Soccer Nights

Good evening everyone! Hope everyone's enjoying the beautiful weather. This week was a busy one but a lot of fun was had. I got my 20th anniversary gift from work this week. I picked up a really nice Shark vacuum and this thing is incredible. Mia loves vacuuming now because it's super easy on our area rug.

We've been watching a lot of World Cup lately this week. I'm not going to go into every match individually, but I will say that it's super unpredictable. Some of the biggest teams are struggling and while some teams I'm not surprised aren't doing well, I think it can go anyway. It's pretty early still but I'm stoked to get to watch so much of it. Even Mia and Jill have been tuning in, so that's awesome as well.

Wednesday, Mia and I went to our first Women's Milwaukee Torrent match. While the crowd was light as well as our loud supporters group, she had a great time. The girls won 2-0. Mia was shocked the first goal came in the first minute and a half. She'll tell people that it was in 10 seconds, but it was definitely 1:38. Awesome game. Her favorite part was after that the match, we went on the pitch and played a little soccer with Echo, Zack and Nico; some of the other kids that came. Echo's Dad and I have been working together on the team(s) since the beginning of the season, Zack's Mom photographs the teams and Nico's Dad is the assistant coach of the Men's team and the head coach of the Women's team. Mia had so much fun shooting on net and her new favorite men's team player Hector Portillo even played a bit with her. The guys had practice after the women's match so they where warming up while we where playing around on the pitch. Mia said her goodbye her new friend Echo and Hector and we headed home for the night.

She was pretty exhausted running around the pitch, but if she had her way, we would have detoured to the skate park across from the stadium. "Dad, my scooter and helmet are IN the trunk! We could just go over there!" It was dark and I would have been worried about her accidentally hitting a rail. We'll go back there in the day time maybe. I admire her for wanting to go in the first place. She had wanted to do a Mia and Daddy's Adventure video at the match, but when we arrived, changed her mind for some reason.

Saturday, we watched a few World Cup matches, and Mia slept over at my in-laws house while we went to a BBQ at a friend's house. Great time catching up with friends. Went back home later, watched a bit of Netflix before crashing. Today, we got a text that Mia woke up at 5:00am looking for us. Ugh, Okay. Ran to go pick her up, went home and did some pre-packing for our trip before I went to work. Getting everything into backpacks is tricky, but we're making it happen. This week, Mia's got two art classes at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center. It's an animal sculpture class so she's pretty stoked. In a week or so, I'll begin tutoring a 7th grader in art. Hope to get a few lessons in before we leave for our trip.

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'll try to catch the Spain vs Morocco match before work. Thanks for reading!!

Tails and Friends

Good evening everyone! Happy Father's Day to everyone (a bit late) today. Hope you all enjoyed your day. We enjoyed our first week of Summer break (well, Mia did at least) She had her 2 full days of Critter Camp and absolutely enjoyed it. Helped a ton that she had one of her best friends Noelle with her as well. They got to play with cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits at HAWS. The humane society has dozens of great camps for kids starting at 7 years old to maybe 12? She'll probably ask to do it again next Summer as well. I had to draw her a very cute lunch bag sketch of her favorite cat Marie, which of course she loved :) .

World Cup started this week and there already have been some shocking results with Iceland drawing Argentina and Mexico beating Brazil today. It'll be a fun and intense tournament. Friday started my 3-day weekend which was much-needed. Took some time off to enjoy some family time, and take in some Torrent games. Friday was a big math. The boys in blue took on DCFC, which is always intense. Their supporters always travel to watch their team, so they had brought about 17-25 fans. Last season, at least 50 people came by bus. The match was close and despite an obvious goal by us that bounced around the posts, the thugs of DCFC got the 1-0 win. Playoffs out of the question and at this point, the men's team are playing just to finish the season strong. They take on DCFC in Detroit and have one more league match against Columbus FC. It was a frustrating match but we sang and drummed our hearts out. My brother Andy joined me as well so it was fun overall. Saturday, we had a nice dinner with family and our travel buddy Leanne came up. Gave my Dad his Torrent socks he just HAD to have despite skipping every home match this season. Boo!

