Dribbling Divas

Hello everyone. A little over a week before school starts. So much going on and leading up to it, so let's get right to it. Mia lost her 6th tooth! Can't believe how many she's lost. Monday was the solar eclipse. We didn't get the best weather in the area for it but eventually after I went to work, Mia did from my parent's sun room. Awesome. Won't see the next one for several several several years so I'm glad Mia could catch it. Tuesday was Picture Day. Mia dressed up in her Harry Potter shirt and Descendants leggings with fashion boots. Took a total of 5 seconds to nail a couple pictures of the diva and we were on our way. On the walk down to the driveway, Mia insisted I take a picture of her pretending to hold a wand so that "Daddy can Photoshop me with Harry Potter images". So I did. Later before work, I worked about 10-12 minutes on an image that Mia thought turned out pretty rad.


Wednesday was Mia's very first team practice. She was pretty excited all day about it. Eventually, it was practice time and she was eagerly excited to meet all of her new teammates.  She ran out on to the pitch and with the first kick in her new Adidas boots she yells out "OH MY GOSH THESE CLEATS FEEL AMAZING!!" Scarlett was the first one that showed up and immediately, Mia and Scarlett ran around kicking and chasing the ball. One by one the team showed up with a familiar face that Mia was stoked to see: Cecilia. All 8 girls came to their first team practice. Awesome. No one dropped out. We did some basic passing having the girls partner up and pass to each other. After a few minutes, they switched partners and continued. The idea was to have them be familiar with each other. I'll be doing some more passing exercises this week. After that, they once again in partners, came down the pitch and passed to each other ready to shoot on me. We later added a defender and keeper. It sorta worked. After that, I had them practicing throw-ins. They'll obviously need to know this before their first game in a couple weeks. One of the last things we did was dribble around the cones and shoot on a keeper. They liked this one but will have to work on shooting as soon as they can instead of waiting 15-20 seconds. One of my favorite moments was when Mia and Cecilia asked me "so like, when does the OTHER team show up?" Sorry girls, we've got practices first before a match.

Overall, great first practice.  Some great talent on the team that I'll have to figure out the best way to utilize at matches. I handed out uniforms and we'll meet for a short practice this week. I'm going to work on the girls passing while calling out teammates names. I think we'll do 1st touch passing in this exercise in a circle group. I also want to have the girls run up to a ball as I pass to them and have them shoot directly to the goal. Another 1st touch exercise. Plus, we'll get to see who will work best in goal.

Mia and Cecilia played a bit before we left for the day. Mia and Jill were starving for some MOD pizza so we made a stop there for dinner. Later, we met up with my parents at Yo Mama for some frozen yogurt. Delicious! Always a great selection there. Friday night when I came home from work, Tommy was hanging out and gave me a late bag of presents. Thanks man! The weekend went pretty quick. Saturday, Jill, Mia, Tommy and their parents drove to the Jelly Belly Factory after a quick family photo. We haven't done one of those in a long time. My bro Andy and I went to the Torrent game. Last friendly to end the season. The good guys defeated Milwaukee Sport Club 1-0 to end the season on a high note. It wasn't always the best results this season but I was always there to support them. Hopefully with a whole bunch of new things coming for the team, the attendance will grow and they can develop talent and finish better. After wards, we went to the bar for a beer before heading out.

This morning I got up early to watch Chelsea beat Everton 2-0. Great game. Solid result and I look forward to the next one. Quakes toppled LA in the Classico 3-0 as well. After work tonight, I came home to find Mia learning Photoshop with Jill. She helped her touch up pictures for work.

This week is Open House for Mia. Tomorrow morning she's hanging out with an old friend from her pre school. Should be fun. Hoping we can enjoy the last week of Summer Break before next week's start to school.

That's all for now thanks for reading!

Magic At Her Feet

Afternoon everyone. Another busy week in the books and plenty to discuss. I was off Tuesday for the NBAA (or New Berlin Athletics Association) coaches meeting. Mia sat well but was pretty bored. Even with her Kindle. Sigh. When I used to get forced to go to meetings with my Dad, I had to settle for a yellow legal pad and pen and would sit alone for at least an hour or more. They gave me her roster, equipment and uniforms for the season. That day I had learned at least 4 of Mia's friends signed up for the Minis Girls soccer team. Luckily , one of the 4 landed on her team. Cecilia. Bien! Both girls are super stoked. I've got a team of 8 girls total. 4 from Mia's school and 4 from Poplar Creek school about 10 minutes away. After the meeting, I grabbed my bin of uniforms. Not only are they pink but all of them have numbers. Mia's super stoked and picked out #10 to match Eden Hazard. When we got home, she immediately put it on (minus the socks) and was playing soccer with the neighbor girl Izzy. She'll be playing as well so the two girls will probably play against each other. Both kids have great passing skills.

Earlier that day, Mia and I went to the park and she brought her scooter. The kid, who not too many months ago couldn't balance both feet on it, was bombing down the little hill behind Malone Park playground. Very proud of her. That night I was going to bed, Mia threw up twice. Once on me. Poor kid had a stomach bug but didn't want to tell us. WHY? The next day. she felt better and had a couple of friends over to play. She got to show Cecilia the new uniform and she loves it. First practice is set for this week. The girls watched at least 10 minutes each of 4 movies while playing before Hayden's Mom came to grab them. Mia was so tired from the night before when she wasn't feeling good, she took a couple naps. Friday night after work, I watched Deadpool after finishing some art for Mia's lunch notes. Great movie. Better than last nights movie Sausage Party. I had planned to watch the Quakes vs Union match but couldn't get a live streaming of it :(

This morning, I ran over to my parents house to watch Chelsea take on the Spurs. Super nervous going into the match but the Blues successfully won at Wembley 2-1. Great job and effort from Alonso. He totally saved the own goal from Michy.

