Soccer = No Social Life

I found a similar funny little photo on Pinterest, but it was about a father and son who were swimmers.  I thought it was too apt though, so I created Dee and Ken a father and daughter soccer one.  :-)



Look at how little Dee was!  Enjoy!

~Dani

 

Summertime Fun!

Now that the super crazy part of the summer seems to be behind us, we've been able to have some more down time and relax a bit more.  Definitely nice!  Delaney's super early soccer practices are the main thing throwing a wrench in those plans right now.  UGH!  :-)  Yesterday, the weather was pretty nice and cool in the evening (especially compared to the super hot days we've been having) so we had an impromptu visit to Crown Point Family Fun Center and played some miniature golf, went go-kart racing and spent some tokens.  It was a lot of fun.  I wish there was enough time and energy to do more fun, spontaneous excursions like that.  And, of course, since it was National Ice Cream Day, we got some ice cream on the way home!!!

Delaney decided to take yet another drastic step and chopped off a lot of her hair.  She has a really short, extremely low-maintenance hairstyle now that has been great for the super hot weather.  She has been surprising people left and right with her new look.  (I think she really enjoys that part.)



And this past Saturday, Delaney and Ken participated in the Mudathlon.  Chris Perez and Jack Atwood helped start a team for the event in support of the LAM Foundation.  We lucked out and the super heat wave that we've been enduring cut us a break and while it was still hot out, it wasn't excruciatingly hot out.  I came along as photographer and supporter, but I wore myself out.  If I come next time, I'll need to be more careful -- but we did get some nice pictures!







The Mudathlon was 3 miles and 40 obstacles!!!  I wasn't able to follow them around the entire course obviously, but I caught them at some of the beginning and ending obstacles.







I lost sight of them as they went on through the course for a while, and when they came back around this is what they looked like at mile marker 1:



I think they found the mud in the Mudathlon!  They waved at me, then gamely headed back on through the race.



I told Delaney to keep an eye on her dad to make sure he didn't have a heart attack or something.  He needs to be in better shape for next year.  :-)  Then the ending of the course was a final romp through a large stretch of nothing but mud.  Lovely... NOT!







It was really hard to walk through, not to mention filled with unexpected holes that they sank in... so it was easier to just "float" through the mud.







As a bystander, nice and clean throughout the event, it's hard to understand how everyone seems to be having such a great time while covered in mud -- or a mucking good time as they say.  But everyone had huge, if somewhat dirty, smiles on their faces and I know that both Delaney and Ken are ready to do it again next year.

I couldn't help but laugh as I was watching them try to clean off the mud afterwards in the "showers" set up for those finished with the event.  It was kind of a losing battle; basically you just tried to get as much off as possible and go from there.  Delaney showered a really long time when she got home.  :-)  And to spare everyone, I stopped taking pictures as Kenny started to lose articles of clothing.  HA!

 
 


 We'd like to send a special thanks to Jack and Chris for organizing the team!!!



Hopefully we'll see you all there next year!  :-)

Love,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

We're Still Here!

Okay, what madness made me think that summer would be less crazy than the school year? It's been a while since I posted, so I am really behind. I have to start back with school!

The kids both received wonderful awards at the end of the year. I don't remember everything they got, but Kyle definitely achieved the top reader again with the most AR points. The school librarian said that as she was getting ready to announce the top reader, everyone shouted, "Kyle Benich!"  He also read all the Hoosier books, and he's psyched to do it again next year and apparently be only the second person who ever read all the Hoosier books in both 4th and 5th grade. Delaney always seems to receive a surprise award, and this year it was for FACS (family and consumer science) class. Apparently no one knows how to cook anymore, so she must have stood out with all her cooking skills. :-) Somehow she also received Perfect Attendance for the year, while poor Kyle had missed several! Delaney and her friends looked beautiful all dressed up for the evening:



Kenny and I also found some time to sneak in a date night -- actually, a very late one!  We attended our first midnight premiere of a movie with the latest Star Trek Into Darkness.  I was worried I would have a hard time staying awake, but the movie was way too exciting to be sleepy.  We were in the theater with a bunch of die-hard Trek fans who had their own phasers and everything.  It was awesome!  :-)  I even had to make the sacrifice to go see it with Kyle later again. 