Sunday (today) was Father's Day. Mia and Jill spoiled me with some of my favorite candy and a nice "all about Dad" she wrote about. Love the diva. Later, I went to the Fan Fest for the Torrent. The Women's and Men's team played co-ed against each other including the coach/owner which was pretty fun to watch. The weather was pretty hot but all in all, great time. I snagged Mia a poster and she's planning on having a few players sign it at Wednesday's women's match. Maybe do a walk out with the players, who knows, but she's pretty stoked about it. Back to work this week tomorrow. Still working out plans for the weekend. Only 20 some-odd days left before our big trip! Jill and I got our new rash guards in the mail so we're ready for the ocean!

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

HELLO SUMMER!

Good evening everyone! Busy busy week but the school year is officially complete. But first, a look back at the week. Tuesday was the start of Spirit Week so Mia wore her Captain America tank/skirt. After I dropped her off, I jetted home to grab my supplies and returned to teach Mrs. Mayer's 2nd grade class. They wanted to do Emoji's so I did a nice drawing session with the kids. For the most part, they where great and had a lot of fun drawing with me. I always enjoy drawing with her classes and she's an incredibly awesome teacher and I hope she gets her for 2nd grade next year. She asked me to draw a pineapple for her class while they where drawing 2nd and 3rd emojis so I had to do it quick. I'd like to do another one for her next year. Said my goodbyes and went home before heading to work.

Wednesday was crazy-hair day. Mia and Jill had this awesome idea to do her hair with a Starbucks empty cup, Kleenex and straw. Her hair made the coffee look so it was really fun and was a head-turner for parents and teachers at the school. Somehow, she got out of school with her hair intact. Thursday was Tropical Day so she get all dressed up in some cute Hawaii-inspired attire. 

Friday was her very last day. A bittersweet day, but mostly an exciting day. She decided to end her school year the exact same way she started it: Walking with her friend Noelle to school. Along with sister Cora, the girls made their final walk they'll ever do to Orchard Lane. Noelle will be attended a STEM Academy in the Fall. Luckily, the girls are still neighbors and will get to hang out after school and throughout the Summer. They plan on doing the always enjoyable lemonade stand and this week, will be attending together a two-day Critter Camp at HAWS.

School was only a half day, so Remi and I picked up Mia and walked home with Mia, Noelle and her family. I was pretty happy I got a really cute photo of Mia, Cecilia and Noelle on their very last day. Remi really enjoyed all the kids at parent pick-up petting him. He had about 5 kids at one point. Looked like he was in doggy heaven. 

Saturday, Mia, myself and Jill ran to the Stefans Tent Sale and picked up a pair of really nice goalie gloves for a good price for Mia's team this Fall. Mia even wants to give the keeper position a try. She did great in the yard and will practice more at the park this Summer. Later, we picked up her BFF Cecilia for Mia's big dance recital/sleep over. She was so stoked for recital day since she's been working really really hard all year on 3 songs with 3 different costume changes. The girls grabbed some subs for dinner before we left for Sussex for the recital. We met up with my family as well as Jill's parents and brother. Cecilia was a good sport watching the dances and enjoying all of the ones Mia was in. Just like last year, Mia's very serious when she dances and rarely smiles. I'm glad she has fun with dance, but it wouldn't kill her to smile just a little bit? She really liked her last costume during their Rio song. Mia shocked me when she had to do a jump with the splits in mid-air. She said its called "the Russian" when they jump. Okay. 

After wards, she got her flowers, big hugs from Cecilia and we were off to yoMama for frozen yogurt. The girls ate and colored till after 9:00pm. Geez. They watched Coco and roasted marshmallows before heading off to Mia's room where they were supposed to sleep. I could hear them talking and quietly playing for a while. At one point around 1:45am I woke up and checked and they where both asleep. Mia on the floor on her sleeping bag and Cecilia in Mia's tiny bed. They woke up around 9am and started playing before asking for breakfast. They played a bit more before I took Cecilia home. The girl leaves Tuesday for a few weeks with her Grandma (I believe) so Mia and her will probably have a day or so before we leave for Hawaii/CA. 

