Game day
It’s game day here in Orlando, you can watch the Mayor’s game live at http://dspnlive.com/dspn1/
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Labor Day Tournament Day 1
After driving for what felt like countless hours on the turnpike, we finally made it to the Labor Day Tournament. Well at least hubby and Goalielocks did. Due to a number of accidents, the drive took longer than expected so I dropped them at the rink in Kississimee before heading to Orlando.
I abhor driving in Orlando, but driving in Friday night rush hour in my hubby’s truck takes the cake. Nevertheless, I survived the drive. The Mayor and I made it to RDV in once piece.
Both boys played last night at 6:45 and 7:50 respectively in two different rinks. I was bummed that I had to miss Goalielock’s game. The rink in Kississimee is like a cave. There’s no cell service, so this goalie mom was dying from anticipation in RDV.
Goalielocks and his squad played great. They ended up winning the game 10-0. Always a good night when your goalie gets a shutout.
The Mayor’s squad played a local team that was pretty well padded with travel players. They ended up in a tie, but they had a lot of critical opportunities they were unable to convert. My mayor had a great game getting a hatty and an assist. The Mayor was excited to play last night and is really looking forward to today’s game.
Last night’s loser was definitely Steak N Shake, who saw their entire computer system go down during a storm. By the time we had left, their credit card processing machines still hadn’t come back online.
Finally, the parents were in good form. We kept the bartender in the lobby busy and the bicep curls looked good. Nobody got arrested, broke anything or got sick, so all in all it was a good night.
Celebrating Hubby
Tonight we should be celebrating hubby and his 35th birthday. Alas, he’s finally oldest enough to be President! Unfortunately, we both spent our days toiling away at work. I don’t know whose boss is worse his or mine….. The problem of course is that after a day of work we had hockey practice. Consequently, we’re exhausted.
While he’s at hockey practice, the Mayor and I are making a nice hearty dish of Vodka sauce pasta for him to enjoy. Jake had previously picked up a Menchi’s cake for us to share after dinner. Afterwards we’ll give him his well deserved present and cards.
One of the things I love most about my hubby is that he’s a good man. He’s undeniably honorable, smart, honest, patient, loving, an amazing father, coach, craftsmen, etc. Honestly, I could go on for days. He’s truly a fantastic husband, partner and father. I couldn’t ask for more. Happy Birthday Hubby!
A birthday rhyme:
A Wild Saturday Night
Oh it was a wild Saturday night here for our household. I even got a tattoo before heading to the gastropub Saturday night to watch the Mayweather-McGregor fight. Okay, never mind that the tattoo is temporary and I got it from an 8 year old. It’s still pretty awesome.
As we waited for the Kennedy’s sitters to show up, a.k.a. Jake and the Mayor, my BFF gave me a tattoo and tried on my shoes. My BFF threw on her sisters fashion forward back pack and struck a pose. She’s cute as a button. The sitters got there and us amazing adults headed to the pub to watch the fight.
Our reservations said 5:00 pm on Eventbrite, but the fine print said seating could begin at 8:00 pm, but no later than 9:30 pm. What? We got there at 8:00 pm obviously not having read the fine print. Fortunately, not having a table didn’t preclude us from enjoying an adult beverage. We were not seated until 9:30, but instead of a high top table with no chairs they gave us a nice booth. #winning
Batch Gastropub is the latest edition to Delray Marketplace and was having a big bash for the fight. The place was crowded, but as soon as we were seated it didn’t matter. Our server was amazing. The food and drinks were on point. I will never complain when my next round arrives right before I finish my drink. For dinner, I had a chicken sandwich with Brussels sprouts, while Luke enjoyed the chicken and waffles. Since I’m keeping my carb intake low and last night’s carbs were reserved for vodka, I opted for Brussels sprouts instead of fries. In addition, I ate the sandwich off of the bread, but ate no bread. Its all about priorities and last night Tito’s beat out the bread.
As for the fight, I was impressed with McGregor. I don’t know much about boxing or fighting only that it is one of the toughest sports in the world. While I’m not a Mayweather fan, I also acknowledge he’s the best boxer in the world. McGregor lasting ten rounds around the world’s best having never been in the ring before? It was pretty damn impressive. Both Mayweather and McGregor are amazing athletes and it showed last night. I’d be curious to see what would happen if it were the MMA ring and not the boxing ring, but I doubt that will happen.
