November 2021: Soccer and Cyclocross

Michael's soccer team made it to the CYC area finals (maybe regionals?) so they played a couple weeks longer than the regular season. I honestly have no idea how the CYC league is set up, so I'm not entirely sure what they won here. I think maybe it was their local bracket that this game put them into the finals. I'm not a very good soccer mom.

You can see by the sunshine and shorts that this was a lovely November day. But winning this game meant they played another the following week. That Friday night game was at 8pm, well after dark, and it was 35 degrees and a winter wind blew non stop, and then it started snowing towards the end of the game. The kids played in hats and gloves with pants and jackets under their uniforms, and the rest of us huddled together under every blanket and sleeping bag I could fit in my car. The only picture I have is this phone pic of Edie and Grampy T snuggled up trying to retain body heat. I didn't even get out my real camera because I thought the elements might not be kind to it, and I spent the whole game trying to keep a sleeping Agnes warm in my lap without smothering her with too many blankets. Michael's team did not win this game which ended their season, but I can't say he or any of us were that sad about it.

Typical for November though, the next week was not nearly so bad - cold but sunny and not windy. Michael had wanted to take Michael Jr to an open cyclocross race at the water tower park, but thought it was right on the verge of being too cold. In the end they rode over at the last minute just to see how cold it was on the bikes, and joined in the race just as it started. After riding a few laps with Michael Jr, Daddy broke off the course to watch and let me know that they were in fact riding, so the rest of the kids and I jumped in the van to catch the end of the race. The course was basically just a path around the park marked off with poles and tape, but it incudes several places where you had to ride up very steep hills and carry your bike up some stairs. Michael (both of them) loved it.