Noah's Game and Allie's Adventure

 We discovered a funny little fact recently. 1 a.m. on Thursday morning is really like right after midnight on Wednesday night. We had all been thinking Ash and Allie were leaving late Thursday night. Nolan noticed the error in all of our thinking yesterday. SO....today was filled with packing and weighing bags, doing last minute budgeting and such and then it was time for Ash and Allie to go to game night at Nolan's. 

This was our final opportunity to catch a soccer game with Noah. Yes - we DID have three young boys in soccer this season. We were happy all the last games were on different nights so we could catch them all.  Melia chose to skip game night and head into Eagle River with us for the game. Noah was impressed with his cheering section. 

Bre & Kids, Cory, Arielle & kids, Larissa, Melia, Mike & Me

A word about this team! They are CUTE!!! CRAZY CUTE. Jared is their coach and quickly realized it would be more about safe fun than games. That first week he simply ran up and down the field chased by about 15 3 year olds....great fun. By tonight, they had the general idea of kicking the ball down the field to a goal....and Jared still runs up and down the field with them. 

Organizing the players...

huddle up

Look at that footwork! 

As anyone who has ever worked in a church nursery or preschool knows it's challenging to do so with your little one in the group. Noah learned how to share Dad with the team, and it was priceless to watch. I may be a bit biased, but I found it sweet to watch our son coach his son...a bit bittersweet as I know Josiah would have been on the sidelines cheering every game - possibly even helping coach. LOL  The plan had been for them to raise their children together in the community and sometimes the ache is big...exactly when life is the sweetest. 

Vitaly loves soccer! 

Bachan, Noah and Papa

One of the bright points of the night for Noah was getting a CERTIFICATE!!!!!

His cousins had made him some race cars. I think this one was from Danny? Anyway, Noah was excited to show it off. He told me, "I like racecars Bachan!" 

Some of the grands climbing on the back of the dinosaur skeleton

We headed home after the game to pick up Ash and Allie and head back to Anchorage for their flight. Usually, Allie leaving would mean the end of summer. We aren't quite ready to file away summer, but this is a significant chunk of summer ending. Allie is going back early to get settled into her apartment and handle some details before her senior year begins. She is working on cast and such for "Elevator Pitch," her thesis film.  BTW, she is about 50% of the way to raising the money she needs to pay cast, crew, safety officers and such. If you'd like to follow her progress or hear how to donate to her efforts click the link above or here even! ::snort::   We are so very proud of Allie! We were happy to meet Ash in person. He's a great guy. Anyway - we drove into Anchorage and dropped them off for the next leg of their adventure. 

Thanks to whoever grabbed this photo

It was a somber ride home. I guess summer is coming to an end. August is nearly upon us, Melia will soon begin her junior year and her college class at ABC, Stacia and Allie are both about to start their senior years in college. Wow. Join us in praying that there is time between their graduations for Michael and I to be able to attend Allie's in VA and Stacia's in AK. We think one will be the 14th and one the 15th - and finding those plane connections are proving tricky. Still praying one is moved to the 13th or we find the right connections. 

Note: Ash and Allie were delayed 3 - 5 hours in Seattle but were able to make all connections back to VA. 

OK I have to include this video! Jamin took it last Wednesday (22nd) when he was in town. Noah is driving for the goal...until he sees a butterfly. It's CRAZY CUTE and so typical of coaching 3 yos. 

Most photos without the watermark were provided by Larissa! Thank you.