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 Venue Vortex

Good afternoon everyone. Well, it's afternoon currently. I may or may not finish this before work, but we'll see what happens. It was yet, another jam-packed week with all kinds of wonderful things to discuss. Mia had a great week at school. I think she's really starting to get the hang of writing under-case letters (especially in her name) She used to struggle more with the "a". I'm proud. Wednesday, I took on the challenge of chaperoning a 4-K class to the New Berlin Fire Department. Mia's class has 9 kids total. Not super big, but some can be a challenge. Olivia was her bus-riding buddy and they were quite good sitting for the 8 min ride. During the tour of the building, the kids were great. Learning about where the fire fighters sleep and eat. Checking out the trucks (both fire and ambulance) and even getting to put out a "fire" in a building. That was easily, Mia's favorite part. After, the kids went on a nature walk. Irianna, the little "runner" from 3-K was closely walking with me, hand in hand so she wouldn't bolt into the woods. The kids (plus about 3 other classes) were handing things they discovered on the walk to their teachers to put in a bag for the upcoming week) I was referring Irianna as my boomerang because she would go and give something to Ms Susan, and come running back to me.

After the walk, the kids were allowed to run around in the open area. Mia and Olivia preferred to sit by my feet and relax. I think both ladies were quite hungry. To get them moving, I offered to play a game. They would be the fairies, and I would have to catch them. Other kids joined in And than, EVERY kid wanted to play. So, I had about 25 kids trying to jump at me. We had to put an end to that so the kids quickly dispersed and that was about it. They walked slowly back to the bus. I had about 5 attached to me at once. I had Irianna, Mia, Olivia, Alexa and Audrey. It was a long chain trying to maneuver down the sidewalk. One of the teachers joked "Hey Mike, bet you never thought you'd have 5 girls walking with you at once" I responded with "I never thought they would be this short". They laughed.

On the bus ride home, Mia and I had Irianna and Olivia in our set. The girls were making their best effort to smush me. I noticed Mia's friend Kailee was sitting solo. Mia said "aww I'll go sit with her". The two girls sat and talked holding hands. I think that was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. My heart melted as her two BFF's were trying to bounce on top of me. Mia can be such a sweetie with her friends.

After we got home, we went to a couple of Halloween stores in search of some parts to my costume. I got the stach' I just need to trim it to replicate the person I'm going as. Friday night, Leanne, Jill's buddy came in to town. So it was fun having her around. Saturday, Jill and her pal went to tour a winery place while Mia and I watched Chelsea beat Aston Villa. Great game. Good to see some time on the pitch for Baba and Loftus-Cheek, even if it wasn't top notch. Loftus-Cheek looked like he was ready to help turn around the team in desperate need to help. Hazard spent most of the game on the bench, surprisingly, but I think Mourinho wanted to make an example of him that he hasn't been the bright shining star that he was last season, and he needs some improvement big time. I believe there is a mid-week Champions League game this week and I hope to catch it. It was a really enjoyable Saturday with Mia, doing some art and hanging out. Later, my sister Cheryl came over and we went to see Maritime.

I've been a big fan of their since they released their EP. They hosted a record release show at the Cactus Club, and old tiny venue in Bay View (that smelled like baked cookies near the stage). It was a great night. They came on about 11-something and plowed through a pretty lengthy set that including a lot of material off the last record. When they played "No One Will Remember" I was surprised how most of the crowd was unfamiliar with that song. The guy next to me who danced most of the night said "is that new?" Other tracks they blasted through were "It's Casual", "Guns of Naverone", "Science Fiction""Paraphernalia" "Satellite Love" and plenty of others. The crowd seemed to absolutely love their single "Milwaukee" which was released separate from the new album. Such a solid performance. I was lucky to catch up with some of the band members before and after the show. Davey said afterwards "Phew, that was exhausting. Getting out of shape, I need to do rockstar calisthenics" He apologized to me as well for accidentally booting an empty PBR can into my collar bone while dancing. No big deal, Davey :) They always always always have a blast live. Great banter and overall, fantastic night.

Got home about 1:20am. Ears still ringing and absolutely beat. Today, Jill and Mia went over to the Elegant Farmer to pick apples as I worked on laundry and went to work.

