Christmas With The Sharps

(Christmas Day, 2008) Christmas day would turn out to be a long and busy day for us. My parents, along with Karen and Kyle, would join us for breakfast and to watch the kids opening presents.

Karen came up with an idea to pull a prank on my Dad for when arrived at our house. Several weeks prior to Christmas, Dad had hit a deer on his way home from Lake Jackson, causing lots of damage to the front of his car, and presumably even greater damage to the deer. Dad felt bad about the deer after hitting hit, knowing that his car would be dealt a better fate than the deer, since his car could be repaired. Well Dad has had this plastic deer in his front yard for years that has definitely seen better days. It's got a big hole in it's hind end and is missing a leg and an antler. Karen thought it would be funny if I were to take it home, prop it up, and write a note from the deer saying "no hard feelings" and have it offering Dad a Bud Light. Well Karen's idea worked great! It was so funny! Dad thought it was funny as well and took pictures with it.



Well I digress. Prior to Christmas, Dad and taken Christian to Walmart to test out bikes, so Santa would know which bike he liked. He would ride around outside on a Tonka bike that looked very rugged. But Dad said there were more bikes inside to look at, and perhaps there would be one he would like better. Well Christian did find one he liked better; a bike designed with the Cars movie theme. Christian would ride the bike around the bike area several times when a Walmart associate would tell us that he can't ride a bike in the store, to which my Dad would quickly and cleverly respond "What do you mean he can't ride a bike here? He can. Don't you see him riding?" The associate didn't seem too amused and said he's not allowed. Well after this, Christian would tell everybody who asked him what he was getting for Christmas, "A bike with two wheels!" since all he had was a tricycle and a car with four wheels.

When he woke up on Christmas morning, he went straight to the bike and began riding it all over the house. Reagan would sit on the tricycle and try to peddle without much success. He would see that Santa ate his cookies and drank his soy milk, leaving a mess as he has for the last 40 years. Rhian would later read him the letter Santa left.We would all enjoy an egg and pancake breakfast, and the rest of us would exchange gifts.

We would head over to Rhian's parent's house at 2 PM for a nice Trinidadian lunch and exchange presents. Christian and Reagan would have their semi-annual meeting of their Godfather, Rhian's brother Jason. ;o) Deri, Phil, Adrian, Rhonda, and Khadija would be there as well.

We would then head to my parents at 6 PM for dinner and talk about our day, and how this Christmas was truly the Best Ever.

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Christian Leaves Milk, Cookies, and a Letter for Santa on Christmas Eve

(December 24, 2008) What has been a tradition in the Sharp family since Karen and I were small, continued with Kyle and now continues with Christian. He would leave chocolate chip cookies that he and Rhian had baked earlier along with some soy milk for Santa. Christian would also spend a few minutes writing his letter to Santa, and requested privacy while doing so.
Though it wasn't legible to grownup eyes, Christian would read it to us, telling us that he said that he missed Santa Claus.
Christian was very excited about Christmas, since this was his first year really comprehending who Santa was.

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Christian Sees Santa Doing His Annual Chimney Inspection

(December 22, 2008) Dad started a tradition when Kyle was small, telling the story of how Santa Claus visits all the houses of children before Christmas to inspect the chimneys, to make sure they were okay to deliver presents. Dad would dress up in a full Santa costume and sneak up a ladder on the back side of the house while Karen would bring Kyle by the house. Dad would do this with Kyle until he was 9 or 10, until he realized that Pap Pap wasn't around when Santa was on the roof, so the last year for Kyle seeing Santa on the roof would be me on the roof and his Pap Pap by his side.

This would be Christian's first year of witnessing Santa Claus doing his thing. Dad would take time away from his new "Buddy" and suit up and resume the tradition with Christian as we were leaving. Christian is usually intimidated at first with seeing things that mean a lot to him, and I thought the sight of Santa would scare him. Christian was actually happy to see him and actually waved to him. Reagan would see Santa on the roof as well as her Aunt Karen held her. Santa would give Christian the thumbs up, and Christian then knew that all would be well at Christmas.

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Dad Gets His Christmas Gift Early, Doggone It!

