Thanksgiving (and then some)

Thanksgiving was this week, which means that mine and Collin's school week was shortened! We had Thursday and Friday off, and I had a half day on Wednesday! Thanksgiving was at my grandparents this year like usual, and it was mayhem like usual! My Aunt Kristen drove in from California the day before with her two dogs, and my other grandparents came from Prescott with their dog named Hank, who is full of energy! Their was also my cousins and my aunt and uncle.

 Everyone was there by about three, and there were a lot of things going on. There was a total of six dogs that were running everywhere, people were all in groups talking to one another, and my grandma was still busy finishing cooking some of the food! (She let me help cook one of the desserts!) We took all of our family photos outside in the backyard (which was a chore), and after a little while it was time to eat. The turkey was delicious, along with all of the side dishes such as the mashed potatoes and the corn. After everyone was full, there was more socializing until dessert came, which was also very filling! Eventually, everyone went home after a long day of eating.

 Despite the fact that this was the biggest event of the long weekend, there was still much more to come. The next day was black Friday, and we got to go see a new movie at AMC, which was very enjoyable! That took up most of the morning, and in the afternoon, my mom and I did some Christmas shopping. It took us a while to find what we were looking for though, and we had to go to three different stores until we found it!

 On Saturday, I went with my mom again to the farmers market while Collin was in physical therapy. He actually got to got to watch Isabelle's friend's band play after, which he had a lot of fun at! My mom and I were at the farmers market for about an hour, and then we were able to go to the pizza place that was right next to it called Grimaldi's for a quick lunch! At the end of the day, my aunt and uncle came over with my cousins, along with my Aunt Kristen to have dinner. We just had some burgers and talked, which was fun to do even though we just had Thanksgiving dinner!

The dogs at Thanksgiving!

 On Sunday, my mom went out with my grandma and Aunt Kristen for brunch, and then they went shopping for a LONG time. Collin, my dad, and I ran a lot of errands while they were gone, but when we got back, my mom still was not home. After we got back though, we mostly just rested! When it looked like the day was almost over, my mom called my dad and she said that we could go out to eat at Babbo's with my grandparents and aunt before she went back to California! While we were there, it actually started pouring and my grandpa and I had to pull up the car for everyone else because it was coming down so hard! We had a really fun time while we were there, and by the time that was over, so was the day! Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

At brunch

GP soccer tryouts, shopping, athletic field day, and... Thanksgiving?

A lot has happened in the last two weeks, and it started with school soccer tryouts. There were only going to be two of them, and practices were on Tuesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, the coach that the school found cancelled the day before the first tryout, so the athletic director showed up with the coach of the high school team, and they just had us do these very basic drills and then scrimmage at the end.

 Even though I did not think it could get much worse because the athletic director knew nothing about soccer, it did. They had found a coach to come out and see who should be on the A Team or the B Team. He had a very strong accent and you could barely understand him, and he seemed to have this vision that we were all star soccer players. For example: he put us in a very small area and split us up into teams, then told us that we needed to play two touch possession when some kids can barely make a pass. He also said that if you can not juggle the ball 20 times in a row, you should not be on the A Team. I got to 82, and the kid next to me tried to brag to the coach that he beat his record and got 6.

 Another problem is that most of the kids are really out of shape. After playing on a club team with kids that are two years older than me, I usually come in last place on things like sprints or field runs. Now, I am running with kids that are about my age and do not even play sports, so I get to come in first every time! Same with strength. When the coach told us to do twenty push ups, one kid was panting when he got to three. It was pretty pathetic. Long story short, I got on the A Team with a few of the other seventh graders, sixth graders, and a couple of the eight graders.

 The next thing that happened this week was that my mom decided that we needed to have our own Thanksgiving dinner before the real Thanksgiving with the rest of the family. We had the turkey, cranberry sauce mashed potatoes and gravy, on top of everything else. It did feel a bit odd having all of this two weeks before actual Thanksgiving, but we went with it. The next weekend, we had a soccer tournament that my team actually came first place in! We went undefeated, with three wins and a draw!