This week is going to be yet, another busy one. Getting ready for the party this Saturday, Mia's got her field trip and I'm photographing the Milwaukee Torrent's tryouts Friday evening.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

Good morning. The sickness is officially out of everyone's system. Mia still gets coughing fits from time to time, but no more stuffy noses, so that's wonderful. We had a pretty good week as well. She's learning new letters to write and all kinds of facts about bats. I always enjoy hearing her tell me what she learned at school, and I always ask her what was her favorite part. It always varies. From "hanging with Kailee at recess" to "Show and Tell", every day it's always something different. She's She's got a field trip this week at the New Berlin Fire Department that I will be going with her to. She's pretty stoked. I am too. Should be a lot of fun. Wednesday, I spent about an hour working on free kicks and PKs while she was at school. The weather was perfect so the session was quite enjoyable. Wasn't bending the ball as well as I was hoping, but a few bent nicely.

Friday, Mia went to the movies with Jill and her family to see Hotel Transylvania 2. From what I was told, she loved it. When I got home from work, she was passed out. Always a good sign. Saturday, we went to a pumpkin patch place down the road. Jump houses, games and of course pumpkins. She had a lot of fun. The weather was perfect as well. She did a ring toss, find the key in the hay, and bounced in a bounce house. Later, we went over to a bon fire/house warming party at a friend from Carroll College (or University if you wanna be technical). It was a lot of fun catching up and swapping stories. Mia was a good girl with her Grandparents and when we came back, they had green face paint on. Mia gave them monster make overs. This kid loves Halloween. Sunday, I cut grass and worked as Jill and Mia went over to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. From what they said, it was a lot of fun. Not real big, but they had a great time. Mia loved the "fix the car" place where she replaced a muffler, changed an air filter and filled the windshield wash. She also enjoyed the bakery along with all kinds of other fun activities.

Lots going on this week. Field trip on Wednesday, Chelsea is back in action on Saturday and I'm going to see local hometown heroes Maritime at the Cactus Club for their record release show. I'm pretty stoked about it because I haven't seen them in a lot time, and they're just amazing live. I was supposed to have a Flood meeting (Torrent supporters group) at noon, but it looks like we're not going to have a good turnout. No big deal. Still need to pick up a few items for my Halloween costume and purchase some pumpkins for our annual carving.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

House of 1,000 Coughs

Good morning everyone. As you might have guessed from this week's blog title, everyone in the house is sick, or at least, hopefully getting over the sickness. Mid week, we all started to feel pretty lousy. I'm not sure if it was one of my coworkers who came to work for a short while sick that I caught and brought home, or something else, but all I know is, we've all been pretty miserable. Kids are the absolute worst when they're sick. They struggle breathing out of their noses, and can't sleep at night. Luckily, she likes honey, which helps a lot. Over the weekend, Mia and I made a deal that we'd watch the Chelsea vs Southampton game together. Good lord, what a disappointment. I don't know if morale was low from their defeat to Porto for the UCL game on Tuesday, but the game was just a struggle. They fired quickly at 10' and got a goal off a free kick. WOO! The rest of the game, was a disaster. The back line was playing too far up, despite Terry finally starting, it was a rough one. The strikers were pressing hard, and we couldn't stop them. Falcao wasn't getting shots in and Hazard wasn't working the magic. Begovic was solid but needs a better back. Despite the efforts, it wasn't enough. Immediately after the defeat, Mourinho addressed the media as if he was fighting for his job. Honestly, he shouldn't have to. Yes, he's cocky with an ego, but he knows the fault is with his team, and has to figure out how to fix it. Luckily, there's an international break, so hopefully we can straighten things out. I refuse to right off the rest of the season, and hope Chelsea can come back next week better than ever. Costa will be back from his suspension so hopefully he can help motivate this very worn out team.

