3 on 3

Most weeks, Ben and I go on a date Friday night while Cat babysits the other kids.  Last Friday we decided to forgo the date, since we'd just had a 4-day-long date in Hawaii and we knew we had a busy week ahead and there wouldn't be a lot of time to just have fun as a family.  Jack has been really into basketball lately, so we decided to shoot some hoops, in spite of the cold, wet weather.  We played for about 30-45 minutes, which included two first-to-15-points games.  The girls won both games, mostly thanks to Cat's mad baller skills, but the boys came pretty close on the second game.

Here's a verbal highlight reel:

* Luke tried to bring his body armor (a big flat foam sled) to the game to guard against Eliza and refused to play for a few minutes after we told him it wasn't allowed. Then he joined us and when his ball-holding and Ben's Luke-holding combined, it was a powerful combination.

*Cold, numb fingers trying to handle a cold, wet ball in fading light.

* Ben to Luke: Check your man!

Luke: I'm checked!

* Eliza's chest-passed to Cat's face

* Jack to Ben, when Luke was taking a break: "I'm your only option!"

* Eliza yelling repeatedly, "Foul ball!" against Luke.

* Cat complimenting herself by yelling "BUCKETS!" after a good shot.

* Eliza repeatedly accusing Ben of dunking.  He wasn't.

* Cat morphing into an octopus and wrapping herself around Jack when he wouldn't give up the ball.

* Luke exclaiming "Halftime!" a few minutes into the second game.

* Somehow at the very end of the second game I got hit in the right knee and ended up with an impressive bruise.  It didn't hurt that much, but a few days later, it still looks pretty nasty.  Also unknown: how Eliza tore the knee of her leggings.