And School Begins ...

Well, today is the first day of school for the three older kids. This means it is the first day of High School (if you discount the Summer PE Camp) for DS#1. When I dropped him off this morning he seemed to have a healthy mix of excitement and apprehension. I know he'll do fine, but it is hard not to recall the small baby I once held in one arm. Now, of course, he is several inches taller than me so holding him in one arm is completely out of the question.

DD and DS#2 got their pictures taken at the bus stop today, many pictures actually. My lovely wife is not the only person around recording memories on the first day of school. I would say there were about 6-7 parents taking pictures, including 2-3 dads. I am sure my dear wife will post some of the pictures tonight.

Yesterday was "The Last Day Before DOOOOOMM!" (see below) and it ended up being a pretty relaxing day. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then DD and DS#2 had friends over to play. DS#1 and I watched our neighbor play in the Little League World Series (they won again and will definitely make the next round) and the kids played video games etc. The evening was simple sandwiches and left-overs for dinner because I had to run DD off to a soccer clinic held by the soccer club the boys play with.

DD has been wanting to play soccer again for several months now but I have been waiting a bit to see what her level of desire is. Now that I am a manager for DS#2's team I simply don't have time to coach and feel like it would be easiest for us to enroll her at the same club as the boys. Well, the cut-off for soccer is August 1st and the cut-off for school (in Texas) is September 1st. This means DD makes the cut-off for school and is in Second Grade, but for soccer to play with other second-graders she has to "play up."

I decided that I wanted the coaches to see how she played and tell me where she should play, in the U5-U7 "Micros" or as a U8 "Academy" player. The U8 team is more competitive, with more practice time involved, greater dedication, etc. The teams at that age are single-sex though so she'd be playing on a team of just girls. Micros mixes the children more and but has smaller sided games. Practice and game times are shorter for the Micros as well. Basically, the older team is much more serious and I wasn't certain if DD had the mentality or skill level for that yet.

Well, it was 104 degrees on the field last night and DD had a blast, despite getting a bit overheated for a a while. The coaches said she should play on the U8 Academy team and there is a slot on a team that practices at the same time as DS#2's practices (at least for fall). When I talked about how she was quitting dance and gymnastics to play soccer this year one of the coaches laughed and said that both are "fantastic for soccer." Um, sorry DD, not enough days in the week. She seems very excited about playing on a more serious team. I am curious to see if that excitement continues.