Regions

We traveled to Florence today for the Special Olympics regional tournament. It was an early start, but we survived. The other teams were bigger and more aggressive than any we'd seen in our local district, but our team played well. Xander was happy with the end result.

Game One ...



Xander bringing the ball up the court ...



Xander going up against a defender ...



Bringing it up again ...



Drills with Coach Leslie between games ...



Game Two ...





Game Three ...



Defense (we've been working hard to learn this skill) ...



Another basket ...



And another basket ...



And the crowning moment ... the shiny gold medal as region champions ...



With our awesome Coach Leslie ...



Team cheer ...



#1 ...



Love for our local competitors and runners up in the region ...



Kissing the shiny medal on his way back home ...

Xander's Adventures ...

Xander's adventures with community living support (CLS) works Jack and Scott ...

Special Olympics basketball ...



Making cookies and brownies (working on cooking self-help skills) ...





Playing board games ...



Playing iPad ...



Eating at his all-time favorite, Arby's ...



And his non-fast food favorite, Red Robin ...



Learning to play ping pong / table tennis from a champion ...

Sawyer's Adventures ...

Adventures with his community living support (CLS) worker / Aunt Kelly ...

Cheese sticks at Gatti-town ...



Painting at the Mad Potter ...



Icee and cookies at the Great American Cookie Company ...



Painting at Cut + Paste ...



Trying the obstacle course at SkyZone ...



Pizza and bread sticks at Fazoli's ...



Pizza at Pie Five ...



Hugs from Chuck E. Cheese (which is both rare and wonderful, as he usually doesn't like strangers to touch him) ...



The obstacle course at GetAir trampoline park ...



Roller skating ...



Dancing in the arcade ...



Trying new food at Chili's ...

Enjoying Birthday Presents

Xander with his beloved Prime, Inc. truck ...





And Sawyer with his new swing ...

Shooter

Xander LOVES playing sports. He LOVES to score, more than anything. Here is a video of him scoring during his Special Olympics basketball game ...

... and my favorite part is after he scores, as he runs back up the court, as he beams that huge smile over to us in the stands!