Belated Birthday at the Lake

So, Dave and I are probably bad parents.  We ended up having Nico's birthday 6 weeks after his actual birthday.  Meh. It is just that the summer got away from us.  Big time.  

So a couple of weeks ago, we had a birthday picnic at the lake. It was fantastic.  We got several of his favorites together at the lake. As you can tell, he had a blast.  

It was a fun group.  The day was perfect, the edge of summer starting to dull a bit.  We had burgers and brats and cake.  The kids split their time between being in the water and on the beach and playing sport.  Really, a lot of fun!

Fall sports are going again.

We have started a new session of judo. October 15-16, there is a big tournament at the Cohen brothers, which Nico is pretty excited about.  It's funny, but when he cut his leg earlier in the summer, he was considering all the different judo throws that he might or might not be able to do, given the stitches that he was going to have in his leg.  It ended up not mattering- the ER doctor said he didn't have any limitations on physical activity.  But, it was funny to me, because it shows how much the kid is learning about the sport.  

We also started soccer earlier this month.  It is pretty fantastic- because his best good friends from our old neighborhood are on the team.  Their dad (Dave G) is an assistant coach with Dave R.  So, it is pretty fun.  I am helping out by refereeing.  Like I get it, I understand that it is AYSO- so its volunteer run.  Which means that the referees are volunteers.  Its great because there is a lot less pressure than when you're refereeing games that you are getting paid for.  But still- it seems like the majority of the work done in AYSO is done by a minority of people who are involved.  

The End of Summer

The summer was disorienting, because it went by, both really fast and really slow.  Slow in the sense that childcare for Nico once summer camp was over was kind of a beat down.  And our house is so small... it was tricky with Dave trying to work from the house.  And if I worked from home to help out, it just felt like we were all on top of each other. 

Nico had a riot with sports though.  Swimming really clicked for him over the summer.  And he ended up *really* liking baseball.  I think we just need to accept the fact that he is going to have to be a two-sport athlete all the time now.  It looks like the fall is for soccer and judo, the winter is for either basketball or hockey and judo.  The spring is for soccer and judo again (or baseball?).  And the summer is for baseball and judo.  I guess.  I don't know.  I used to think I needed a personal assistant to manage my life.  Turns out, I need a personal assistant to keep up with Nico's sport schedules.

Overall a good summer.  They managed to get down to Louisville to see Mike and Gay and Tony and Kathy.  They did a little birthday party down there.  We decided to wait on Nico's birthday party in Chicago because there were so many of his friends out of town, traveling and such.  So, we are going to have a little birthday party at the lake this weekend.  I think he is going to have fun.  

*Interestingly* we are in a fantasy football league.  I say *interestingly* because, if you know how I feel about the NFL, you would say it's odd.  But the league is run by a guy I went to grad school with.  He and his wife and his best friends are really fun people and I really just wanted a chance to hang out with them more.  A by-product of this though, is that Nico is all about it.  He is really into it.  He loves helping me set the roster and thinking and talking about trades.  It is really adorable.  

So far the transition to 2nd grade has been very easy.  Nico has been a jem- he seems to be growing like a weed in front of my eyes.  He lost several teeth this summer.  And seems to be maturing a bit.  Still a sass-mouth, smartypants.  

Little Nicky Blue Eyes

I took these pics of Nico this summer and am really proud of them.  I wanted to keep them on the blog, so here is just a post of pics of my very adorable kid.  

Second Grade

This guy started second grade.  Can't believe that I am old enough to have a second grader.  He is in class again with Archie and Alex.  Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better set of friends.  Alex is Japanese-American and is into sport, about as much as Nico is (hockey is his big sport).  Archie is a huge sports fan- including Manchester City.  The three of them play after school pretty much every day.