Olympics!

I love the Olympics, and I'm so happy it's that time. I finished watching the US Women play Norway in Soccer. Both teams played real well, but it took the US a bit too long to get into the game, and ended up losing 2-0. Both goals were made within the first 5 minutes. Crazy!

Anyway, Friday is the opening ceremonies (not that I care about that, but then games besides Basketball and Soccer will be on).

Hello?

Man, where have I been? Not blogging, that is for certain, huh?

Last Saturday was a busy day.
That morning, I was at the soccer fields helping get them ready for this years games. We were doing the initial marking of the fields, fixing bleachers, fixing nets, filling holes. I was there from 8 till 12:30, and I was one tired puppy when I came home.

That evening we had a Cub Scout banquet where my boy was suppose to get his Tiger badge, but because of a communication problem, they didn't get their awards. The promotion ceremony for the 2nd year Webelos into Boy Scouts was really cool.

Because of that, we missed the eclipse, but we did catch a really cool moon.



Work has been crazy, and I mean real crazy. So bad, I haven't wanted to go, but I have.

Hopefully, it wont be another week and a half till my next update.

Daughter Soccer

Well, today, my daughter had 4 soccer games (scrimmages). She played goalie at one point, and from what I hear, she got creamed. She got kicked in the ribs. From what she said, the girl that did it got carded (as she probably should have).

She is going to be so sore since she hasn't played soccer for about 2 years. She's only been to a couple practices. So, after 4 games (even short games, 23 minute halves) that's still a lot of running.

It was good to see her play. Especially since this is her senior year.

Soccer Over

Today, we officially finished our Fall soccer season today with our soccer party.

We met at Mazzio's Pizza here in C-ville and I handed out trouphys. I also made an award for each kid pointing out something good about their play this year.

Parents and kids liked this I think.

Whew.

Here are a couple of pictures from when we had our pictures made this year.

Last weeks Soccer Game

Wow, here it is Thursday, and I didn't talk about last weeks soccer game.

Bad dad!

Anyway, it was a good game. All but one of my kids (remember, I coach, so I call them all my kids) scored in Saturdays game.

That's right, MY BOY scored his first goal of the season! WOO HOO!

I was so excited. And being the coach, you can't go nuts on one goal without doing it for the others.

Luckily my wife and my parents were and saw it.

The kids are starting to pick up on the positions though they still don't like it, but the girl on my team scored a goal from the back half of the field! It was too cool!

Also, during Saturdays game I said something you wont hear coaches tell their kids very often. "Stop talking!" See, most of the time, coaches want the players to talk to each other, things like "spread out", "go up", "I got it" stuff like that. Things that help them play more as a team. Well, my boy (I think) and one of the other boys were just chit-chatting about who knows what, and had basically stopped playing.

Our head Ref heard me tell them that, and she laughed. She knows that is something we drill into the kids on the field.

Next week, we will take this years photo's. So, Monday will be an easy practice. Now I just have to figure out what I'm doing tonight.

First U8 Soccer Game today

Today was our first U8 soccer game today.

The kids did great! 3 of the 6 kids scored points I think. 1 of the new kids that have never played before scored 2 points. I was excited. The funny part of that, was each time, his mom wasn't looking.

My most experienced kids did great. I'm going to have to watch them. They both look like they have tempers. That is not good.

It was a really good game. Though we still do not officially take score, one of the kids informed me that it was 17 - 2. I'm not sure if that is acurate or not, but it probably was.

I tried to slow down of the girls that was scoring to it didn't get worse. It didn't go so well.

I even had a parent volunteer to coach for me that game I'll be on that Men's Retreat on the 23rd. That was good to get the help. I hate having make-up games.

Soccer Practice

Today was the first soccer practice of the season.

I think it went pretty well. I have 2 kids that have never played before. 1 that is on their second season. 1 on the fourth, and 2 on their fifth or sixth.

I went over the basic rules of U8 soccer. Most people didn't have any questions. I'm not sure if that is good or bad.