I was glad that neither fighter felt compelled to pay homage to Tyson by biting someone’s ear off. The Holyfield-Tyson fight is the last boxing match I had watched until last night. At the end of the night, our group of friends had a great time enjoying each other’s company and the fight. Lastly, the best part of the fight? Unequivocally, the memes leading up to and following the fight. I leave with you with a few of my favorites.
Let it Go, Let it go
Inevitably when anyone says the phrase, “let it go,” I immediately start singing the song Let it Go in my head. I can’t help myself. Today I had to remind myself that there comes a time to let our kids go and spread their wings. My eldest Jake started college today. A start reminder of how quickly the time comes to let them fly.
As our kids get older, it isn’t easy to give them the independence they need to be successful. We have a visceral reaction as parents to hold them tight and make sure they don’t stumble. If we always catch them when they fall, how will they learn to pick themselves up?
There was a great article circulating on facebook this week. The article titled “Stop doing these 8 things for your teenager this school year” by Amy Carney is genius and spot on. I won’t regurgitate the whole article here, but will share some real life examples and why they’re important.
One of the eight items she lists is making their failure to plan your emergency. Another is to not bring them their forgotten items. This morning, we experienced a mix of both of these. Goalielocks needed to print something for his science class and bring it to school. Unfortunately, Goalielocks forgot about it until right before he had to catch the bus. The boys’ bus has been coming between 7:15-7:30, so they have to be their early in case the bus is early. Hubby didn’t think there was enough time to print it out and make the bus.
Oh the fireworks, the world was ending in Boynton this morning. Although Goalielocks is in 8th grade, the majority of his classes are for high school credit this year. He simply cannot afford to throw away the easy points. Nevertheless, my Hubby didn’t give in and he was right. If they missed the bus, my hubby would have to drive them to school. This would be at least a 30 minute drive each way. Goalielocks left the house in a huff angry that he would miss these points. It was easy to remind him, however, that he had plenty of time the previous evening to print it up.
Since we didn’t relent and he went to school without the form, he had to accept responsibility for his failure to plan. He’s an industrious kid and had to solve his conundrum on his own. Guess what? He did! Goalielocks texted his friend, who was able to print up a form and bring it to school for him. We didn’t rescue him this morning, so he had to figure out how to solve his issue.
If we solve every problem for our kids, they will never learn how to solve their own problems. We won’t always be there to help them or guide them, so it is key that they learn to problem solve independent of us. Our boys also do chores, they can cook themselves a meal and the older two do their own laundry. The Mayor, who just started middle school this year, will learn how to do his own laundry. When they leave our house as an adult, they’ll leave as independent men that can run a household and make their own decisions.
Hangry
One of my favorite commercials, is the Snicker commercial featuring the Brady Bunch’s Marcia Brady. Marcia is so hangry that she’s morphed into a big, mean biker dude. As soon as she takes a bite of her Snickers bar, however, she turns back into the sweet all American girl we know and love. I’d be lying if I said I was any different. I would also be lying if I said that food makes me happier than coffee. I run on Dunkin.
As cranky as I can get when I’m hungry, my younger boys can be absolute curmudgeons. They’re like an 80 year old man going through puberty. Quite frankly, it’s ugly. Like the sour patch in the commercial, he goes from sugary sweet to dastardly sour.
When we were hiking on the Vindhellavegen section of the Kongsvegen, the Mayor had become hungry. As we hiked the Sverre hjornevik, one of the most picturesque parts of the trail, the Mayor’s hangriness started to peak. One problem… The trail was wide enough, but was gravelly in places. If one were to fall of the side of the road, one would fall into a rocky gorge. It wouldn’t be a good outcome.
The Mayor felt the entire mountainside from Borgund to Husom should know of his discontent. He was not quiet in sharing his displeasure. Jake and I trekked to the bottom to see Husom and take pictures, while the Mayor, Goalielocks and the Hubby waited on some benches up the hill.
We finally made our way back up the trail, which was much steeper on the way up than it had been on the descent. The Mayor whose hangriness has reached a new level of ludicrousness was beside himself. His antics were annoying Goalielocks and Jake, leading Goalielocks to ask the Mayor if he could be any louder. This wasn’t not a good question to ask. The Mayor started to scream, shout and clap as he did a jig a la GOB from Arrested Development. Out of breath, I had to stop hiking because I was laughing too hard.