Later, Jill's former roommate Willa and her her hubby stopped over for a little bit. It was nice catching up and Mia had fun interacting with them. Sunday, Jill and Mia went over to hang with her family and watch the Bears game. Yes, football. Mia wanted to watch her Grandpa's fav team with him. Later, I found out she didn't watch very much, but enjoyed spending time with him. She even sewed some patchwork together. I was pretty impressed considering her age. Today, back to school. We were sort of conflicted on if we should send her or not. She hasn't been sleeping much due to constant coughing through the night. We ended up waking her up and I took her this morning. She didn't sound plugged up anymore, and said she didn't wanna miss school. I was sort of worried that if she missed today and doesn't go on Thursdays (last week) they'd give her a ton of homework to do. Not that she can't do it easily, but I didn't want her to get overwhelmed.

Hopefully this week, we're all 100% better. Being sick sucks. That's all for now. Thanks for reading

Eye Contact

Good morning. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Last Monday, Mia went on a field trip to the Elegant Farmer with her Grandpa Chicago and her 4K class. They had a great time, and got to taste-test some apples. Mia really liked the Gala ones (provided that Grandpa bit off all the skin) They brought home a couple of small pumpkins, but since the weather has been in the 70's, they're already getting soft and squishy. Tuesday, she had her very first "show and tell" at school. The letter was A, and the kids had to bring in something that started with that letter. She brought in her Anna doll from Frozen. She really liked it and has been looking forward to the next one.

Wednesday after I picked her up, we jetted over by my Dad and attempted to watch the Chelsea vs Walsall game for the Capital One Cup first round. They didn't broadcast it in the states, but I got a little feed on their computer. We won 4-1. It was also the first day of Fall. Mia's been looking forward to all things Halloween lately, and playing in piles of leaves. Speaking of which, last week I decided that this year, I was going to make an attempt at 3D pumpkin carving. The end-result of these pumpkins looks absolutely amazing and I've always wanted to try it. Hopefully I can pull it off.

Saturday, I watched most of the Chelsea vs Newcastle game in between helping Jill clean and organize every single toy Mia's owned since arriving at our house. That's 4 1/2 years of toys and junk. We tossed everything on the lawn and organized. Chelsea was down 0-2 at one point, but somehow came back and tied it. Great goals from Ramires and Willian. For some reason, we always struggle at St James Park. We'll beat them at home the next time they play. We play Porto Tuesday (I'll probably miss it) and Southhampton on Saturday. I may try to get my little bro and dad to go to 3 Lions Pub to watch that.

So after spending 5-6 hours cleaning and organizing Mia's stuff, tossing old stuff out and putting together "give away" boxes, Jill and I went out on a very rare, but super enjoyable date. Mitchell's Fish Market. We had the gift card for almost two years. Delicious dinner! Having a conversation over amazing food was wonderful. Just like old days. I love spending time with Mia, but the occasional date night with my beautiful wife is always a nice little treat. It was quite adorable when we were leaving the house, Mia says from the other room "eat something good". Almost like "go ahead guys, have a good time". Sometimes, she can be unselfish :P

Sunday, I finished cutting grass. Both of us absolutely exhausted from all the work we did Saturday. It was a good feeling to finally get the crap organized. During my crazy busy night at work, I was getting glimpses here and there of the rare super blood moon. When I got home, I was going to photograph the eclipse, but the battery died. Oh well.

This week, nothing major planned. May try to start some new art. I've been obsessed as of lately with listening to the newest Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room record. Super solid album. Thanks for reading!!

ADA Walk

Good morning everyone. It was once again, a very eventful week over here with lots to discuss. Early in the week, my Dad went in for eye surgery. His retina was detached so they had to place a gas bubble in, and four hours later, he was out of surgery and on his road to recovery. It means no PS3, and watching TV with his face down looking at a mirror. All kind of fun for my poor Mom who has to help put in multiple drops a day in that eye. When I picked up Mia from school on Wednesday, she was excited to go over by him and bring him a surprise milkshake to help him feel better. We watched the Champions League game between Chelsea and Tel Aviv. Great game. 4-0. Great to see Chelsea back in a winning form. They were the only English club to have one the first game in the UCL. Mia especially loves it when they score because I toss her up in the air. Just like I did when they WON the UCL when she was a much smaller diva.


