Soccer Tournament August 2009

Bennett, entering 12th grade, participated in a soccer tournament hosted by Heritage Christian Academy in Kalamazoo.

We won the tournament!

Four teams each played 3 games.  Our school's team played in the first game, beating the host team 2-1.  Both our goals were from penalty kicks.

Our next game was at around 1:00 PM.  Unfortunately, we lost that game 0-1.

Our third game, the final game of the tournament, started around 3:30 PM.  The game ended tied at 0-0, so we had a penalty kick shootout.  We won that 4-3.  Very exciting, as it came down to the final shot of the shootout  That game's win earned our team 1st place for the tournament.

Bennett played pretty well, getting some play time in each game.

The weather was very un-summerlike.  Throughout the morning and part of the afternoon, it was mostly overcast, chilly, and damp, with occasional breezes.  Midafternoon the sun came out and the clouds cleared.

Below is a slideshow of pictures I took.  A large majority of the pictures feature Bennett.  He is player #4.  For those pictures of the penalty shootout, our goalie is the one wearing green shorts.

Chubby, the Silent Watcher

Chubby is our grey cat. Here's a picture of how he spent about 30 minutes of his time this morning (7/01/09), sitting very still the whole time.

And here's what he was watching, from his perspective.

The red & glass thing in the middle is a hummingbird feeder. There's nothing at it.

Going Green with Cap and Trade (video)

Are you ready for "Cap & Trade"?  If you're not sure what it is, just watch this little video from The Tax Foundation.  And at the same time, learn a snappy tune!

Hammer Time Flash Mob (video)

It's hard to think of anything more enjoyable than watching a flash mob performing the Hammer Time dance, all wearing shiny golden parachute pants.  Enjoy!

It's Tough Being Small and Tasty

A cute outdoor critter recently met his doom.

I was sitting near our open family room window and heard a commotion outside.  When I looked, I saw that a local cat (who is regularly roaming around our neighborhood) had jumped onto a tree in front of our house, and caught a chipmunk in his jaws.  The cat then ran off, undoubtedly to enjoy his snack.

Earlier in the week, I'd witnessed that same chipmunk being harrassed by a small songbird because, I guess, that bird didn't want the chipmunk eating some of the bird seed that had already fallen to the ground.  Of course, there was plenty of seed, both on the ground and in the bird feeder.  I think that bird, as small as it was, just wanted someone it could bully.

I will miss that little chipmunk.