Delaney also did track again this year.  She did very well, usually placing in the top 3 most of the time, and qualifying for conference.  When soccer and track are both going on, her schedule is very hectic.





Then even though I swore many times that we weren't going to make it, finally the last day of school arrived!  Delaney's last day as an eighth grader, and Kyle's as a fourth grader.  It's hard to believe that Delaney will be in high school next year!



Delaney also finished up her Spring season with Three Lions.  It was a little delayed due to all the rainy and generally unpleasant Spring weather we had; she had a couple of games that were rescheduled during the week (definitely difficult with school).  Their team finished fourth in their league, and Delaney won the Most Goals award.











And here are a couple of great goal sequences, you'll have to click on them to see them in more detail:





Now, she's officially trying out for the Crown Point soccer team.  Soccer practice starts at 5:50am, which is really cutting into Delaney's lazy summer.  :-)  Right now it's a few days a week, but if you make the team, come August -- it will be six days a week.  Intense!!!  And this week, she is at a Soccer Plus Camp; working her butt off from sun up to sun down.  She is exhausted but having a great time.  Kyle and I have been hanging around in Middle Earth while she's gone playing LEGO Lord of the Rings.  (I see scrap when I close my eyes!)

Kenny also was busy working on his graduation speech.  He was asked to give the speech at his high school, since he is now the Director of Technology for the School City of Hammond.  He did a wonderful job, both in writing his speech and his presentation!!!



He also met up with a couple of his buddies he's been friends with since grade school at a Chicago Fire game.  Friends always and forever!



The kids also did Drama Camp again this summer.  Both kids have done it since they were in kindergarten; they always have so much fun there.  Between soccer practices, drama camps (which, of course, were at different times for each kid), and miscellaneous other appointments and such, I felt as if I was literally in the car every 15 minutes driving someone somewhere.  And I thought summer would be better?  But hopefully that was the worst week of the summer, and it is all downhill from here.  I think that has us all caught up!

Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

Cold Spring, Soccer and More!

This has been the absolute coldest Spring that I remember.  I think I've worn my winter coat to just about every single one of Delaney's games this season.  Crazy!  We are now down to 15 days of school left!!!  Between track, soccer, guitar lessons, and everything else that pops up... we are always running around somewhere.  :-)

Kenny just finished participating in his second Bad Pants golf outing, the proceeds of which benefited diabetes research.  He was in a foursome and the outing was set up in a shamble.  Their group not only won the tournament, but Kenny also won for the best Bad Pants:



It was pretty cold, but at least it wasn't raining.  He said it also warmed up a bit towards the end of the tournament.

I have been really behind going through all the soccer pictures for Delaney's team.  Her team has been playing well, and we've been going to games... I just haven't been organized and caught up enough to post pictures.  So, I'm going to give an overall update where her team is now and share a handful of some good pictures of her playing.

Here is their league record so far: 2-2 tie, 0-4 loss (ouch), 1-0 win, and 2-0 win.  Delaney missed their first tournament they played in due to our Spring Break trip, but she played in the Red Lion Invitational.  Their scores there: 3-1 win, 1-2 loss, 2-0 win and 1-1 tie for the final.  The final game then went into penalty kicks, where they ended up losing.  :-(  Hard way to lose, but they still were Runners Up.  And they are also playing State Cup games, with a 2-1 win so far and 2 more games to go to get to the final. You can click on them to see them bigger, especially the sequence shots.































She's been averaging at least one goal every game, sometimes more, sometimes some assists... basically she's having a lot of fun and enjoying playing!!!

Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle