Argentina Messi'd it up

At lunch, I headed straight to a sports bar and watched the tail end of the Argentina vs. Germany World Cup quarterfinal. What a match!! Both teams played very well and the game completely lived up to the hype.

The referee did a good job overall of calling the match by keeping the card count down and letting the teams play. The players ran their legs off on both sides -- Germany's Ballack really needs oxygen and a good massage about now. The stats will likely show that the game was pretty even especially the shots on goal.

Disclosure: I had an Argentine coach when I played as a kid so I was rooting for them. My real problem has to do with Argentina's coaching. In such a key match in the World Cup, where the heck is Lionel Messi!! In the 72nd minute, they subbed out Riquelme (one of their top players) for Cambiasso. Now I understand some of the reasons -- Riquelme was clearly winded and not attacking and at the time they were up by a goal and defensively minded. Also, you could not have predicted the forced substitution due to injury of your goalkeeper which happened right before the Riquelme substitution. However, you're playing Germany in the World Cup Finals get one of your star players in the game. It's criminal that Argentina is going home right now after a match where Messi didn't play at all and that's all Pekerman's fault!! Okay, I'm done venting.

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to watch the final parts of the game where most of the action took place. It was great to be somewhere where we all were yelling, fussing, clapping, and having a great time rooting for our teams. England plays against a surprising Portugal team tomorrow morning so I hope to get to watch some of it. England is the other team that I support since I like the country so much. I like watching Brazil just because they are so talented but they better start playing up to their potential since they don't have teams like poor Japan to beat up on anymore.

Camping at Tyler State Park

We had a lot of fun at Tyler State Park this last weekend. This was the first time that we went as a whole family and it sure was awesome to all be together! We made smores, looked at stars (and Jupiter), went on a nature hike down a great trail, went swimming, sang songs, and had a great time. As is our custom, the boys selected something from our Family Coat of Arms (I'll have to blog about this soon) to focus on during our trip. They selected the lion so we talked about courage, strength, and leadership.

We stayed in campsite #8. For my future benefit and the benefit of others, here are the good sites that we marked.
Cedar Point: The best sites are 6, 7, 8, and 9 (with 7 probably the best overall). 8 and 9 are slightly sloping which is good for rain to run-off but bad for soccer balls to run-off! Sites 15 and 19 are okay campsites but back-up to a drop-off, where there was an old creek and currently a difficult trail, so we wouldn't want that with our young kids. Several of the other sites either have no shade or are very narrow (by the drop-off) -- 4, 5, 10, and 20 have little shade; 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 18 are narrow; 1, 2, 3, and 10 have very few trees and are close to the main road.
Lakeview: This area is right next to the lake (hence the name) and we wonder if the mosquitoes are worse because of it. Also, there are more campsites that share a bathroom in this section. Due to our young kids, we would really prefer not to have a site where they can walk right into the lake. Site 32 looked like the best site right next to the lake (for when the kids get older maybe). Sites that were across the road from the lake are 24, 25, and 27 with 21 being nice but close to the road.

We really like the lake in the park which is a great activity for the hot part of the day. It has a nice sandy play area on the "beach" with nice restrooms. In the water is a large shallow sandbar where little kids can play easily.

Scattershooting . . .

No time to post a lot, so . . .
* Disappointed in US Soccer but they did do a great job in the Italy game.
* Tonight's the last night of VBS at our Church, we have a great group of 1st graders!
* Going camping with the family to Tyler State Park Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon.

Base-ah-ball bean bedy bedy good . . . to me

Thank you Saturday Night Live (the old and good version) for the title of this post --remember Garrett Morris as Chico Esquela. Collin and I went to the Rangers vs. Diamondbacks game tonight. I thought that I'd post before I forgot the best parts.

We got the tickets from Jake and Suzanne since Collin was the ring-bearer for their wedding -- thanks guys! Collin wanted to call his mom and his Boo and couldn't stop talking after the game since he had so much fun! His "best parts" were the blue Build-a-Bear that he got for free before the game, the players that he got to talk to (more on that later), scoring the game (more later), sitting up close (last 2 innings), and watching the band playing outside the stadium after the game was over. He had a blast and it was a great Father/Son experience from top to bottom!

We got to the stadium around 5:30 because I wanted Collin to watch batting practice (BP), see some of the players up close, see the stadium start to fill up and come alive, and obviously not miss our favorite part -- the national anthem. We watched Arizona take BP and Collin got autographs from Conor Jackson (good young player) and Eric Byrnes. They were both really nice. After BP was winding down, we went to the outfield picnic and game area and Collin did the wiffle-ball hitting game (very fun).

