Hard Work Pays Off

Good morning everyone. What a busy week and exciting week it was. Almost could say a bit of sadness but we'll get back to that.
Throughout the week (art-wise) I did some spooky Halloween-inspired drawings for Mia. Some were okay, others "meh". I got my car back finally after almost a month of repairs and painting.  I'm going to totally miss the 2018  Rogue, but it was good to have my ride back. They did a fantastic job on it and now I'm just waiting for my insurance specialist to get the deductible back from the truck company. That part of this whole thing has been pretty frustrating so hopefully they'll get it.

Thursday I watched the Chelsea vs BATE match. Great win as always. Mia was stoked to see my car with Remi in the front seat (with his signature sunglasses of course) because she doesn't have to really look for my car, she just hears the chorus of kids screaming "OOOOOHHH LOOK AT THAT DOG!!!" and she knows "yeah my Dad's here". We got a snack post-school and Mia immediately got ready for practice. She wanted to get to the field as soon as possible to prepare herself for a possible 2nd chance at a PK since she missed last week. Okay fine. She didn't really work on the PK's when we arrived and more so worked on dribbling around me to shoot from every angle. Also equally important. We had a few girls missing but ran the practice as usual. Did a bit of a relay working on ball control and speed. A lot of the girls are very quick so it was well worth it. Did a few pass and shoot drills and did something we haven't done in a long time: A scrimmage. They really liked revisiting this familiar part of our practices and played well into the darkness. We called practice a little before 6:30 before visibility was practically gone. Overall, solid practice and they all felt confident going into Saturday's match.

Saturday came. Our final game of the season.  Mia was pretty bummed thinking about it as she got ready after breakfast. We got to the fields, I got the medals as Mia said a quick "hi" to her preschool BFF Olivia and new friend Tenley that played earlier and she joined her team warming up. The kids did their usual 1v1 against a defender and keeper. A few other quick drills and it was time to play. Olivia took the captain role for the last match. The Leprechauns looked almost like mainly 2nd graders. Or, they've got some seriously tall 1st graders on team. Most likely, the 1st one with the way they were shooting. Tons of power but somehow our girls weren't letting them through. In fact, some of these girls played their best game all season. One notable one was Charley. She had the most amazing 1st half ever. Every time the ball came near her, she booted the ball far and high out of our side of the field. Adalyn picked up our first goal of the match dribbling around a few of their players and finally finding the net getting her 9th goal of the season. The big shocker was still to come though.

Mia got the ball and outran one of their much bigger players and left footed it from outside the box right in the left side of the net.  UNBELIEVABLE. She was very reserve in her celebration. Originally she said she'd pick up her BFF when she'd score but she wasn't in at the moment. Her and fellow winger Sophie just looked at each other with big smiles and Mia ran back to the line ready to have another go at a goal. Her bench went crazy because I promised I'd do the "floss" dance if she scored...and well she finally scored. All the hard work paid off and she did so well in our last match. She made two goals this year. Learn to skateboard and score a goal. She accomplished the 2nd one very well. Adalyn got one more goal totaling 10 for the season. Great goal before the end of the half. The girls were feeling great going into the next half. Ainslee was solid in the back getting a great clean sheet. Sofia's turn. The Leprechauns put on the pressure but we did our best to keep them from scoring. A few scary moments of our defense clearing the ball to them gave me small heart attacks. Thanks Jana :P They got a handball against Ainslee and blasted a free kick that sneaked from under Sofia's legs and she scrambled to grab it and it leaked in. Damn. Game ended 3-1 and the girls went insane. Their traditional "Cheetah pile" before saying "good game" to the other team...then they piled up again. As promised as parents circled around the team for the medal ceremony, I floss-danced with the kids. They loved it and we had a good time. In sports, you have to keep it fun and this team was a complete blast. We gave each one of them their medals as we revealed their stats for the season and highlights. I hope they all enjoyed their time this season as much as I did. They bonded so well and were a blast to coach. The frustrating moments always subsided when I'd see the fun and smiles they had. We had just a great group of girls and both Coach Kevin and I are so proud of them. He was a great help this season and I couldn't do it without him.

