Soccer

I really love being a soccer mom. Of all the sports my kids play, this is the one I like. It's outside, but during my favorite season, fall early winter.

The two oldest played on our middle school's team this year, and their season actually ended just over a week ago. Michael, on the other hand, has 1 more practice and one more game. I have been taking pictures, just not making time to blog them, so...

here the oldest are, in all their middle school glory!



I was in luck, both boys were #5, so they were easy to keep track of on the other side of the field!

I don't know what exactly they call that move Dustin, but it was working for you!

I am including this picture of Dustin mostly to show you the ground. This is a secondary field, we had a rescheduled game on the same day that the high school was using the regular home field. So this field has been made overlapping a baseball field. Different seasons, so no problem, right? Well... it had rained a LOT the day before, and the gravel was quite muddy. I tell you this to paint the picture for what happened next. Brian was running down field, right through the mud, and happened to look down at just the wrong moment. His mouthguard dropped in the mud. Without hesitating, he scooped, grabbed it, and stuck it back in!

I didn't think too much about it, but the two teachers (one of whom has Brian in class) sitting beside me were all "OH, DID YOU SEE THAT!! HE NEVER EVEN HESITATED!!"

Well, that's Brian. A very "by the rule" kid, he knows you have to have the mouthguard to play. He was playing, he grabbed the mouthguard back and put it in. 'Nuff said!

Woes of the Soccer Mom...

Forgive me while I lament.

Yesterday was the first scheduled game for Middle School soccer. It was also sign ups for the youth league you play in before Middle School, and was conveniently to be held at the field where they were playing.

Or so I thought.

It rained. I mean it POURED yesterday. I went in to Walmart on a beautiful, pleasantly cloudy (no sun glare when driving) day, sure to be the remnant of the blasted-no-longer-hurricane we dealt with through the weekend, and as I was paying an hour (or ten, I lost count) later, a man walked by with a DRENCHED T-shirt. I mean WET. People commented and he said, "Yeah, it's POURING!"

And it continued to pour until 1 PM. Games were cancelled. End of story.

Uh. No.

Cancelled was the word the lovely school secretary used, no that was not sarcastic, I really do like her, she's very sweet.

It wasn't until I pulled out the schedule with my boys and commented, "So, I guess your first game of the season will be at Carrabec on Thursday, " that I heard, "No,m we're playing this one tomorrow, same time same place."

Oh.

Then I spent twenty minutes too long explaining to my second grader the difference between CANCELLED and POSTPONED.

Which is fine. I'm glad they will get to play.

NOT.

You see, we still had to sign up the younger one that day.

And then today? Today we are caring for a friend's 2 yo and bringing him home around 230, after the girl 5th grader I babysit before and after school gets here at 2:15, then be back for my elementary school boy to be dropped home at 3:10, scoot down the road 10 minutes for a 3:30 soccer game, return the middle schooler some time near 4:30 (half an hour early 'cuz her mom leaves work early on Wednesdays to take her to dance) get back to the games for the 5:00 start, when they are done run to the school (ten minutes back near home, we are lucky to live exactly 3 minutes from the school) for an elementary open house (6:00-7:00) and then hit the Middle school open house (6:30-7:30, don't you love how they don't COMPLETELY overlap?), and do you know where I will be come 8:00 PM?

The McDonald's drive-thru.

Yeah. Now excuse me, I need to ask Mother Google where the heck Carrabec is. And get directions on how to get there.

'Cuz I've heard of it, but never had cause to go there before.

My Camera Woes

So, as I blogged earlier, my camera died. I immediately began perusing the web for my new one. The camera of my dreams at the moment is a Canon 6 MP PowerShot S3 IS with 12x Optical Zoom and Image Stabilization. Now for a translation. 6MP = the camera will remember a ton more detail so I can zoom in on a part of my picture and make IT a 4x6, or blow up my picture to 8x10 or 10x13 without it looking funny. PowerShot= the style. S3 = the model, and it means it's better than the S1 but not as new and fancy as the brand-new S5 (but not as expensive either). IS = Image Stabilization, which is a fancy way to say the camera doesn't wiggle around as much when you are trying to zoom in on something far away. And my FAVORITE part, is the 12x Optical Zoom. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY DIGITAL ZOOM. D zoom just means it will look like you are closer on the camera, you are not actually getting a different picture. Optical zoom means your picture will look like you were standing closer when you took it. My DiMage had a 10x Zoom. Very cool. And currently very broken.

I should have had my new camera for yesterday's soccer game. But I ordered it from some obscure website in an attempt to save $. Two days after I hoped it would be here (but forgot to watch for it in the chaos that is my life) I got an email saying because the camera was back ordered for 6 - 8 weeks they cancelled it. They would email me when they got some in to allow me to reorder.

Now, keep in mind folks, this camera is the out-going model. The new model has 8MP, so I could blow up my pics to like a 20"x30", which I don't need, for an extra hundred $ or more. I'm not thinking they will get "new" ones in, Canon won't make them forever.

So, I ordered it from Walmart.com. It will be at my house by Wednesday, and I paid a bit more, but still not as much as at the store in Farmington, where they do not yet want to admit it is an old model.

And I took these at soccer:

I think my kids are in there. Somewhere.

THE DEMISE OF THE DiMAGE

YAY!!! I have fantastic news! My camera BROKE!

I mean, er, *sigh*, my poor, sweet camera has seen better days.

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that when I would zoom in on a picture, I had to turn my camera completely off in order for it to zoom back out. Very annoying while trying to take soccer pictures, (especially when one child is on offense, the other defense) but still dealable.

This weekend, it will no longer zoom in... and that's BAD!!

That means that shots like this from the fair will need to be cropped.

Quite frankly, my 3.2 MPs don't provide a good enough amount of information to crop the picture adequately.

However, the whopping 6 MP of the little gem I've taken a shine to, namely the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, would allow that just fine. Not that I'll need to for a few years, because it happens to have a 12x optical zoom as well, that should be in full working condition for at least a year, right? By the way, this particular pic of Dustin in Fryeburg is him waiting to receive the first place ribbon for the drag class. Yes, that's right, First place. It went a long way toward earning him this:

That would be the trophy, yes ladies and gentlemen, the TROPHY, he brought home, for third place overall in the Juniors class. Ah, it was a proud momma moment.

Anyway, unfortunately, for those who may be wondering, the darn animals did come home. But we have an interested party from CT, a 12 yo 4Her admired them something awful, and we are awaiting the phone call. Cross your fingers!