New railway opening between the downtown of Minneapolis and St Paul

Today was an official opening day for a new railway between downtown Minneapolis and St Paul. Therefore, we decided to take a ride. The rail is 11 miles long between two downtown and it took us an hour from the one end to the other end. Khuslen was so excited to ride the train. It was fun day even though the weather was not very pleasing since it was raining a lot and was very windy at the same time.
Өнөөдөр бидний амьдардаг 2 том хотын хооронд метроны зам тавигдлаа. Анх удаа нээгдэж байгаа болохоор өнөөдөр үнэгүй зорчих эрхийг хүмүүст олголоо. Метроны зам нь ойролцоогоор 18 км урт, 2 хотын хооронд цаг орчим явдаг. Хүслэнд метронд сууна гэж 2-3 өмнөөс хэлсэн биш ээжээ хэзээ галт тэргээр явах вэ гэж сүүлийн хэдэн өдөр бид 2-ыг шалгаалаа. Өнөөдөр тэгээд Хүслэн галт тэргэнд сууж нэг хорхой дарагдлаа.

                                         Starting point - Target field -Галт тэрэгний нэг захын зогсоол

                                            Excited boy - сэтгэл нь хөөрсөн Хүслэн

last day of school picnic - Elizabeth Hall

                                                    His best buddy in school - Taron

 Teachir Mi

 Teacher Bethany

 His favorite teacher - Heidi

 His school mates

 Saying good bye to his friends

Soccer Tournament Update

Elizabeth's Echo team participated in the Indiana Presidents Cup soccer tournament this weekend.  They won yesterday and advanced to the finals this morning.  The game was tied 0-0 at the end of regulation.  It was tied 1-1 at the end of overtime.  Unfortunately, they lost in a penalty kick shoot out 2-1.

Elizabeth took it really hard, as did her team.  They get tomorrow off and will have practice again on Wednesday.  They play their final game on Sunday.  Elizabeth will have a large fan club to see the final game.

The good news is that we don't have to cancel our Saugatuck plans and go to Kansas City while Tim is here visiting us!

Terri et al

Chess Megafinals - Mr. Supremo!

Today Ryan competed in the UK Schools Chess Challenge - Megafinal 2014.  This year the competition started with over 50,000 children from 1,500 schools.  There are 41 Megafinals with approximately 6,500 who qualified. Ryan won 5 out of 6 chess matches.  He tied for first in the U10 (under 10 age group) and was awarded overall first place on sum of progressions.  Don't worry about the calculation. The important thing is Ryan won "Supremo" for his age group and also qualified for the Gigafinals.  The bad news is that the Gigafinals take place on July 12.  We were planning to be in the US on this date.  If Ryan competes in the Gigafinals we need to rethink our plans.  More to come...

Ryan with his Supremo trophy and Megafinals rosette

Soccer Update 2

Elizabeth's team won the game 2-0!  It was an exciting game, but they won!  There was even a near goal scored by the other team the Elizabeth scooped off the goal line.  Fortunately the side ref was in position and waved off the goal because the entire ball did not cross the goal line!  Wow!

This means that Elizabeth's team advances to the next round of the Presidents' Cup.  It will be at a complex north of Indy in two weeks.  John will be in charge of this tournament.

Hooray!

Mellor Update

Elizabeth and I are in Columbus, IN (just south of Indy) this weekend for the Presidents' Cup soccer tournament.  This is a tournament that is invitation only and has three tiers.  Elizabeth's team is in the middle tier.

She played two games on Saturday, winning the first (4-0) and tying the second (1-1).  We play at noon today against a team we tied a few weeks ago.  We think we can beat them today.  There is a whole point system that determines who will advance, and I won't even try to explain it . However, we need to win by two today.

Elizabeth is playing well.  Lots of powerful kicks and excellent defense.  She took a few wild rolling tumbles yesterday, but nothing a hot shower, good sleep, and some ibuprofen couldn't take care of.  Her big toe is mysteriously black and blue this morning, but interestingly, doesn't hurt.

In other news, Grace scored a goal in her game in South Bend yesterday.  Hooray!  She was also a gracious hostess in handing out the after-game snacks.  Paul is finishing up his school baseball season and has been playing second base a bit.  His Juniors league is starting practice today. His Baccalaureate Mass is tomorrow and John and I are attending.  John is currently dressed in full garb and is attending the ND graduation as faculty today.  (grin!)  I finished my grades in the car during E's pregame warm-ups yesterday and just need to put them into the computer!  I've also determined that the 16 day forecast looks promising enough that I can start planting!  Wow!

How is everyone else?

Soccer Tournament Ending

Well, as you might have guessed since I didn't post last night, Elizabeth's team did not win the tournament.  Unfortunately, the championship game ended in a 1-1 tie after 70 minutes of regulation play and 20 additional overtime minutes.  They lost in a penalty kick shootout  3-1.  It was disappointing, but they played well and the girls held their heads high.

At the awards ceremony each coach gives a "Player of the Game" award to a member of the opposing team.  Elizabeth received this award.  The coaches and the players said, "We talked about you and had no answer for you."  She was honored and so were John and I.

Drive home was lengthy.  Because of the overtime, etc. we didn't leave Dayton until 6:45 pm and faced a 4 1/2 hour drive home.  Fortunately, we headed west to Indy and then took the familiar route north in the dark (and tons of wind).  Going to bed early tonight!