Coaching T-Ball and size 12 cleats...

Well, my insane spring schedule is beginning. Last night was the first night of Rhiannon's t-ball. I took the coaches training and am now a certified level 1 Community Coach. I have an NCCP number. Funny, eh? Now they don't call it T-Ball but that is what it is. Now it is called Lean-to-Play and they have developed it to better suit the abilities of small children. I highly recommend it to any of you who might consider registering your kid in sports. Also considerably cheaper than soccer. Only $40 here for the whole season. So I am one of the coaches of Rhiannon's team. The other coach is named Andrew. What are the chances of that? She plays the same nights as Kaetlyn so I can't be there on Mondays. I am disappointed because really, I would rather watch them both all the time. I don't like watching sports on tv, but I sure love watching my kids! And they were SOOOO cute the other night!

And today was Andrew's soccer practise. We had to rush out and get his cleats before the practise so we were late. Size 12 cleats... His feet are far bigger than his dad's. Do any of my brothers have size 12 feet? They're huge. Like he only had a choice between two kinds of cleats - a Nike pair and an Umbro pair. He got the Umbro pair (I think because they had a snazzy read stripe...). This is the first year I have bought him new cleats. But it gets harder and harder to find gigantic cleats at the sports consignment store... Besides, maybe he has finished growing (feet wise) and these will last for a couple of years... If they don't stink so bad that I have to throw them out... Like last year's cleats... He is the giant on his team and his coach is detirmined to make him 'aggressive'. He actually said that to him. Makes me laugh. Seems to me that John and Layne were never really aggressive soccer players, either. But every coach tries the same thing because he is so big and then they give up and let him play defence which is what he likes to play and what he is actually good at. He likes making those long kicks up the field. He's not much of a runner and he's not fast. Drew and I laughed about the aggressive bit in the car on the way home. You'd think the coach would realize that he has been playing since he was 5 - both indoor and outdoor. I think if he was going to be an aggressive player, he would be by now! Who knows, maybe he will come into it this year.

Our homeschooling group went hiking in Kal Park today - we hiked down to Cosen's bay. It was beautiful and warm. I wore capris and a t-shirt and I was just right - even sweating. Our group consists of mostly girls Rhiannon's age and that was just about all who came along today except for two girls' 7 year old brothers. 5 of the 6 girls (all 5 years old) got naked at the beach and played in the sand and water. You might not know this but at this time of the year, the water is not actually that cold. I mean, it is cold but it is bearable. The water level is still low because the snow packs in the mountains haven't really started melting yet. In a month, the water will be far colder - the leg numbing kind of cold. Today was nice - I even went wading. I really love this area I live in. Spring is so beautiful. The hills were covered with clumps of yellow flowers that I have never seen anywhere else. They are called 'Okanagan Sunflowers' but they are not a sunflower (which are really a kind of zinnia and native to Mexico) Their real name is arrow leaf balsamroot (see below). Anyways, they are really gorgeous this year. The petals were huge and the yellow so bright. It must have been the right kind of spring for them. And you could see the wild lupin starting to grow and pearly everlasting and sage. Such a time of renewal around here. The lake was so still and clear, you could see the clouds reflected perfectly.