The brick work is done.

 I had a busy week with soccer.  We had a game on Monday, with both JV and varsity victorious over our crosstown rival Kentucky Country Day.  With the win, varsity advances to the small school state tournament next weekend.  We had another game on Wednesday against the top team in the state, St. Xavier.  We are the last team to beat them, as we beat them last year in our fist meeting early in the season but then lost in the regional final before they went on to win the State Championship.  As we were getting ready to board the bus we got slammed with a wall of storms that ended up forcing a reschedule until Friday. 

On Thursday we faced off against North Oldham.  They are a large school and have a solid program.  Varsity pulled out a solid 2-0 win.  Within the first 5 minutes of the JV game we were worried, as their JV had some talented players and linked passes very well.  However, our forwards decided that they had the right stuff and on 2 separate occasions dribbled their 3 defenders to score.  With another goal added on a great cross we were up 3-2 at half.  Darkness was falling fast, but the referees were loath to end the game with the trailing team making a hard push to tie it up.  With 10 minutes left on the clock they finally stopped it as with Oldham's black uniforms, they were largely invisible on the field and their was a lot of unseen fouling going on.

On Friday we played St. Xavier.  The game was set for 20 minute quarters due to the heat, so JV would get a shortened game as had happened on Thursday.  The game was tight with even play.  Both teams created a few scoring chances but weren't able to convert.  It was a very physical game, with each team receiving several yellow cards.  St. X was awarded a penalty kick late in the game but missed wide and it was still 0-0 at the end of regulation.  Since this was a district game there must be a winner, but two 5 minute overtime periods failed to change the score so it went to a penalty shootout.  They went first, scoring their first 4, while our 4th shooter's shot was saved by the St. X keeper.  Their 5th also put it his shot away, which ended the best of 5 penalty shootout.  Though we failed to upset the #1 ranked defending state champions, we played right with them for 100 minutes.  We will see them at least once more in the State tournament late in October.

And now the great stuff...
We spent last weekend laying brick between rainstorms and got our yard patio finished.  It's looking great.  With cool weather today, and a solid amount of rain this week softening the ground, we dug in and laid a brick edge around the concrete patio today.  It took a little longer than expected because we ran into a bunch of drainage rock, which does not dig easily.  Since the storms were the leading edge of a cold front (yay!) it never got out of the 70s today.  Once the sun went down it was forecasted to actually get chilly, so with a new brick patio we decided it was time for some outdoor fire action.  I have been researching fire pits online, and our nearby big box home store had a well rated and inexpensive one in stock.  We sent out a text to a bunch of friends telling them if they didn't have plans to stop by and help us christen our patio.  We ended up with a pretty good crowd and had a great evening talking with friends and eating smores.