Kyle beats a defender who grabs his shirt to slow him down. It didn’t work. Kyle has been playing center midfield this season and is quite dominant at the position. He is very unselfish and will always look to pass first. I have been encouraging him to make an occasional attacking run and he did so today twice with very good results. He has just turned 13 and I would have to say he has already surpassed me in skill. Fortunately, I am still bigger and can knock him over so I think it will be a couple more years before he can claim total domination over his father.
Today I took more than 800 photographs, 99% of them of soccer games. Kyle was in action today and his team earned a 1-0 victory despite wind gusts of 50mph. My team won a 2-0 match and I was forced to watch (photograph) from the sidelines. My groin muscle injury looks like it will probably keep me out for the rest of the season (although I am holding on to a glimmer of hope that I will be able to make the playoff games). The non-soccer 1% included this set of stairs I came across.
Pictured here is the target. The wall proved to be remarkably sturdy and withstood over 50 assaults before collapsing. The people inside the castle did not fare as well with heavy casualties during the initial attack. Kyle also fashioned a grappling hook which he launched from the catapult to successfully breach the wall.
We decided to have family night on Saturday this week. Nicolai chose a catapult vs. castle construction challenge. Nicolai, Maya, and Jeanine were on one team and built a castle wall, popsicle stick people, and a tower, respectively. Carl and Kyle constructed the catapult shown above.
To say their aim was dead accurate would be an understatement. Although I was permitted to move around, they kept the stream of water on me for the entire two minutes. Even the money in my wallet was wet.
Today I conducted a team building event at work. Ten teams of 7 each constructed a water cannon from popsicle sticks, bailing wire, a hose and nozzle. They had to aim the cannon remotely from a distance of 10ft using rope. The object was to spray as much water as possible into a bucket 30ft away during a period of two minutes. The winning team got to use me for target practice (next photo).
Nicolai with a bunch of his neighborhood friends posing with their AirSoft guns. For the record, the father of this family had nothing to do with the acquisition of these toys. It is the work of their oatsy, goatsy nature loving mother.
Waiting for the school bus, Maya studies the pine needles that have begun to blanket the ground. At what age do we cease to find wonder in pine needles? Tomorrow, I may try and see if I can rediscover them.
