Soccer

Adam on the move

Adam and Helen bundle up while watching Derek's game

Derek in goal

Derek looks on as his teammate scores from long distance

Soccer season should be over about now, but has been extended a couple weeks because of all the rainouts. Except for extending the season, the rainouts have actually been kind of nice. The boys have practice 2 times a week with games on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays, so the rainouts gave us a nice break. Just tonight we were elated to find out that the fields were closed because of rain yesterday. We want the kids to improve, but 2 nights a week with weekend games is a lot.

The boys are both on good teams this season. I have missed most of Adam's games because he plays early on Saturday while I'm playing tennis. He's always been a hustler, but never really had any ball skills. This season Helen says that he's been dominating. A couple games ago he scored all 5 of his team's goals. I still don't think he gets where he's supposed to be on the field, but he never stops running.

I got to see his game last Sunday and took the pictures above. I was ready to see Adam's improvement, but instead his team got dominated for their only loss of the season. In Adam's defense, he was under the weather and not his usual self. We took him to the doctor the next day and found out that he had a sinus infection. I still think he ran more than any of the other players, but his stamina and speed weren't there.

I have been helping out with Derek's team this season and have been able to be at most of his games because they are in the afternoons. Derek still only likes defense (no speed or ball skills) and prefers goalie. At this age the difference in skill levels between kids is really apparent. Some of the kids on Derek's team can really boom the ball and are everywhere on the large field, while others can barely kick the ball 10 yards (Derek). Derek is one of three goalies. He is the most aggressive and probably the best stopper, but his weak kicking is a liability. Derek's team has a number of strong players who make it really fun to watch.

A few weeks ago, Derek's team were undefeated and played another undefeated team. Derek's team led 2-0 midway through the final quarter only to have the other team tie it up and then kick the winning goal seconds before the game was over. Needless to say the team was dejected. I think the head coach and I were more upset. The other team found our weak kids and exploited them. It's big games like these when I wish we didn't have to play the liability kids.

The pictures above are from warm ups before the rematch with the undefeated team. We were up 2-0 again going into the final quarter and held on for a much celebrated 2-1 win. I was so into the game that I took pictures above during the warm up and then forgot about the camera during the game.

When Kids Have Idle Time

This is from Saturday morning a couple weeks ago when Adam's soccer game got rained out and he had some idle time on his hands. We heard a bunch of commotion and found Adam at the top of the stairs with his sled. He assured us that he would be alright with all the pillows he had carefully arranged and the helmet. We let him go down a few times and then called it before it got too far out of hand.

Fall Festivities

Adam waves as he takes off on the hay ride

Me and my niece Brooke


Uncle Mike with Lindsay and Brooke at the petting zoo

Derek gets in on the feeding

Derek and Adam racing to the finish

Jumping around with cousin Lindsay

Helen's parents watch Brooke pick out a pumpkin

The kids had to sit on all the stone animals

Adam feeds the camel one last time

We always look forward to the fall for the great weather and fall festivals. This year the rain took care of many of our favorite festivals, but we did manage to make it out to Pettit Creek Farms a couple weeks ago to spend the day with Helen's family.

That was the weekend when Helen had a sinus infection and could only stay awake for a couple hours at a time. She got tired of lying around and decided to accept her family's invite to join them at Pettit Creek.

It was good to see everyone and the kids had a great time. I was a little skeptical at first. The attractions didn't seem that fun to me and they were charging for everything. Of course the kids didn't care about the price and the value. Luckily, we arrived towards the end of the day when everyone was cleaning up so they started letting the kids do everything for free. The Falcons game I was missing turned out to be a blowout for the Falcons and I got to hear the end of the game on the ride home. That's what I call a win-win situation.

Bells Week 3

The shooting pain has mostly gone away. As you can see in the picture my right eye still doesn't match my left, but it doesn't look as bad in real life. I think maybe the camera flash had something to do with it. The eye still waters up and my vision is not all the way back, but I can at least chew normally now without food trying to push out the weak side of my mouth. I'm not all the way back, but most of the way.

I took Friday and Monday off this past weekend since Helen and the kids also had the days off because of the county furloughing teachers. Weeks ago we talked about going on a trip over that weekend and then as the time drew closer we fell back to maybe just doing some day trips. What really happened was that Helen got a sinus infection last week, Adam picked up a nasty cough, and the rains came back so we just stayed home.

We did manage to get out and do some things. We bought Halloween costumes and once again, the boys picked some ninja\crypt master like costumes. We keep trying to get them to be something cute like Batman and Robin, but it looks like that will never happen.

We also got new computers for the boys. Derek originally was leaning toward a netbook, but decided he really wanted a laptop. Adam got a netbook. They both chipped in half the cost. I spent quite a bit of time over the weekend getting the computers configured just so. Derek is really into it and likes to learn so he can do things for himself. Adam and Helen...not so much. It's nice for me that Derek can sometimes solve technical problems that Helen and Adam are having with the tv or the computer so I don't have to.

With all the rain a lot of our soccer and tennis activities have been cancelled, so it's actually been much less hectic than it normally would be. Now everyone just needs to get healthy and stay healthy.

Bells Update

It's been 17 days since I woke up with Bell's Palsy. It seems that I am slowly getting better. In the pictures you can see a slight upturn in my lip on the right side whereas before my entire ride side was drooping. I can blink my right eye more normally now although I still can't close it tightly. As the vision in my right eye has been constantly changing through all this, my brain is still trying to adjust so things seem blurry even when my right eye is not watering or dried out.

The first signs of improvement started after a few days when I started to feel little fluttering twitches in various places on the right side of my face. After a week or so I started to feel more pain. It was kind of like ear ache pain that started in the tender soft spot beneath my ear and traveled down to my neck and up behind my ear to my eye. The pain actually got worse as the days wore on. Now I'm getting shooting knife like pains in my eye and ear.

My right eye is now more open than my normal left eye and it feels like my right is allowing way too much light in. My body is used to having little slits for eyes that barely let any light in. Now it feels like I'm being flooded by light. I'm hoping the pain is all part of the healing.