Icebreaker 2010

This weekend was the Ottawa Icebreaker Tournament. This soccer tournament is second only to the World Cup. It consists of about 160 girls teams and 120 boys teams.

The end result was loads of soccer for the kids and a whack of shuttling back and forth between fields for the parents. Regardless it was a blast. The kids had a great time and mom and dad enjoyed watching every second of it. Even the stressful moments of the penalty kick shootouts - all five of them!



This is the last year for Emma's team on the mini-pitch. Their skill levels and speed have improved immensely over the last couple of years and the result is a fast paced game with lots of scoring chances.



As for Sara's team, this is only their second year on the full-sized pitch and they're slowly starting to get used to their positioning and building up their cardio for the long runs on the attack and defense. This tournament should give them a jump on some of the other teams in their division as they played a total of 6 games that will prepare them for the upcoming season. They also have a couple of new players that proved to be working out quite well.



By time the weekend wrapped up we were all a little tired but our spirits were easily picked up with some refreshing ice cream. We're already looking forward to the next tournament... and luckily it will not involve both kids at the same time again.

Spring swimming

Fresh after our return from Murphys Point we hit the road again (wife/mom included) to spend day with our friends the Neills at their river cabin. It was another warm day and despite the chilly water conditions the kids swam nearly non-stop. Even Mikey and I took a plunge to cool off.




It's always fun to visit the Mad Cabin. Nothing to do but chat, swim, canoe, cook on the barbie, and pluck on the six string.



A great start to the summer even though it's still technically spring.

May 24 at Murphys Point

With all the hot sunny weather in the forecast I decided to take the kids for a night at Murphys Point to start off May 24 weekend. Great choice too as we had a great time biking, swimming, snake hunting, turtle chasing, coon cussing, and we even managed to slip in some R&R.

The kids were eager to kick off the snake catching season so not long after setting up camp we hopped on the bikes and made our way to the beach. Strangely enough we had it all to ourselves for the entire afternoon. Sweet.



The trip was a simple plan with relatively few items forgotten back at home (sorry about your air mattress Emma). Dinner was wieners and Bush Beans with a side of Cape Cod chips and Garden Herb flavored Triscuits - a menu that only seems to work well when served in the great outdoors.




NOTE:
It turned out that Murphys Point was one of the 44 provincial parks with an alcohol ban in effect for the weekend. And as a warning to others out there, this ban is taken seriously and strongly enforced. Our neighbors were evicted only 2 hours after arriving. They were a quiet looking couple of about 45 years of age but that didn't matter none when the Smokey rolled by and spotted the case of Keiths in the trunk. Ouch. They had barely finished setting up the tent when he slapped them with a ticket and an escort to the front gate.

Emma runs a cold, wet 5 km

The gauntlet had been thrown down by her older sister the week earlier and in true character Emma happily accepted the challenge. Pouring rain and hovering only slightly above zero, the weather was far from perfect but that wouldn't slow down our little footballers. As Emma and her Nepean Storm teammates stretched and hopped on the starting line to keep warm Sparta Cat struggled to get his huge paw around the air horn to sound the start of the race.



Opening the "Share the Power of a Wish/Walk Run" was the National Capital's RCMP Pipe and Drum band. The bagpipes blasting in the pouring rain made it feel like we were in the Scottish highlands but alas we were in downtown Ottawa alongside the Rideau Canal. Coincidentally Sara was exactly here yesterday with her school trying to break another Guinness Bear Hug record. (not sure if they were successful or not)


Well after a mere 25 minutes Emma crossed the line only seconds behind two of her teammates. And yes, she beat her sister by about 2 minutes who is currently in protest as the time was not officially recorded using RFID chip technology and the digital timer at the finish line failed more than once during the race. Alas we'll have to settle for our approximation but I have a feeling we'll have a rematch someday.

Well done Emma and congrats to all the Nepean Storm girls. I'm sure this cardio workout will translate onto the pitch come soccer season.

Race day for Sara

Today Sara and a few of her Nepean City Storm team members ran the 5 km Allergy and Asthma Awareness Race along the Ottawa River. Considering this was her first event ever, she did alright finishing 28th overall and 9th for the women (and first for her team). In fact all of the Storm girls did extremely well. Congrats!


It was a fun morning and gave the girls a chance to relax and enjoy something together other than soccer. A definite team building moment for those that participated. Maybe next year they'll encourage all the girls to run and follow up with a trip to the nearest DQ. Hell, it might even work for me.


Stay tuned, next week is Emma and her Storm team's 5 km race.