Soccer, Reading and More!

We'll start off with some exciting news!  Delaney's Crown Point team won their sectional!  With those games, their record is now 12-5-1.



If you can't tell from the grin in the second picture, she is very excited with their achievement.  Their first sectional game was against Lowell; they won 6-1.  Delaney was mentioned in the article about the game.  There was even a nice picture of her included with the article too:



Their championship sectional game was against Kankakee Valley; the final score was 2-1.  The girls played hard, and they were rewarded with the 2013 Sectional Championship title.  Here is the article for that game.  Delaney's family came out in full force to cheer her on!  She had her grandparents, aunts, and cousins all in the stands as well as a few of Kenny's soccer buddies -- Adam, Pat and Mark.  Thanks to everyone for taking the time to come see Delaney play!  Kenny even snapped a picture of me cheering Delaney on:



Tomorrow their first Regional game is going to be at Valparaiso vs. Hammond High at 5:00pm.  The Valparaiso Soccer Stadium is located at 1600 Roosevelt Road, next to Thomas Jefferson Middle School.  Here is an article talking about the upcoming Regional games in the area.  Very exciting!

And as many of you know, I have LAM (a rare, progressive lung disease).  I usually keep it out of our family posts, as we have a separate area for LAM updates and fundraising, but sometimes I like to share in the spirit of education.  :-)  For the lady who said I was "lucky" because I got a ride to the soccer fields to one of Delaney's games.  I was polite and didn't say anything, but I have to say that "lucky" is not how I would describe it.



As a friend nicely posted in response to our Facebook post regarding this same topic, please remember that not everyone's physical problems are visible.  It took years for me to get a diagnosis; several doctors were stumped!!!

Kenny attended the ICE (Indiana Computer Educators) Conference in Indianapolis for a few days, from October 9-11.  Kenny said it was a great experience, and he brought back a lot of ideas to help Hammond's teachers.  He was there with a group from the Hammond school system:



And he even shared a quick picture of one of his classes one morning to me:



Delaney and I thought this was great, because we're always telling him how sweet Pinterest is.  :-)

Last, but certainly not least, Kyle got an awesome shout out in the Solon newsletter from Mrs. McCarroll, the librarian at Solon.   He apparently finished reading all of them before she did!  This is his second year reading all 20 Hoosier books.  Great job, Kyle!!!  He's almost to 300 AR points too.  Woo-hoo!



Is it really sad that I'm already desperately looking forward to Fall Break?!?

Love,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle
 

Keeping Busy!

Let me tell you, we are ecstatic here over at the Benich household.  Seriously.  I am definitely NOT trying to glorify being busy (I am always looking for ways to simplify things).  But with all the kids' activities and school work, Kenny's commitments with work and other events, and everything else we have going on... sometimes it is just too much!  Our last post was the beginning of September, I seem to be getting into a monthly post schedule.  I think part of it is just being too busy at times to do it more often.  :-)

On September 6, Kenny was invited to a wedding reception.  It was for one of the girls he used to coach for Riley -- this was before Delaney was even born!  Here's a picture of Kenny and Sara from the old team picture:



Sara is in the top left corner, and Kenny is obviously in the bottom right.  He was pretty much just out of college, and we were married and living up in South Bend at the time.  Now, here is a picture of the two of them at the wedding reception:



We were thinking that Delaney is now about the same age that Sara was when Kenny started coaching her.  Times flies, right?

Kyle is off to a great start to his reading this year in school.  He just finished reading all 20 Hoosier books!  There were some really great ones this year: a few that made both of us cry, a few that were so sweet, and we learned some new things with the non-fiction selections.  (I obviously read some of them with him too.)  He's also got over 200 AR points this year so far.  Great job, Kyle!!!  Again you can follow all of us at Shelfari if you'd like to keep up with what we're reading.  I can be found under Danielle Benich,  Delaney is Dee44, while Kyle is under Sopts4.  It's a quick and easy way to keep track of what you are reading and see what your friends are reading too!

