The Shearwater Nest: Kick For The House Soccer Fundraiser

Last weekend we had a busy Saturday. It was kind of a good thing to keep the kids busy because Greg left Saturday morning for Maine. Yes, that's right. My other half went to Maine for work to attend a week long workshop. I was dreading the day that he had to leave, not only for me, but also the kids. They're not used to daddy being away for that long, and neither am I. It's the longest he's been away from them. He left Saturday morning and started his drive to Maine. Yes, he drove by himself! I think he's crazy, but he wanted to. He made a two day road trip of it and stopped in New York for the night on Saturday. Then he drove the rest of the way on Sunday. I knew it wasn't going to be easy for the kids so I figured the best thing to do was keep them busy.

Thank goodness Cars 2 came out on Friday! Evan's been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to come out probably since the first one. He loves the Cars movie. As soon as he heard the date it was going to be in theaters, he didn't forget it. Greg's mom said she'd take the kids to see it, so we went to the first show on Saturday. We had plans later in the day and so did Greg's mom so it worked well to hit the first show. We got to the movie and were surprised to see my friend Jess and her family. The kids were excited to see Grace and Matt too and wanted to sit by them. The movie was pretty good, and the kids loved it. I think I probably like the first one a little bit better, but overall Cars 2 was worth seeing too. It was quite predictable, but was entertaining.

After the movie, we made a stop at Meijer on the way home. I had to get stuff to make jam (which I did on Sunday), and Evan had seen there was a Cars 2 promo thing going on at Meijer on Saturday. He saw a sign earlier in the week when he was there with Greg and also saw a commercial. I tell ya, the kid doesn't miss a beat! They had some coloring activities and some giveaways of Cars stickers, tattoos, and coloring sheets, as well as some food samples. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I had to go to Meijer anyway.

We headed home after Meijer for just a little bit, and then we headed out to Grand Ledge for a charity soccer event. My neighbor/friend Liana sent me an email about a soccer event with former MSU athletes. I thought the kids would LOVE to go to this, especially since Ev's favorite MSU football players Greg Jones and Javon Ringer were playing. The event was called Kick for the House and it raised money for the Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan. It was held at the Grand Ledge Football field. There were various former MSU football and basketball players that volunteered to come out and play. This was our first soccer game we've been to so it was something new for the kids to experience.

The game was a couple hours long and there was also a chance to get autographs from the athletes. We got there a little early and we were able to get Greg Jones and Javon Ringer's autographs before the game. There was also "autograph alley" where the players sat at tables after the game and spectators could get autographs. We took a soccer ball to get signed and the kids also had little notebooks for autographs. I also threw in two of Ev's football jerseys in case we could get those signed which we did before the game started.

His #23 Javon Ringer jersey signed

His #53 Greg Jones Jersey signed

After we had gotten the jerseys signed, a guy from the State News (MSU Newspaper) came up to us and asked us if he could interview us. Our interview ended up making the paper on Monday which was pretty exciting. Evan reminded me all day that we had to go get a State News to check it out. We got a few copies to put in our "keepsake box." Here's the link to the article in the State News if you're interested in checking it out. State News Interview

We had a wonderful time at the soccer event. The kids loved meeting the athletes, especially Greg Jones. I was surprised how into Emmaline was too. She was right up there with her brother getting autographs. It looks like this will be an annual event so we really look forward to going again. It was a great Saturday afternoon. We only wished Greg could have joined us. I posted all the pictures on Facebook, but here's a few pictures from our afternoon at the soccer game.

The kids with former MSU football player Javon Ringer who now plays with the Tennessee Titans. What a really nice guy he is. I also had a great pic of Ev and Javon, but it's not showing up on my iPhoto for some reason.