Fall Soccer

\It's September and the Fall Soccer season is upon us. Darrius was in the game for 5 seconds and experienced his first injury of the season. He was dribbling the ball past a player. He passed the ball to his teammate. The ball ricocheted off the opposing player and hit Darrius square in the eye. Needless to say...it was not a pretty sight. Coach Rick carried Darrius to the sideline where the Team Mom proceeded to calm and soothe Darrius.

Here's Coach Rick holding and talking to Darrius. You can see a little bit of Darrius' head on the coach's left shoulder. Coach Rick is the best. He really cares for his boys.

Here's Darrius with a Capri sun on his eye. We didn't have any ice so we had to improvise.





There's squinty. His eye was a little swollen and sore but he got back in the game like a trooper. Luckily he didn't end up with a black eye.

The Green Eagles won 2-0. Go Eagles!!!

Rude awakening...sort of

For the last couple of weeks, when I've been waking up in the morning, it has been dark. I've also been noticing lately that by 7:30ish in the evening, it's getting dark. In the back of my mind I knew this meant the end of summer. But I didn't want to really face it...until this morning. I woke up, did my normal routine to get ready for work and when I walked outside I got a blast of cool air. My first thought is: I should have worn a jacket. Second thought is: Maybe I shouldn't have worn a short-sleeved shirt and capris. Third thought: Dammit! Fall is almost here. Where has the time gone? I'm not ready to start wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts. I'm still walking around, wearing clothes like it's 90 degrees outside. Oh the horror! As I walk to my car, I realize that it's dark. I mean, pitch black. It's only 6:15am. Shouldn't there be some sunlight by now? But no, there's none. I look up to the sky and see the moon, shining bright in the sky. I curse the moon. I want the sun. I want daylight now! I get into my car, turn the ignition and actually turned on my....HEAT! I was cold. I look at the temperature gauge in my car and it reads 61 degrees. What!!! I crank my heat to 75. Remember...I'm dressed for summer weather so I am freezing. The highs today is supposed to be in the low 70s. Again...oh the horror. I don't want 70 degree weather. I want to walk from the metro station to my work building and sweat and curse the heat and humidity like every other Washingtonian. But I think that time has past. The good thing about September is that summer can always make a comeback but it won't stay around for long.

Here's a shaky picture of the moon that I took this morning with my phone. I think it was mocking me.

Finally....a haircut!

Before

My biggest pet peeve regarding my son is that he likes to let his hair grow into a bush, borderline afro. I have no idea why he likes having an afro. I guess it's from looking at the NBA players on tv. He doesn't get it from Alfred cause Alfred shaves his head bald. Every couple of months it is a FIGHT to get Darrius to agree to sit down and let his dad cut his hair. Yes...I am fighting with a 10 year old about his hair. It's ridiculous. But it has been like this since he was 7, when Alfred decided to let Darrius grow his hair out so that he could get cornrows. I was not happy. Darrius got the cornrows. They lasted about 4 days. The moment they started coming undone, he got all his hair cut off. So tonight I put my foot down with both of them...the daddy and the child. With much fanfare, protest and begging, Darrius finally got his hair cut. I am so happy. He looks so much better when his hair is short and trimmed. When his hair starts getting bushy, it is a frizzy mess. And you know Alfred's not going to put any hair products in his hair to calm the frizzies. Every 6 weeks or so I go through this battle to have Darrius' hair cut. It's a shame.

Band Geek

To my surprise, Darrius wants to join the band. I always got the impression that he was too cool to play an instrument. The reason behind his change of heart - his 2 buddies (I'll call them Heckle and Jeckle) decided they wanted to join band this year. At first I was hesitant. I mean...that's money that we have to spend either renting or buying an instrument. I don't want him to be in band for two weeks, decides that he doesn't like it, and wants to quit. That is money wasted. This is what Alfred and I told him when he approached about this. So I went ahead and told him that he could join band and I that I would sign the permission slip. The next step was for Darrius to decide what instrument he wanted to play. To my surprise, he chose the clarinet. The reasoning behind that choice? Heckle and Jeckle are playing the clarinet. I'm hoping Darrius grows out of this soon - wanting do everything his friends want to do. Luckily, it has turned out to be a good thing. I've been trying to get Darrius to play an instrument for 5 years. Yes, I've been pushing my child since he was 5 to pick up an instrument. There's nothing wrong with that. Anyway, we ordered the clarinet from Amazon.com. We got a good deal. It was around $120 bucks. It was cheaper to buy than to rent. Darrius has gone to two band classes. So far he is liking it. He is practicing which is a good thing (but not so good for our ears). I hope he sticks with it. I wish I played an instrument when I was his age. I think he can get very far in life knowing how to read music and play an instrument. Alfred told Darrius that by next year, Darrius better be able to play him "some Kenny G". LOL! Darrius looked at his dad and asked, "who's Kenny G?" Alfred told him don't worry about, just be able to play it. Hahahaha!

