soccer in the burbs

Kerry is officially a soccer mom. Collin is playing soccer and loves it. His team is the Buckin Broncos. We have had two games now and the team is 1-1, not that we are keeping score. Yes it's just pack-ball at this age, but they manage to stay headed the right direction most of the game. Collin scored a couple of goals in the first game, but nothing in this last game. He doesn't usually stay in the middle of the action, but prefers to stay on the perimeter and work on his positioning and strategy. He does good keeping himself between the ball and the goal. He will make a good defender just like his daddy.

The park where the games are played is just down the street. On Saturday mornings it is a mad house. It takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to park, and even longer to get out. I bet we spent 15-20 minutes just getting out of the parking lot today.

The Diner

I am a big fan of the diner. You can order breakfast anytime of the day. And the menu is large - you can get just about anything you want.

We eat at a local diner near work about once a month. We've come to expect being called 'honey' and 'sweetie', but it's those rare moments where the waitress sits next to you and rubs your leg that make these trips memorable.

When we worked on the Philadelphia Eagles stadium we ate at the same diner every day for a week. The bread pudding was awesome. This was a northeast diner, cleaner and nicer than you typically find down south. I like to think that the neighborhood mob boss sits in the corner and runs his business.

Every time we come to Virginia for the project I am working on we stay at the same hotel and eat at the same Diner. Today I was by myself, and tempted to venture out to find a Starbucks or IHOP, but I decided not to break with tradition.

The first thing that strikes me as odd is that this Diner, which is connected to a Holiday Inn, doesn't open until 7:30. Are you kidding me? I walked in at 7:40 and the lights were still off and the waitresses were still setting up tables.

Conversation at the Diner is always interesting. A few tidbits of what I heard today between the staff...

"I really like the way you run your tables. When you greet people and say can I start you off with Coffee, Tea or Water? That sounds so professional."

"My belly hurts. I feel like it's on fire. I need to run to the store and get some Malox". I listened to that through most of my breakfast.

"You live in the apartments across the street? Did yours catch on fire? Did you lose everything?"

As the morning progressed, and I slowly lossed my appetite, I limited myself to Coffee thinking that at least the intense heat of the brewing process offered some hope for sterilization.

More Back to School

Collin and Caden started back to school today. This is the first day for Caden to go to preschool and it is a brand new school for Collin. They both did very well. Collin knows two kids in his class. A little girl that lives in our neighborhood and a little boy that is in his Sunday School class. I am so glad he has a friend in his class, it has made the adjustment to this new school much easier. He had a great time and he was even awarded the M&M award during music. I guess the music teacher gives out a little bag of m&m's to the child that is doing good. I think maybe the m&m stands for music and movement, but I really have no idea. I just know Collin was very excited to eat his m&m's after school. :)

Caden walked right into his room and sat at the table and started working a puzzle. When it was time for me to go, I said "bye Caden" and he said "bye Mom" and that was that. When I picked him up he was being held by the assistant teacher because he was not very happy when he woke up from his nap. Other than a little tears at the playground and at nap time, he had a very good first day. Hopefully, Thursday will go well too.

This post was written by Mom. :)