Later, Mia myself and Jill made the short drive to Avant-Garde where Mia got her ears pierced. She's been looking forward to today for quite a while and took the piercing like a champ. She said it did hurt, but she's pretty glad she did it. The girls did a great job piercing her and I'd totally recommend the place again. She loves her new teal earrings and can't wait to show all her friends.

This week, Critter Camp and a pair of Torrent games Fri and Sunday. That's all for now, thanks for reading!! 

An Anniversary and a Field Trip

Good evening everyone. Quite a busy week and almost end of school year. My day "off" was spent helping my homey Jon and his fiance move from Waukesha to South Milwaukee. Quite a bit of heavy lifting in some super muggy weather, but we got the job done. The worst was complete and they only had a few other things to move. Later, Mia and I post-school drove to Spectrum to upgrade our super slow Internet. What a major different 1.2 mbps to 100 mbps is. We sincerely needed the speed upgrade for the heavy amount of work Jill and I do.

At some point this week, (I think it was early in the week) we had a massive tree branch come crashing into our wires. They where able to cut out the branches and clear the area, but left me a nice bunch of logs and branches to move by hand. Fantastic. Throughout the week, I've been moving pieces of the tree. Someone stopped by the other day and picked up some of them. Great. I've got more to move so we'll see if they too get moved. After Mia and I got back from Spectrum, she immediately made Jill and myself an anniversary card, and demanded she wake up early to make us breakfast in bed. Aww..

Thursday was Mine and Jill's 10th wedding anniversary and Mia unfortunately wasn't able to get up "early" to make us her special breakfast. She did however give us her super sweet card that read "Happy Anniversary.  Mom, thanks for marrying Dad,. Dad, thanks for marrying Mom" SO sweet. She included our pastor and wedding cake. Great detail kiddo. It's been an amazing 10 years with plenty of ups and downs and I couldn't imagine a better person to marry. So grateful I met Jill.

Friday, I took the day off for Mia's very first field trip at OL. Myself and a few parents carpooled to Milwaukee to meet the kids for the play Judy Moody and the Mad Mad Mad Mad Treasure Hunt. I had Mia with 3 other kiddos. Mostly easy group to deal with. Great play and lots of fun. Later, I drove solo to the Torrent Kzoo match. I had high hopes the boys in Blue could pull off this major win. Unfortunately, it wasn't in the stars and Kzoo defeated us with two men down, a coach and plenty injured. They where diving left and right all over the pitch getting plenty of chances and pissing off the good guys. It was a chilly, but disappointing match. They picked up 3 points today in Indy but with plenty of missing players. The rest of the season won't be easy so I hope they can finish strong.

Saturday, Mia and I went to Toys R Us to look for a gift for her friend's party. She found a few things she really liked for her but stumbled on something that she just about dropped her jaw for: macaron earrings with kitties. Now for years she's been tossing the idea of piercing her ears but kept talking herself out of it with "no, it could hurt and I don't ever want to". Well this all changed. If she had her way, she would have walked into Avant Garde that moment to pierce those ears. Nope. She has to wait. Next week is her dance recital and the company strictly forbids it. Sorry kiddo. Going to be a tough week, but with so many things going on, she'll be distracted till the day she goes in.

Later, we had lunch and hung out with my in-laws and good ol' uncle Tommy. Later, we went out for Grandma Missyshell's birthday. We had intentions on going to People's Park but the wait was a bit long so we strolled over to Mia's; An authentic Italian restaurant. It was very very good with massive proportions so if you ever go with a significant other, you can easily order one dish and share. Mia and I split a pizza that was super tasty. She LOVED that it was called Mia's and as we where heading out, she was holding the door for other guests that where leaving for the night. What a sweetheart.

Later, we had cake, watched Coco and went home for the night. Sunday, Mia and I walked over to her friend's party. She had fun while Jill and I cleared out some toys and organized some of the living room/den. All in all, pretty good weekend. This week is the final week. Spirit week, year books and I'm teaching a class on Tuesday. Always fun with Mrs Mayer's class. She's got her recital on Saturday and her BFF Cecilia is staying the night as well.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!!