldn't get over the final wall as easily. She claims she was winning before that, which Kara denies. I couldn't see them in there, so I guess we'll just never know for sure. 

Evie got this balloon flower. It didn't take her very long to pop it on the grass. Lots of balloons were popping, and terrifying a little boy near us. His father had to pick him up and soothe him after every single one. I felt badly that we contributed to his anxiety. 

Ben made sure that Evie got her jersey signed by Travis Kelce. He was one of the more popular players there that EVERYONE was trying to get. Luckily, he spotted Evie on Ben's shoulders screaming wildly at him. He said, "throw it to me, sweetheart". So she got it signed. She was just over the moon about him calling her sweetheart. She's been reminding us all about it ever since. People were furious to not get him to come over, but he really stayed out there a long time, and got as many as he could. The team sent a golf cart to bring him in finally, and he still jumped off a few times to try to sign a few more things. I definitely noticed that most of the players favored the kids over the adults, and then the women over the men. So we had an advantage, and some people weren't shy about their contempt. 

Kara got lots of signatures, but was a little shy. Luckily, she's a cute kid, and didn't have to do much to get the players to come over. She was also standing next to a man with an adorable baby boy, so that helped her out as well. 

Kiersten saw her favorite player, Dustin Colquitt in the VIP area. It was making her very upset that he wasn't coming over, so I told her to wait by the fence and see if she could get his attention. It worked, and he asked one of the handlers to lift her over the fence. The handler was not happy about it, but did it anyway. I don't know if I've ever seen a bigger smile on her face. She also had one of the players run over and give her a bottle of gatorade. She was pretty proud of that also. She said she was never going to drink it, and keep it in her room forever. But I think she had it gone by the time we hit the freeway. 

A couple of the players really stayed out there a long time until they had signed every single thing being thrusted at them. They definitely looked tired, but were so great to everyone. Charcandrick West and Albert Wilson were the best. Kiersten actually got West's signature twice because he kept coming back around. 

I think she's still in disbelief that this moment actually happened. I want to print this out on canvas for her room. He has signed a jersey for her in the past at one of the games, but it was really a quick sign, and then he ran off, because he wasn't supposed to come over in the first place. So she was thrilled to have the chance to talk to him a bit, and tell him he's her favorite player, and that her dream is to be a kicker in the NFL. 

I always see pictures of Kelce, and think, "what's the big deal? He's not that amazingly attractive". But I have to say, in person, I could easily tell what Evie sees in him. He was pretty cute. I'm keeping an eye out for his reality dating show, because I'm sure she'll want to watch it. But it might make her angry, so I guess we'll see. She's pretty possessive. 

Now we are just impatiently waiting for the regular season to start!

Good Sports

The end of summer means the beginning of sports for the girls. Kiersten played in a soccer tournament at the end of July, and her team came in 4th place. They only lost one game. She still loves playing goal, but is learning a few other positions this year, and liking to run around a bit more. 

She does not get scored on very often, and has been handling it well when she does. We missed the last game of the tournament, because we were at a party. But I heard she got hit hard in the face with the ball and knocked down. I was glad to hear that she popped right back up and shook it off. 

She sure loves her soccer team and wants to play indoor soccer this winter. 

Evie wanted to take a Tae Kwon Do camp with Kara a few weeks ago. Her they are in a sword draw competition. Kara ended up winning, but it was fun to see her face off against Evie. 

On the last day Evie won the award for best self control. This is a big deal for her, as she has trouble sitting still and being quiet. I think it helped that Kara and her friends were the judges that day, but she did seem to do better that day. 

Evie has also started soccer practice with her team. She is very excited to play, but does not like how hot it's been at practice.

I guess I haven't taken any pictures at softball yet, but Kiersten decided she wanted to play fall ball. It only lasts 6 weeks, and they only have games, no practice. This past weekend, she had a softball game Friday night, another softball game Saturday at noon, and a soccer game at 4. I was surprised how well she did. She really hung in there. It was hot, and ended up raining during the soccer game. She was running a little slower than usual, but I can't fault her for that. 

Ben had a day off, so we took the girls bowling with friends. It was a good afternoon. We put all the girls on a lane together, and the adults bowled separately. We got through 3 games with plenty of time to spare at the end, while the girls barely got through 2 games. They were trying to eat lunch in between, though. 

Ben and I were also good sports at the neighborhood 80s party. I used so much hairspray, and got my hair really high. It was also crimped, but the humidity won pretty quickly, and I was left with this mess. We didn't really have any 80s clothes, but came up with passable ensembles. It was cool, so we didn't swim, but I got to sing Journey and Rick Springfield, so I consider that a success. 

It was a fun party and lots of laughs were had. I do wish I would have seen more of Ben, but he wasn't in a singing and dancing mood, I guess. 

Here are a few Six Flags pictures for the summer. I haven't taken many pictures there this year. But we've still been having fun times!

The "combo party"

Evie and her good buddy Lydia have birthdays just a few days apart. They have been talking for months about wanting to have a combo party. Their dream finally came to fruition on the Saturday after we got back from Utah. They had a swim conference final in the morning, so we had the party that afternoon.

They each picked a cake with cupcakes around from Sam's club.

It was pretty low key, with us having been out of town for the 2 weeks prior. We just let them all swim and have a great time.

It is pretty funny to watch them all struggle to stay atop this fish float.

Lydia picked Super Mario bro cupcakes, and Evie chose penguins. Several kids asked me what the "theme" was for the party. I just said, it was pool party themed, haha.

They had lots of buddies, and some kids were just at the pool, so we invited them over for pizza and cake too.

We also invited siblings, so Kara and Kiersten had some friends there too.

For a party favor, we gave all of the kids a big inflatable ball. They sure a had a good time with those.

I had to share this one, as I was laughing hysterically when I uploaded it.

The girls really wanted a piñata, so we set it up in the parking lot of the pool. They wanted this cupcake and ice cream piñata, even though it was the kind with pull strings. They couldn't be talked out of it, so we grabbed it. It actually was pretty funny to see so many kids all gathered around holding the strings, especially the bigger kids.

Candy madness.

I didn't notice til I saw this picture that Evie was out there with just one sandal. The black top was really hot too. I guess you just do what you gotta do for candy.

After the pool closed, we went back to our friends' house with some of the party guests and let the girls open the gifts.

It was crazy chaos, but they were so excited. My friend was awesome and wrote down all the gift givers for both girls.

The big girls started to get bored after at least 15 minutes of opening.

It was a fun birthday party, and a successful "combo". I'll admit it's been nice not hearing about it constantly these past few weeks. But no telling how long it'll take them to start conspiring about their next big endeavor.