We made it to our seats in time to get settled in, check the line-ups, and cry during the national anthem sung by a kid (maybe 9 - 11) who did a great job. I had printed some score sheets out that I talked to Collin about on the way to the game to see if he was interested in scoring the game. He said that he wanted to try so I quickly filled in the line-ups and we got started scoring -- very fun and a great way to keep even a so-so game interesting. I found a pretty cool kid's score sheet (see link above, copyright Patrick McGovern) on the Web meant to be easy and not too much for them to track. Collin did great and learned the player numbering system fast. It was a fun thing to be able to teach my son. I have some mistakes in my sheet because I really tried to focus on him and answer all of his questions. I decided before the game and it didn't matter at all to me if he even wanted to do it and I asked him several times if he wanted to stop and just watch or go walk around. He wanted to keep doing it and we scored until the 7th inning stretch!! We had good seats in the upper-deck but needed the "stretch" so after getting a slushy we made our way down close to the field. Rangers games are always great for that -- the ushers stay down by the field and don't really check tickets after about the 7th inning and you can always find seats that aren't occupied down close to the field. We ended up about 15 rows back between home and first for the 8th and 9th innings.

Collin has played little league for several years and really gets the game. His excitement afterwards showed me that he really enjoyed the game and the experience. It was fun to be together and do some bonding!

Just for fun, here are my score sheets:

Dominican notes and pics

We got our pics organized from the Dominican Republic so I thought that I would share a few of them. We stayed in Punta Cana at the Melia Caribe Tropical, an all-inclusive resort. It had a great beach, great facilities (pools, buildings, beach front activities, etc.), but not the best customer service. I would definitely recommend paying extra for the Royal Service -- the rooms are much, much nicer and the service is much better. Overall, a great trip! The second day, Cooper turned to me and said "Dad, I like this place -- it's relaxable." We went because our cousin from Canada was getting married and it was a beautiful wedding on the beach! We had some great times hanging out with the family and friends, learned some new dance moves, and played in the sand with the kids.

Each of the boys have a heart shaped box with one of the rings in them.

The Wedding Crew, mostly from Calgary, Canada.

The bride and groom, congratulations Megan and Derek!

World Cup Thoughts

I love the World Cup and one reason is because it's like the Olympics which I also love -- absence makes the heart grow fonder, it's only every 4 years! Also, like the Olympics, it's a national thing and it's fun to see the various countries represented. I played soccer for many years as a kid and really like the sport but I can't really say that I'm a huge soccer fan in every day life. Back to the Olympics, I don't really follow downhill skiing or moguls except during that magical time every four years either.

The US drew a tough group -- Italy and the Czechs are both very good and Ghana has been called the "Brazil of Africa" definitely one of the top teams from that continent. Our match against the Czechs yesterday was a horrible start for our team. Due to work, I only got to watch about 25 minutes of the game at lunch (the last of the game) and we did not look good. Our passes were off-target, we couldn't keep control of the ball, our defenders didn't seem to attack and were too passive, and the Czechs just really out-classed us. Unless Bruce Arena really lights their fires, we have little chance against Italy. I just hope that Ghana upsets the Czechs and we beat Ghana.

My Travels in England

As I mentioned previously, I'm currently reading a book entitled Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. It's a great read and really funny (with some language and crude elements to be aware of). Reading this book got me to thinking that I should share here how much I love England and some of my travels there.

England is such an interesting place full of history and culture. What in America we call "antique" was just a few years ago in England. My mom lived in the Cotswolds for 6 years (in Amberley) and her cottage was just as old if not older that our nation! The pubs are great fun -- people move over to give you a seat if the place is full, talk about anything and everything, and dogs are welcome to hang around inside. The churches and cathedrals are magnificent. I love the names of places and things -- Chelsea, Bristol, Cheltenham, Manchester, etc. I even love the food which some Americans don't like (meat pies, yum).

My longest stay in England was when I got a trip from my mom as a graduation gift after my undergrad degree. I stayed on the island for pretty much the whole month of June in 1993. I stayed with friends of my mom and stepdad and got the inside scoop everywhere I stayed. Based on my mom and girlfriend's (now my wife) advice, I kept a journal of my trip and I'm so glad that I did. Since then, we were able to go as a family when my mom lived over there and it was great to get to share it with my boys (Baby Girl wasn't born yet) and my bride.

