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!

Belgium Birthday

Good morning everyone! Another busy week is in the books as we say goodbye to July. It was my birthday week so there was a lot of fun to be had on Wednesday. Jill and Mia got me a big supply of art supplies (which is always great since I go through quite a bit of paper and pencils). My Mom and Dad got me a gift card to a crafts store (of course for more art supplies). My in laws got me a beautiful SJ Quakes jersey, my sister got me a gift card and Jill's aunt bought me a fantastic record player that Mia thinks is the coolest thing ever. "So, do you have CD's for this?" They're called records baby. Anyways, she loves it and will be enjoying records on it for quite a while. We played the Decibully album World Travels Fast and Mia dug it. Mia and I drove around looking for cleats AGAIN. She tried on a couple of pairs at Dicks Sporting Goods. She didn't find a pair she liked, but we got her size figured out. 13c. Later, we found a pair of Adidas black/pink cleats on Stefans website but they were in Madison. Luckily, they were nice enough to ship them to the Brookfield location that we would pick up Friday afternoon.

Later, we went to Cafe Hollander for a delicious birthday dinner. The wait was quite long but worth it. The beer was incredible. I had a very tasty dunkel that even Jill liked. We'd definitely go there again, but next time without Mia. (Sorry kid) Jill made a delicious lemon/orange cake. Very tasty.

Friday, we went and got the cleats. They fit well and everything and Mia's ready to go. Speaking of soccer, I received an email from the NBAA (or New Berlin Athletics Association) that they didn't get a coach for Mia's soccer team (that I signed up to assistant coach) and I was asked to move up to head coach. Sure, why not. A Tuesday in August, I'll find out who's on her team and when we start practice. It'll be an interesting experience and hopefully Mia really likes it. The fact that one of her good friends may end up on her team excites her.

Saturday, Jill cut grass in the morning. Later, we went to Steaming Cup for lunch with the in laws and went to a play at the theater put on my kids. Lion King Jr. The kids worked on it all Summer and did a great job. Mia loved it, and said if she worked in theater, she'd like to be the person who sets up the props and back drops. After they went off to bed, I stayed up and watched Rogue One finally. Great movie. Sad way to end it but very good.
Sunday, we cleaned and Mia painted her book bench with Jill after I went off to work. They set up her reading nook in our room and it turned out pretty nice.

This week, Mia's got a big play date with her friends from Orchard Lane on Wednesday. We've got Jill's pal Leanne coming in to visit for the weekend so that should be fun.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Step Right Up

Good morning everyone! Hope you all enjoyed the week and your weekend. On Wednesday afternoon, Mia hung out for about an hour at the park with Cecilia and her little sister. The weather was hot, so the girls didn't last terribly long. At one point, Cecilia took her Mom's phone and set up the stop watch to take times to see how fast Mia and her could sprint from the light post to the end of the sidewalk where I was sitting. Mia found out the hard way that running in flat sandals was a bad idea.

Later, we met up with Jill and went to the Waukesha County Fair. Both of us don't care for the fairs local or state, but since that's all Mia's been talking about lately, we did the county fair on 'Dollar Day' where it was only $1 to get in for Jill and I and only $1 for parking. Mia was free. Sweet. Mia didn't want to do any rides AT ALL but played a few of the insanely frustrating games. I tell you, the lack of enthusiasm from some of the carnies is pathetic. Mia loved the baby sheep, bunnies, chicks and cows. Didn't stay too long before having our fill of the fair.

We drove back to the studio for a bit so Jill could finish whatever she needed to work on. I got a message from Mia's long time friend Olivia's Dad telling me that he had the kids and wanted to check to see if we wanted to meet at the park that night. Mia was through the roof excited so we packed up and drove to the park. I had to run home and grab Remi but anyways, the girls were super excited to see each other again. It had been too long since they saw each other and they all played till about 9:30pm. Luckily, Mia was coated in bug spray so she didn't mind how dark it as getting at the playground. Olivia gave Mia a very belated bag of gifts which she loved before they said their goodbyes. These two have always had such a great relationship and it was fun to see them playing together again picking up where they left off.

Friday, Jill and Mia had a Descendants 2 party. They watched the sequel to the first one, had popcorn etc. Saturday, Mia woke up WAY too early at 6:00am due to some bad dreams. We had some family art time. Mia sculpted, I drew and Jill painted while listening to music. It was pretty nice except Mia getting frustrated with the hot glue. Later, we had my parents over for dinner which was pretty good. Sunday, Jill made some macarons before I left for work.  Chelsea successfully signed a new striker. Morata. Stoked we got the Real Madrid player and hope he can fill in the striker shoes Costa did.

