I was able to arrange, and Maggie and Liz to take part in, an exhibition game at US Lacrosse, Tierney Field. The exhibition game was against the Los Angeles Wave. It was set up for success, because my counterpart from the Wave, Stephen Fossatti, is such a sportsman, and set up a great event.
We decided to have a tailgate together with the families from the Wave and from the Redshirts. While the parents tailgated, the players got to use the US team’s locker room to dress for the event. When they walked onto the field, each team saw their names and logos up on the US Lacrosse scoreboard. And they greeted each other on the field as friendly competitors.
It was a competitive match. The Redshirts were ahead 6-4 at the half, and the Wave pulled ahead to a 13-8 victory. After the game, the Redshirts shared some gifts with the Wave. Marcia had made each of them custom Terp scrunchies as keepsakes. And Liz put on a stickwork demo and taught the California girls how to throw fakes. While she was doing this, Maggie toured the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame Museum with her teammates.
These events are special, and are totally worth the effort.
Liz and I coach Maggie’s 2026 lacrosse team. I am the head coach. I have an associate head coach, Audrey, who is great. And Liz is one of the assistants. It is a lot of fun coaching Maggie’s team, and Liz does a great job. And Maggie is fun, and she works hard, as do a bunch of her teammates. It is a good recipe for this team to be successful.
On Saturday, it was super cold. We had to leave the house early in the morning and drive more than an hour to arrive before 7AM. First game started before the sun came up. It was interesting.
Our team went 4-0. Maggie and her teammates played great through pool play. Maggie played defense and midfield. Our team had fun throughout the four games and in between, and competed hard. They earned the #1 seed and a spot in the championship game.
After the last game though, the coach of the other team was complaining about the scorekeeper not counting one of their goals. Liz keeps the stats for our team, and documents all goals scored, for both teams. And the scorekeeper had it correct. So, I signed the scoresheet, that we won 7-3. But then the scorekeeper came up to me and said the opposing coach requested to talk with me, and she ended up getting in Liz’s face saying that she kept the score wrong and didn’t count one of their goals. Liz handled herself very well (especially given that she wasn’t the scorekeeper, just kept stats which matched the scorekeeper). She showed the coach all of the scoring, how they were scored and who scored. The coach left the field with her team acting like they had been cheated, and she was very vocal about it. Liz was a little rattled, because adults should not behave the way that she did, especially not towards a conscientious teenager who is doing her best to help. But I talked with Liz on the way back to the tent and told her how well she handled herself.
A few minutes later, we learned that this team earned 2nd place and would play us in the championship. Great! In order to teach my teams sportsmanship and honoring the game and the opponents, I have instituted pregame rituals. I have each player on our team go to the opposite bench before the game and shake the hand of the opposing coach and wish her/him luck. And then when they get on the field, shake the hand of the player they are facing off against and wish them luck. I believe it sets the tone for friendly competition and sportsmanlike behavior.
But, after the opposing coach’s behavior in the last pool play game, I broke with our new tradition and just instructed the players to take the field. The opposing coach had not demonstrated very good adult behavior in the prior game, and I didn’t want it to effect us as we stepped onto the field.
In a short game, we got off to a quick lead and kept it. With a few minutes left, we were up 4-0, and I was able to make sure that everybody played in the championship. We came away with a 4-1 victory. And the girls got to enjoy championship t-shirts and medals.
We got to the field at 7AM, and weren’t done until 6PM. Average temperature on the day was 40 degrees. Hour and a half drive each way. I took the girls (Liz, Maggie, and Mackenzie – my all star team) out to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate before driving home. They earned it! And Maggie got desert!
It was a great day to be a coach. And a great day to be a dad.
I don’t have pics of Maggie or Jack, because we didn’t attend the event.
Maggie, Luke, and Jack all competed in Gobble Gobble Go at their school. Maggie completed 16 laps. Luke completed 8 laps. Jack completed 13 laps. Jack beat most of the 5th graders, and was tops in his grade, 1st grade. Maggie might have been tops in her grade, 5th grade.
It is Thanksgiving morning, and we have been talking about the Turkey Trot. I just threw the clothes in the dryer, as it is 23 degrees out. I am not running this year. Liz, Noah and Maggie all want to run. It is almost time to wake them up, so we will see.
For a few days, I have gotten Luke and Maggie up at 6AM to go running before school. Yesterday, Jack came with us as well. We run around a few blocks, and then we do some exercises – pushups, crunches, planks, box hops and wall sits. It is a special time with the kids, and we are enjoying it.
It is dark when we run and blistery cold. It was less than 20 degrees this morning, so I let them sleep in today. But, we will be back at it tomorrow.
Snooze. Beep Beep. Snooze. One eye open. 3:33. Good sign, gotta get up. I was taking the kids today on an adventure. I didn’t tell anyone where we were headed, including Marcia. We got them loaded in the car and we were off by 4:30. I was taking them somewhere they had never been. And I hadn’t been back to Cornell in 17 years.