Next season, 4 of them will be moving up to the 3rd/4th grader's Juniors division. If the sign up is low, they may add 5th graders like they did this season. I hope it doesn't come to that but we'll prepare for it. Mia and Cecilia will (and anyone else who wants to join us) will train over the Summer  for this new challenge. If the younger kids want to play casually with us as well, I fully welcome it. Love the kids so it'll be fun. Later after the game, We went to business trick or treating in downtown Waukesha. Mia kept her soccer uniform on with new medal so she went as a "champion soccer player". The weather was pretty great and she got plenty of good candy. Later, my parents met us up at MOD for pizza and we carved pumpkins. Jill made a gorgeous sugar skull, Mia did a red panda and I did Oogey Boogey. Sunday I had to work an early shift. Later we went trick or treating with Mia's cousins. Not the best weather but they had a total blast. I was Snape, Jill was McGonagall, and Mia was Hermione. This week, a return to art lessons, a Fall party at her school and I have to turn in the equipment back to the NBAA. That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Torrential Tryouts

Good morning everyone. October is nearly over, but we've been incredibly busy (seems like almost every day/weekend) Last Wednesday, Mia had yet again, another field trip with her class. THIS time, to the First Milwaukee Theater to see a play about a square-shaped pumpkin. Jill finally got to go on a field trip with her. She loves plays and this was the perfect one to chaperone. When we dropped off Mia for school, we had an hour before Jill had to go meet for the bus to pick up the kids and drive to MKE. So, we took Remi to the park and went for a nice walk. The weather was gorgeous and absolutely perfect. Just like the good ol' days when we'd take him for walks, just the two of us. Nothing wrong with taking him with Mia or anything, but it brought back some fond memories.

After the walk, Jill soon went to Mia's school for the field trip. I had a little piece and quiet. Worked on some art and did some much-needed drumming. Mia and Jill had a great time. The play was fun, and the kids behaved nicely for Jill. Lucky. After the field trip, Mia and I had planned to go to the park with BFF Olivia. As we were leaving, Remi checked her down the stairs. She cried and cried and didn't want to go anymore to the park. When Olivia brought up that they were going to go to Chuckie Cheese, Mia jumped at the opportunity to go. So we went, and the ladies had a blast. They were the only kids there, and played all kinds of games. Mia wasn't too excited when Chuckie came out but when he went back into hiding, she was fine. It was great to see them having so much fun. We still have a boatload of tokens left for our next visit. Friday, I took the day off to photograph the Milwaukee Torrent's tryouts. Before that, Mia and I spent the day together. She was dressed up in her full tracksuit ready for gymnastics. Turns out, they don't have open gym and we had to decide whether to do a last-minute run to the trampoline park, or Monkey Joe's. We went with Monkey Joe's.

Once again, we had a blast. She went down EVERY slide including the largest slide: the halfpipe. It was a great time. She even played with a boy she met. I believe his name was Parker. Anyway, he followed us around for a while. Cute kid. Later, I packed up my bag and went over to Uihlein Field in the pouring rain. It would stop and start on my drive to the stadium, and I kept thinking "please please stop raining". It really didn't. I walked down to the field. Already getting soaked and met with head coach and owner Andi Davi. Amazingly nice guy with such a passion for this team and everything involved. He was absolutely frustrated with the heavy rain. He brought his flags and banners to be photographed, and clearly it wasn't going to happen. I was doing my best to photograph under the small inclosure and got about 20 photographs before the entire stadium's power went out.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? And was way more angry than anyone. He only was allowed about an hour and a half of time on the fields for tryouts. 34 players (which I believed included 4 keepers) showed up for this and after waiting and waiting and waiting, the tryouts were rescheduled for Tuesday. Quite a few people drove a good distance for the tryout including Minnesota and Hawaii (obviously didn't drive). They were all good sports about it, and the majority are coming back for the rescheduled date. I helped tear down everything and load up his car. It was great meeting him, his assistant coach and some of the players. I have to say, it was really surreal being introduced to his staff as "this is our graphic artist, he's the guy who designed and came up with the jerseys".  After we all said the goodbyes, I drove back home in the rain.