This week is my birthday. 34. Blah. Doing dinner at Cafe Hollander so I'm pretty stoked to try the new rooftop restaurant. Mia's school friends are all at Girl Scout camp this week. Don't think we'll be doing many play dates with them. Nothing planned for the weekend yet.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Wild in Chicago

Good morning everyone. Another busy week in the books with what feels like Summer speeding quickly by. Tuesday I went to the last league home match between the Torrent and GRFC. We had a 2-0 lead before giving up a pair of goals to end the match in a draw. It was a frustrating match that had a lot of missed calls, but we chanted and cheered anyways. Next blog, I'll give my full review and thoughts on our frustrating season. Wednesday afternoon, Mia went to her friend Cecilia's house for a few hours. For some reason, she was hella shy with Cecilia's Mom Andrea. I don't know why. She's seen her before at school and outside of school but decided she would just be shy for the day. The kids played, watched a movie and later, Cecilia's neighbors and fellow classmate Harper and Hayden came over. Harper is such a sweetheart for playing with her sister and her friends. Hayden is a ball of crazy fun that loves to give hugs. Before long, it was time to go. I've been so grateful that the parents that I've met so far in Mia's grade school are genuine and incredibly friendly.

Later, I went out with old college friends Nicole (and her boyfriend), Steve and Shawn. We met at the Karaoke bar Shawn works at during the week. Both Nicole and Steve did karaoke but I did not. Just not my thing. I play drums for a reason. No matter how much I may enjoy singing songs at shows, I'd prefer to stick behind my kit playing the best that I can. I think I'd need a lot more Guinness in me to do karaoke. We had a good time catching up before I headed home. Saturday, we left early for the Brookfield Zoo and after visit Whitney and Matt in downtown Chicago. The zoo was a lot of fun and we got to see some animals Mia hasn't seen in person. The first stop was her favorite-The Red Panda. Although the little fuzzy one was asleep, she's always happy to see her favorite animal. We got to pet a wallaby! That was something unique for the diva. William the wallaby was super soft and adorable. Mia also got to see an emu up close in the same attraction. She fed some goats and really enjoyed feeding all of the parakeets as well. The underwater viewing of the sea lions was really nice. Mia liked the ones that would swim upside down backwards. Her favorite thing we did was the dolphin show.

She purposely picked for us to sit in the splash zone. Jill had told her that we'd probably get like a misting of water but it was more like a wave. The dolphins played a game of "who could soak the most people" and just as Jill handed me her camera to stick in my backpack, we got hit. Mia thought it was the greatest thing. "I CAN TASTE SALT WATER IN MY MOUTH AND I DON'T CARE!" She was worried we wouldn't get wet, but was pleasantly soaked and had a great time.

We stopped by the arts and crafts area before hitting up the butterfly garden. She was bummed none landed on her, which was the signal that it was time to go. We soon met up with Whit and Matt in their new condo. Beautiful place with a nice rooftop area to enjoy. They made us pizza and tequitos. Mia had fun being silly with Matt and it was overall, a really fun night catching up. She fell asleep shortly in the car on our trek back home, arriving at 12:30am.

Sunday, Jill and I cut the grass before going to a cookout at her parents house. I couldn't stay for long and had to work at 2. This week, Nothing in the books. Mia may hang out with friends at some point. We have to do some back-to-school shopping at some point (school items are on sale). At this point, nothing going on for the weekend.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

6 Day Break

Good morning everyone. My goodness, was it a fun 6 days off. My brother from CA and his family came in to town for the week (and my 1/2 brother and his boys, for a few days) so we had all kinds of fun. 4th of July, myself, my Dad, my little brother and older brother went to the Brewers game. First one for me in 12 years. Baseball has never been something I've gotten too excited about. The game, however, was a lot of fun. The Brewers ended beating them 6-2 I believe and the O's fans we were surrounded by weren't too happy. All in all, great outing with the guys. Later, we had food, watched the fireworks and played a family classic game PIT. Added the rewards of vodka shots if you lost or won. With the amount of shots I did, I don't know if I really won in the end :) It was a fun night in the end.