It's also hard to believe that this year is Kyle's last year in grade school.  Gasp!  Kenny and Kyle attended their last Solon BINGO night, and Delaney was able to go too and visit with some of her former grade school teachers.  Kenny was announcing that night, while the kids had a lot of fun playing, visiting, and eating yummy ice cream.  A good time was held by all!!!

Kenny and his buddies also had their annual trip to Gulf Shores.  They played a lot of golf, relaxed at the beach, and ate a lot.  What else can you ask for?  They even made a new friend while golfing:


 

 


And as always, we have soccer!!!  Delaney's high school CP soccer team is still doing very well.  They are currently 10-3-1.  Their one tie game was only played around 50 minutes and cut short due to weather, with a 0-0 score.  Their first loss of the season was a hard one; it was with Chesterton and involved two overtimes and penalty kicks.  Definitely a tough way to lose, since the girls played great.  Their other two losses were down in Indy with Hamilton Southeastern and Brebeuf.   Since the player's stats online are out-of-date, we are guessing that Delaney currently has 7 goals and 6 assists.  WTG, Dee!

Delaney made the paper again for the win against Kankakee Valley, sneaking in a goal with only around 40 seconds left on the clock.  It was definitely a very exciting game, handing KV their first loss of the season.  It helped her be named the "Athlete of the Week" from September 23rd to 28th. 



Tonight they play Munster at home, and it is senior night too.  They then have a game in South Bend this weekend, then sectionals start up! 

Today the CP soccer team dressed up today to show their spirit, and Delaney was a crazy cat lady:



The cat on her shoulder even meows, if you squeeze its stomach.  She had a lot of fun putting this together.  The sad thing is that we had that many stuffed animal cats to use, right?  (And we didn't even touch any of their Webkinz collection!)  The underclassmen also made posters for the seniors too.  Delaney made one for CC:



Between her costume (and all the cats), the poster, her regular backpack and schoolwork, and her soccer backpack... she was a bit overloaded on the way to school this morning.  :-)

And we are all caught up for now!

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

School, Soccer & More!

We are full into the school, homework, soccer practices, soccer games and all the other many events that come into play.  It has been hectic, but we seem to have gotten into our groove a bit and things seem to be going okay.  (* knock on wood *)  We even found time to see World War Z at the local theater on Saturday, August 17th.  (It was absolutely nothing like the book, except that yes, they both were about a zombie apocalypse.) It was an intense but very good movie!

Before school even started, Delaney had her very first high school soccer games.  On Tuesday, August 20th they had a home game vs. Lake Central; they won 6-2.  Then on Wednesday, August 21st they had another home game vs. Highland; they won 3-2.  Delaney scored her very first high school varsity goal; then she scored again for two.  She even got interviewed a bit, check out the article.  (However, given the opportunity, she failed to give credit to her father's soccer knowledge that he passed down to her!)  How exciting!  In honor of her first game, we created this for her:



Look how little she was when she played her first game, about four years old!

Then unfortunately for the kids, school officially started on Thursday, August 22nd.  Delaney is in ninth grade (a high schooler somehow), while Kyle is in fifth grade (his last year at the elementary).  Yikes!  It is so hard to believe that they are as old as they are (and apparently how old we are!).  Here are their first day of school pictures:

 
 

 
While they were sad about starting school, I professed to being sad about it as well just to be there for them:



Then Delaney and I got to go out a bit on Saturday, the 24th.  We had to do some last minute school shopping for the items she found out she needed after school started, as well as go see a movie ourselves!  We wanted to see City of Bones, since we had read and really enjoyed the series.  Pretty good!  It's been a while since we read it, and there is a Clockwork Prince series that goes along with it -- so it was a bit of a stretch to remember how the first book went.  But all in all, I think they did a pretty good job with it.

More soccer games!  On Tuesday, August 27th CP had an away game vs. Portage; they won 9-0.  Then another away game on Wednesday, August 28th vs. Lowell; they won 4-1.  Woo-hoo!  Their next game was on Saturday, August 31st vs. Culver Military; they tied 0-0.  Unfortunately the weather may have messed this game up a bit, they only played 50 minutes.  There was lightning and strong rain, and the refs decided to call the game.  Bummer! 