Thursday, she was off from school, so I had promised that we'd check out M&M Gymnastics in New Berlin. Her friend Olivia goes there and had strongly recommended it. Thursdays for one hour, it's $4 and you have total freedom to the massive place. The first floor had a wide variety of gymnastic equipment including pummel horses, rings and foam pits. Mia mostly enjoyed the semi-trampoline that she jump across to the crash pad. We ventured upstairs to the balance beams and kid-sized rings. Overall, she really liked the place and could probably handle gymnastics. She gets very defeated when she can't do something first try. *Ahem* soccer, ballet...The other day, she was talking about how much she misses swim class. So I don't know yet if we'll sign up for gymnastics. Possibly.

Friday, we packed the car and made the 4 hour, 45 min trip to Indiana for the ADA walk in the city. Mia did pretty decent on the way down. Slept part of the way, drew some pictures. The next day, it rained and rained and rained. Great day for rain in Indianapolis. :( Luckily, most of the 5K the rain had stopped or was just a cool mist. I had carried Mia 85% of the time, the other percent, she was chasing Caleb or walking on her own. It was a great turn out and a lot of fun. I've always wanted to do some sort of walk before and since this was going to a cause close and personal to Jill's friends, I was more than happy to do it :) It was a really nice weekend, and most of the drive home, Mia slept. Well, at least 2 hours. She'd wake up every once in a while and ask if we were still in Indy. No, we're still 3 hours from home...Okay back to sleep. Saturday, Chelsea played Arsenal and won! 2-0! I watched the highlights last night and it looked like they were back to their same old winning ways. Costa was a target for his antics and Arsenal fans were throwing a fit. Back to normal as usual :)


Today, she's on a field trip with her Grandpa Chicago at the Elegant Farmer for school. I'm hoping she has a lot of fun. She's always loved field trips and has a very special bond with her Grandpa. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Say "Cheese!"

Good Evening. I'm eating a big bowl of mac and cheese with extra mozzarella as I type this blog posting tonight. SO....hungry. It was a pretty good week. Mia's doing great with school and even had homework. Well, tracing letters and coloring in what the word that it spells. What is supposed to be fun homework but it sort of frustrates her. She had picture day on Tuesday and swears she smiled. She's been meeting new people and even was invited to a little girl's birthday party. I don't know if that was a real invite, but at least she's meeting new kids to play with at recess. When we came home, Mia rocked on my drums. I swear the kid loves my kit. It's been a while since she's played, but she did a great job.

Saturday, I got up nice and early to watch the Chelsea vs Everton game. Last season, the won 6-3. It was the highest scoring game of the season, and easily one of my favorites to watch. This game was pure garbage. We lost 3-1. WHY? Why is Chelsea performing so poorly. I think some of the mistakes were starting Mikel and the holes that the forwards were getting through on defense. Ivanovic was so bad. Begovic, the backup keeper who will be starting every game since Courtois got sidelined with a knee injury did his best. It's his uninspired defense that left him stranded at times. I sincerely home we can win this first Champions League game Wednesday. We're sitting in 15th or 16th place of the Premier League table, 11 points behind Man City which is just unheard of. Hazard needs to find his magic, and Costa needs to show that he wants the win.

So it was a very frustrating rest of the Saturday for me. Just thinking "what is going on with the team? How do we win the whole thing last year, and this season we can barely win"? We went to the Farmer's Market as well. Didn't get too much this around. I got a very lackluster caramel cashew muffin. Later, we took Mia to the Imagination Station in Oconomowoc. I've heard from countless people that this place is purely amazing. It was. It's a massive park with a ton of different things kinds of all ages can play on. Ran into some old friends too. Tons of kids everywhere. Mia didn't want to leave. She also wanted to join a birthday party that was going on near the park as well.

Later, we made a nice dinner. We had plans to go out for dinner, Jill and I and have my parents watch Mia. We haven't gone out on a date since the Winter, so I was looking forward to this. Her head felt a little cloudy and I wasn't feeling that great, so we stayed home. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to do it  some day. This week Friday, we'll be Indiana-bound for the Step Out for Diabetes event. Jill's excited to see her best pals again. Mia will get to play with long distance friend Caleb as well.

I finally completed the dog portrait. It turned out pretty good. She was happy with it and I was too. Now, onto other projects. Mia wants me to paint a sea turtle in her room on a blue wall. We'll see if I can do it. I also want to do some water colour work too.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!