End of Season Soccer Party

Yesterday afternoon Lael soccer team got together at the clubhouse where one of the girls lives for their End of the Year party.  We had been at the ballpark all day with Caeden and Chace and I just did not feel well.  So, Todd took Lael to the party while I bummed on the sofa at home.  Gotta love him!  Lael had a blast swimming and partying with her friends from the team.  Also, the trophy part was probably her favorite.  It seems that she and Caeden are having a trophy war.  He has more, because he has played baseball more years than she has played soccer.  So, she was happy to add another trophy to her collection.  I made brownie bites for them to take and Todd said that the coach gave them a brownie bite at the same time he gave them their trophy.  That is why Lael’s mouth is full of brownie as she is holding her trophy.

Go Bluebells!

Lael is playing soccer again this Spring.  The Spring season is quite a bit more relaxed than the fall season, they don’t get uniforms, there aren’t as many games, nor as many teams.  Lael’s team started off the season doing pretty well, but midway through they lost steam or interest or something!  They lost several games in a row and started to get down on themselves.  They would see the other team warming up and decide that they had no chance and would just not play hard because they ‘knew’ they were going to lose.  Anybody who knows Lael knows that is just not her style – she plays all out all the time, and never backs down from a challenge.  But, she was playing apathetically just like the rest of the girls on her team.  Anyway, the last two games, they turned it around.  At the very last one, Lael made 2 of the 3 goals and our team won!

Our Soccer Chick

Lael decided she wanted to play soccer again. She and Caeden both played in the fall and both loved it. Caeden chose baseball this Spring, and Lael chose soccer again. She is the smallest girl on her team, but she more than makes up for her size! She is right in the middle of all the action which anyone who knows her would believe!

Back to Tuscaloosa

Traci and Mayson are home from their vacation and they stopped in Tuscaloosa to pick up Rex and to vist.  So, we decided to go down and visit as well.  Todd was supposed to go as well, but at the last minute he got called upon to go on a business trip next week.  The twins had a soccer game on Saturday morning at 8:30, we decided to be packed up and ready to hit the road when it was over.  However, somehow we got our wires crossed and the other team didn’t have their full team there.  I still am not sure what happened.  But, we did not have enough to play so we took off for Ttown.  Todd stayed behind to fly out tomorrow.

When Chace found out we were headed to Tuscaloosa, he was excited because that meant that he could see his friends there again.  He made plans to go hang out at Ashley’s house for a bit Saturday.  Actually he was planning on watching the game with them.  But, apparently they could not wait to see him, and started texting him as soon as we were on the road asking where we were, how long til we arrived, when he was coming etc.  So, I ended up taking him over there at 2:00.  He stayed until just before the UA game started.  Of course, they wanted him to stay and watch the game with them too.  But, I insisted that he come back and spend some time with the family.

We had a wonderful time.  Mayson is so adorable and fun!  She is at the age where everything is just the coolest, most awesome, new thing she has seen yet!  Traci was the hero and had bought some toys to entertain the kids with, bubbles and sidewalk chalk and stuff.  Good thing she was thinking – because all I brought were the kids!  Of course they did have their Big Wheel cycles that we left there to ride down Lynda’s basement driveway.  That is always fun!

Our visit was much too short, as usual.  I want to go back soon though for a UA game.  Tickets are a bit harder to come by these days though!!  Now that Saban is there and UA is winning again the prices are outrageous!

Soccer Cheering Team, Birthday and BBQ

Heather and her family are already here, so today Mom and Dad decided to drive up also.  The twins had a soccer game this morning at 9:45.  Mom and Dad hopped on their motorcycle and took off from Birmingham early enough to make it in time for the game.  It was awesome, the twins had their own cheering section!!