Mia went to a friend's birthday party Wednesday afternoon. She apparently was very shy with the salon staff and didn't eat much. I credit the experience to myself waking up Mia a bit early. She did have a lot of fun with her friends, which is always important. Mia played with her cousins the rest of the evening. Thursday, she had some friends over and they played in and outside our house. Charlie and Noelle (and Noelle's sister) played for about an hour or so. Mia hasn't seen Charlie since school ended and hopes to have a sleepover here with the two girls sometime in August. Later, we went to Stone Fire Pizza with my family. My nephew Alex was too excited to do the Ninja Warrior Course. Sadly, he's a bit short to do a lot of the obstacles but he had a blast doing what he could. Mia won 2k tickets and that was enough to get a large panda thing.

Later, we went swimming at the hotel my brother and fam were staying at. Friday, we did a little soccer at the park before we went to the Torrent game. Jill, Mia, my Mom and my Sister in law + Alex went out shopping and grabbed some food. The game started out great 2-1 before the storms hit and we all had to take cover. Just when we though it would never clear, it DID and the game went on. I was with my supporters group before the storms hit, but quickly found the brothers/Dad/sister. I convinced them to stay till the 73rd minute and we left while the Torrent picked up their 5th goal, securing their first league home win 5-1 against Indiana. Great win and fun experience. Tuesday is their last match at home so I hope we don't get hit by storms. After we got back to my parents house, we said our goodbyes, as they would be leaving the very next morning. Saturday. we kind of bummed around. Visited my in laws and later and saw Despicable Me 3. Fun movie. The premises was similar to the 2nd one when Nafario wanted to do evil again. In the 3rd, the Minions wanted to do evil again and ended up leaving. Mia really liked it a lot. Sunday, Jill and I went to my cousin's baby's baptism. Mia would have never made an 8:30am mass so my in laws watched her. We had went home to pick her up to go to the party after the baptism, but Mia didn't want to go. The poor girl got a mosquito bite on her forehead and she reacts pretty rough to bites. Her bite swelled up the bridge of her nose and she was afraid people would laugh at her. I, however, went to the party because I had our present and wanted to visit with family I don't see often. Later, I went back to work 2-10.

It sure was great having the 6 days off, but all good things must come to an end. This week, I'm going to the Torrent's last game Tuesday. I believe I'm meeting up with friends for drinks Wednesday night. The rest of the week, totally playing by ear. Hopefully Mia can meet up with friends she so very much enjoys spending time with.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

The Torch

Good morning everyone. We're preparing for an exciting but busy week over here, but we'll get back to that later. Last week, Mia registered for 1st/2nd grade girls rec soccer for the Fall season. I also will be involved as an assistant coach. My Dad coached for several years in both soccer and softball and I honestly didn't think I'd end up doing it. The opportunity came up to have a role on a team as a coach and since I'm not sure how much responsibility I'd want to take on, I figured assistant coach suits me better. Mia's really excited and hopefully her friend Cecilia from school that registered as well will be on the team. My Dad seems indifferent about my role, but hopefully can make Mia's games. The torch of the coaching role has been passed on to me so hopefully I can do well with these girls.  Mia got to hang out with Cecilia and Hayden (and her sister) from school at the park. Beautiful weather, plus she was really excited to see the girls since she hasn't seem both of them since school got out. Malone Park is really nice, but there's always a massive crowd of people so if you're planning on taking a kid there, I'd recommend they play with a friend so they always have someone to be with. This week Wednesday, Mia's going to Cecilia's birthday party. She's super excited because it's at a kids salon.

Wednesday,  Mia had a zoo class. Oodles of Art. It was a really fun all-day class. When I picked her up. she had a big portfolio full of projects she made, but for some reason, was way more excited about the custom lunch bag I drew for her of a red panda. Later, we celebrated Jill's birthday after she got home from work with tacos and ice cream. YUM. My sister stopped over with a unique Stitch mug. Jill loved it. Saturday, we did yard work ALL day. Cut the grass, did some planting and mulch work in the front. Later, we had late dinner and a bon fire. We were all pretty exhausted but worked well and our yard has never looked better.

Sunday, we spent the day cleaning before I went to work. We've got a lot of family coming into town today. My brother Bryan and his family are driving in at this moment from Nebraska and my half-bro Todd and his boys are coming in from Michigan. I work 2-10 but will get to reunite with everyone later. We're all very excited to see them all and it promises to be a pretty great week. Brewers game tomorrow, celebrating Alex's birthday Wednesday and Torrent game Friday. That's all for now, thanks for reading!