The rugby season is off to a good start. At our first tournament, where the Hong Kong mini-rugby league set a Guinness world record of the largest mini-rugby tournament (2610 players), Sebastian's Sandy Bay team (the Under 10s) won two games and tied one game. (Left: officials announce the audited player total for the day. The last record was set 10 years ago in the US with 800+ mini-rugby players.)

The second "DEA" tournament at King's Park we won two games and tied one game. Our last game we played Valley Fort – "the team" to beat – and won 2 – 1. One of the tries we scored happened after Sebastian won the scrum when it was Valley Fort's ball. Seb (playing Hooker) snatched it out of the scrum with his foot, scrumhalf tossed to flyhalf, flyhalf halfway across the pitch to the 1st receiver in the wing who dashed up to Valley Fort's try line. It was a beautiful play. (Left: Sebastian's team celebrate their Valley Fort victory at the end of the day.)

Third tournament, on our home turf at Sandy Bay, we played four games. Valley Fort came back for a revenge game resulting in a tie. The three other games we won: 7-0, 5-0 and 2-0. I am no rugby expert, but the other coach and I (Tim) are focusing on making sure the kids know where they're supposed to be, and what they're supposed to be doing, at different points in the game. (Left: At the DEA Tournament, Jasper outruns Valley Fort on his way to scoring a try. Thanks for the great picture, Dale!)

The triplets are not doing quite as well although they are holding their own! Carys scored her first try in a tournament at DEA. It was as if she'd tasted blood and played like a fiend the rest of the day. So did Sela, who after NOT scoring a try but playing very well, cried for 15 – 20 minutes.  In case you're wondering about the red splotches on the kids' skin… we used leftover fake blood from Halloween to freak out the opposing teams. (Left: proud Carys after scoring her try and the obligatory annual Candy Floss Shot.)

All this rugby makes the kids dirty. We've had a few fun Sunday nights where the kids have "pretend shaved." I give them a big plastic spoon and handful of shaving cream. The boys shave their faces and the girls their legs. In the picture below Jasper watches with a "hair job" from the tournament. Part of the idea is to give Tantalising Tess, who busts her butt all the time for our family, a quiet break. I always attempt to have these baths be "whisper" baths. Can you hear Tess laughing… yeah, these baths don't provide for much whispering and if you think the water looks dirty now, you should have seen it after I washed his hair!