It is hard to believe, but Kenny and I celebrated our 18th anniversary on Monday, September 2nd.  Eighteen years, can you believe it?  We even got to sneak out and have a nice meal out sans kids.  Sweet!

Soccer doesn't rest for long, they had another home game on Tuesday, September 3rd vs. LaPorte; they won 9-0.  They even obviously stopped scoring after a while, doing a great job of just controlling the ball until the game was over.  So far Delaney has 3 goals and 3 assists, and she even got to start a few times.  Exciting!

Coming up for soccer, she has another home game next Tuesday, September 10th vs Chesterton.  It may be a tough game, as Chesterton is currently ranked #1.  Then they have a couple of away games in Indianapolis on Saturday, September 14th.  As her coach always says:



They are off to a great start!

Luv,
Ken, Dani, Dee & Kyle

 

Fun Times at Another Dierks Bentley Concert!!!

Kenny got tickets for all of us to go the Locked and Loaded tour with Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley this past Friday night (August 9th).



I am always happy to go see Dierks in concert, and I had asked specifically if we could go this year and see Miranda too, so I was thrilled.  Delaney was definitely excited, but Kyle... not so much.  He didn't really know if he wanted to go to a concert.  ???  Delaney and I thought he was a bit nuts, but if he really didn't want to go - that's fine.  He ended up spending the night with his grandparents, and Delaney got to invite a friend to go with.

The concert was down in Noblesville at the Klipsch Music Center (used to be called Deer Creek Music Center).  Kenny wanted to leave as early as we could, but Dee had soccer practice.  We still got there in plenty of time to wait in line to get good spots.  We had four pit tickets, so it was basically first-come, first-serve.  After we arrived, we basically just got in line outside the gates waiting to get it.  Here is Delaney and Faoilean laying on the blanket waiting:




I think they were keeping themselves entertained by chatting with all their friends on social media.  :-)  Kenny was chatting it up with our fellow line members and finding out the best way to get good spots.  We had a plan of attack before the gates opened.  As one unable to run, I was designated to stay and get the bags searched.  And since it was only one bag per person, Delaney stayed as well.  Kenny and Fai were assigned the harder task, they were running to the pit area to get good seats.  And according to Fai, they were definitely RUNNING.  Kenny said he was chastised for running from an employee.  :-)  But they got an awesome spot right in front of the stage!!!  Here's a picture of the back of the girls' heads by the front of the stage:



Sweet, huh?  First, a Gwen Sebastian opened up (never got a good picture of her).  I had never heard of her, but she had a nice voice.  Then Brett Eldredge was next; all the ladies by us were swooning at him.  He definitely made us new Brett Eldredge fans!  He has an awesome voice, and he closed with his "Don't Ya" song which we all knew.





Next up, Dierks!  Delaney and I were anxiously awaiting.  Ken, Delaney and I were all appropriately enough, wearing our Dierks shirts!





Finally, it was time!!!  Dierks Bentley!  Check out the back of Dee's and Fai's heads.  :-)























We all even got to touch Dierks.  HA!!!!  (* sigh *)



Dierks is always awesome to watch in concert.  He never stops, has so much energy and runs around the stage and has so much fun with the audience.  Seemed like before you knew it, it was time for Miranda!













She sang a lot of our favorite songs, and this was the first time any of us had ever seen her in concert.  Dee and Fai each got Miranda t-shirts.  :-)  Apparently this was Fai's very first concert ever, so she was thankful that Kyle decided not to attend!!!

Everyone came back out to the stage for the closing song, and they sang Roger Miller's "King of the Road" together.  It was great!



A fun-filled, super night!  Kenny had originally gotten us a hotel room to crash afterwards, but we had to cancel as Delaney had soccer practice the following Saturday morning.  It made for a very late night, but what can you do?!?  We offered to find another couple to go with, but Delaney wouldn't hear of it.  HA!

Dani

 

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