It is also Dad’s birthday next week so after the game Mom, Heather and I went to the grocery store to get the yummies to make his fave cake – Red Velvet.  We also decided to get some BBQ for lunch.  I thought we would try a BBQ place here in Madison that apparently tons of people LOVE.  On the weekends, the drive-thru is absolutely covered up.  I have seen 12-15 cars in line there on a regular basis.  So, I figured it must be good right?  Well, apparently people here in North Alabama don’t know what BBQ is supposed to taste like.  There are so many different variations of BBQ is it unreal!  This is what one of my faveorite magazines, Southern Living, had to say about BBQ and the South:

As long as there’s been a South, we’ve loved barbecue, the one food that defines us most as a region. It suits our Southern sense of comfort, society, and the passage of time–friends and family gathering around glowing embers, drifting smoke scenting the air and seasoning the meats of animals that grazed the grass of our prairies and rooted the mast of our forests.

That might be a bit over the top, I mean I love meat, I could never be a vegetarian, but I don’t really want to think about these animals roaming around the woods behind my house and then eating them for dinner. 

Anyway, back to the topic – BBQ at this place was weird, different and not good.  When she gave us the container, it didn’t look like the 2 lb. that we had ordered.  She confirmed that is was.  We decided that would not be enough, so we got another container.  Then we asked where the sauce was, she said it’s mixed in the BBQ.  REALLY?!?!? Where???  There was certainly no sauce there that I could see.  So, we got the meat home, and I dump it into a pan to doctor it up with some ‘real’ BBQ sauce.  The stuff that they claim to be sauce was a clear, vinegar base type that just was not good IMHO.  The actual meat was not that great either.  So we have striked that particular place off our list.  There is one great place here, but it’s not in Madison – it’s out in Limestone county, feels like the country, but in reality only about 15-20 minutes away.  It is called Greenbriar Restaurant. This is the real deal, Southern BBQ like I am used to. They also have the best hush puppies I’ve ever eaten.  They bring a basket to the table when they bring your tea, and they just keep filling the basket up when it gets empty.

We always have to find a BBQ restaurant wherever we are.  It took a long time in upstate NY, but we finally did.  It was called Everglades.  Which is very strange considering after we left NY, we were practically living in the Everglades.  In FL, we did find a place, but I cannot remember the name of it.  I don’t think we were in Charlotte long enough to settle on one.  In Tuscaloosa it was Archibald’s, yep – most people erroneously believe it is Dreamland (which is good!), but Archibald’s is better.  Ifound a funny review somebody did about Archibald’s here.  In Birmingham, it has always been Full Moon.

Soccer – Aug 23rd

This was a great game – the twins are really getting into playing now.  They have figured out that if you want to get in on the action and be able to kick it, you gotta get really go after the ball.  The coach has postions for them, he calls them Taz, Striker and a couple of others.  I don’t have a clue what they mean, but the kids seem to be learning what he wants them to do when he says, Hey Lael – Be my Taz!  Anwyay, I got a few good shots of them playing today, and one of them resting on the sidelines.  Look closely at the picture with Lael in it, she is just chatting away at someone while the game is being played around her.  H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!

We’re Back in Soccer

Well, not me actually! Caeden and Lael are playing. They are on the same team, which is an all boys team. Actually, the whole league is all boys. There is one team that is made up of all girls, which is very weird, I think. When Chace played soccer in NY and in FL, there were always girls and boys on all teams. I don’t know why Madison splits them up. When I registered the twins, the lady told me that she would be the only girl on her team, and maybe in the whole league. I couldn’t believe it, but knew it would not matter in the least to Lael. Of course not, she believes that anything boys can do, she can do better!
They were so cute on the field Saturday!  The uniforms are humongous on both of them.  If you pull the socks all the way up they look like they are wearing tights.  Caeden was not happy about that, but when I folded them down a couple of times, he was ok.  They are the Teal Tornadoes, and sometimes the field looks like a tornado when all 10 players are crowded around the ball trying to get a toe on it.  Lael had a tendency to chat with anyone standing nearby her, especially the coach, even while he was talking to the other players trying to coach them.  I’ve got her on video just chatting away, while standing on the field, looking up at him, and he is totally engrossed in the game, calling out directions to the other players.  too funny!  Caeden would look over at us every time he kicked it and ask if we saw it and give me a thumbs up.  I am gonig to try to figure out how to add video clips to my blog so that you can see if you want.