After much, and I do mean much discussion, we finally chose the name Electric Sharks as our Team name. I'll never do that again. If I let the kids pick the name again, I'll give them 2 or 3 names, and vote. Most votes win.

Well, I have 7 more practice sessions before the first game.

We'll see how it goes.

Update

I know, it's been a while. 8 days in fact since I've last updated. I think this is the longest I have gone without updating.

Where to start...

Soccer
Well, I didn't get to see any soccer games from Wednesday till yesterday (Monday). The USA is still in the mix, but they will have to win their game Thursday and Italy has to win theirs. If Italy doesn't win their game, then the US will need a lot of points to make it to the next round.

VBS
Vacation Bible School started last night. I do believe this is the smallest VBS start I've ever seen. We only had 9 kids last night. The point isn't really the number of kids that come, but what they get out of it, but more kids would have been nice.

Camping Trip
Last week, we went on a camping trip. We camped at Twin Points at Skiatook Lake from Wednesday through Saturday. It was a very nice trip. It was hot, but we had a good strong south wind the whole time. That was good for the heat, but it made getting out on the lake impossible. We tried Friday night, but I was afraid I was going to capsize the boat, so we headed back to the dock.

On Thursday night, my boy was riding his bike that he got for Christmas. He hasn't ridden it much. So this was a good time for him to practice. He was doing pretty good. I took him up a hill to have him come down so I could take some pictures. Well, it started off real good, but he got going too fast, and had problems stopping. Needless to say, he crashed. And he crashed good! Scratched up his bike and his knees. One was bleeding pretty good, but once we got the mud cleaned off his knee, it wasn't bad. I was proud that he handled it as well as he did, or he might have really gotten hurt. It also made me happy when he got back on the bike Friday morning. I was a bit afraid he wouldn't get back on it.

There was a chance of rain Friday night and into Saturday. We knew this, and almost came home. But this is Oklahoma, and so until it actually rains, who knows if it really will. I asked my boy if he wanted to go home or stay one more night even though it might rain. He said he wanted to stay. So we put the rain tarps on the tents. The neighbors Friday night sat up late into Saturday morning partying. I really wouldn't have cared, except they were noisy as could be. So, I didn't really get any sleep till they went to bed which was around 2. Then their dogs started barking at a raccoon after all had gotten quite and I finally got to sleep. Well, the 'coon finally moved on and the dog was quite and I got more sleep. Then the rain moved in. Lots of lighting and thunder. And the tent started leaking. So did the rain flap. It was dripping on my wife. We talked for a bit about going in or staying through the night. We decided that we would go home if our boy woke up. If not, we would stick it out.

Well, the next morning (around 7ish or so), we got up (the rainflap finally quite leaking sometime during the night. I had put a towel where it was dripping on the bed so we could try to sleep). We started packing up camp to go home. Got most everything put up, and woke up my boy. He asked why everything was wet. He had slept all through the storms in his own tent. My wife and I just laughed about that.

We finished packing up and went into town for breakfast (between the raccoons and the rain, or planned breakfast was wet). After that, we headed home to unpack, reset up the tents and wash and dry them out.

Misc
Saturday morning as we were headed home, my daughters ex-boyfriend decided to try to choke her and then hit her (at her work), so he was arrested for assault. My wife went up to check on her, and I stayed home with our boy and unpacked. Yesterday, my wife and daughter filed a protective order against him.

Through all of this, I missed going to a birthday party of a guy I work with. He turned the big 30! (sucka). Anyway, gratz again.

Well, I guess this novel is long enough.

later

Soccer

Are you ready for some football?

This is day 4 of the World Cup. I'm watching my 10th game so far at this moment.

The lack of posts has been a combination of being busy and the World Cup.

This has been fun. I've got no idea how I'm going to keep up on all the games with some camping this week and VBS next week.

I don't need to sleep do I?

World Cup Starts TODAY!

Oh yea! Time for some soccer.

3 games a day (except today and there are only 2).

I need a larger hard drive of my DVR.

World Cup almost here!

I know most of you probably don't care about the World Cup if you even know what it is. But it is almost here.

10 days till the games start.

