Saturday, our neighborhood had it’s first annual (?) Wildflower Festival. It was a fun event with lots of activities. Vendor booths, live music, food trucks, trolley rides through the neighborhood and even more events at each model home. The girls loved the bounce house. Ella loved the bounce house, having refused to go in any type of bounce house her entire life, only to discover about a month ago, hey…these things are actually fun. So, that was a big hit.
However, in the activity field there was a golf clinic and a lacrosse clinic. The playground was quite busy, so we wandered out on the field. The lacrosse area wasn’t very busy so we walked over to visit the high school girls demonstrating the game. Ella and Lily were immediately shy and would not participate. Ella even ran across the field and hid near the bathrooms. She was also being rather cheeky, and just being moody in general.
Loran and I each had a lacrosse stick and the high school girls tried to engage Lily who was hiding behind me. So, I played around a little and finally convinced Lily to try throwing the ball at me so I could catch it and then throw it to her with the stick. But then, I talked her into standing with me while I threw it so she could help, and then I gave her the stick and the girls swooped in and started showing Lily what to do. Loran and I stood back and watched, while chatting with the mother of the girls (the wife of our high school’s LAX coach). Next thing I know, Lily’s tearing around the field, scooping and lobbing the ball at the goal, like she’s been doing it for years. The girls were in shock. They kept repeating that she’s picking it up so quickly. She’s really good.
Oh, you mean every kid doesn’t run to the goal, shoot the ball in and then do a victory dance?
Apparently, Lily and her left-handed lacrosse skills were something to be excited about. Who knew? Perhaps it was all of the time in the sun, but I was already imagining college signing day when Lily committed to play for ____ University on a full lacrosse scholarship. Way to be a left handed girl!
So, in typical Loran in Christy fashion, we completely overreacted to this news and within a few hours of Lily’s newfound skill, we were headed to a lacrosse store near Loran’s office to find Lily a short girl stick. When we got there, we found out that they didn’t carry any of the smaller sticks. Lily had already had her heart set on a pink or purple stick. We bought her three lacrosse balls and she cried because she wanted her lacrosse stick (we’d already created our little monster). A quick stop at Target (no sticks), and a dinner stop, and we were off to a nearby sporting goods store. There, they had the shorter sticks and lo and behold, had one in purple! Oh, the excitement!
She’s posing as a righty, showing off her stick.
Well, Lily was excited. Ella, not so much. She was so put out that we were focusing all of this attention on her sister and lacrosse. The nerve! Never mind that she had been horseback riding two days prior while her sister played happily in the dirt. So, amongst sports bras and running shorts, Ella and I had a little heart-to-heart about being happy for our family members. How Lily was so happy that Ella was able to ride horses, even though she didn’t get to ride a horse, and now it was Ella’s turn to be happy for Lily even though she wasn’t getting a lacrosse stick.
Once we got home, we played a little with the new stick, took photos with it and “made rainbows” (arching the stick to throw the ball). But, after a long day of festivals, sun, and bounce houses…not to mention our adventure to obtain the stick meant the girls were low on fuel and patience, so we brought the beloved stick in and got ready for bed.
Today, Lily and Loran worked a little at catching the ball. She was having a great time until I showed up with a water bottle for her, then she had to break after every couple of catches to hydrate.
So, we’ll see where this takes us, but for now, Lily is really excited to have a sport to call her own, and is quick to remind Ella that Ella rides horses and she plays lacrosse (for like a whole 24 hours now!).
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