(December 22, 2008) Ever since Dad had lost his beloved Golden Retriever, Shadow, last year, we (mainly Karen) have asked him if and when he was getting another dog, he would always reply, "Maybe later" or "After (insert event)". Karen decided that Dad was ready or another dog this Christmas, and wanted to get it as a gift. Dad had mentioned he wanted a yellow lab this time, so Karen began researching information well ahead of time. Dad preferred that his next dog be AKC registered, as was Shadow. Well Karen found out that they aren't cheap, and solicited the help of Mom and myself. (Don't worry Karen, I WILL get you your $30 ;o>) After much research, Karen, with Kyle's help, found a puppy they felt was right and bought it. She kept it at her house for a couple of days, waiting until Dad was finished giving his now famous Christmas parties and could relax and take time to care for his new gift. We decided the Monday before Christmas would be best and planned on how we would surprise him. I brought Christian over so he could build a gingerbread house with his Pap Pap. Mom came up with the initial plan, which was for Karen to sneak the puppy into the patio at Dad's house while I and the kids would have him distracted elsewhere in the house. Well I kinda messed that up. I was looking out in the patio trying to find a reason to take him out there. Well, Dad noticed me and asked what I was looking at, and decided to take me out there to show the electric fireplace he had recently purchased. So I had to call Karen with a quick plan B, and she decided just to bring the puppy into the house normally and put him under the Christmas tree. Well just before Karen could put the puppy underneath the tree, Dad had finished showing me the fireplace and headed back into the house. Karen and Kyle tried to make a wall to hide the puppy. Dad thought it was someone he hadn't seen in long while hidden behind them. He then saw the puppy and immediately fell to the floor to play with it.
Dad was so happy with it he had a tear in his eye. Karen told him that she had nick-named him Buddy and Dad thought that would be a good name for him. Dad would play with Buddy for a while and eventually take him for a walk, all the while mentally planning the time he will spend on Lake Jackson with him, along with traveling to and from the lake with him.Dad would wear Buddy out and Buddy would take a much needed nap.
According to Mom, the timing with Dad's gift was perfect. After having finished giving all his Christmas parties, no longer having to worry about decorating, and having done pretty much everything he could do at the house on Lake Jackson, Dad commented to Mom the night before that he had no idea what he was going to do. Well, I think that problem has been solved for the next 10-15 years. :o)

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Dad's 2008 Annual Christmas Party

Today was Dad's annual Christmas Party. This used to be an exclusive, invitation only party for family and Mom & Dad's friends. A couple of years ago he made it an "open house" party, so as to not put pressure on those that were invited. He would then hold parties over several weekends to accommodate Karen's, Mom's, and Kyle's friends.
This year he decided to have my friends, Karen's friends, and his friends come to the same party. It would have been okay if Karen wouldn't have invited ALL her friends. See, Karen is a pretty popular person, and she has lots of friends who mostly all have families. So needless to say, we had a really large turnout, especially considering the fact that most of Karen's invitees couldn't make it! ;o) Despite all this, (LOL) the party turned out to be very nice, with plenty of food, plenty of good conversation, and of course Dad's magic shows, one each for the kids and the adults.

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Visit to Savannah to Run The Savannah River Bridge Run

(December 6, 2008) The family traveled to Savannah last Friday to visit with old friends Bill Cobb and Mark Dempsey from the college soccer team at Armstrong State College to run The Savannah Bridge Run. We ran what is called "The Double Pump", which is essentially a 15K, running both the 5K and 10K races back to back. Our team name would be One/Not One (an inside joke on one of the members of our team).
The 5K was supposed to start at 8 AM and the 10K at 8:45. The 5K starts on Hutchinson Island, which is on the other side of the bridge just before you get into South Carolina, and you have to take a trolley to get there. Due to the fact that the there was major transportation issues, the 5K didn't start until 8:45 and the 10K started at 9:25. It was a cloudy and cool 45 degrees at the start with very little wind. I had been up all night coughing with a bad cold, and had taken lots of cough medicine and nasal spray in hopes that I could finish both runs. I felt great running the 5K, and the bridge, which is a 5.5% grade, didn't seem too bad. I would finish the 5K in 27:53, and believe it or not, I ran the whole way with my shirt on! The good thing was that I hardly coughed after finishing.
Getting to the 10K start proved to be a little tricky, since it started on the other side of the 5K course, which meant you had to cross through the finishing runners. The only other way to avoid with was to go against the flow of 5K finishers and go around the finish of the 5K, which wasn't feasible. While standing on a corner waiting to cross (Bill and Mark had already crossed), a cop was telling us to go around, since we were obstructing the finishers. While he was saying this a runner made a hard tangent to the corner and purposefully gave me an elbow! Unfortunately I couldn't see who did it as the cop was moving us back. Fortunately I was able to catch up with the others and get to the 10K start on time. I would get rid of the shirt about a half mile in, and Mark would tell Bill to mark the time I went shirtless. I felt great the first half of the 10K, and started getting gastric pains at exactly the 5K mark right before crossing back over the bridge. I contemplated walking, but the pain shortly went away and I was able to run the rest of the way with no issues. The nice thing for me running the bridge was that you knew exactly how far it was to the top and could see it the whole way. I would finish strong in 57:47, and not have any issues coughing at the finish. All the double pumpers would get nice beer mugs at the finish, and we all had lots of free beer after. Later that evening I would join Bill at Marks house and watch the SEC Championship game between Florida and Alabama.

