It's over! It's finally over!

The Western Zone World Series tournament took place the last few days in Hemet. For four days, we sweltered in over 100 degree heat. On Saturday, the poor girls actually had to keep playing while thunder boomed, lightning flashed, the wind blew dirt/sand/pebbles everywhere and - oh yeah, it rained on them, too! UNBELIEVABLE. They let 7-9 year old girls play - and they're using metal bats and surrounded by metal fences! Are you serious?!

Well, they won that game in extra innings at least. But, on Sunday, unfortunately, they lost the championship game to a travel ball team that had no business playing in a PONY league. What can you do? At least they got a really snazzy medal as a runner-up.

Mika didn't enjoy her All Star season very much this past summer, much to our dismay. I can't say I blame her, what with all the hooplah, drama, and politics going on. She definitely needs a long break from softball. After her "banishment" to outfield for two tournaments (where she was literally dying of boredom, because very few balls came her way), she was suddenly re-assigned to the infield (3rd base and then 2nd base) - but he hadn't had her practicing there. Does that make any sense?

But good news! It's AYSO soccer time already! I just got my rosters for both Mika & Marika's teams. I've heard back from almost everyone and since I have one request player on each team, I know that those parents will help me out - that is a huge relief. We have a couple more weeks before practices can begin, but the girls and I (especially Marika) have already been practicing.

Speaking of soccer... my custom-fit ACL brace came a couple of weeks ago - but it's back with the company right now, getting retro-fitted for a ski boot (on the offhand chance I'll ski again, I need a little adapter to attach the brace to the ski boot - I figured it was better to be safe than sorry!). Hopefully, it will return before AYSO practices begin.

I was surprised by how comfortable and light the brace was - I'm wearing a lightweight sleeve underneath the brace. It does feel slightly weird to wear it while running on astroturf (I went to visit my old Sunday team last weekend) but it wasn't as odd as I had expected. Less than seven weeks left before I can play! I already signed onto the roster of a Thursday night league, even though I will be able to play only for their very last game. Still... it's nice to be wanted on a team. :)