who let the dogs out?

Time.  It is just flying these days.  Here we are the middle of July and pictures of Caleb's opening weekend in soccer are still waiting to see the light of day...

While Daniel was ecstatic over the beginning of the season, to our big boy it was a bit "old hat."  Sure, he was glad to be back with some of his soccer buddies ~ our league keeps kids together from one season to the next if possible so that team relationships can build...these boys and a few others could be our soccer family for the next ten years if we all continue to play through the league ~ but he wasn't as jazzed up about the first game as Daniel was.

Even so, he played aggressively that day and had a good game.

One bit of natural talent our boy was gifted is energy.

I seriously don't know where he gets it sometimes.  He may not always be the fastest, or even the most talented on the field.

But 9 times out of 10, he's got energy to run circles around anyone.  And in a fast paced game like soccer, energy is pretty important.

Caleb also attended futsal clinic on Friday nights this spring.  The skills he picked up there combined with his desire to kick a ball around the block instead of riding his bike when we took family walks showed up as the season went on.

Caleb shifted from being a high energy kid on the team to a valuable player.

His love of the game was contagious enough that we decided travel out of town with the team at the end of the season to attend the Powerade State Games.  The heat was almost unbearable, and they played two games a day just one hour apart over the weekend, but managed to come up with the bronze medal for their age bracket.

just before they received their medals...accidentally did video of the medal shot instead of a still shot.

The time has come to put shin guards and cleats back into the closet to wait for the next season, but it's good to know that our soccer family will be back when it's time to start kicking a ball again!