Thanksgiving with the Sharps

As with most years, the Sharps (as well as Rhian's family) have lots for which to be thankful. We all have our health and we all remain close. As is tradition in the Sharp Family for over 25 years now, at least one or more Sharps participate in the annual Atlanta Marathon/Half-Marathon in downtown on Thanksgiving morning. Dad started it back in the early 80's by running the marathon and the rest of us would be out there to support him. When the 90's came along, Mom and I would join Dad and we would all run the half marathon. Rhian would eventually start running it and on two occasions, Karen would run it.
This year, Rhian, Mom, and I would run it and Dad would be our transportation to the start and at the finish. The weather at the start this year was a clear and crisp 33 degrees with no wind. This was a stark contrast to the start of last year's race, which began at a humid 65 degrees with rain, wind, and some lightning. Those that know me at the races know that I am usually shirtless when the temperature is at or above freezing. I don't do this to bring attention to myself like those at a Green Bay Packers game in January, I do it because when I run, I generate enough heat to warm an entire house! ;o) I would start the race with a long sleeved shirt, but it would soon be gone at the first mile. Of course I would garner many looks at comments, as I didn't see one other person shirtless the entire race. What I noticed while running shirtless (while everybody else was in tights, gloves, and ski caps, (and this is by no means a generalization, only my observations from THIS race), but White people would just look at me (or look at each other, as if to say "Don't look too quick, but look at that guy with no shirt!")and then I could hear them make their comments after I would pass. Not one would say anything to me directly. Black people were more honest, and said things such as "Aren't you cold?", "Where's your shirt?", "You're crazy not to have a shirt!" and "Do you want a shirt?". While running up cardiac hill at the 7 mile mark, one guy said "That's what I needed to see! Someone running shirtless to help me up this hill!". I don't know why people feel that they can't be honest and say what they want to say! Anyhow, that was my non-biased observation from the race. Well back to the race. My goal was to run a 1:57, or a 9 minute/mile pace. I would hit the first mile in 8:45 and the second in 8:40. I kept thinking to myself that I need to slow down, that I can't keep this pace for 13.1 miles, but I would through the whole race and finish in 1:55:14, a 14 minute improvement over last year. The nice thing about this year's race was that there would be mylar blankets provided to all finishers. What would be poetic would be the person who would hand me my blanket at the finish, Gerald Miller. A top age group runner/race-walker for years, Gerald is notorious for running all the Atlanta Track Club races shirtless, regardless of the temperature. Rhian would finish in 2:09:51, an improvement of 27 minutes over last year! Mom would finish in 3:01:23, an improvement of a minute and 30 seconds.
We would go home and all 4 of us would take naps before heading over to my parents house for dinner. Unfortunately Christian was sick with a bad cold and a 102 fever and wouldn't eat. We all had a great meal and would go outside and watch the annual lighting of the lights.

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Happy the Clown Visits Christian's School

(Novemeber 25th, 2008) Dad, better known as Happy the Clown, would visit Christian's school on the last day before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Dad, who had performed his magic for Kyle's school while growing up was now beginning his new career of entertaining Christian and his classmates. Christian was excited at the prospect of having his Pap Pap entertain his classmates. Dad had rehearsed some of his tricks with Christian, even putting on the costume, and Christian had already said that he and his friend Maya would be Happy's assistants. Christian would be excited about it up until the time Happy and Mrs Happy (Mom) would show up at his school. Christian is very self-conscious now that he is in school, and is embarrassed easily. Having his grandma and Pap Pap at his school proved to be quite overwhelming for him. All the kids were led to the Beltram Room, where the Happy the Clown show would take place. As soon as Happy arrived, Christian would pretend to sleep, and do so for the entire show! He would peek every so often to see what was going on, and even cracked a smile when Happy would trick one of his classmates with the surprise peanut can trick. Happy would put on an excellent show, and all the kids (ages 18 months-5 years) would be highly entertained.