USA's first game is the 10th game of the games.

12-Jun-06 11:00 (CT) USA:Czech Republic
17-Jun-06 14:00 (CT) Italy:USA
22-Jun-06 09:00 (CT) Ghana:USA

There will be much soccer to be watched. And I'm looking forward to it (and not just for the USA soccer).

Oh, and in the link above, click on the time to convert the shown time to your time zone.

Here is the FIFA World Cup page for all your information!

Soccer!!!!

Today's soccer game was the last schedule game of the season. (We do have one make-up game we have to play by next Saturday, so not sure if we'll get it made up or not.)

Anyway, it was a cool, wet, muddy game. But it really was a good game. We got smoked as my son would say, but not as bad as the last time we played this team. Which really had me feeling pretty good! The first game of the season, (if we kept score), it would have been 30-0 I think. Well, today was probably 12-3. It was way muddy. I almost fell several times just walking the ball to center field. Well, one of the girls on my team took down one of the other players (their best in my opinion). SPLAT, right in a mud puddle! It was funny. Happened a couple more times too.

The best part of the game though was my boy scored his first goal all season!!!

I'm a way proud father.

The game itself was good. It was nice to hear parents from both sides of the field cheering for all the kids. That is what this game at this age group is all about.

I handed out trophy's to the kids today after the game. You should have seen their faces! You would have thought they just won the World Cup!

Soccer

We had a game today. As usualy, the kids are getting better. They seem to get better each game.

It was a good game, and not just because we actually tied. But because we played a team who's coach tries to do the same things I do. Teach the kids how to play soccer, and have fun.

Too many people forget that is what sports are really about.

Gardens Etc

Title sounds like a name of a store.

My garden is doing pretty well. It wont be long till we are eating lettuce from our garden. The spinach is starting to go. The cilantro is about to bolt I think. And the peas are doing well. Last week, my wife picked up a square collapsible tomato cage. I took it a part and opened it so the peas could climb on it. But it only did one row. So, I went today, and got 2 more so I could get the peas to climbing. While I was at Atwoods, I also picked up a gate to go behind the pond, 2 roma tomato plants, 2 jalapeno plants, and 2 Rutger's Select Heirloom tomato plants. Got them all planted and mulched. Got it planted 6 days earlier this year than last year.

Earlier today I changed the oil in mine and my daughters car. I hate doing it, but I'm happy once it's done.

Soccer was ok. The kids had fun. I'd have more fun if the other coaches would concentrate on teaching all their kids how to play the game instead of making sure their "good" players get the ball so they can score a lot.

Update Finally

Long time since I've updated. Let me catch you up.

Saturday, was a soccer game. It was pretty good. They played well. My boy had several really good plays. Made me happy.
Saturday was also Prom here in town. So my daughter went to it as well. From what little I heard about it, it was good. I do know that my girl looked awesome! See...



They have a thing here in town called the grand march. It's when all the kids come driving in and show off. There were limo's in all shapes and sizes. But the most interesting was this.


Yes it is a covered wagon. There are three couples in there. What I find most amusing is those aren't horses. They are mules. I tell ya. Nothin fancier than goin to prom in a mule pulled wagon. hehe

Sunday, I changed the blade in the lawn mower since I hit something in the high grass the week before and broke the blade. So, I was mowing, and it died. Strange, I started it back up, and it died again. Ok, what's up. I checked the gas. It was fine. I opened the oil and smoke came out. Put some oil in there, and tried to pull the string. Nothing. Engine was froze up. So, I had to buy a new mower. Sorta an expensive lesson, but I guess it's cheaper than a car engine.

So, after church last night, I was able to finish mowing the yard. Had a nice dinner. Things were going pretty well. But then I tried to sleep. Couldn't. I woke up at least once every hour with my allergies. I had to call into work sick today because of them.

As the day progressed, I felt better, but we had soccer practice in those winds this evening, and as I sit here and type, my eyes feel like they are on fire.

Well, enough typing.

Soccer Saturday

We had a good soccer game Saturday.

