Other Trip Pictures

Here are some images of the inside of our "cabin".....comfy (is that another word for small).

boiled hot dogs?????

there was a little fire pit behind the little cabin near the river, so for breakfast we made pancakes and bacon-

the pool had goose feathers and what looked like goose droppings, so no one wanted to swim

andrew did test out the playgound....it got a two thumbs down rating

between games, we went to FunLand with some of the team

bumper boats with squirt guns

they got wet

batting cages and there was also mini golf and go cart racing

then we went to in N out

then we played basketball at the hotel the rest of the team was staying at

until the coach said to come in out of the sun

so the kids used the hotels very slow computers to play Oregon Trail (we were in Oregon)-

really beautiful school

City League Soccer

Since High School soccer is over and travel league hasn't begun, Bradley is playing in a city rec league.  His team is made up of about half the PV players and their spanish friends.  There is another team in the 12 team league that's made up of the other half of the PV team.  I am not sure why they didn't just take all the PV players and make one team and continue dominating, but I guess playing with friends/family is more what this soccer league is about.  Bradley is having fun, even if he doesn't know Spanish, haha.  He plays striker.  He's really fast and likes to do all kinds of fancy moves.  The sidelines are always full of other soccer players who have stayed after their games or are waiting for their upcoming games, so when Bradley jukes around and makes defenders look silly, he gets lots of cheering/laughter from the crowd.  On Tuesday he got two defenders to run into each other and they both fell down!!!  

William came to watch and it's always funny to hear William commentate games and hear his "cheering" and comments.  He's hilarious.  Well, all weekend at the basketball tournament, whenever someone tried to dribble around someone or fake someone out, William would say, "Give him the socks."  I thought that was just William making up words/expressions again (he does that a lot and some of his sayings catch on....for example, I think Bradley's friend Isaiah still says "that's bunk" even to this day).  Anyway, to use William's expression, one time while Bradley was doing fancy cut back type things around defenders, I yelled out, "Give him the socks."  Not really knowing what it meant, not really understanding why giving someone a "sock" had anything to do with ANYTHING....but I said it anyway.  And William looked at me and said, "Did you just say, "give him the socks?"  I said, "Yeah....or was it supposed to be, "Give him the sock?"  He laughed and said, "Neither. It's "sauce", "give him the sauce".....  OH!!!  I thought he was saying (ALL WEEKEND), "give him the socks".  Haha, time for a hearing aid tune up???

This week's game was the game against the other PV team.  Bradley's team won 4-0.  Bradley scored a goal against his PV teammate goalie (who also plays on Andrew's basketball team).  Bradley's team is in 4th place and the first 4 teams get to be in the playoffs.  They have a bye next week, so have to wait and watch the standings to see if they make it to the playoffs, their chances are good, though, the 5th place team plays the undefeated team....

Basketball in Oregon

I know you know my favorite thing to do is watch my kids play sports!  We had a chance last weekend to go to Oregon for a basketball tournament for Andrew and his team.  We decided to camp because the rest of the team stayed in a "suites" motel that even with the special team discount cost $150 a night.  Camping was like $20 a night,  but since in was in Oregon in May, we decided to go big and rented a "cabin" at the campground to keep us out of the rain.  The cabins also had electricity and beds.  We paid $62 a night, not bad!  Better than $150 for sure.  And the campground had all kinds of fun stuff like a pool, a playground, horse shoes, basketball hoop, pool table, volleyball court, hot showers, and even internet!!!  Fun times.  We were also close to a river with gold panning, so Scott was happy.  

This is a post about basketball, though, not camping, so I will tell you a little about the tournament/Andrew's team.  It was called the Singler Open.  I guess it was started and run by an NBA player Kyle Singler, but he wasnt there because his team was still in the Playoffs!  I had never heard of him, but everyone else seemed to think he was a big deal.  Oregon high schools and all other basketball facilities are WAY better than any thing we have played in here, so that was fun.  There were 32 8th grade boys teams, so we hoped to be seeded into a low or at least lower bracket....but, no, we were in the top bracket with all the GOOD teams.  That's ok, you have to play the best to be called the best and you learn more/improve more by playing above your ability level, so it was fine.  It was a challenge.  They lost the first game, so headed to the "losers" bracket....which was probably good because the seeding made them get to play more equal teams.  The second game they faced a team they had played a few weeks ago in the Chico tournament.  They were from the coast.  They were good shooters.  Andrew's team was easily destroyed last time they faced that team.  But this game was VERY even all game.  The score was close all game.  It was coming down to the wire.  With about 30 seconds on the clock, Andrew scored to put his team up by 1 point.  That was so exciting!!!  The next 30 seconds were so intense, though....but Andrew's team held on to win the closest game of the season.  Watching Andrew's team is always fun, but this season has been a lot of blow outs (losses) and a lot of blow outs (wins) and very very few evenly matched, close games.  This one was and it was SO FUN/EXCITING/THRILLING for all of us parents/fans to watch and the kids played their hearts out!  They definitely beat a top team, in a tough mentally and physically challenging game.  

The last game of the tournament was going to be another challenge.  It was against the "top" Chico team.  Yes, we drove 5 hours to play another Chico team!!!!  Who schedules these games???  With 32 teams, wouldn't you put the two Chico teams in separate brackets???  

Anyway, we knew all their players from jr high basketball and we knew their record and that they has beat everyone else around....but after the previous game, I think our team had some confidence and were up for the challenge.  But, it didn't work out and Andrew's team lost.  One win and two losses, not bad....but I think in 10-20 years the kids wont remember the win-loss record they will remember all the other fun stuff....and the one WIN!!!  It was a great weekend!  

 On the ride home we got to see Mt Shasta covered in snow.  Here are some photos William took while I drove-