This week, Monday is the big solar eclipse and Mia finds out which teacher she'll get. Tuesday is Picture Day. First practice is Wednesday and the last Torrent game of the season is set for Saturday. Should be great time. I believe my brother Andy is coming too. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

A Hiking We Will Go

Morning everyone. Busy week with an even busier week ahead, but we're doing our best to enjoy the last few weeks before school starts. Most of this week, Mia hung out with her friend Noelle, her sister and the neighbor girls. One of the days, they played Masterchef Junior making signature dishes out of sand and presenting them to myself and Noelle's Mom. The following day, we went on a nature hike at Valley View Park in search of painted rocks. The kids in New Berlin have a rock organization, and the kids paint rocks, hide them in parks for other kids to find. They take a picture of the rock, post it on FB and hide the rock for another kid to find. We didn't find any, but some of the girls hid some rocks. All in all, the kids had fun before Mia, Remi and I had to head over to the vet for a few shots.

Remi's doing fine and the vet visit went nice and quick. The next morning, Jill had to go to work early but for some reason, Mia decided that that meant that SHE had to get up early. Mia woke up at 4:45am just so she can have breakfast with Jill. After Jill left for work to go photograph a school, Mia stayed up and watched My Little Pony till her dentist visit. We had accidentally fell behind on her visits but luckily, it wasn't a big deal. No new cavities and her teeth are growing back in and falling out just fine. She handed the teeth polishing like a champ and everything's going well. She ended up napping for 3 hours later that day. Not surprised.  Friday night, Mia and Jill went to see the Emoji Movie. Jill said it was fine and fit the target market well.

Saturday, we got up early to go help some friends move. Jill's parents watched Mia most of the day till we got home. We had dinner later, watched a movie and called it a night. I missed the Chelsea vs Burnley match but I was glad I did. We lost 3-2 due to 2 men getting red carded. Promising fight but much to be worked on before the Spurs match next week.

Sunday, we did some yard work before I went to work later. As the weekend brought some fun times, it also unfortunately brought some frustrating sad times. Not necessarily involving my family, but our country as a whole. I'm of course talking about the Nazis in Charlottesville and the car running over two people protesting the rally. Racism is such a frustrating and disgusting thing that  still consumes so many people. The South seems to get off the hook with it because "that's just how they are". No. This shouldn't be excepted. The "well those old guys grew up being racist so its okay" is not acceptable. This is exactly what Trump wanted. His speeches about how "the good ol' days those men were taken out in stretchers" mirrors the MLK Jr era of segregation.  There were 100's of men in kakis in their MAGA hats carrying torches bought at Target saluting Hitler for Christ's sake at the rally over the weekend. How can this ever be okay? Trump has yet to make any comments about it or denounce them as white nationalists. Those are the ones who support him, so why do it? I don't know. This has had me just in awe that this still happens. I don't want to think about it anymore today. This week, I'm off Tuesday for the coaches meeting. Should be fun. I'll get the equipment and roster. Mia's excited and hopefully won't get too bored during the meeting. I hope I can have a weekly practice on Wednesdays since Mia will be doing dance again. Hopefully we can find some friends to meet up with. I'm going to continue to work on early ideas for lunch notes for Mia as well. Thanks for reading.

Friend Reunion

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you're enjoying Summer. Wednesday, Mia went to a 1st Grader Party at the park with all of her old friends from the Kindergarten, and some other kids from the other Kindergarten class. Maybe 25 kids total. It was an adorable reunion for the kids screaming in excitement every time someone they haven't seen in a long time showed up. Mia ran around for about an hour+ before getting tired and wanting to head home. All of her friends liked her dark purple hair. We may meet up with some friends this week, pending on weather. Friday, we WON tickets to a Wave game! I had submitted an idea for a theme night and our idea, along with 4 other people's that had similar concepts won so we scored 4 free tickets. Mia and Jill both have never been to a Wave game so I think it'll be fun.

Saturday, Jill's friend Leanne came to town, so we took her and Remi to the beach. Mia had fun playing in the sand and water. I hung out with Remi watching this old timer body paint random beach-goers. A lot of people would come by and ask to pet Remi. Of course his wagging tail showed them "no, please go away".

Later, Jill and Leanne went off to a winery and shopping while Mia and I had the afternoon to ourselves. She took a bath, watched a movie and made an attempt to skateboard. yes, skateboard. This kid doesn't want to ride her own bike but insisted she learn how to skate. She held my hand with a lot of grip while making her first few pushes. She figured out proper foot placement to secure optimal balance and while still holding my hand, the grip loosened and she was a bit more comfortable. She hasn't pushed solo but she really liked skating. When she was on her scooter that day, I had told her learning how to scooter will help her with skateboarding and bike riding and she answered with "why don't I just try skateboarding?" It was a fun little experience that she felt pretty proud of.

We later did some chalk drawing before watching Big Hero 6 and had pizza. Sunday, I got up extra early to watch the Chelsea vs Arsenal match for the Community Shield. We netted a goal early in the 2nd half but after red card, we went down a man and Arsenal equalized it later in the 2nd half. The game went to PK's and we lost. Lots to work on this season if we want to finish top 4. I'll be missing quite a bit of the Sept-Oct matches due to my coaching responsibilities but it'll be worth it.  Jill, Mia and Leanne are at the Milwaukee Public Museum and later may go to the studio for a project.

This week, nothing in the books but we may hang out with friends. Remi's got a vet appt on Wednesday but that's about it. Thanks for reading!