Michael's mad soccer skills

Last weekend we joined some AI friends for an incredibly fun pick-up soccer game.  And by "we" I mean, of course, that Alex joined the game, Michael went back and forth between playing with his trains, kicking an extra ball around, and trying to join in the game, and I chased M and cheered on Alex.  We had a blast.

We also discovered that M has some pretty impressive soccer skills (for a toddler).  He obviously gets his raw talent from his father--I played one season of soccer at some point in elementary school and scored exactly one goal.  But the more memorable part is that in his attempt to block my shot the goalie ended up sitting on my foot--and he was not exactly small for our age.

Enough about me and my non-soccer skills.  Of course I had neither the camera or the video camera at the game last weekend, but this afternoon we ventured up to the park equipped with soccer balls and cameras for a quick Team Crane practice.  Here are some (okay, quite a few) highlights:

My handsome soccer players

Working on technique

Kicking the ball is my FAVORITE!

RUNNING is my favorite!

M was quite impressed by Daddy's skills with the ball

Hustle? I'm too cute to hustle.

Future soccer star!

Yeah, I'm cute and I know it.

Having so much fun playing with Daddy...

But those soccer balls are tricksy--sometimes you go to
kick them and you end up on the ground.  What?!

By the time I broke out the video camera M was getting a little worn out (obviously we need some more strength and conditioning to build stamina).  His coordination seems to decrease exponentially as he gets tired, hence all the dives and his lack of interest in kicking the ball (he was dribbling very impressively earlier, I promise!).