Thompson Tackles Tsali

We are just home from an afternoon mountain biking excursion at Tsali. We arrived to find the SERC Race #2 wrapping up, so we biked the Thompson Loop (yes, that's the real name) while the racers finished up. T did an awesome job biking the 8 miles, and a huge shout-out to Wes for coaching him along! Afterwards, T hung around the parking lot and campgrounds with Nay-Nay to bike a bit more while Bobby, Herb, Wes and I biked the right loop. What a day!

My Favorite Fruit...

Look who made an appearance in this month's WNC Parent magazine!

CYCL Race #1 Pictures

Many thanks to "Nay-Nay" for capturing these moments.

getting ready

pre-race ride

Go Team Training Wheels!

and they're off!

rounding the first turn,

heading to the single-track

 pushing the bike up the last steep hill

(#764 won the 9-10 division)

final stretch

approaching the finish line

 post-race play-by-play recap

 our proud 6th place finisher!

#531 takes 6th

Thompson's first mountain bike race of 2012 was this past weekend through the Charlotte Youth Cycling League (CYCL).  He placed 6th in the Boys 7-8 category with a time of 26:28.4 completing a 2.5 mile loop on a single-track trail at Fisher Farm Park in Davidson, NC.  As a point of reference, we determined T is probably the youngest (if not the youngest) competitor in his age bracket as race ages are determined by racers' ages on 12/31/12.  The top five boys were 8 (or at least turn eight this year).  Way to go T-man! 

Our local youth mountain biking league, Carolina Youth Mountain Biking League (CYMBL), in which T participated last fall won't start until August.  CYMBL's inaugural season proved successful...so much so there was interest in them expanding east.  CYMBL determined there was still room for growth locally and encouraged the creation of new leagues.  To this end, both Greensboro and Charlotte launched similar leagues this year - Piedmont Youth Mountain Biking League (PYMBL) and CYCL - with their seasons running March thru Mary/early June.

We are looking forward to this coming weekend as we head east again, this time for Greensboro, for PYMBL's first race at Country Park.

T's 1st Soccer Game

We've officially earned the label "soccer family". Thompson's first soccer game was today and it most definitely brought back memories of our soccer days.  He had been anticipating this day, counting down the Saturdays.  We registered him through ABYSA, a local youth soccer organization offering both recreational and competitive soccer programs.  We have heard (and found it true!) that ABYSA promotes the sport in a fun, non-competitive environment intended to develop basic skills and further players' love for the game.  In the Under 6 league, the teams are co-ed and have approximately 6-8 players.  They practice for 30 minutes and then play 3-on-3 against another team for 30 minutes.  Coaches work together to teach drills and then walk the "mini" field (20x30 yards) to assist their players when.  T did great, and most importantly, had fun!

first team meeting with Coach Matt

(William didn't want to be left out!)

practicing

game is underway!

mid-game debrief with dad

game wrap-up

William on the sidelines (or should I say in the goal!?)

Look who came to visit today...

Aunt G and Bart! Albeit a quick stop and layover, the boys were thrilled to see G and B show up this afternoon.  We took a stroll through Biltmore park, hitting Ya-Ya's, REI, OP Taylors and Barnes & Noble for heading to Apollo Flame for dinner (at G's request).

M&M's

So you may wonder, why the M&M's? Well, despite the boys loving them, this particular jar (a gift from Annie and Poppy this past weekend) served to jump start Williams's potty training efforts. For the past month or so, we've been taking him to the bathroom before nap and bed times. He'd proudly respond "pee-pee in potty get a MM!" (with his voice crescendoing to a higher pitch at the end) Well, upon receipt of the new jar, William told us "Put in my room. Pee pee on potty get a MM". So, of course, that's what we did! We placed it on the shelf in his room where we had been keeping a small stash of M&M's readily available. Official potty training began Monday and thus far he's doing great. Thanks Annie and Poppy!