To be a bit more specific here are the villages and cities that I have spent at least a little bit of time. In or around London I've visited: Sevenoaks, Chiddingstone (Spotted Dog pub is great with an awesome view), Tonbridge, New Malden, Epsom, Richmond Park, Hampton Court (great place), and all of the main areas that you would expect.

Other places in England include: Studland Bay(Knoll House is highly recommended), Bournemouth, Corfe Castle, Swanage, Castle Combe (great place), Cirencester, Nailsworth, Tetbury, Minchinhampton, Amberley, Bath, Painswick, Gloucester, Coopers Hill (had to mention that because of my son's name), Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, and York (maybe my favorite city).

In Scotland, I've visited: Berwick Upon Tweed (actually on the border in England), Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Cramond, North Berwick (neat coastal village), Perth, Dundee, Glasgow, Inverness, and Culloden (great battlefield history).

Scattershooting . . .

In the '80s and '90s, there was a prolific sportswriter for the Dallas Times-Herald/Morning News named Blackie Sherrod. One of the pieces that I loved most was Blackie's column entitled "Scattershooting" which meant that he would write short quips about anything and everything all in one column. Since I don't have a lot of time to write but I have many topics that I would like to write about, here's my own version of scattershooting.

* I heard from Peter King of Sports Illustrated about a New York Times yearly article of excerpts from commencement ceremonies across the nation . . . sure would like to see that one since I bet there were some great things being said.
* In the Dominican my Uncle Craig of Canada made a great observation about Cooper and said something worth writing down. Kids are always giving you clues about their likes, dislikes, personalities, abilities, skills, etc. and we are parents always need to be on the look-out and observing and we will learn so much about our kids. In Cooper's case, he was drumming to the beat of a song using the knives on the table and doing it very well.
* Speaking of the Dominican Republic . . . loved it! It was away from the norm (obviously) which was great, awesome beach without a strong undertow and plenty of shallow water for the kids, humid and hot, first all-inclusive resort that we've been to which was pretty nice actually, and a beautiful wedding for our niece with great family and new friends made.
* Currently reading . . . Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson about traveling in England. I love England by the way and this book is inspiring me to document my own travels in this space in the near future. My Dad, stepmom, and sisters are going to "the other side of the pond" later this month and I'm jealous.

Beside a campfire, under the stars

11:00 p.m. June 2nd, Ray Roberts State Park/Johnson branch, site #26, sitting beside a good campfire and under a crescent moon with lots of stars . . .

This is awesome, one of the many reasons that I love camping! Kids are crashed and I'm up in a great prayer and thought time. Caris didn't make it past 9:30 and actually said "daddy i seepy" so I put her to bed. At 10:30, the boys also declared their readiness after some great campfire discussion. No one uttered a peep after I put them down in the tent.

Being an only child, I love my alone time and this is the very best kind -- looking at the stars and watching a fire burn outside! Fires are awesome wonders, beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The dance and licking of the flames followed by the iridescent glowing of embers when the fire is on its downward spiral. Occasionally sparking up or flaming up again when a light breeze gives the embers a breath of oxygen. Nothing like the fire light dancing on faces when sitting under the stars and listening to the crickets and frogs sing their songs.

I had and idea for parks that I like -- so I made note of good campsites at Ray Roberts/Johnson branch. This will serve as personal documentation for us when we go back but others who may camp there may also find this useful. I tend to look for sites with a good amount of trees/shade, a good spot for a tent (since we tent camp), and a site that's kid-friendly. Here are the sites that I thought looked good: 8, 14-19, 21, 24, 25, 26 (our site), 33, 36, 45, 51, 52, 57, 59, 63, 69, 73, 86, 97, 100, 102.

Campin' with the Kids

Me and my kiddos are going camping tonight and we are all excited! H has a lot of ladies coming over tonight to doing some planning for the Church MOPS group (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers). So, me and the kids are vacating for the night to Ray Roberts State Park/Johnson unit which is on a lake just north of Denton about an hour drive from us. The neat thing about this trip is that it's my baby girl's first camp-out so we'll see how she does.

This will be our third official camping trip (not including Church camp-outs). We went to Tyler State Park (our favorite so far, campsite #9) and spent 3 nights in August of 2005. We did an overnight at Cedar Hill State Park in November of 2005 (campsite #45) and we learned about tracking animals the next day from a Ranger.

We love being outside away from the TV and other distractions and enjoying some time around a campfire and hanging out as a family. It's great fun and not too costly.