Fall sports wrap-up

 What felt like the never-ending season finally came to an end for all four of our fall sports in the Ferstle house!  It was definitely ambitious to take on this many sports/activities this fall.  We've done it before, but not with me recovering from surgery and bogged down with doctor appointments.  I'd like to say we showed up to every single practice, game, and event with grace and ease, but I think it's better to just say we survived and did our best.

Evan's baseball team made it to the championship game against the Marlins again.  They played this team in the championship in the spring when Evan was on a different team and unfortunately lost.  They did their best this go around and the game was rescheduled twice because of cold weather one week randomly, but they took runner-up.  Evan hit an incredible hit in the 1st inning that was caught by the first baseman (it was an incredible catch!) who turned it into a triple-play.  It was unreal.  But, it made it difficult for us to recover from that inning.  We lost 7-4, but it was respectable and honestly could have gone either way.  I'm proud of the boys and how much they improved each game this season!  Next up is Evan's first year playing travel baseball...

Evan also finished off his last soccer season!  Scott officially resigned coaching and it was so bittersweet.  He's coached these boys for years, but it will be too complicated in the spring to do two sports when Evan is playing travel baseball.  In the last soccer game of the season Evan scored the game winning goal and it was absolutely amazing!  I was in tears at the end of the game seeing his team run out and celebrate their win!  They ended up in second place in their division.  We had a celebratory team pizza party the following week at a park by our house.  As usual, the team spoiled us with gifts, but it was really sad to see many of these families for the last time.

Sean's flag football season ended after 6 weeks of games on Sundays.  He played with a good friend, Charlie, this year.  While I was hoping he'd have a better experience than the previous year, they pretty much had an equally crappy team.  They didn't win a single game and got their butts kicked most weeks to the point to where it was ugly to watch.  I'm not sure there was any one given problem, but just a lot of inexperienced kids not making good plays.  I think he at least enjoyed seeing Charlie each week since they go to different middle schools.

Thankfully his soccer team had a much better season.  In fact, they went undefeated again (three seasons in a row!) and only allowed 4 goals scored all season.  He truly loves playing on this team and it's so fun watching them play.  They work together, they talk to each other during the game to make better plays, and they want to see each other be successful so they pass!  Go Sharks!

I'm super proud of how hard both boys worked this fall, despite our crazy, busy schedule!  I know it was tough on all of us and really took a toll, but I'd like to think that the bonds they made with teammates, the lessons they learned from playing team sports outweigh the chaotic evenings!  Thankfully we have a break in November and December (minus a few travel baseball practices and Sean keeping up with drum lessons outside of school).  Now to try and not over plan the spring...

Happy Halloween 2022!

 

Happy Halloween from The Stranger Things cast, Will, Joyce, Hopper, Dustin and a Demidog!

This year we attended the Pumpkin Palooza in Downtown Plymouth per tradition.  It has been such an unseasonably warm fall here in Michigan and on this particular Sunday it was sunny and in the 70's.  We were all overheated in our costumes, a rarity!  Because of this, it was extra busy.  We stayed for about an hour, got a decent amount of loot and some slices of pizza from The Pizza Spot and headed home for the Lions game.

The boys enjoyed getting two out of the three Halloween buckets from McDonalds for their throw-back Happy Meal toy.  I still have many of them from growing up that my parents gave us a few years ago.  So, it was fun to reminisce on when the toys were actually good.  

This year we opted to try something different instead of Greenfield Village.  Don't get me wrong.  Greenfield Village is always phenomenal, but it's the same things year after year and they got rid of the treat stations.  This year we tried Glenlore Haunted Trail in Commerce Township.  We grabbed dinner and drinks at Kickstand Brewery, which we've been to before after skiing at Alpine Valley.  The trail was nice with several opportunities for hands-on experiences.  The boys liked the fortune telling skeleton at the beginning that printed an actual fortune and they liked the dry-ice bubble machine.  I'm glad we tried something new!  There were portapotties at several spots along the trail and two opportunities to purchase hot cocoa or adult beverages.  

We had another night the weekend before Halloween where the boys carved their pumpkins while watching Hocus Pocus.  I made pumpkin seeds, which we never eat all of them, but it matters to the boys.  I think they did a great job carving and cleaning the pumpkins out!  

Halloween this year fell on a Monday, which made things a little complicated with school.  I also had my field trip to Mexicantown with my Spanish 2 and 3 students.  I also had a very heavy cold with the heaviest congestion I've ever had.  I was miserable and it was rainy on and off all day.  Evan had a half day and spent it with my dad at our house building a Kiwi Co. kit and having McDonalds for lunch.  His parade was cancelled at school because of the weather.  Sean was bitter about the middle schoolers having a full day and homework assigned that night.  

We went to Jackie's house for our annual Halloween Chili dinner.  We did our family pictures and split up to trick or treat.  This year Luka, Mindy, and Matt went out trick or treating in their neighborhood, while both Sydney and AJ trick or treated over in our neighborhood.  AJ, Sean, Evan, Scott and Jackie went together while Sydney went out with her friends.  I stayed home for the first year ever.  Not even to just pass out candy, but to actually just decompress and get things ready for work/school the next day.  I felt so lousy.  The kids made it to just before 8, came back to look at their loot and trade, and then it was bedtime.

And just like that, Halloween 2022 was in the books!  Decorations came down the net day since Sean stayed home with a low grade fever.  Thankfully it was just a one day bug that had him home and under the weather, but it did allow me to put the Halloween decor away.  Now on to Thanksgiving!