 The next week did not hold as much excitement, but my school had athletic field day on Friday! They create random groups with kids from every grade from sixth to twelfth, which is not as fun as it may sound. After school though, my friend came home with me and had dinner with us, which was a fun surprise because neither of us knew that it was going to happen until right after school. The weekend held a few events, such as how I had to help out the Anthem team again (see this earlier post!), which was really easy. My friend from my club team also helped out which made it more enjoyable.

 On Sunday, nothing happened in the morning but we went to Collin's soccer after lunch. I had missed the last game because I was at my soccer tournament, but there were two new kids there that had joined the team when I was gone. They seemed to have enjoyed the first week of soccer so much that they came back this week with new Adidas flats! After, Collin went home with Isabelle and my dad and I went to the mall to look for things to ask for for Christmas.

 I thought it was early, but mom said she needed to tell people what I wanted for Christmas when they asked. First, we went to Soccer Post, which is a family run soccer store where I was going to look for new shin guards. Turns out, they are closed on Sunday! When we went to the mall, there were all sorts of cool things to get. I found a pair of Nike running shoes that were made of flynit, a decently priced drone at the remote control store, and a penny board in the skate shop! Unfortunately, we had to end the day with going to Macy's to buy jeans. (Boring).

 We went home to eat dinner after that, and then rested up for another school/work week. (Which will be shortened due to Thanksgiving!) Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB!

Halloween, volunteering for soccer teams, and classical concerts

This was a very eventful week, and it started early on Monday, which was Halloween. Instead of going out to get candy this year, I set up a table with candy on the edge of the cul de sac that we live in. Hardly anybody comes over to our house on Halloween since we live in the corner of the neighborhood, so I thought we should do something about it!

 Surprisingly, a lot of people came over to the stand, some of which I thought should not be trick or treating anymore. In fact, the very first customers that walked by were two seniors that went to Sunrise Mountain, which is the high school right outside the neighborhood. They were not exactly dressed up though. One of them was wearing a horse mask, while the other one was just wearing regular clothes! The stand was up for a few hours, but eventually, we took it inside since everyone had gone back to their houses.

 The next event that happened that week was not even an event at all. We were driving up to the Thursday soccer practice that is all the way out in Scottsdale, and when we were less than five minutes away they canceled it due to rain. I did not thinking that it was raining too hard on the drive there, but admittedly, it did start to came down when we got back on the freeway going home. Our last soccer game of the season was on Saturday, but we lost in that one just like our other few games that we had. We had actually been playing very well in the last three weeks, and tied our last game, but we fell apart in the last game for some reason.

 It looked like it was going to be a normal day after that, but I actually had to help out another team later that day in Anthem! The only reason that we are affiliated with the team is because our team manager knows the coach and he does not even have enough players to play in his games! I did not know what to expect, but by the time the next game started, I knew why they needed more players. The kids were not very good, and just ran around the field not staying in their positions at all. The coach made it look like he had a plan, but I was very confused by him. He told me to go in for center midfield five times, and then when I ran out on the field he yelled back at me, "Remember, you're playing left midfield!!" After being on the field for a few minutes, I just started playing center mid because no one was playing their position anyways. We ended up losing that game as well, but at least that did not concern me that much.

 Sunday morning did not have much going on and was a good opportunity to rest, but by three o'clock I was going to go to a classical concert with my friend because we had to fill out a paper for my music class. The players were actually really good, and it was fun to listen to. After we got to get something to eat while we were still downtown. We were going to go to a pizza place, but it ended up being closed on Sunday. Instead, we went to a place that was just called "The Duce", which had ping pong, corn hole, and other games. After we ate there, we went back home and took showers before going to bed to get rested for the next big week. Thanks for reading and tune in next week on TBB! 

(I am not standing in this picture!)