Soccer Schedule

Here is the schedule:

September 19th Sunday 2pm in Minnetonka
September 25th Saturday 9am in Golden Valley
September 26th Sunday 2pm in Eden Prairie
October 2nd Saturday 1pm final game @ HOME!

Last weekend was an eye opener for sure, the girls played Buffalo and lost 3-1 on Saturday and were matched up against the "redwoods" of Minnetonka (reference to tall timbers was due to the fact that all the Tonka girls were taller than Steve and in no way looked like 10 year-olds) on Sunday. Those timbers however, were no match for the fancy footwork and lightening speed of our STMA girls. They won 2-1, the "trees" as we call them were also a little misinformed that this is traveling soccer and not the NFL, one player came barrelling accross the field, and with both hands out front and arms completely extended pushed one of our rushing players so hard she flew (completely airborne) off the field and into some Tonka parents sitting in chairs. Yep, this Mama was nervous with Brie out there just havning had surgery but she held her own and even outran 3 defenders at one point to get the ball down field. Took a shot but missed the goal by about a foot and half, look forward to the rematch this weekend!

Team Ghana Finale & Jamboree

Happy Birthday Erick - what a treat we had! Carrie made the best ever carrot cake, of which Steve and Erick had half of......


The rinse cycle....

Notice how much more grass and dirt is covering my kids...

Liv was smart, she's rinsing off!

Kailey, Brienna & Katelyn, what pretty girls!

What you don't see and hear is Kailey's Mom in the background saying, "don't you dare do snow angels in the mud!"

Conner after his first slide down the hill into the grass/water puddles

Not your typical slip n slide, Kailey, Brie and Katelyn....

One water pumper on that side of the field......

Another on this side of the field....

A very tentative start to this whole soaking process, just wait, it gets better!

Conner waiting very patiently with Daddy while the trucks are being filled with water....

What cute kids, Liv, Conner, and Brie touring the engines....

The before shot at the STMA Knights Soccer Jamboree!

Brienna on her way, last game of the season! She passes for a superbly executed assist!

Brienna running down field, what a great season she had!

Team Ghana had a wonderful run, it was fun watching Brie back on the soccer fields and especially in this league. A past pro player from England, it's top notch and we're very excited to see her grow and learn more about this exciting sport!

2010 Duluth Air Show

Inverted Thunderbirds, very cool!



Grandpa helping Conner get a better view....

Screaming by the crowd

The Thunderbirds fly by

Watching the Harrier take off, levitate, turn side to side and forward and backwards was the coolest!

The Panchito in flight

Panchito taking off

Skydive team coming in (Canadians)

One of Conner's favorites, he loved the propellers

The Panchito, Conner's words "Awesome"

Steve & Grandpa's favorite the Harrier

Conner Playing UNDER the planes

Conner checking out the landing gear

Conner loved his tour of the helicopter

Pilot Conner, so many buttons so little time....

Daddy & Conner checking out the F16 Hornet

For Father's Day this year the kids surprised Daddy and Grandpa with tickets to the Duluth Air Show. Conner was going with for his very first air show experience and what a better way than to do it than with Daddy & Grandpa. Brienna was more than happy to stay home with Mommy and Grandma since we planned to take a trip to the SR Harris fabric store. The boys left early and came back just after sundown. Not a lot of details emerged other than Conner loved seeing the cockpit of an helicopter and seeing the Harrier take off and levitate in the air! Tora Tora Tora (reenactment of Pearl Harbor) was also a hit. Conner was out cold on the way up and all the way back. Great fun was had by all and to this Mommy's surprise is the awesome photos Steve took!

Ghana loses 4-1 to team Spain (boys team)

So last nights match pitted Brie's team against the Spain's boys team, now we know they are good right, they won the world cup after all :)! Anyway, why are we so excited about losing? Well it's because Brie happened to score the only goal of the match! She ran it down one side, then zig zagged over all the way across the other side of the field and when the goalie jumped up to catch what he thought was a high ball coming, Brie snuck it in right underneath him! Yep, woke up smilin' today! So proud of you peanut!!!!!!!!

A lot of fun was had in our celebration of Carter & Lily's birthday's in July. Great food, family, and friends, we really love going to our nieces and nephews birthday parties, they grow up so fast so each one is cherished. After that we welcomed home Brie from her amazing adventure with her grandparents and cousin Seth to South Dakota. They came in on the tailcoats of last nights storm. This Mommy and Daddy sure missed their little girl, Conner will even admit to missing his big sister. Thanks everyone for yet another awesome weekend!

Lake Beauty Bible Camp 2010!!!!