I put over 4 hours behind the wheel before anyone woke up. Then they were up the last hour of the drive. We pulled into Manos Diner in Ithaca around 9:30 for a little breakfast before seeing the sites.
Manos Diner – first stop in Ithaca
First stop had to be Schoellkopf Field. I took the kids out onto the turf and they loved it. Noah started sprinting from one end of the field to the other. Elizabeth and Eden starting running stadium stairs. I told them where the locker room was and showed them where coach Richie Moran took us all after each game for a post game party.
Six at Schoellkopf Field
Love this Stadium and those stairs
Hall for post game lacrosse gatherings
I was proud and excited to tell Marcia and the kids all about my days at Cornell. I showed them the slope and told them about Slope Day. I showed them where I sold daffodils for Daffodil Day, raising money for cancer research with my fraternity. I told them about the Hot Truck, and showed them my fraternity. My freshman dorm has been torn down and replaced with newer buildings. We walked through campus and I showed them the statues of Ezra Cornell and Andrew White. I showed them some of the libraries and where I had classes. We saw North Campus, and West Campus. We saw Collegetown – less bars than there used to be, and more Starbucks.
Marcia and the kids at Cornell
Cornell or Hogwarts?
Fuertes Observatory
Legend has it that if a virgin crosses between the two statues at midnight, they will cross the quad and dance a jig. The statues have never moved.
Far Above Cayuga’s Water
Looking down on West Campus – much different than when I went there
The kids loved seeing the plantation. We spent a good bit of time there exploring all of the trees. And we had a picnic late in the day, the last stop before heading home. As a student, I never really appreciated the plantation. I ran around and through it for lacrosse, but never had a picnic or took in the beauty of the place.
Newman Overlook at Cornell Plantations
I love Luke in this picture
Picnic in Cornell Plantations
The main attraction had to be the gorges. All of the kids had lots of fun exploring the gorges. They ran along the paths to get to the gorges. Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to swim. I was really disappointed in this, as I remember lots of people swimming there when I was a student. It is now an offense that you can be arrested for. Bummer. I still waded out into the waterfalls, but we decided against letting the kids do it.
Ithaca is Gorges
Gorge above Beebe Lake
I found the spot where I jumped from the side of the gorge 20 years ago. I didn’t repeat the act, but was kind of impressed with how high I had jumped from. Young dumb and stupid is no way to go through life, Kennedy!
Where I jumped 20 years before
For me, this was a great trip. There were reasons that I left Cornell, and there were reasons why I put it in my past, and haven’t revisited it. It was great though to remember on this trip all of the joy I experienced at Cornell. All of the beauty of the place. And to share that with Marcia. And also with the kids.
It is an impressive and beautiful university. I wish I had appreciated it for all that it had to offer when I was a student, athlete and fraternity boy. There was so much that I didn’t do as a student, and wish I had been a bit more mature in those days. I am so grateful though for the experiences that I did have, and that I am able to share even glimpses of those experiences with my kids. It made me so proud that they were genuinely interested in the trip and my stories. Maybe one day one of them will be lucky enough to experience Cornell as a student.
Last night, we took a little trip up to Ski Liberty. None of the kids had ever been skiing before. And I hadn’t been skiing since before Marcia and I met, over 17 years ago. So, we piled the oldest 4 kids into the van and drove up there.
We started them off with a lesson.
Marcia – dropping off kids at Ski school
Ready for ski school
Ready for some skiing
The kids were off with their instructor and Marcia and I were able to take a few runs by ourselves. I took a few runs down the back side of the mountain by myself and was able to ski a Black Diamond before meeting back up with the kids. An hour lesson and they were doing great.
Maggie – hands on her knees, no poles
Eden – flying down that mountain
Liz – focused on her turns
Noah – No fear
And then some night skiing as a family.
Having fun
Kennedy gang at Ski Liberty
We mostly stuck to the bunny hill.
I love how comfortable the kids all were. They got on the chair lifts by themselves, and were calling to each other from the chair lifts and waving to each other on the mountain. It was really cool. Before the night was over, I took Liz over to a bit faster hill for one last run.
It was cool that I remembered how to ski after all these years. And it was interesting that Marcia and I had never skied before. She kept remarking that she never knew how good of a skiier I was. Interesting that we have spent all these years with each other and there are still sometimes things that we don’t know about each other.
Very cool night. They all wanted to do it again. Eden wanted to spend the night. On the way home, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast at night. This morning, with 7 inches of snow on the ground, I took Liz to an early morning bus to NYC to spend a few days with her godfather. The rest of us have a snow day 🙂
Not much has been able to slow down this crew lately, until the kids got sick. First Luke… then Noah. I thought we were done. A few sleepless nights getting up with the boys to throw up. No big deal. Neither one complained just vomited and went back to bed. But then Eden, Elizabeth and Jack all got sick at the same time. What a nightmare. Maggie still standing … for now.
On July 21, 2012, the Kennedys took a grand adventure to Luray, VA and the Shenandoah Valley National Park. Eden, Elizabeth, Mom and Dad each had cameras to capture the fun and the sights. These are pictures from inside Luray Caverns.
Six With Sticks 