lacrosse end-of-the-year banquet

Every year, the high school lacrosse program has their end-of-the-year banquet, where they highlight the departing seniors, thank those involved with the program, and hand out awards. It's held in a banquet hall of some sort and we get fed some good food while we socialize. It's a pretty big to-do, considering the program has 2 Freshmen/Sophomore teams, plus JV and Varsity, and each team has at least 25 players. Of course, not all of the players attend, but the ones that do usually come with their parents, so the numbers add up quickly.

They also show a slideshow at the end, while we're having dessert; this year's show was 30 minutes long with lots and lots of action shots from the different teams. There were quite a few pictures of Ryan in action, but I think I'm the only one who noticed, ha.

This is Ryan getting an award from his coach. He's been amazing for the JV squad this year, and Ryan couldn't stop gushing about him. He's done wonders for Ryan and the way that he plays, and his encouragement and advice are something that Ryan really values.

It's a shame that Coach will no longer be coaching for the upcoming school year; he's going to play for his school's team (college) this fall, so good luck to him!

Also, Ryan will be moving up to Varsity this fall, so that's something exciting. We do joke that Ryan needs to bulk up, though; some of the Varsity kids on the other school teams are HUGE! He has the skills and footwork, but I worry that he'll get knocked around too easily.

Such is life of a lacrosse player!

But, for now, lacrosse is done and summer fun awaits. Lacrosse is gonna have to wait!

it's starting to look (and feel) like summer

The neighborhood pool is open, school is ending, and the weather is heating up! 

Lots to look forward to this summer!

this will be interesting

The youngest three Crack Monkeys have decided to limit their time on electronics this summer (tv, video games, computer, ipods, etc.) in order to "have more fun." Totally their idea, not mine. Apparently, last summer's ban made them realize how much more time they have for other fun things when they're not staring at a screen.

In order to set an example, I've decided to join them and banned myself from Facebook and Pinterest, two of my most addicting time-wasters. We won't officially start until the school year ends (June 3rd), but the kids have already occupied themselves with other activities.

This should be fun. :-)

2016 spring recital

Vanessa wrapped up her year of dance with the annual spring recital. This year's theme was the elements, so the songs all had to do with an element: fire, earth, water, or wind. Vanessa's class had a fire element to their number, which was nicely portrayed by the colorful sashes they wore.

Here's a clip of their performance (Vanessa is second from the left in the last row, wearing a yellow sash):

Complete with her own little cheering section. :-)

 I say this every year, but I'm very proud of how far Vanessa has come. As I was watching her performance, it hit me that she knew the dance and didn't need to rely on her teacher's hints (the teacher sits in the front row and does the dance along with the girls to help them) as much as she did in earlier years. That is a huge improvement from when she first started over 3 years ago, believe me.

We sure love our little dancer!