What a busy day! Somehow we have found ourselves participating in two soccer leagues this fall. Quinn played for San Diego Crusaders last spring and really enjoyed it. When that season was over I found another club through our neighbors that played all spring and summer, so we signed up. At the time we already knew that we were committed to coming back and doing Crusaders in the fall, because Jeff had volunteered to be the assistant coach. Both clubs play in the fall, so I figured as long as Q can hack it, we'd try to continue doing both. Well this was the first week we had 2 practices and then 2 games on Saturday (most Saturdays the games will be at similar times so we'll have to skip Liverpool). What a fun opening day it was! Our little guy who barely touched the ball all spring season scored 3 goals during the Liverpool game and 2 goals during his Crusaders game! Way to go Q-Bert! :)
A few photos from our morning game: The Liverpool games are smaller, shorter, and played on a smaller field (all good things). They play 3v3 and all 3 players play for the whole 20 minutes. Because there are so few players all of the kids really get the chance to handle the ball a lot. It was a lot of fun to watch them go. All of the boys did a great job!
After lunch we changed clothes and had our Crusaders game. This league plays 5v5 on somewhat larger fields (still small goals with no goalie), and they play two 20-minute halves. It's a tad more hectic, but just as fun, because they really get the experience of playing on a team and rooting for their teammates. There sometimes are a handful of older, more experienced kids who really dominate the play, but luckily so far this year it seems that we have a more balanced team, so more of the kids are getting the opportunity to contribute during the games. Quinn didn't do much during the 1st half, but came alive in the second and scored 2 goals! Not a bad day. I'm just glad he's having fun participating!
I feel as though Quinn has an unusually strong obsession with dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures). On Friday we went to the library and he picked out 10 dinosaur/sabertooth/mammoth reference books. Every morning (and any time we have down time at the house) he dives into the books and obsessively compares the anatomy of the various dinos. He will find the same dinosaur in various books and compare how the different authors portrayed the dinosaur differently. He is very critical of cartoon dinosaurs that have anatomical errors, such as the wrong number of fingers, arms that are too big, or spikes where spikes do not belong. I think we may have a little scientist on our hands! :)
Morning dino reading
Below we have a couple of videos. The first is Quinn checking out a new dinosaur book this morning. Before I started filming each page turn was greeted with a loud gasp. Several hours later and he's still flipping through the book.
Last weekend we visited Don and Janet at their beach house in Mission Beach. As we were getting ready to leave Quinn decided he was a Smilodon (sabertooth cat) and had a growl-off with Don. Pretty amusing stuff. Glad Don was such a good sport. Mom and Dad tend not to be! :)
I got a new (found) lens for my old camera a few days ago (thanks Don and Janet!) and have been enjoying playing around with it a bit. It's a fixed 35mm Nikon f1.8. I decided to document our nightly dinnertime standoff. It takes intense negotiation to get Quinn to try new foods. Tonight it was mashed potatoes. Who doesn't like mashed potatoes? Crazy kid. Anyway, made for some fun expressions. :) As you can see from the smiles at the end of the series, he succeeded in choking down a few bites, which meant there was an ice cream reward waiting for him.
What an adventure! Quinn had his first sleepover with his buddies Kinley and Bella. I wasn't quite ready to send him off to do this solo, so I had a little sleepover too. We had no idea how the kids would do, but they were awesome! They ran around outside playing in water, had a yummy dinner together, played dress up, took a group bath, did puzzles, watched a movie, and then off to bed with the boys sleeping on the floor. They whispered and giggled until after 10pm, but eventually went to sleep and we all had a restful night.
We had the fortunate experience this afternoon of being invited to a BMX birthday party. Quinn's buddy, Madin, has a big brother who just turned seven. This was his party and we were invited so that Madin would have another boy his age to play with. Neither Quinn nor Madin had ever tried BMX biking before, so we had no idea how it would go.
They had a BLAST!!! The rode pretty much non-stop from 4-6pm. The boys had multiple races around the track and enjoyed exchanging turns being the victor. There were a handful of spills too (I was thankful for those full-face helmets!), but everyone just hopped right back on and started riding. I'm seeing more of this in our future. Below are a handful of photos and one video. Enjoy!
This was our first year without him, so my parents planned an afternoon toast to him via FaceTime with his brother, Don and Don's wife, Janet. We all donned Mardi Gras (aka Biggy Gras) beads, poured champage, and toasted to Biggy. Additionally, Dad lit up an old cigar that was found among Biggy's things that has his initials across it. It was a nice way to remember such a special man.
Mom and Dad came out to San Diego this past week to help take care of Quinn while Jeff was away on a short business trip. It is always great to have my family together. This year we've managed to see quite a bit of each other and I hope that trend continues over the remainder of the year. The first stop on the tour of SD was Phyllis's/Grammy's house for a Memorial Day BBQ. Quinn and his cousin had a wild time launching themselves off of their playhouse.
Next up was planting the Earthbox that Nana had given Quinn for his birthday a few weeks ago. Quinn decided that he would like to plant strawberries, so Nana and I went out to find some small plants to add to the Earthbox and the two of them set to preparing the box and getting the plants in the ground. Quinn is very proud to announce that he already has 1 strawberry growing and as of yesterday it was already half red.
This is a typical scene in our house when Nana and Gogo visit. Quinn enjoyed bedtime stories with both Nana and Gogo.
We managed to squeeze in one nice dinner out. For Christmas we received a gift certificate for 3rd Corner wine bistro in Ocean Beach, so we finally had the opportunity to use it. What a treat! We had some great wines and a very good meal. Thanks again, Phyllis and Jaime!
The kid who enjoys cheesing it up for the camera also enjoys a good silly face. These are the photos I'm capturing more recently.
Another thing we all usually enjoy is a trip to the SD Botanical Gardens in Encinitas. It's a treat for kids and adults alike. The house below is a demonstration of a landscaping for fire safety on a miniature scale. They also have a garden that resembles an undersea-scape, a beautiful waterfall and two impressive children's gardens.
After the gardens we met up with a highschool friend of my mom's (Georgia) at a Fide's Mexican restaurant in Solana beach. It was great to meet someone with whom my mom shares so much history. Quinn was enjoying showing off his new short hairdo.
Mowgli knows how to win over the grandparents. They tried to take him home with them, but I had to put my foot down. :)
One of my favorite things about this trip was how much Quinn and my dad seemed to enjoy each other. This was their typical hello and goodbye greeting. Glad I managed to get this video so I can remember it. :)