Saturday, I watched Chelsea crumble to West Ham. Another disappointing game. JM even got ejected from the game. I can't figure out what's going wrong. Defense wasn't there. Again. The near-goal was just SO close. They have a Capital One Cup game on Tuesday. Hoping for a win. I'm going to miss the Liverpool game Saturday due to having to work the 7am-3pm shift.

Later after the game, we got in our costumes and went to a Halloween party at a friends house. Mia had a great time playing with all of the kids, AND she even tried Alligator meat. She said it was pretty good. Jill loved it. Afterwards, we jetted over to the Delafield business Trick or Treating. We got to every business and had a lot of fun. When we got back home, we carved a couple of pumpkins. This was the first year we let Mia carve a pumpkin. With Jill's help, she did a great job carving a kitty. No stencils. Just a drawn on cat. I on the other hand, did my very best to carve a 3D pumpkin. Let me tell you, it was SUPER difficult. I really didn't take a lot of ceramic classes in HS and college. It didn't turn out that great, but I did my best. I may try painting a pumpkin next year. Do something a little different.

This week, Mia has a Halloween party and conferences. Saturday, Trick or Treating with family. Should be a lot of fun. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!!

The Gourd Innards Extraction

Morning! Was incredibly exhausted last night so I didn't get to write so I'll try to knock this out quickly. I've gotta wake up Jill shortly. Over the weekend Jill and I photographed a very country themed wedding in Columbus Wisconsin, which is approximately in the middle of nowhere. In the general Sun Prairie area. Anyways, the weather wasn't the best. Very cold and all day rain was threatening us with and shaking a fist exclaiming "WHO GETS MARRIED AT THE END OF OCTOBER OUTSIDE? MUAHAHA!" Well, kinda. Anyway, the bridesmaids looked awfully cold, but when it was time to go, they were ready. The ceremony was on a bridge and the sun was out! So we were quite happy about that. So like any creative team, we got to work. We used to photograph wedding all the time when we were kid-less so this was kinda fun to do again. I had to climb the very top of the ledge of the bridge to get some photos above the big crowd surrounding the couple. Luckily, I didn't fall in the river.

After the ceremony, the weather started to get ugly, so we didn't get to use the bridge for post-wedding photos, and after a few family and extended family shots, the rain came. On the way to the reception hall, we were bummed about it. Mia was patiently playing with Grandma and Grandpa Chicago during the wedding. Earlier she got to play with animals at the farm which she of course loves.  The reception, we spent most of the time getting as many photos as we could, and 10:30, we called it a night. I had to drive back to New Berlin because of my early shift (well 10am that day) so I made it home by 12:15am.

Wednesday, Mia and I bummed around a bit. Hung out with her Uncle Andy and Grandpa. She drew them some pictures, and shared nicely with Easton. Later after dinner, we carved pumpkins. Last year was "Sesame Street" themed. This year, kitty. I did a Hello Kitty one for her and Jill knocked out an amazing cat pumpkin. Mia loves both of them, so I'm happy. My Hello Kitty pumpkin was quite tricky, but in the end looks cool. we just need some candles. This weekend my sister gets married, we may go to Andy's hockey game, and I work 7-3pm Sunday. After work we're taking our little sea horse trick or treating. May do the morning trick or treating at Pick N Save Saturday while Jill's getting my sister ready for the wedding. Lastly, great win for Chelsea Tuesday. Love watching the highlights after a long day at work. That's all for now! Thanks for reading :)