Cotton Candy...

Hockey Pictures

So we may need to go back to the live description of the Hindenburg disaster to find realistic words to describe the first day of Affton "Learn to Play".  By that, I mean that there were a ton of kids all out on the ice at the same time, and it was the first time for many of them in an organized setting.  Walt spent most of his time pushing a "sled" around the ice, and while it may not seem possible, I can tell you for sure that he actually made improvements as time went on.

Learn to Play (or LTP) is open for kids between 4-10, and what they do is separate you into 2 groups on the first day.  One group is able to skate, whereas the second group needs to learn that skill.  Affton brings out players from their AAA team (the Junior Blues) and other teams to help out the kids, and the ratio is pretty good from a teacher/pupil perspective.  The pictures were taken from my phone (we forgot the good camera), but Walt is wearing a red jersey, black pants, and gray socks, and has a black helmet.  I've tried to highlight him as well as I could in the pictures, and if you click on the individual pictures, you'll see that I put a box around him to distinguish him.  Also, if you watch the whole video, you'll definitely know which "skater" he is - he's only slightly faster than his old man....

In the earlier post, I mention something that he said on his own as we were getting undressed.  You couldn't wipe the smile from his face, and when he told me (without my asking how he liked it) that "Daddy, I loved hockey".  I felt pretty good about the day.  Soccer has been fun so far, but nothing compares to what we got out of today.  I hope that he keeps this level of enthusiasm.  Here are the pictures and the video:

Walt Before Blues Game

Here's a picture of Walt before the Blues preseason game on Saturday.  They've done some very extensive renovation on the old Kiel Opera House which includes the limestone bears out front.  Here's Walt being a ham....

Francine Stays Home With Daddy

Francine was home sick with Daddy on Friday with a low fever (her fever was VERY high on Thursday night, but on Friday, it wasn't as bad).  Here's a picture of her that illustrates how disheveled she was even though she was feeling a bit better.

...she's going to kill me for posting this picture when she's a teenager.

Walt's Birthday Party

We decided to host a late birthday party for Walt because it was so much fun last year to go to the park for the concert.  So we met about 25 of our good friends at Benton Park.  It was great.  Everyone seemed to love the party at the park.  Walt had a lot of fun with all of his friends.  There were about 16 kids- ages 3 weeks-8 years old.

Soccer Pictures

Walt's soccer team had pictures last weekend.  We decided not to order them, so here is a look from as close as I could come to walt's team. 

After Hockey

I'll have more pictures and a video to post later tonight or tomorrow, but this was Walt after his first hockey practice. He told me "Daddy, I loved hockey".

1 going on 13

Thanks Aunt Kelly, the boots are just fitting!  And I love them.

xoxo

FranFran

Soccer Game update

So after doing some social stories and talking talking talking about soccer this week.  Walt said that he would play goalie first, they rotate playing goalie every quarter.  And then he said he might play for 3 min.  Well he did play goalie the first quarter and had a save.  Then rotated in just like all of the other kids and was happy and may have even had a goal!  He said "I really love these soccer games!"  YEA!  I didn't take my camera because I didn't want to jinx it!

PJ sibling Twins!

My mom (Ge-Ma) found some skeleton PJs for Francine, so walt and Francine could be PJ twins like Walt and Victoria always are!  We had some fun tonight.