Basketball Camp and Soccer Camp

This was my first summer with boys at our home… since… like… 2010?  Yes, 2010.  The year Titus was born.
Every summer since then has been spent at either my parents' home or Matt's parents' home.  See? ::

2011--my parents, Bama.  Because we had like no monies, and Matt was doing military training in Washington State for the summer for his ROTC evaluation.
2012--my parents, Bama.  Because we were in the middle of a move between Idaho and Georgia, and Matt was in Kentucky for the summer to instruct young ROTC cadets in a condensed Boot Camp style.
2013--Matt's parents, Idaho.  Because we me and the boys wanted to see family, and Matt was in Afghanistan for the better part of the year.

This summer Matt was home, so it was a pretty easy decision to stay.  Matt time = awesome life.

But I wasn't really sure how to handle all the free time.  I do best with unstructured-ness, but I knew we'd all quickly get fairly bored.  So I decided to enroll the boys (or mainly Isaac) in sports camps.  I mean, it makes sense, right?  Get them good and tired, so maybe we could have a relaxing afternoon?  Yeeeahhhhh…. after about 10 minutes of being home all the boys would be back to bouncing off all the walls.  CRAZY HOUSE OF BOYS.  We'd then spend our afternoons at the pool (that is, if the thunderstorms didn't come in and ruin it all).


The first camp was BASKETBALL.  Isaac attended it from 9 to 12 each day during that week.  He was told to wear the "basketball camp shirt" everyday.  And he did, but I didn't wash it.  Instead it got really yummy smelling towards the end of the week, haha
Isaac was awarded the "most improved" certificate for his age.  He always gets that one :)  He had a really good time, though.  One of his baseball teammates did the camp with him.  Life is better with friends.

Me and the two littles spent our days doing little errands, and trying to play at the parks early before the heat and humidity set in.  We always like to say "hi" to the local baby alligators and turtles.

 
The following week was the BRITISH SOCCER CAMP for all the boys.
I pretty much didn't understand that the British Soccer Camp was taught by BRITISH people.  Cool, right?  (Haha, how could I NOT put that together? I guess I thought it was a camp teaching British soccer techniques, so something like that… I dunno.)
But then I got this email asking for volunteers to house these traveling British soccer coaches.  I ignored it.
But then I got a phone call asking if I'd be willing to host one coach.  I tried to say "no," saying that I didn't have the space… but, "put me down 'just in case' there wasn't enough housing found."
And then two days later I got the email thanking us for hosting a coach.  Well… adventurous?

We picked up the coach on Sunday night.  There were 3 young men, around the age 20.  Each had an awesome northern English accent, and each had a great English sense of humor.  Fears abated, and we ended up having a fabulous time.  During the week he and the 2 other coaches would come in and out of the house as they needed, and all were super nice.  (The boys slept in their playroom, and "Soccer Matt" took their room.)
Each had a paralyzing fear, which made living in Southeast US really hard:
-- One had a fear tornadoes
-- another a fear of alligators
-- and the other a fear of snacks

For Isaac the camp was from 9 to 12 each day,  and the two littles went to camp from 10:15 to noon.  Each boy learned A LOT, and started to really enjoy soccer.   Plus, they loved the gear that came with soccer.  A new ball, a new bag, new shoes, and new jerseys.  Sa-weet!

(In the middle of week me and the boys took a day off from camp and went to Isle of Palms near Charleston SC for a beach day with Dana and Christi and their families.  LOTS of fun!  And we all got super burnt, since our sunscreen didn't work.  Lame-o.)

On the last day of soccer camp they all celebrated the World Cup.  Each "little kicker" was supposed to bring a home made flag of any country of his/her choice… EXCEPT for Scotland, said the coach.  Apparently there is no long between Englishmen and their northern friends the Scots.
When me and the boys were going through all the national flags, Eli immediately picked out a blue flag with a white X… SCOTLAND!  Hahaha!  He then picked out Jamaica's flag.  He must love that "X" look.
Titus picked out Brazil and Puerto Rico,
and Isaac was on the USA team (so he had to make that), and then made Germany's flag.
The awesome flags were made from dish cloths, sharpies, and glitter glue.  Matt and I helped the littles, of course, but Isaac was able to do it all on his own.

The next day when Eli arrived with Scotland proudly waving, all 3 coaches just shook their heads and laughed.

There was an award ceremony, each kid getting to run down an aisle and high-fiving all the other participants.  Isaac was on the USA team thru the week and they won the "World Cup" of the camp.  Apparently they were undefeated--Isaac only scoring one of the goals, haha.

The next day the British coach left for other adventures.

Up next:
Fourth of July and Baseball Camp…