Camp Kick

With the close of June came one of the most wearily fun weeks of the summer. For the final week of June brought the start of the Texas Soccer Academy.

Wonder Boy has been going to this camp for a number of summers and we all look forward to it each year. The topics covered don't vary from year to year, but the players' progression in the basic skills certainly builds each summer.


This year we witnessed growth in virtually every area of play for Wonder Boy. But, as we have seen in summers past, I think the most thrilling display of growth has been in Wonder Boy's love of the game.

As we walked off the pitch his first day of camp, he just couldn't help but exclaim "I just LOVE soccer!"

Us too! And we love that he loves the game!

Our Super Hero

Every kid's first super hero is their dad, right? While I cannot speak for every family, I know that is most certainly the case around here!

Just ask Wonder Boy and he will tell you - his dad is the smartest, funniest, strongest, silliest, craziest, most inventive, most AMAZING dad in the history of dads!

OK. So that's laying it on just a tad thick. (Wonder Boy now claims that HE is the smartest and funniest .... but I digress). But the fact remains that we both find Wonder Dad to be pretty darn wonderful! And as such, we look forward to this day each year as a chance to show him just how much we truly love him.


As we like to make a pretty big deal about this day, Wonder Boy and I have worked out a pretty sweet deal on who does what to get things ready. The Boy is in charge of gifts and cards. I handle the food.

For Wonder Boy's birthday last fall, Wonder Dad surprised him with a scavenger hunt that led to his gift. And since that day, Wonder Boy has been itching to return the ... um ... favor. So he wrote out clues that Wonder Dad had to follow to find his goodie bag. I think it was a pretty big hit. But it is certainly upping the stakes for Wonder Boy's birthday a few months down the road!

As for food, Wonder Dad and I made a change to our diets back at the beginning of May and we are committed to making it a life-long change. We've gone Paleo. And without boring you with too many of the details, the general idea is that processed foods are out. Nuts, fruit, veggies, and meat.

That doesn't leave many choices for special occasion baking. But the good ole Internet came to my rescue and I found a sweet treat to start off our day - Paleo chocolate strawberry donuts! They were DELISH! For lunch we had pork chops. And then, the crowning glory of the day (food-wise, anyway) ... we made bacon-shell tacos for his dinner! They were the big hit of the day and both the Boy and his dad have requested that these be standard "special occasion" fare from this day forth.

All in all, it was a good day! Wonder Boy and I love the opportunity to let Wonder Dad know just how special he is to us. We hope that he gets at least a glimpse of that EVERY DAY of the year, but we try to make sure that Father's Day is as awesome as the guy we are celebrating!

Project Unplugged

As the grade school calendar winds down to a close each spring, summer knocking on the door, kids everywhere start to dream of summer vacation.

Wonder Boy is no different. For him, it means a little bit of extra sleep in the mornings, day camp trips to area pools, and (maybe most importantly) no homework!

For Wonder Dad and I though, it means the "busy season" is upon us.

But totally out of character, we actually planned a week of vacation to kick start Wonder Boy's summer! We ventured out and about to the greater Dallas area and took advantage of some of their tourist attractions.


And while we enjoyed each of these activities, the absolute BEST PART (for me, anyway) was spending the time totally unplugged. Phones turned off. Available wi-fi ignored. I mean, I read a book (an e-book, but still a BOOK)! And finished it! And then I even started another one!

But most of all, we had fun together. We laughed. We lounged. And we made some memories.

What could be better? Except to plan our next family excursion!