riptide rocked it

this past weekend was one for the books!

scout played in the president's cup soccer tournament and the
family was out in full force to support him.  this tourney was a
bit different than the past, as riptide has changed up the team structure.    

they are now organized by birth year so scout's team is now has boys
all born in 2007.  his new team lost some of last year's players and picked up a few.
it's really a better arrangement for scout, as he is now right in the middle of the pack
having a july birthday instead of being one of the youngest on the team.
and even better, his bestie, spencer is still on his team. 

so in a nutshell, riptide won and tied their games on saturday, which brought them
to the final on sunday - their FIRST time ever since the season started.
in their final game, they tied and and they played 7 minutes of overtime.
no one scored, so it went into penalty kicks which means each team got to take
5 shots on the goal. {such pressure on little boys}

it was a Nailbiter!!

even finn, who usually has his head in a book and barely looks up during scout's

games, was out of his chair cheering on his lil' brother. in the end, riptide lost in

penalty kicks 3-4. whew....tough break.  

scout shed a few tears and my heart broke for him. to be so close and miss it was painful, 

but he pulled himself together for the award ceremony.

some photo highlights:

that night c and i talked about how scout's grown so much emotionally.

two years ago, he would have gotten angry, sad and verbal about that loss,

and i'd be reminding him not to say the team lost because {insert teammate's name} 

missed a penalty kick. admittedly, this was something he did during his younger years.  

now, he wouldn't consider it.  he quietly sheds a few tears, accepts hugs from his family,
high fives from his teammates, and praise from his coach.

when i see boys skipping and smiling from ear to ear after a loss, it reminds me that scout
is different. he's true competitor....and this confirms why we are ok spending our weekends
at the soccer field right now. {if he was laughing after a loss, he'd still be playing rec soccer
and c and i would have our weekends more open}.

~ at the end of last year, i resurrected mom and son 'date nights'.  finn discovered sushi
with me and loves it, and scout and i have gone rollerskating recently.  i think my next date
with scout will be a sockers game.  that would be so much fun!