Carson's 2021 soccer season

Carson loves this game....and he's good at it.  Carson's team, once again, was flooded with newbies.  Daddy and Coach Austin are able to do a really good job of "hiding" them (as they like to call it) and coaching them up to being able to play soccer.  They are able to use the more skilled players to offset the struggling players and once again, were able to pull off third place in the league despite the overwhelming number of inexperienced players.  This was the first year EVER that their team was actually the correct age with the exception of the three the coaches chose to pull up (Carson, Ty, and Maddox).  Carson was captain with Tucker and Ty.  Carson was excellent with assists.  This team had beautiful passing skills and worked really well as a TEAM.  Coach Austin constantly said you would never see a team with more perfect crosses and corners.  They are the ONLY team that had to play all of the top teams.  Others only played at most two of them so this team's "line up" was more difficult than any of the other teams.  Carson is so fun to watch of the field!  When Carson was playing well, the team played well.  He was the biggest "motor" this year.  He took playing the entire field to a new level from attacking to goal defense.   He often was able to run back and stop goal after goal, after goal.  He had seven goals over the course of the season and over double that in assists.  

He and Tucker spent a lot of time together at their brothers' soccer games.  

Being goofy at Dillon's game.  

First day of school!

 We finally get to be back in the classroom full time!  Kayda's in grade 9, Dillon's grade 8 and Carson is in 5th grade. 

Kayda's first day:

There was nothing exciting about starting at the high school... Except volleyball.  She has friends in a couple of classes and is with her best friend for lunch.  She's going to get a lot of steps walking clear across campus a couple of times a day.

Dillon's first day:

His first day was okay. He wasn't impressed with a couple of his teachers. He's excited about having two PE classes, one with his best friend.  They've split lunch in half so you have 15 minutes to eat and then trade to "recess" since they have to limit the number of kids in the cafeteria.  

Carson's first day:

He likes his teacher and has one good friend in his class.  Unfortunately at recess they aren't allowed to play with other classes.  

We're actually all excited about his placement.  He has the teacher Dillon had for 4th grade and she is co-teaching with Kayda and Dillon's 5th grade teacher.

Boys Trip To Packwood

Uncle Pat rented a lot in Packwood and invited everyone to come.  Since Mom and Kayda were backpacking, the boys headed up.  Uncle Pat's Family, Grandma and Papa Hanis, Uncle Greg and Aunt Liz, and Uncle Scott's Family were all there part of the weekend.  They squeezed 3 trailers, all the vehicles, and 3 tents into the lot.  

Daddy had fun reminiscing about the old days he spent in Packwood.  His grandparents (Baba and Grandpa Hanis) owned a lot and cabin in Packwood (High Valley) for over 30 years.  Daddy spent a lot of time there growing up with his parents, brothers, grandparents, uncles/aunts, and cousins.  

He went around showing the boys where the cabin was, the creek they would play in behind it, they walked along the dike that divided the lot from the Cowlitz River, swimming in the community pool, eating pizza at the Packwood Pizza Parlor, and golfing at the nine hole course in the High Valley community (they were able to play two 9 hole rounds).  The boys also had a blast playing with their cousins, as always.  It was a quick trip but fun.

Getting ice cream in town.

The cabin in the back (which was an old water pump shed that was hauled up, and the mobile home to the right (you can see the window and deck.

When Daddy was a kid, where everyone is sitting used to be the main channel of the Cowlitz River.  You could not swim in it as the rapids were to fast.  Now, it was perfect for sitting and playing in.

Butter Peak

Carson's 10th Birthday!

Today Carson turned 10!  We officially no longer have any single digit ages in our little family.  Carson has determined that he isn't ACTUALLY 10 until 10:17 p.m. 

Yesterday we had to finish our camping recovery program.  Then we played Dino-opoly (I hate any monopoly games so it's my best gift for him).  Later Leelan, Avry, Kristee and Zach came over for a few hours.  The kids had a great time running around.  The weather was too yucky for any pool time though.  

Today we started with presents (I swear he was going to bounce out of his skin).  Then he worked his way through playing with each thing.  The boy is loved and had many wonderful people thinking of him.   Kayda gave him the gift of time in the pool.  Dillon has an ear ache but Kayda said she would play in the pool for at least 20 minutes.  They switched over to the hot tub and lasted a little longer though. 

We ended up having dinner at Red Robin with Grandma and Papa H. 

I got my hands on some relighting candles.  It took a good long while until he could get them all to STAY out. 

Carson's lacrosse 2021

This was Carson's first full year of lacrosse.  He was number 22. They had to wear masks...under their helmets...outside, while they played.  There was a game parents could attend but weren't allowed to sit in the bleachers.  Toward the end of the season they weren't required to wear them anymore.

Carson's team went undefeated in their league!  Granted, it wasn't a full season but they even won the championship game at the end of the season!  Carson is a very versatile player, he can play pretty much any position but was turning into a real beast as a defender.  It turned into his favorite position.  He liked to take control of the ball and run it up the fields before passing for an assist.  He was on the field almost the entire game every game.  

There was one week we thought he wasn't going to play. He managed to flip the quad and hurt his hand, fortunately it was just sprained so he was only out a couple of practices.  That injury actually led him to playing more defense and loving it.  

His team went to a tournament in Yakima.  It was quite an interesting experience.  Daddy took him.  On the first day of the tournament they won the first two games easily.  The third game was for the top of the bracket for the following day.  Carson's team was up 4 to 1.  The teams weren't provided a ref, lacrosse is a very physical game and it started to get "dirty".  It wasn't intentional but it happens in the intensity of a game and the ref was not doing a good job controlling it.  The other team's parents were getting really angry, blaming everything on our kids (while ignoring their team's behavior of course).  During a call, a mom went out into the field, and talked to her son.  The next play, her son ended up very intentionally making a hard illegal hit on Carson after he stole the ball and was taking off the other way.  It is believed she had told her son to hit someone, it just ended up being Carson, and it was the very next play.  After that the game was called and that team forfeited. 

The second day they worked there way up to the championship game.  They ended up against a Montana team that was expected to win.  They were expected to win because they hand picked their team by pulling from three Montana select teams.  Carson's team wasn't able to pull off the win but gave them a run for their money.  It was their only loss all season and it wasn't in their normal league.  During the tournament Carson was recognized as a player of the game in 3 of 5 games, including one time by a coach from another team they just played.  His coaches said he was always in the right place and played perfect defense (they would use him in practices to demonstrate to his teammates).  

Throughout the season, we kept hearing about how athletic he is and how quickly he picked up the game.  One coach even mentioned how he is probably the most athletic kid when he steps on the field each game.  It is a blast watching him play! 

With his medal for first place!

Champions!