The force is strong

3-14-16

Another long weekend done.

Friday afternoon started us off sore. As it was pouring rain, I dropped Ken off at Hull, picked up the boys from Adams, dropped them off at home and then went to meet Ken at Hull where we spent a couple of hours measuring and lining fields. We had to add 2 U6 fields and 1 U8 along with making sure the U10 was lined after rain and mowing mostly removed what was there. It stopped raining, and in some ways it was almost hot out, which was crazy. It isn’t hard work in terms of difficult. It is, however, tiring. It is especially hard on your back since once the painting is done, the string and nails need to be removed from the field, which is a lot of work.

Saturday had us trek out to Thousand Oaks. The Strikers had 2 games, Ken had ref duty for 2. It would be a long day. The first game went ok. The team played well, and really a loss by one point isn’t that bad. Our second game wasn’t played as well, but you can see the spark of some of their passing improving. JJ stressed to Dax once again how much he misses him. Dax was a co captain for every match, which is a testament to how much JJ not only respects Dax for being part of the team, but how much they all want him to be a leader. It seems like a fair amount of pressure, but Dax seems to take it quite seriously.

After the first game, the boys and I went out in search of food and a Target. I managed to not get lost, despite a minor hiccup. In all fairness, it wasn’t getting lost. I just didn’t vet my information properly. I did a Google search on Targets near me. It came up with one very close. Sadly, it wasn’t Target, it was Target Consulting. It dawned on me it was incorrect when Waze was taking me into some housing complex. Yeah, like a gated community gets its own Target. Ha! Luckily we found another one and were able to get over there.

After the second game, I spent the time loading the car up with all of our stuff, leaving the boys to play with DJ and DJ’s siblings. Ken was reffing at this point, as was DJ’s dad. In the process of dragging all the stuff to the car, I stopped to use the restroom where I found Dax. I mentioned to him about the small soccer balls at one of the vendor tents. So he and I headed over there to get one for him and Bobby as a surprise. Sadly, the tents had been closed up so we headed back, hot chocolate and kettle corn in hand at least. As we approached where Bobby and everyone was, I could tell things were not good.

Turned out, Bobby tripped and well on the goal, managing to slice his knee. It wasn’t horrid, but bad enough that I knew he had on his brave face so that he wouldn’t cry in front of Tracey (DJ’s mom). I got him back to the car, where he went into minor shock, freaking out mostly from the little bit of blood. I managed to calm him down and get him cleaned up. It didn’t bruise as bad as I expected, but he was still a little sore yesterday. Luckily, it was fine, but I am telling you, my mom alert levels are on red now.

Mind you, it didn’t help that on Saturday morning, Dax managed to trip up the stairs, crashing to the ground in front of me. He was fine, but I’m telling you, I almost threw up it freaked me out so much.

With traffic, we didn’t get home till pretty late on Saturday. It was 7:30 or so, which makes for a long day in the sun. It was especially upsetting for the boys since really, there wasn’t gobs of time to play. They didn’t want to eat food we picked up on the way home, and opted for soup when we arrived, which meant they weren’t allowed to play, just eat. With the time change, too, we knew we still had another long day ahead of us, and their demeanor was already fragile. At Target, both boys at different points got teary for different, incredibly minor reasons. I knew sleep was the best way to combat this.

Sunday, they both still got up way early considering the time change. At least they were quiet so we could sleep a bit.

We headed back out for the last game. It was another great game, ending in a tie, which should have been a win due to a bad call. The ball was over the goal line and the keeper pulled it back. The ref didn’t see it. At least the boys could go home feeling good since they dominated the whole game and did great. I will take it as a win.

With no reffing, we were able to head back right after the game. We also had more plans. Not shocking.

Isaiah’s birthday party was at Torrance Park. We got there a couple hours in, but it didn’t look like this was an issue, and we showed up for the important parts like cake and piñata. In addition to this, we got there in time for the special guests, which started with a Jedi! He came and showed the kids the moves with a bunch of lightsabers. During the lesson, Darth Vader strolled in. It was really cute, very reminiscent of the Jedi training at Disneyland. Then the kids took turns using their newly leaned skills to battle Vader. Bobby did his duel, which was adorable. He also proudly took home the head of Darth Vader from one of the piñatas, claiming it his kill.  

There was a sports bounce thing, which had spots to throw the ball into and kind of bounce a bit. I was terrified with Dax being in there, but he was very careful. He did do a couple of jumps while knowing I was watching just to freak me out. Yeah, that wasn’t cool. He didn’t get hurt, and the other kids were very sweet about taking care to not hit his arm or even rough house with him too much. I can tell he is well respected and no one wants him to be hurt or even in a cast. It was sweet, really.

We left the party and attempted to go get the boys bikes. Sadly, the Target in Torrance didn’t have ones they liked, so we will hit up a different location tonight. The one we were at out by the games had ones they liked better, so we may just need to try different stores. Bobby needs one before Friday since the bike rodeo is that day. I am not too concerned since there are a lot of choices. We may hit up Walmart, too.

Dax has his field trip to the Rancho House on Friday. Ken will go to that one, too. I feel bad not going, but it seems to mean a lot to Ken, so it is good he can make it. Plus, this trip is the quick one, and Ken went last year, but was unable to go inside the house (too many people). Mrs. Van Wie assured him this year he could go inside, which was very sweet. The house is near my work , and it is a minimum day, so they really aren’t there for very long. Then again, maybe I can work part of the day and meet them there. We shall see.

At the soccer field we had a celebrity sighting! We saw Will Ferrell! I knew he was a huge soccer fan, and that he is a supporter of AYSO. He brought his kids out on the Emmys and they were in AYSO uniforms. We played his kid, but Will wasn’t there the first day (or we just didn’t see him). Ken did walk past him and just offered him a thank you for all he does, and Will made him stop and give him a handshake, which is cool. But really, as much as it would have been neat to talk to him, I am so glad no one was bothering him. It was as if they all understood, this is an event in which his kid is playing and on these days, he isn’t an actor. He is just a dad. I was quite proud of all of the folks that didn’t harass him. It was nice!

There is so much to do tonight. We need to get the science project results, which isn’t much but pictures are needed along with cutting of fruit. Bobby’s experiment didn’t seem to evaporate as much as I had hoped. However, that is ok since some experiments are allowed to result in inconclusive results. If anything, he will have more to write about since we can speculate on why the liquids didn’t go down much. We could even amend it, and put the containers outside for a couple additional days to see if perhaps outside effects the results. Kind of like an experiment within an experiment. How very Inception!

Oh, if anyone is looking for a kid’s book that will make you cry, I highly recommend The One and Only Ivan. Holy crap, what a great and sweet book. It is a quick read, and I am going to load it on the boys’ iPads to read this week. Just be sure to hydrate before reading.

I suppose I should get something done today.