Myrtle Beach

We went to Myrtle Beach August 14th - 17th. It was a nice family, weekend getaway. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it didn't rain until Sunday, our last day there. Of course Darrius was loving life. The moment we checked in and arrived at our rooms, he was ready to go to the beach. Luckily the beach was only a 2 minute walk away. Alfred walked Darrius down to the beach and stood on the sidelines while Darrius tried to body surf through the waves. We spent the evening and late part of the night driving around Myrtle Beach, looking for my father-in-law's cousin. It was NOT fun. The man didn't know where he was. If anyone's been to Myrtle Beach, you know that it's not that difficult to get around. The streets are numbered. You're either going north or south. Not that hard. Well, somehow he got loss and we ended up not going to dinner like we had planned. So after much frustration and everyone screaming bloody murder, we stopped at Sonic and ate dinner in the car. Not that I minded. I love Sonic. I was there was one in Alexandria. After polishing off a burger and fry when then headed to Krispy Kreme to get a dozen hot fresh glazed donuts. Yummy! That's pretty much how we spent our weekend....EATING! The next day we had breakfast at Bob Evans and afterwards took Darrius to the beach. I didn't get in the water. I sat in my beach chair and chilled. Alfred pretty much did the same. Darrius didn't mind. He was busy crashing in the waves. That night we had dinner at a seafood buffet. It was okay; nothing to write home about. But the sweet tea was out of this world! Very tasty. Outside of the restaurant, a guy was doing airbrushed tattoos. Of course Darrius HAD to get one. The guy didn't charge anything. He only accepts tip. The average tip was 3 bucks. Good deal. The tat lasted 4 days. Darrius thought he was too cool. That night we lit fireworks on the beach. It was a lot of fun and Darrius got a kick out of it. Saturday we went to the NASCAR Go-Cart Speedway. The lines were ridiculously long. I crashed into Darrius - on accident - although he claims I did on purpose. Whatever! He's just a sore loser.

All in all it was a good time. It was a nice way to end our summer. I love Myrtle Beach but it can't compare with the Caribbean. :-)

Under the Sea

Here are some video clips of Darrius' underwater antics while we were on vacation. The video was recorded using my new waterproof digital camera.

Summer Vacation

This year we decided to go to the Turks and Caicos Islands for our family vacation. We had never been there and had heard that the island and water was beautiful. The pictures on the internet did not lie. We stayed at the Beaches Resort (all-inclusive). We arrived on a Tuesday morning with little fanfare. It was drizzling but it didn't dampen our spirits. The staff at the airport and hotel were extremely nice and made our settling in really smooth. The moment the rain was gone and the sun came out to play, Darrius wanted to head to the beach. We hung out there for an hour and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner. Figuring out where to eat was overwhelming. The resort had 10 restaurants, serving all different types of food. Our first night we ate at the Italian restaurant. The food was great as was the service. We then wondered over to the Xbox 360 game room. Darrius was in heaven. The next day, our first full day, we hung out at the beach and the pool. We relaxed and chilled all day. And then went back to our room to get ready for dinner. After dinner Darrius went to the game room and Alfred and I hung out and listened to a live band. It was so much fun. Our vacation pretty much consisted of waking up, going to breakfast, hanging out by the pool/beach, going to dinner, Darrius going to the game room and Alfred and I hanging out for some adult alone time. We did manage to go on a day trip on the Kitty Kat cruise. It was a lot of fun and the folks on the boat were helpful and informative. Darrius went snorkeling for the first time. I chose to stay on the boat and take pictures. LOL! The snorkeling didn't last long due to the waves being really strong. And a visit from a Barracuda shark.

All in all, it was a great vacation. Our last day there the resort had a beach party. They had authentic island food, a bonfire, a limbo contest, a guy breathing fire. It was the perfect way to end a perfect vacation.