Ethan and the Bluejays

Since Ethan turned 3 in April, he is finally old enough to participate in little sports classes offered at the local rec center. We decided soccer was the best for him since he has been obsessed with it basically since he was a newborn. Taylor's younger sister played soccer in high school and she lived at home the past 3 summers that we were here so Ethan got to join her in the backyard many afternoons to kick balls around. The Woodbury's also love going to watch REAL Salt Lake (the MLS soccer team in Utah) games and Ethan has gotten to tag along.
(Isaac with Grandpa, Ethan, Grams, Barbara-who hates pictures but is being a good sport)
It's been interesting this summer to see the differences between Ethan and Isaac. As a newborn, Ethan would sit and literally watch the entire game. His little head would move back and forth watching the ball. I thought maybe all babies were fascinated by the movement. Wrong! Isaac could care less what's happening on the field. He wiggles and is only happy when he's standing up on our laps, turned around backwards so he can smile at the people behind us (who apparently pay more attention to him than we do). Notice here Ethan is watching while Issac tries to steal his yellow card.
Always smiley for the camera! (They're both wearing jerseys from an Irish club team-ignore the beer logo)

So anyway, Ethan joined a little soccer league where there were no practices, just games. I guess at this age they figure no one's really going to learn anyways, so just let them run around and have fun. Which is exactly what they did. It was really funny to watch them all trip over each other, kick the ball into the wrong goal, continue kicking the ball 30 yards out of bounds with the ref whistling and screaming for them to stop, and even occasionally throwing the ball into the goal with their hands (yes, Ethan did this when they asked him to throw the ball in from the side lines. I actually watched his little look of confusion as they said "throw it in" and so of course he took that literal and ran and "threw" the ball in the goal). Various children also spent time laying on the field (it was pretty hot), holding hands and skipping around the field (this really embarrased Taylor when he saw 3 little girls skipping towards Ethan who of course joined hands and joined in), and even flower picking. There were lots of goals because most teams didn't have goalies since the kids who were supposed to stay in the goal just got bored and kind of wandered off. But every game ended with juice and treats and high fives so everyone went home happy!

This is Ethan's team with their cute coach Amy. They chose the name "Bluejays" which Taylor kept saying was so lame, but they're 3 and 4 after all!
This is how Isaac and Taylor enjoyed the games in the 95 degree heat.

Thanks grams for coming to every single game and for cheering loudly! Isaac says thanks for letting him chew on your sunglasses and keys.