My 48th Soccer Birthday Weekend

Let me tell you about this past weekend…

Sasha had a soccer tournament all weekend. Two games on Saturday and a game on Sunday. I remember laying in bed before the weekend began, talking to God and saying, “Wouldn’t it be cool if she actually won this tournament?” I knew it was sort of impossible because the team hadn’t been doing that well as a team and the last tournament we went to they lost all three games. That said, they had been getting better.

Bright and early Saturday morning in Sunnyvale they played a team they’ve lost to twice already (the Mustangs). It was a well-fought game. Our team scored a goal to go up 1-0 in the first half, then the other team was charging and charging and charging the entire game, but they couldn’t score and the game ended. So we won 1-0.  Wow, that was nice.

The second game, the same thing happened. We scored a goal early and then we held on to the very end to win 1-0.

That was the end of Sasha’s first two games. Then I went to go coach Hunter’s game in the afternoon. Hunter’s team is the worst team in the league, and the team we’re playing is one of the best teams in the league. Last time we played them, they scored four goals in the first five minutes, and then they had to start taking players off and stop trying to keep from running up the score. So, I was not excited for a shellacking.

On the car ride to the game, I had a conversation with Hunter, and we agreed that as long as he tried hard and stayed positive, no matter what the score, we’d both have a good game. When I got to the field, I conveyed that to the rest of the team saying “Hey, this is a good team, but if we try hard and stay positive, we’ll have a good game.” And as luck would have it, the other team ended up scoring two goals in the first half, but we were battling and we were fighting and we weren’t getting our asses kicked like we had before. At the end of the game, it was 4-0, but our team was happy. We all left the field thinking “Wow, that was the best game we’ve ever played and we’re really getting better.”

Then Sunday came around (my birthday). I was distracted because we didn’t know what to do with Hunter and Diane for the day. We were up in Marin and Sasha’s game was down in Sunnyvale. We didn’t know whether we should drag them 2 hours down south to watch Sasha’s game, just to turn around and drive back. Seems like a waste of time for a 13-year-old who’d rather be doing anything else.  But ultimately I decided, “You know what, this is my birthday and I’ll be really bummed if I’m sitting in an office park in Sunnyvale talking to random parents for hours and not with my family on my birthday.” So I got the full team into the car. We’re all going. We may be in Sunnyvale but at least we’ll be together.

Sasha had her game at 1pm and we got off to a good start. In fact, Sasha scored the first goal to put us up 1-0. And we fought hard but the other team was a good team and really put the pressure on us. They scored another goal towards the end of the game and were about to score at least one more when the game thankfully ended and so we escaped with a tie, 1-1.

Because we had won two games and tied one, we made it to the finals to play the best team of the tournament, Marin FC, who are really good. We’ve played twice already this season and they’ve beaten us each time. So again, we had the attitude, “As long as Sasha plays hard and stays positive, we’ll have a good time.” Sasha had already anchored on how fun it would be to get a second-place medal. She’d never gotten a single medal before (in her life) and even getting the second-place one would be really fun. She was excited.

The game started and they were indeed really good but we were scrappy.  We were scrappy in a way we hadn’t been scrappy before and we battled as they were bigger and more physical. The other team was good and they scored a goal to have us down 1-0 at halftime. But we fought back in the second half. We had a chance here and there and we actually scored one goal towards the end of the half to make it tied 1-1.  CeCe scored the goal – it was kind of a long shot that dipped right inside the inside post.

And then with the game winding down, probably two minutes left, we got a corner kick. It came straight to Skoog who one-timed volleyed it right into the goal for us to go up 2-1. We were all sort of amazed at what happened and then before we knew it the game was over.

I had forgotten about my small request to the man above from the beginning of the weekend. But it’s amazing that we won the tournament. It seemed so impossible. The joy on Sasha’s face was really something.

It was a great experience for her and for us as a family. Hanging together rooting for each kid at each game and for each to compete hard and to emerge with big smiles on their faces.

Someone asked me what I got for my birthday, and I had to reply: I got everything I could ever wish for, and maybe a little bit more.

Puppies for Everyone

We have some new additions to the Lewhouse (and Teubner) families.  Here’s what happened…

My brother-in-law, The Boss (aka Mike Teubner), has been researching dog kennels and breeders.  He and Liz previously had a German Shepard and loved him. They loved the intelligence of Moose but didn’t like the killer instinct and protectiveness. Sometimes it was too much. There was a period where Moose wouldn’t let anyone, even Liz’s best friend, into the apartment.  So, Boss wanted to find a German Shepard type but a bit sweeter, a bit more like a Golden Retriever but still with high intellect. It turns out that he found a place that has dogs just like that. It’s on the border of Colorado and Kansas, a 2.5 hour drive from their home in Denver.

Over Christmas break I was talking with The Boss and he mentioned that he was headed out there just after New Years. I said it sounded interesting and decided to book a ticket to tag along with him.  Maybe we’d see a dog we like too as we’re in the market for a new dog. Worst case scenario is that I learn more about dogs and spend some good time with my family.

When we got to the location, we saw all sorts of dogs. Some are a bit older (1 and 2 years) and well trained. Mike was looking at those dogs and getting to know them. While that happened, I was introduced to a 6-month female puppy who I immediately fell in love with. She and I connected immediately (at the time I used the word “imprinted”) and it was game over. I had to take her home with me.  We’re calling her Leia.

At the same time, my niece had a dog who came up and adopted her. For the remainder of the trip, these two were inseparable.  It was clear to Liz and Boss that if they wanted to get a dog that they liked, it would be in addition to this dog as Reagan was never going to let this cute little puppy go (she also got the name Waffles).

We thought we were done and heading home.  But before we go we saw a cute little 4-month old puppy that was super friendly and well behaved. We asked about him and it turns out that it is Leia’s half-brother (same dad, different mom) who has a tail that was messed up at birth and had to be docked (cut off) as it was rat-like.  The kennel-owner said that nobody really wants him due to the tail issues.  All his siblings have been adopted and now with Leia, he’s out of siblings. Well that was enough for us to hear. Diane and I talked briefly and both immediately agreed, we’ll be taking him too!

We left with 3 adorable puppies.

The next challenge was figuring out how I get my two puppies home.

Continue reading “Puppies for Everyone”

Living is Getting More Expensive

I thought it was the bay area but looking at this chart below it makes more sense why I feel like it costs much more to live these days. Sure my television is larger, my car is faster and my shoes are better but everything else is much more pricey.

Oh, and I do know that it’s ALSO because I live in the Bay Area. Even though all prices are on the up, the prices here are beyond ridiculous now. See how crazy they are here.

The Lewhouses in 2016

Some things I’ll remember about 2016…

Time disappearing
I thought we were time constrained when Hunter came along. Well, with two little ones this year, aged 1 and 3, time really got sucked away from me. Less sleep, fewer workouts, fewer books read. All the things I like to do just for me basically went out the door this year. But, they were replaced with more time with my family, which was just fantastic.

Hunter
He really became a full fledged person this year. He’s now funny and clever. He has a bit of trickery and deviousness in him, but he’s shaping up to be a very kind person. His teachers at school regularly remark about how genuine and kind he is. Also, his super power this year is his drawing. He’s very creative and can draw ridiculously well. Continue reading “The Lewhouses in 2016”