Dudes at the Lake

This weekend Wes took the boys camping at Energy Lake with some of Evan's soccer buddies. It was the first night I have spent alone in eleven years, and I was beside myself with angst wondering how to spend my free time. I did the only thing I could think of. I went shopping.

The boys spent Saturday in the water kayaking, fishing, and swimming. Keagan was so excited about spending a Saturday in the woods that before he even got to the camp site he told me he planned to tell his friends at school on Monday that he had been attacked by a bear and was able to fight him off with his hands.

But the joke was on Keagan.

Early afternoon he was attacked by a nest of yellow jackets and stung four times on his head. Late afternoon, he cut the bottom of his feet on a piece of glass hiding in the bank of the lake, and he was gouged in the side by a tree limb when he slipped and fell while playing chase in the dark.

He came back home bandaged, bleeding, and blinded with exhaustion. However, he has already told me he can't wait to go back. As for Evan, his report of weekend events was a little less exciting. He told me, "It was fun."

First Day of School

It's back to school time for all of us....starting today. Evan began middle school

and Keagan began fourth grade.

I don't think any of us were quite ready for what the day held. I was not prepared to send my boy to middle school. Evan was depressed thinking of making new friends in what is now his fourth school in seven years, and Keagan still hates school. He began tearing up when it came time to walk to the door of the school. I think we all three shed a tear this morning. 

A first day wouldn't be complete without the afternoon recap. You might remember that last year the boys were most impressed with the cleanliness of the bathrooms. However, this is the first year that neither boy's best memory of the first day of school included food. Here it goes anyway. After school, Evan rode the bus to the high school, and within those short five minutes sitting in the bus lot loading a few students, he decided that the "high school student population is more diverse than the city of DC" with "goths, gays, jocks, and girls dressed as three time Oscar winners" all in one place. It was not lost to me that his most memorable moment of his first day of middle school was actually about high school. It was as if we skipped those middle school years and entered high school. 

Keagan's first day of school report included an explanation for his bleached shorts. He sat on the bleachers just after the janitor finished cleaning, and when he stood up, his blue shorts were white. 

I would like to think summer is just around the corner, but I can't ignore the 179 days of school that separate us from next Memorial Day.

Triple Three

This weekend Team Fuego played in the soccer 3v3 regional tournament. They took home third place and qualified for the national tournament in Florida!

As much as I hate that we did not place in the top two, I am a little relieved we didn't place in the top two. We promised to take the boys to Florida for the national championship IF they placed in the top two (even if the top four qualify), but I couldn't fathom keeping the boys out of school for a week for a soccer tournament. Third place is a respectable finish, but keeps us at home and in school.

Fall team soccer begins next weekend. Bring it! We're ready to kick some balls.

EFT at RMS

Last week Evan had middle school orientation. Yikes! Middle school?! I think this makes me officially old.

I was struck by the diversity, or perhaps oddity is a better word, of middle schoolers when I dropped my 5'6" inch, 127 pound, 10.5 shoe size baby boy, and he sat next to a boy that was barely 5 feet tall, 75 pounds, and wearing shoes that tighten with Velcro. I might also add the other boy carried a notebook and a pencil so he could take notes. It was either that or sit at the table of girls, and I knew Evan would never consider that option.

We toured the middle school, reviewed his class schedule, practiced opening the lockers with a combination lock, and asked all of the important questions like "When does football practice begin?"

I was not allowed to take any pictures at orientation, and I was only allowed to get this photo after closing hours, right before dusk, when no one would be near the school. I also had to pay the price of a medium Oreo blizzard. Chump-change, in my opinion, for such a precious memory.

Saying Goodbye to the Courts

This weekend marks the end of our basketball "spring season." We've had a season that has exceeded my expectations! Today we played in the AAU regionals tournament and came home with second. 

This season we played in eleven tournaments, and the boys have had four first place wins and five second place wins. I couldn't even begin to outline the successes that Evan has achieved. He plays today like a completely different player. The progress he has made in five months is truly remarkable! Just this weekend he scored a game tying three pointer with a minute left in the game. He then had a jump shot that put us ahead with only seconds left. His success is, in part anyway, due to these two guys; Coach Kevin and Coach Vince have been so patient with Evan and have gone above and beyond to see him succeed.

More than the basketball skills, though, Evan has made some great friends with some great boys. Boys that our paths would not have crossed otherwise. 

As great of a season we might have had, though, I'm ready to kick some balls. Fall soccer has begun and nothing could make me happier. 

Fantasy Football

Last year Evan wanted to create a team in a fantasy football league, but he waited too long and missed the opportunity. This year he was determined to create a team and participate. He did his homework and made a list of possible draftees before draft day arrived. He was ready.

He was at the computer today three hours before the draft opened, waiting patiently for it to open, all the while debating his need for two kickers (I told him two weren't necessary; he didn't listen to me), his first choice (I said it needed to be a RB; he chose a QB.), and the best tight end (to my dismay he didn't chose Witten).

He was beside himself when in his rush to get his picks in on time, he accidentally chose Romo for his QB instead of Wilson. He tried all afternoon and night trying to get Romo traded. He knew he had no chance of getting Wilson, so he attempted to get Tannehill. He wrote to another team manager, "Let me keep this simple. I take Tannehill. You take Romo." No trade transpired. 

Tonight Yahoo scored his draft choices with a grade of B-. His team is predicted to finish in third. That's pretty good for an 11 year old competing against adults; he of course, thinks it's horrible. He later told me, "Mom, you were right about not needing two kickers. I was wrong; remember this because it doesn't happen very often."

Dirt, Sweat, and Fun?

This weekend Evan's basketball team played up in the 7th/8th grade bracket of a local tournament and won the championship! Evan had the defensive game of his life and played all but the last three minutes of the final game. It was such a great weekend of basketball that United parents asked why not play one more time? So we are playing in our last, this-time-will-be-for-sure-the-last, tournament at the end of the month.

Sometime I look around me at these AAU basketball tournaments and wonder what in the world I am doing. The bleachers are hard and almost always dirty; the gym stinks of sweat and feet; the facilities are often dilapidated and sometimes dangerous; and it consumes our weekend time leaving no time to do anything else. When these thoughts are circulating through my mind, I can't help but hope that Evan will give up his passion for basketball.

Then he plays like he did this afternoon and I find supreme satisfaction hearing his name called over and over again by the games' announcer. I realize my butt will eventually recover from hours of sitting on hard bleachers, the smell of sweat is relatively short-lived, and spending time watching my boy shine is so much fun!

I can't wait for school season to begin!