River Legacy Emi

The cake part!

Emilio's favorite part of the Benton-Nielsen wedding reception.

The New Do

Courtesy of Home Barbering, Inc.

Eight Today: Pals, Wheels, Bubbles, and Flying Scarfs at the Jasmine Morane

In addition to this Seminole Road Trip with pals, this year's presents from the parents included: the complete 2014 Topps NFL football card set, the Extended Edition DVD of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, an orange New Orleans t-shirt, a weather lab, a skip ball, and a fourth grade math workbook.

Backyard Birthday Connection with the Newlywed

Luck to T. Y. Hilton.

Not-so-instant replays.

Season Finale (Season Four, Game 8)

I was at an Honors conference in the Big Easy and missed Emilio's last game. Fortunately, Mari took over the documentary reins in my absence.

It must be said: that was not much of an effort from the red-and-white goalie. Emi's got one.

Five minutes later, this one looks familiar: same goalie, a little tougher angle. Emi's got two now.

Two minutes later: haven't we seen this one before? No, the goalie's new. Emi's got three.

Two minutes later: one of Emi's longest. I'm impressed. He's got four

Fifteen minutes later: the second half. Good angle. Number five.

Sneaky Quick Feet. That's six.

How did he sneak that one in? Number seven.

The slalom: wow. That's number eight for Emi in this game; the final score: Blue Dragons 9, Red-and-White 2. Season Record for the Blue Dragons: 7-0-1. In eight and a half games, Emilio scored 53 goals.

In 32.5 games over four season, Emilio has scored 141 goals (Season #1: Lemon Spring--undefeated: 44 goals; #2: Silver Fall--27 goals; #3: Silver Spring--17 goals; #4: Turquoise Fall--53 goals).

Row one from left to right: Lane, Tristan, Emi, Emory Row two: Wyatt, Tyler, Coach Brian Bratton

Green is Getting Mean (Season Four, Game 7)

We won the first of these 8-2, but every game is harder the second time through the schedule. This one--our second game of the day--is no different. In my efforts to save space on the old SD card I'm using, I erase as I go, and I mistakenly push a "White Balance" button that I later cannot find. As the result, I burn the color of the field!

We fall behind 0-2 before Emi scores this one--his only score in the first half.


We're tied 2-2 in the 2nd half when he scores his second.
This one didn't count, but I think it should have. The ref called it a "hand ball" (which is accurate), but it still went in.

The score is 3-3, and Lane is Johnny-on-the-spot following Emi's looping shot on goal.
Green scores again to tie it up, though, so this one will be a nail-biter.

With a little over two minutes to play, we need a score to break the tie, and Emilio gets it. In the second game of the day, Emi's third score delivers our sixth win: 5-4. We're 6-0-1 with one game to play. In seven and a half game,s Emilio has scored 45 times.

Return of the Red Devils (Season Four, Game 6)

The first time we played these guys, we were leading 6-0 in the first half when lightning struck. We won the rematch 9-6. Today? Our hardest match yet.

As the game begins, I realize that I don't have an SD card in the camera. Yikes! I find an old one that's full and hope that it has enough space left to record the game--but I'm not hopeful. When I open the door to install the SD card, the batteries fall to the ground. I just manage to get everything into the camera by kickoff, but I don't have time to assume my usual position at the end of the field where we're hoping to score goals. I'm glad I got this one recorded, though. It's 1-0.

One minute later, Emilio scores his second. And taps his left ankle to let me know he got that one with the left.

Don't know what happened on this one--Emi's third in the first quarter, but Emilio comes out in the second quarter, Coach Dwight calls out "Catty's out of the game!" and the Red Devils roar back to tie the game 3-3 at half-time.

With the score tied 4-4 in the third, Emilio scores his 4th of the game to give us a 5-4 lead. Emilio starts 4th quarter in goal (at his request), and the Red Devils score the equalizer (traffic was heavy down there). He returns to the forward position at the end of the game, but there's not enough time. Final score: 5-5. Coach Dwight tells his team, "One more game, and we'll have Catty's number." "Good game," I tell him , and he says "You saw what happened when [Emilio] came out of the game [in the 2nd quarter]." (The Devils outscored us 2-0.) After the game, Emi tells me our coach asked the ref and the ref told him we won 6-5. That's not the score I saw; or the score the Red Devils saw. I'm not sure it's the score the ref saw or our coach saw or the score Emilio heard, but I don't ask. That's the beauty of this game: you don't always know the score. Or your team's record.  So I won't swear by this, but I think our record is 5-0-1.  And (I just looked this up):  Emilio has scored 42 goals (including the 6 he scored in the first half of the game that was replayed).