The other team called wanting to reschedule since they had 2 kids call in sick, so would only be able to play with 3 kids (having no subs). I hate canceling and rescheduling games. Plus we would not be able to have a ref if we did since we didn't give the 2 days advanced notice that the refs require. For our age group, that isn't necessarily bad, but I wanted the other coach to know that.

So, he decided not to cancel. I was glad since my parents were coming down to watch my boy play.

My wife pointed out that I could let one of my kids play on his team to help them out. I thought that was a GREAT idea. So I offered and he took me up on it.

I ended up putting my boy on his team for a few reasons. The main reason was because I didn't mind and you never know how parents will react to that.

Well, my boy didn't like that. He played pretty miserably the first quarter. I went and talked to him at half time and what point he just cried and cried on my shoulder. I felt bad both for him and the other team.

I told him that if the team he was playing on won, so did he, and if his normal team won, he won too. Didn't work.

Tried explaining how he was being a good helper by playing with them. Didn't work either.

So, I resorted to bribery. Told him we'd get ice cream if he played good. That seemed to work. He played much better the last quarter. (Though he still wouldn't throw in the ball).

Plus, at the end of the game, he ended up with snack from both teams. I think he made out like a bandit. He still didn't like it.

What really upset him was he didn't get to play on daddies team.

Update!

I know I've not updated much lately, but not a lot going on really.

Saturday;s soccer game was cancelled, which I found strange since we've played in colder and wetter conditions than that, but that wasn't that bad.

My sister and her kids were up as well as my cousin and her kids, so my boy and I went up to see them and have lunch with them in Bartlesville. That was a lot of fun. Though on the drive up, I started not feeling well. That never got better, and I was sick that evening, Sunday, and into Monday. I had flu like symptoms, but either it wasn't the flu, it was just a short flu, or the flu shot I had helped me get over it quicker, I'm feeling much better this morning. Still have a nasty sounding cough though.

Anyway, that's mostly it. We've had several days of a nice slow rain, which is what we needed. They lifted the burn ban, so tonight, we grill! Well, I hope.

Soccer Season Begins

Today was our first soccer game.

If I was to describe the game in one word, it would be


*sigh*

It wasn't pretty. The referee never moved from one spot on the field. Lots of balls went out, but she never called them out, cause she couldn't see them.

I guess what made today's team worse was 2 of the players on the opposing team had played before... on my team. I had coached them for the last 2 seasons.

We don't keep score, not really, but if we did, it would have been 30 to 2 I think, maybe 30 to 3.

action shot of my son kicking in the ball

Soccer!

I had a meeting with my parents tonight at the soccer fields. We'll start practice next week!

I guess I'm finally getting excited about soccer season. It's really harder being the coach than you think. Not so much at game times, but at the practices. Coming up with ideas to help the kids practice.

Anyway, we came up with the team name and color tonight and I got the money from all the parents but one for them. So once I deposit the money, I can place my order and hopefully get the uniforms more than just a couple days before the game.

Soccer Workshop

Today's Workshop was really, really good. The drive there and back wasn't bad... (it was dark both ways, that was sorta funny). The teacher for my classes was really good.

I learned several new games to play with the kids, and that is always helpful. Sometimes it's hard to come up with drills that let you work on certain aspects of the game without boring 6 year olds.

One thing that I really liked, and will probably have to work on the most was this
Teachers teach class during the week, they give homework and prepare the kids. When the time comes, they test the kids. Do they help them or do they want to see how much the kids have learned?

That's what soccer coaches do. We teach during our practices. We give them things to work on at home... sometimes. And when the game come on the weekend (aka test) let them play. Don't help. See what they have learned.

If all you do is tell them every little thing they need to do, they'll never learn it for themselves. As they get older, by the time you (as the coach or parent in the stands) see what is happening, say it, the kid hears it, processes it, the play is gone. They need to learn how to see that on their own. Then work on that at the practices. Now, the kids are still trying to learn where to stand at my age group, but there are some things that I'll just need to shut up, and let them make mistakes on their own.

*Sigh* This isn't going to be easy.