On the day these pictures were taken, her father proposed that she put her hair into a pony tail, but she insisted that was not necessary.

Hanging out a Benton’s game — a girl’s gotta’ just chill sometimes:

Starting off, Benton made his first foray into school-run sports by running cross country this fall. We’re not sure where exactly he got the idea (none of his close friends ran), but he’d announced in the spring that he thought he would give it a try in the fall, and give it a try he did! What I now realize is that cross country — any distance running I suppose — is something of an engineering problem, in that the goal is to find a pace during the core of the race and then starting the final sprint in such a way that you’re out of gas right as you arrive at the finish line (but not before). Below are a couple of pictures from one of the invitational tournaments near the end of the season. Benton bested his personal best in this race by over half a minute, finishing the 2-mile course in 13 minutes and 20 seconds — a solid, middle-of-the-pack finish in the varsity race (7th and 8th graders):

We headed straight from that race over to some soccer fields just east of Columbus so he could knock out his second fall sport — soccer. Benton is now on a team in a mid-level league that has a couple of his good friends on it. The team is one of the best in their league, having lost only one game as they head into the end-of-season tournament (that loss came on the one weekend when Benton…and his two friends…were off camping — more on that in a later post). As with cross country, Benton is a solid, above-average player who genuinely enjoys the sport and his teammates, so that has made for a fun fall.

All in all, it’s been an active fall!

Benton

Alana

9:00 AM — Benton’s first soccer game of the end-of-season tournament

Sanga (Benton’s team) wins…although the camera caught Benton getting burned by an opposing player right in front of the parents’ sideline (for which he received some lighthearted ribbing…and proceeded to almost get the giggles on field):

10:30 AM — Benton’s second soccer game of the tournament

Again, Sanga wins, so they remain in the tournament.

Benton and one of his really good friends (as in “go-to-the-farm good friend”) were the defenders for the duration of the tournament and showed some really good hustle:

Benton commented as we were driving home that he really enjoyed his teammates. A high five with Brandon after Sanga scored a goal:

Carson keeps himself entertained

Carson split his time between the playground at the soccer fields…and practicing his newfound anime-drawing skills:

11:00 — Alana’s last game of the season

Not the most aggressive player, but she did get a breakaway and make it all the way down the field to score a goal.

12:00 PM — Benton’s third game of the day

Sanga lost a close game, which ended their run in the tournament (if they’d won, they would have played in the championship game):

His “ballsiest” play of the day…:

Alana took Julie’s phone and found some shade to pass the time:

We then headed home with instructions to all three kids to go veg’ in any way they saw fit (I got to fight a week’s worth of heavy lawn growth with the mower, while Julie finished getting the garden planted). Then, at 4:45, Benton and I headed down to Ohio State for the start of the Dublin Dodgers baseball season.

6:15 PM — Benton’s first game of a doubleheader to start the baseball season

Benton pitched the first three innings of the first game and had a great outing (and it’s not just that he looked great with his pinstripes and eye paint):

In his first pitching outing of the season: 3 innings, 10 batters faced, 1 hit, 35 pitches thrown, no runs, no walks, 4 strikeouts. So, he’s looking at an ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 0.33. That won’t last, but we agreed that I’d get into the batting cage with the pitching machine if he goes the whole season without a walk (that won’t happen…but I’m also on the hook to embarrass myself that way if he hits a double; if he hits a triple this season, he gets to invite his teammates to come watch). The team went on to win the game and then drop the second game of the doubleheader. Benton’s offense wasn’t quite as strong, as he went 1 for 4 with 2 walks, a popup, and reached base on an error, so he’s starting out batting .250 with a .500 OBP (all of which is pretty meaningless after two games…but I can’t help myself). He was as bubbly about baseball on the drive home as he had been about soccer in the heart of that season.

He went straight to bed when we arrived home at 11:30 PM.

What a difference a season makes. Alana largely just “chased the action” in the fall, but she actually got in and played in her first game this year:

She scored at least three goals, and any goal (by anyone) warranted a celebration:

She even paid attention to her coach!

Benton’s game was a couple of hours later. He’s right back in his groove there.

He played the entire second half and the lack of off-season conditioning started to show. And…he’s got a 1.5-hour baseball practice later this afternoon!

Alana was a little tentative at first — splitting her time between simply watching her teammates (rather than the ball) and running after them, and fiddling with the drawstrings on her shorts:

Towards the end of the game, though, she seemed to click to as to what was going on, and she actually had one good drive with the ball (ultimately, her teammate scored):

Benton, for his part, played the first half of his game on defense, which is his preference. Before the game started, he called in the goalie and his fellow defender for some pre-game strategizing. At least that’s what it looked like. He was mum as to the actual topic when quizzed afterwards:

In the second half, he played forward and then did a brief stint as goalie (which he hates…but played amiably enough). He did wind up with an open shot on goal while playing forward, which he capitalized on:

Benton’s friend, Josh, is a teammate, which has made the season all that more enjoyable.

The team that knocked Benton’s team out of the tournament included his friend Nick (Benton’s watching Nick rather than the ball in the picture below), who is also a baseball teammate.

Benton enjoyed the season throughout, so it looks like he’s officially back to being a two-sport kid.

After an errant inbound throw wound up bouncing around and rolling off of Benton’s head, he got a case of the giggles, but played through it:

He holds his own — falls somewhere in the middle of the roster skills-wise and really seems to enjoy it.

While Benton was at baseball practice, Carson and I headed to Smuirfield, the neighborhood pitch-and-putt, and that was so much fun that we headed back today with Benton.

Benton launched a beauty on the “long” hole:

Carson had some good hits, too:

The boys both got behind the camera a few times and managed to capture me hacking up some grass:

A beautiful spring day in central Ohio — it’s like a beautiful winter day in central Texas, but in Technicolor.

Carson’s doing his best to follow in MJ’s footsteps. At least from a lingual perspective.

Carson moved up from the local rec league to an intermediate level this fall — it’s not a travel team, but the quality of the coaching and the play is higher than what he was getting in the rec league. He continues to enjoy both practices and the games (usually…), and this is the first time that we’ve had a child playing soccer where they actually play positions, pass, have a goalie, and keep score. All of that makes it much more interesting to watch!

Benton hasn’t played in years and is in the local rec league. Soccer is one of the few games that get played at school at recess where the kids are allowed to run around in the field, and he was finding that his friends had a much more solid grasp on the rules than he did, which bothered him and prompted Julie to sign him up for the fall.

After the first practice, Benton reported that he was plenty fast enough and plenty capable with the ball, but he didn’t know enough about the game to know what to do with it once he got it, and there were some rules he just wasn’t clear on. One trip to the library and four books later…and he was on par with the other kids. He announced before the first game that he is the worst kid on the team. From Julie’s and my observation, he was clearly in the middle of the pack. We then headed out of town for the weekend, and Benton scored the first two goals in the next game. He has since scored another goal in a subsequent game, and, all told, is averaging 0.75 goals/game. He still claims he’s the worst kid on the team, but he can’t say it with a completely straight face.