Practicing in Pads

Monday was the big day of Emily's first football practice in pads. All week we had been trying to get her to wear her helmet around the house--in an effort to try and get used to it--but she didn't end up wearing it much because it was "too heavy and it hurts". So let's just say we weren't too confident that she could make it through a 90-minute practice.

We showed up to the field right on time...

...and found Grandma and Pop Pop there to cheer her on!

Emily got dressed and joined the team for warmups...

...and things didn't look good. Besides the heavy helmet, it was almost 90 degrees out and all that gear was pretty hot to wear.

She made it through the stretches okay (even some burpees, which were comical to watch as all the kids' centers of balance were off due to the helmets). At the first water break, she couldn't wait to get her helmet off and get some water.

This was when Mom realized that all the other kids were also complaining about the helmets. Maybe it was just a "first practice" thing, and she would get used to it?

At any rate, we were quite proud when she rejoined her teammates after the break, because it would have been just as easy for her to quit at that point.

The kids split up into age groups, and we were surprised to see only eight kids in the 3rd-4th grade group. Hopefully there are more kids on the roster--maybe they are all still on summer vacation?

The coach put them right to work on some basics. First he showed them how to block...

Then they lined up one at a time as running backs and learned how to take the ball and run with it.

At the next water break Emily was already hot and tired, but she told us she was having fun--sweet!

They did more lining up and taking handoffs, this time with a lead blocker. In the photos below, Emily is following her lead blocker through the hole.

 

At the end, they switched to a two-back set. Emily is the lead blocker in the photos below.

They also did some throwing and catching, and they learned what the different linemen are called and how the line gaps are numbered. All good stuff, but there is so much to learn! It is hard to believe that they will be playing a real game anytime soon.

At the end of the practice, Em was relieved to finally take her helmet off for good. We were all glad she had made it through the whole practice--she is really a pretty tough kid.

And what was Kate doing during the entire practice, you ask? Mainly she was vying for Mom's attention, but she also spent some time swatting bugs, listening to her ipod, and climbing the goalpost over and over and over.

After practice, Gram and Pop Pop treated us to some ice cream at Smiley's, which was awesome.

Another milestone down for Emily's first tackle football season...now we have the first game to look forward to!

Lake George Visit

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, so Mom decided to take the kids up to Lake George Regional Park in Caanan.

This park is a true gem, with a nice sandy beach, a grassy area, and picnic tables for lunch. It is also pretty cheap to get in--it cost us $7 total to spend the day there.

The girls immediately hit the water on their floaty tubes (last year's tubes that we dug out of the garage and pumped up--thankfully they still held air).

This is a popular park, so it didn't take long for us to find someone we knew there. Madelyn is one of the Daisies in Kate's girl scout troop!

Then we ran into Kate B., who was at the park with her grandma. Kate B. was our Kate's BFF in preschool, but they go to different schools now so don't see each other much. Ironically, our Kate had just gone to Kate B.'s birthday party the weekend before.

Emily didn't find anyone she knew, but that didn't stop her from making friends. She spent a good hour playing catch with an older girl and her father in the water.

She also joined Kate and Kate on their mission to destroy bees. There were lots of honeybees at the park for some reason (we've never seen so many here before) and they kept landing on our food and otherwise harassing us. The girls used sand and water "weapons" to shoo them away (don't worry, no actual bees were harmed during all the bee-hunting shenanigans).

When they got tired of chasing bees, Kate and Kate discovered an area near the seawall that was great frog habitat. They quickly caught some frogs to show Mom.

Then they went back to "Frogtown" (as they called it) and built a home for the frogs, and proceeded to fill it up with residents.

Of course Emily wanted to get involved too (who wouldn't?).

It didn't take long to round up about fifteen frogs, along with some other kids who joined the fun.

Mom had thought that the kids would be swimming all day at the park, but it turned out that frog catching was the major activity. Either way, Mom got to read her book so she was happy.

Treehouse Update

It's been a long time since we posted about the treehouse, but rest assured--Mom has been working on it every chance she can get. We have had such a busy summer with camping and other vacations that it has been hard to carve out the time, but here is the progress since the last update:

The first task was the build six diagonal braces to support the cantilevered corners and edges of the deck. Mom did this while Mama and the kids were in New Jersey--it was very tedious and "nit-picky" work as each brace had to be custom fit to its location on the tree. She spent two full days getting it done.

The braces are pressure-treated 2x6's, and the brackets that attach to the tree are also made from 2x6 material. Mom cut (and chiseled) a notch in each bracket to accept the brace....

...and then countersunk a hole in the brace for the lag screw that would go into the tree.

Fitting the braces to the deck was a little tough working by herself--she used ropes and clamps to hold things in place until everything was aligned, then screwed everything together.

When Mama and the kids came home from their big New Jersey vacation, they knew Mom had been working on the treehouse all that time, so they ran out to see what it looked like. The answer: not much different than when they left.

The braces are critical structurally, but they don't look very impressive at all.

Undaunted, Mom pressed on. The next step was figuring out where to put the ladder. She built a second platform sticking out from the tree at the same level as the firepole platform, and measured and schemed up a ladder. Then she bought the wood and fasteners and precut everything in the basement, sanding and staining the material with a wood preservative (gentler on the kids than using pressure-treated wood).

She did the prep work during the week so that she could focus on installing everything when the weekend rolled around.

The ladder "rails" went up first...

...and they were carefully spaced the same distance apart at the top and the bottom, then secured at both ends.

Then the steps went in one by one...

...until they were done!

The ladder ended up being kind of a combination of ladder and stairs--hopefully it won't be too steep and scary for the kids.

Next, Mom planned out the handrail posts. The deck planking will have to be cut out to fit around the posts, so they had to be installed first (before the deck). Once again she bought the material, cut and sanded the parts, and stained them in the basement.

This past Saturday Mom had all day to install the posts, and she got it done. The top of the ladder has a special arrangement with 2x4's and wood dowels to help the kids climb up and down...

...while the corner posts are all 4x4's...

...and the intermediate posts around the edge of the deck are 2x4's.

Each post is bolted through the joists with 5/16" galvanized carriage bolts.

The posts turned out great!

The next step is putting on the 2x4 handrails (there will be a top and bottom rail, with rope in between the two), and the big milestone of installing the decking. Right now Mom is looking into some local mills to try and find the best price for cedar deck material.
Hopefully it won't be long now until the girls are playing in their treehouse!