Happy Thanksgiving.......

I may not be American but my babies are so here we are on Thanksgiving day giving thanks to my beautiful family, health and happiness.

My kiddos give me so much joy but nothing can beat our Soccer Saturdays.  A few weeks ago we have both Bambeano and Boo Boo in soccer tournaments.  Scheduling was a tad tight but unfortunately or fortunately which ever way you luck at it Bambeano was knocked out in the quarter finals on penalties :(.

He played his heart out winning the 1st round in the best fashion with a hat trick for a 3-0 win.  Onto the 2nd night and boy was it a cold one.  A goal from Bambeano, affectionately known on the soccer field as Lil Bambeano, before the other team went up 2-1.  Nail biting stuff with only minutes to spare we had a free kick in which one of our players, Miles, scored an unbelievable free kick curling it at the last minute to hit the far side netting, OMG I lost my voice!!!!!! Bombshell shattered his clipboard and here we are off into over time.  5 Minutes to win or lose it.......Not sure how much I could take of this....on a school night no less..........

The minutes ticked by with several heart stopping moments.....Bambeano hits the post not once but TWICE and the ball just would not go in the net.........On to penalties......Bambeano did great in goal with 2 saves scoring a penalty for us but we went out loosing 2-1 :( 



He dives and he SAVES



Bottom right corner he SCORES


Bambeano I am so proud of you and Coach Bombshell.  36 goals for (with 6 of the 10 kids scoring this season), 5 against, 11 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. 





So that was Thursday night now onto the week end for Boo Boo's games.  She also had a tournament with 2 games on Saturday, followed by an 8am game on Sunday and possibly the finals a few hours later.

First game was against FCCA Huntersville, remember the game where we had a trip to the ER with a suspected dislocated jaw.  Well Boo Boo was on a mission she was pysched for this game, determined they would not beat her this time.  Well it didn't take long before we had a hand ball in the box and Lauren had to face a penalty, OMG I could not bear to watch, but wait a minute she was determined they would not beat her, camera ready let's see how this turns out.......

Well whatever Bombshell can do 2 nights earlier, Boo Boo can match, penalty taken and she SAVES

Great stance BOO BOO

GREAT SAVE
 

Boo Boo was right she was determined.  We returned the favor of the score earlier in the season and beat FCCA 4-2.  Way to go CSA Cabarrus Elite.  Now onto game 2.    Who would have thought I would witness 2 heart stopping games in one week.  The girls from Palmetto were tough and did NOT give up.  We were scoring comfortably with a 7-1 lead for it to get to 7-5....when will the whistle blow?????  Not happy with the other team getting back in the game CSA finished it off with a 8-5 win.  With winners of the group they were now off to the semi finals.

A 7.15am arrival at the soccer fields on a Sunday morning was not a happy prospect for Boo Boo.  She is not a morning person at the best of times so this will be interesting.  Despite this she seemed pumped up to get to the finals, a place her brother was not able to reach.

Well the girls came through with a 6-2 win, now onto the finals against what appeared to be a tough team from Alabama.  With just over an hour to her next game we made a pit stop at home before making our way over to the park for the finals.   The field grass was cut a lot shorter making the pace of the game much faster.

Boo Boo excelled in this game like she has never done before......jumps to try and save the balls and dives but this team was just too darn good.  She got many hands to the balls.  All in all a good game but in the end we could not prevail.  The girls did great 2nd place and received their medals with pride.

Congratulations girls

Halloween has come and gone......

Boy I am getting a little behind with my posts......we have had a few busy weeks in the Bowden household..... Halloween, soccer tournaments and tomorrow is Thanksgiving.....boy this year is flying by.

First Halloween so this year we had a pirate and a SWAT police officer.  Miami Vice eat your heart out.   This year was my first year since Jack was a year old that I got to take the kids trick or treating and Bombshell stayed home handing out the candy.

Off we went with the neighborhood, a tradition each year.  Stay tuned for more news I will get caught up with the soccer tournaments with some great scores and even better pictures



Boo Boo's pumpkin courtesy of Bombshell



Bambeano's pumpkin



My AWESOME SWAT officer



Blink and it is Friday WHAT!!!!!

My oh my where does the time go.  Here we are already Friday and a fun filled week end is fast approaching.  so let me start by bringing you up to speed on last week end's festivities, you already heard about Grandma & Grandad's visit and Soccer Saturday.  Now on to our adventures at the Biltmore Estate visit that I promised.........

Up early on Sunday, camera charged, kids loaded up in the back and off we went on our way to Asheville.  The ride didn't seem to long and as soon as we hit the foothills the collection of fall leave colors was amazing I just had to capture (of course while trying to do it through the speed at which Bombshell was driving)

 


We shortly arrived in Asheville and decided to walk around a bit as none of us had ventured into the downtown of Asheville.  the weather was perfect, nice sunny day and temperatures warm and comfortable.  After enjoying the sights of Asheville......

With no suitable lunch spot (all the good recommendations had over an hour wait) we decided to venture over to Biltmore Village.  After finding a lunch spot to eat it was now time to enjoy the rest of the day at Biltmore Estate

The kids were wowed by the long drive up especially with Bombshell stating how long the walk would be to pick up the mail and take the trash cans to the curb LOL you could see their little heads digesting that information and probably thinking how glad they were to only have a short walk to take the trash and recycle bins out at home :)

First stop was the house and while I remember the front I clearly didn't remember shuttle buses and no parking near. So I am sorry for the less than perfect picture, inside didn't disappoint they had started to decorate the house in all the Christmas decorations, I know, I know it is not even Halloween yet but it sure did get me in the spirit, should i mention Christmas is only 57 days

So after the house tour we planned our trip to the next stop, the Antler Village and more importantly WINE TASTING!!!!!!