Wow - I apologize as I'm sure this is in the running for one of the longest posts but I don't have time to make a slide show! An amazing weekend was had, so much to do up there, it's really magical and the kids still talk about it! The list is endless but really, we: enjoyed campfires, rock climbing walls, zip lines during the day and at night, horseback riding, face painting, swimming, tubing, jumping on the orbit, FISHING, kayaking, amazing food, incredible worship music, amazing fireworks, thankfully only one thunderstorm, water fights, rides on the people mover, new playground equipment, wonderful kids camp games and crafts, CANDY, an awesome speaker, and finally time with family and friends! Thanks to everyone for making it really one of the best!

These are actually in reverse order, sorry that time thing again, so maybe start at the bottom? These are just a couple group shots we were able to sneak in just as campers were pulling out to leave. Teared up a bit when we pulled out and saw all the sites empty, they were calling out "come back, don't leave, it's awesome here!"

Nana, Papa and all those grand kids!

Jagow's!

Face painting side one

Side two!

Water fight!!! Hard to say who had the most fun, the young soaking the elders or the elders reverting back to their childhood and taking no mercy on anyone!

Notice the concentration on Jenna's face!

Uncle Bill, watch out, he has great aim!

Conner chasing down the pack

Set, pump, aim and shoot! Go Brie!

Horseback riding time - Soren and Ayden ready to go!

Beautiful Boo riding Dakota I think!

Precious Brie riding Lucy solo this year - very good job peanut!

Conner's first ride on "Happy" how appropriate!

Yep - the tradition of skipping chapel to fish was passed onto my son this year by none other than his infamous father. Conner is officially "hooked" and I can't think of a better place for that to have happened. What a special time Daddy had with his little boy!

Daddy's happy he'll have a helper in taking fish off hooks, while the gals of this family LOVE fishing, we don't love handling them!

Uncle Bill made little time scaling that climbing wall!

This is actually the result of what you'll see below, yes, Conner blew out his little shorts for all his efforts!

Those amazingly beautiful Steele gals!

Jared and Ash made it up!

Jared on his way

Ashley making this look easy!

The happy newly engaged couple

Typical of the newly engaged couple!

Watching them zip line off the tower - Conner lovin' being loved on by Ashley!

Some of the jumpin' & climbin' crew

BBB - Beautiful Brie and Boo

Jenna stealthily climbing the wall

Ayden was so hysterical, love, love, love that his analytical mind logically calculated that his first year he made it 1/4 of the way up, then half way, then 3/4 of the way so this year it was ALL THE WAY! He did it and wow are we proud of you Ayden!

Brie, oh pumpkin, why do you grow so fast! You conquered that wall and took no time at all in flying down on that zip line! Although my favorite was when we took you and Jenna up late Friday night for night zip line! You said that was the best because you can't see how far up you are! I'll take your word for it this year but will join you for night zip line in 2011!

Arik superman diving off the tower, he did this Friday night in the dark too - very impressive!!!!! Teach my son how to do that in a couple years will ya?

Conner started out strong up that wall, and bless his little heart, he didn't mind peeking at his silly Mom who wanted this shot! A couple stalls along the way up and a few boosts from the staff and he was on top of that wall! We did our best to get Amanda to shove him off it and zip line down (great parents huh?) but his little body said no way and he happily was lowered down. We're sooooo proud of you! Next year Mommy will help you off the zip line :)! A lot of firsts for our little man this weekend, climbing wall, tubing, horseback riding, and now his parents trying to throw him off a really tall tower.

Mitch, Em, Scott, Solveig and Soren! It was so fun really meeting the Newberg's this weekend!

Up goes Amanda!

Brie and Boo getting their gear on!

The boys waiting patiently! We were the first group Saturday morning and boy are we glad because it was a hot day! (Ayden, Arik, Thomas & Cody)

Breakfast in the camper!

Everyone had their "buddies" to cuddle with at night!

Jenna hanging out in the hammock, snoozing or reading?

Beach Girls!

Ashley, Buffy, and Don taking in some beachtime!

Steve prepping for the real thing

Not sure if Brie's helping keep the slide wet like a good helper or just trying to squirt Ayden on the way down...

Love the facial expression Ayden!

Brie, Ashley and Conner dockside!

Girl chats at the beach

Totally sisters!!!!! Aren't they pretty?

Seth had both his awesome remote control boat and airplane up at LBBC this year, definitely a hit with my little man!

Alex enjoying the shade with us, it was beyond awesome to watch him fly by the beach and see the his outline in the front of that tube! Buffy thought for sure we'd see the whites from his massive grins from inland. He also got to take a dip in the water at the beach too, he's an amazing swimmer! I swear he can hold his breath longer than anyone!

Downtime in the hammock!

He shoots, he scores!

Wait for it.....

Best buds and LOTS of giggles