busy, busy

with nana and papa here, we haven't had a chance to record and reflect. started with football and soccer when they arrived in thursday--both kids' teams had victories, ben's was their first of the year (30-6 against Humbolt). went to Garrison Keilor/Praire Home Companion Meatloaf Supper and Street Dance saturday night and taking care of some projects around the house (wiring cable to the master bedroom, and installing some hanging ceiling in the basement), and eating well (ribs on friday, fish fry with roy and mary sunday night, chicken noodle tonite).

weekend, we are ready ...

only one day of a busy week left: had games tonite--ben's team lost again (26-6), marred by their QB losing his cool at the end. emma's team won 3-0--after which the other coach told doug: 'wow. we thought we were pretty good. your girls are really tough.' watching from the sidelines, terri says emma is the toughest one out there. maybe it's the hockey. anyway, we're looking forward to having nana and papa here for next thursday's games.

on the adult front: terri's tenure letters are all in, though she hasn't chosen to see them yet. doug's thing is that his managing editor (the only full time employee of Contexts) has decided to scale back dramatically after having recently returned from maternity leave starting now. so work left to do for tomorrow and beyond but the weekend will be welcome. among other things, we've got some grad students coming over for a BBQ tomorrow night, and the Gophers play #7 ranked Cal at the new stadium saturday morning.

middle school begins!

Emma's first day at middle school includes new uniforms, a new teacher, some new classmates, and a completely refurbished MMSA. (We took a tour yesterday after mass and it was pretty nice.) Emma woke up and walked over early, so she could get settled and do her first-day duties as safety patrol captain.

reporting in

so emma's team won 3-0! emma got her first goal ever on a crazy corner kick play where she put the kick right in front of the net and it bounced off a couple of players and ended up in the back of the net. good stuff. team now 2 wins and no losses.

ben's team had a harder time of it, losing 42-22 after being up 16-0. our boy was disappointed with how the team played but satisfied with his own play (though a bit beat up and exhausted). he played almost the entire game, going both ways on the line. he had a bunch of solo tackles in the second half on D, and one big-play, open-field tackle after an interception.

weekend ahead includes first gopher game at the new stadium against air force. 6:00 saturday night.

1sts, 2nds, and 3rds

big day today: ben's (and terri's) 3rd day of school, emma's (and doug's) second soccer game, and (drum-roll, please) ben's first football game. oh, and can't forget that emma has school registration tonite. life is good.

oh and see ben's first day of school pic posted belatedly below.

officially a freshman

Ben was off yesterday at 6:45 (with his buddy eric) and didn't get back until 5:30 (after football), so he was hungry and a bit tired but our high school freshman was also happy to tell us all about the first day.

It started with a schedule change: biology now first period rather than spanish (the school had to open another section to accommodate all those who wanted pre-AP science) though with only four kids this first day. Then, one new thing after the other: getting a locker that now works; homework in homeroom (creating a "me" bag and writing an essay about himself and his goals); scoring a couple of participation points in geometry; sitting next to a senior in Spanish (brother of eric, no less); not getting lost; getting hungry (need to eat more breakfast?); meeting the band (sounds like about 15 kids with 3 clarinets); figuring out the lunchroom routine. And then, finally, to the now-familiar routine of football practice.

We had ribs on the grill to celebrate, he got started on his homework (most due Friday, but with a game Thursday he wanted to get a good start), and went to bed a bit earlier than the night before. He was up and out again this morning just before 7:00.

last days of summer

beautiful weather. the fair. emma's team's first soccer victory (3-0). ben's freshman orientation (all set) and a break from football practice. terri's classes prepped and ready. doug with summer to-do list almost all checked off. labor day weekend picnics (at least two). what more to want? have a great holiday weekend.

the great minnesota get-together

with the end of summer closing in and perfect weather in the forecast, we did our annual trek to the State Fair yesterday. Started with a breakfast of a footlong hot dog, pancakes and sausage and went from there. emma and doug drove race cars, we went to the miracle of birth center, saw the big pig and some swine judging, had all the milk we could drink for $1, watched a lumber jack competition, ate a meatball sundae from the Salem Lutheran stand, and voted for our favorite artwork. Took an afternoon break to take care of some errands, work, and football practice, and arrived back with avengence for the evening session. Found a great, free parking spot on a block from Snelling, had some of our traditional food favorites (spaghetti with meatballs for emma; giros for terri and ben) while watching the annual amateur talent show. then went and saw some of the horseshow at the collesium (kids more enthused about the free milk we indulged on the way out and the promise sweet martha's cookies). then a big surprise and standout highlight: while we were eating our cookies and hanging out near the grandstand hoping to evesdrop on the Randy Travis concert, some kind soul gave us free tickets to the show! Ben couldn't believe his first big-time concert was from a traditionalist country twanger like this guy but Randy was in great voice, threw out some cornball lines that you couldn't help but smile about, and the crowd was really into it--especially the ladies. having also gotten to see the nightly fireworks show we usually just hear, we went home tired but happy.