So off Bombshell went with Bambeano to get the car while we stayed outside the front of the house, Now where is Jeeves when you need him.  Well quite frankly I think we have our own Jeeves judging by the pictures below

While we drove down to Antler Village we took in some great sights of the gardens and the colors of the fall foliage that taking pictures was hard not to pass up,  just look at the coloring of these pictures it was breath taking.

 



First stop at Antler Village was an ice cream for Grandad.  He was going to sit and enjoy the sunshine while the rest of us walked over to the farm and animals.  While Grandma was getting the ice cream I took advantage of some great pictures of Boo Boo and Bambeano

So after leaving Grandad happy with his ice cream we walked off over to the farm house and farm animals.  It was a nice pleasant walk and the kids were super excited to be outside.  There was plenty to see and do.  Bombshell and the kids trying the hat at some old games, pictures below tell a 1000 stories let's just say some of my pictures before editing were either blurry or crooked or both with all the laughing.

Well after busting a gut laughing we moved over to watch the blacksmith and then onto the animals.

 
 

Now onto Mummy's favorite part the WINERY while Bombshell got the kids ice cream.  So back with Grandad the 3 of us made our way over to the winery, starting in the cellars before making our way to the tasting.  2 whole pages of wine tasting and no limit SIGN ME UP!!!!

Grandad started the party going by smashing a wine glass, now I am not sure if it was too much slosh or just not knowing his own strength when setting the glass down, my bet is the latter, so with that Grandad finished up and went into the store with Bombshell and Bambeano while Grandma and I carried on enjoying the tasting, can you tell......

Where did the week end go?

Wow how time flies....Here we are already at Wednesday but boy did we have a fun filled week end, so much i will have to have TWO blog entries.  We had some visitors and the kids were really excited.  Grandma and Grandad (aka Chris' parents) flew up from Florida before departing back home to England.  Now they were only here for the week end so we had to pack in a lot (activities and of course wine, more pics to follow on that one)

So Friday afternoon with the kids out of school we all piled to the airport to meet their flight before racing back (with a side trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on wine :)) to get ready for Bambeano's soccer practice.  The nice sunny temperatures of 70's quickly disappeared when the sun went down so I sought refuge in the car to keep warm.  Now normally on Friday nights we eat out after practice with some great friends but alas they were preparing for their big adventure to Disney so we opted to return home for dinner courtesy of Chef Bombshell (No really he is a Chef) and of course crack open the wine.

Onto Saturday and by now you know it is SOCCER SATURDAY in the Bowden household.  First up Boo Boo, who with each game she plays is doing FANTASTIC in goal.  She knows every goal she saves is a goal scored for her team (her coach gave her this sound advice after she felt she let the team down when she let one goal in, he was quick to remind her all the goals she saved)  This game would be the first game she would actually kick her ball out from a goal kick and boy did she do great kicking way past the half way line, Bombshell was VERY impressed.

Here she goes with her first punt kick out and boy was it a good one.  Boo Boo is really coming into her element and doing great with her goalie skills. 

She really does enjoy this position and we are so proud of her.  She kept a clean sheet all game with her team winning 6-0.  WAY TO GO BOO BOO

With all the excitement Grandad fell asleep. Imagine that with all the shouting going on...... WAKE up Grandad we have got to get to Bambeano's game next.

With Boo Boo's game at 12pm and Bambeano's at 2pm we had to take 2 cars so Bombshell and Bambeano could leave ahead to warm up before the game.  Boo Boo had 30 minutes halves so was wrapped up with 40 minutes before Bambeano's kick off.  Grandma, Grandad, Boo Boo and I raced over to catch Bambeano in action.

We arrived at the field and Bambeano already had his sights set on having a GREAT game.  He definitely meant business with all to see; he had his number sprayed into his head.   His determination was very apparent and this I love....he sets his sights high and will do everything to make sure he achieves.  He asked me to rub his boots (cleats to my American readers), what I hear you say, sorry but it was a tradition the 1st time I rubbed them (his old gold ones) he scored and now he cannot go a game without me rubbing them and trust me there is a knack to this.  If I do not rub and it has to be at a certain time in a certain place he will not score - his words not mine - as so far it has been a very good omen.

I feverishly rubbed them and his parting comment was he was going to score for Grandma, Grandad and Mummy.  Of course I thought he meant one goal for all of us......No, No, No, Bambeano had other plans...........

Now this game was going to be interesting we had no subs so the kids had to play the whole game with only water breaks to help them, thankfully the weather was on our side.

AS you can tell by the picture Bambeano is in his element but I promise there were other kids on the field..... Bambeano just seems to have this thing called SPEED :)  And so he is off for his goal......

Now this game was a little different as Bambeano does not spend much time in his own goal unless we are up by so many goals. 

However, with the lack of players this week it was Bambeano's turn for a shot a goalie and he didn't disappoint......

Now remember early I stated Bambeano was going to score for Grandma, Grandad and Mummy......well he achieved his goal, 1 for Grandma, 1 for Grandad and 1 for Mummy, that's right a HAT TRICK for Bambeano with a winning score of 3-0. 

Way to go Boo Boo and Bambeano 2 games and 2 wins........

Stay tuned for our Sunday adventures to Biltmore..........  :)