While the Mayor was attempting to annoy his brothers, the rest of us ended up in hysterics because it was truly the funniest thing we’d ever seen. This, of course, only made it worse. It wasn’t until he saw my iphone recording that he started walking normally. As soon as we got back to the Borgund Stave church and museum, we got him some food. We couldn’t unfurl the wrapper off the muffin quick enough. Once the food was on board, my sweet angelic Mayor was back.
Memories
I’ve been using Shutterfly to house and print my photos for the last eleven years, so many of memories are housed there. In fact, I’ve been on Shutterfly longer than I’ve been on Facebook. That’s a long time. One of the thing, I love about Shutterfly is the memory emails. Much like Facebook Memories, Shutterfly now sends email with a link to your old photos.
Today’s memories email from Shutterfly was of memories from 10 years ago. What a fantastic trip down memory lane. Ten years ago, Jake was starting 3rd grade. This year he’ll be starting at Palm Beach State. The Mayor was a doll at a year old and Colin was almost four. Now both of them are in middle school.
You can see how digital photos has evolved since 2007 when comparing the quality of photos from 2007 to 2017. Their are several super cute, but super grainy pictures of the boys. Admittedly, part of the problem could be that they simply were unable to sit still long enough for me to get a quality photo. However, they haven’t changed that much and the photos should still be super grainy if that was the case. Grainy or not, the photos from 2007 are a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Flam A Picturesque Hamlet
Flam is a picturesque hamlet at the end of the Aurlandsfjord. Surrounded by mountains and the beautiful fjord, you couldn’t imagine a more beautiful, serene or more Norwegian place. On the surroundings hills and mountains, the farmers let their sheep and goats roam freely to find the best grass. It was even more beautiful that I had imagined.
Our first night in Flam, we met our family at Flamstova for dinner. Our dinner was incredible, but the kids had grown weary from sitting at the table. My cousin Jessica and her husband Jeff volunteered to take them out to see the sheep in the pasture. With the kids gone, we could enjoy the remainder of our dinner in relative silence.
Meanwhile the kids were in seventh heaven as they fed the sheep that ventured near the fence. Colin had his first run in with the prickle of a stinging nettle he had picked to feed the sheep. He learned his lesson and was more careful when he picked the grass. The kids loved the animals we would see grazing freely throughout our Norwegian travels, but the opportunity to be up close and feed them was even better.
Cousins enjoying the Aurlandsfjord in Flam
We made several more visits to the sheep before leaving Flam including a walk behind the fence to find some good fishing spots. The boys, particularly the younger two, had to visit their sheep named Jeffry. All of the kids enjoyed feeding and interacting with the sheep. They loved to watch their silly antics as they ran down the mountain or assaulted their mother for milk. It certainly isn’t something our kids are accustom to seeing.
It was awesome to see the how freely the sheep and goats were to gallivant about the mountains finding the best grass. Each morning the farmers would let their herds out and then each night the farmers would bring them back home. How they got them to come down the mountain, I don’t know, but each and every night they’d return home from their pastures.
Trip Photos
Today I’ve been sifting through my trip photos and trying to organize them according to city and date. Technology while helpful also frustrates the process a bit. The wifi, while we were in Norway, wouldn’t always support the shutterfly upload process. Consequently, I ended up having to upload half of the photos to my online library through Canon.
Once I completely organize them, I will be adding photos to my blog under a separate page only devoted to photos. I am fairly tech savvy, however, the Envira plugin and add-ons have been frustrating me all night.
At any rate, I am excited to share these photos with the blogosphere. Our Norway trip was magnificent. The country is more beautiful than words could possibly describe, so I hope that comes through in the photos. Some of the pictures look fake like they’re a built model set. If I hadn’t taken the photo myself, I wouldn’t have believe it was real. You can find our photos here.
You Being You
Loved this whimsical quote from Dr. Seuss that’s all about you being you and me being me. The picture of my favorite carousel from Paris didn’t hurt either. I looked high and low for pictures from our first trip to Paris. I have a fabulous picture of Jake riding the carousel near the Eiffel Tower, but that photo album has gone ghost. I digress.
When we travel, we’re free to be ourselves. Being free of other people’s expectations and perceptions, if even for a week, is completely liberating. The truth is we have to learn to accept who we are before anyone else can accept us. Further, and far more difficult, we have to learn to accept that not everyone will like us.
Reality is when we embrace who we are and we say what we feel those that are important to us will embrace us. Those that don’t simply don’t matter. Sometimes one needn’t look further than Dr. Seuss for great advice and Green Eggs and Ham.