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Reunion with Friends From High School

(November 22, 2008) I would reunite with old friends from the Southwest Dekalb Class of 84 I found through Classmates.com and then ultimately on Facebook, Scott Scroggy and Ruan Rochester, at The Glenwood Restaurant owned by another member of the C/O 84, David Simpson. Unfortunately David wouldn't be in, but it was great to hang out, reminisce, and catch up over beers with Scott and Ruan. Now that the internet has made the world a much smaller place, we decided we would stay in contact and get together more frequently.

Family Trip to Helen, GA

(November 9th, 2008) Our family along with Rhian's mom took a trip to the beautiful Alpine village, Helen, in the north Georgia mountains. Most consider Helen a tourist trap, but it provides a great opportunity to view the scenery along with having a place to do a little shopping and grab a bite to eat. Helen is also very near the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River. Main Street in crosses over it and there is a footbridge for pedestrians to cross. Christian threw 4 pennies into the water and made a wish before every one. He wanted to say them out loud, but we told him that they wouldn't come true if he did. It was cute watching him think about it. I'm sure candy and trains were involved! :o) Unfortunately the leaves had passed their peak, though there was still some nice color. We would spend a couple of hours in Helen and then head a little north "to see what we could see" and found a scenic lake to take some pictures. It was starting to get cold and windy, so we decided to traverse back home.

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End of My First Season as Head Coach

(November 8th, 2008) Today ended my first season as a head coach, having coached our U-14 girls recreation team to a 1-8-1 record. My first season was a learning experience to say the least, but fortunately I had lots of help from the team mother/assistant coach/(and all other caps that one can wear helping out the team) Heather Shaver. Having coached U-19 girls as an assistant prepared me somewhat for coaching U-14, but I wasn't prepared for how much 12 and 13 year old girls can talk! Needless to say I spent much time trying to get their attention. Fortunately the girls I had selected as captains usually did well to help out. Despite our record, our girls accomplished a lot, having learned new skills, making new friends, and most of all, having lots of fun. We showed tremendous improvement as the season progressed, and knowing that most of the girls will be back in the spring, I am excited about our prospects.

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Halloween 2008

(October 31, 2007) This year, we were really looking forward to dressing the kids up in their costumes. Last year, we got Christian a Thomas the Tank Engine costume since he really loved trains, and Thomas in particular. We took him to the trunk-or-treat at our church. He wouldn't put the costume on because he said it didn't have any wheels. It didn't even matter that we told him that he wouldn't be able to get candy unless he wore his costume. He refused to wear it. Being that the costume was pretty much a one size fits all costume for kids, I told Rhian "Maybe next year". This year, Christian's school had a little Halloween party where the kids could wear their costumes to school. Christian was all excited about it, even when getting into the car. But once he got to the school, he got upset and complained that it was too tight, even though it was draped over him and there was nothing tight about it. His teacher, Ms. Tamika, even complimented him about his costume, and even loosed the strings on it so it wouldn't be "too tight". Even his best friend Maya, who was real cute dressed as a princess, put her arm around Christian and asked him what was wrong to no avail. All the other kids were in costume as well but it didn't matter to Christian, the costume was still too tight and he didn't want to wear it, so we took it off. Once again, I thought "maybe next year". Now Reagan on the other hand, was cute as could be as Hershey's Kiss. I was worried, because the costume had a hat with the Hershey's Kiss tassel hanging from it, and Reagan hates wearing hats; but not today, because Reagan knew she was cute and kept it on.

CLICK HERE to see all the pictures of Reagan, Christian, and his friends

Kids at the Pumpkin Patch

We made our 2nd annual journey to the pumpkin patch down in McDonough. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day as we had sunny and cool temperatures; perfect for a hayride and pumpkin picking. During the hayride, we visited a little petting zoo, even though no petting was allowed. We then watched a video on how pumpkins are grown and let Christian pick out 2 small pumpkins. The kids had lots of fun. This is a warm up for Pap Pap's turn to take them to the pumpkin patch.

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Happy 44th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Today Mom and Dad are celebrating 44 years of marriage. Their lives together over the years have take them from a steel town in Pennsylvania, to Ohio, to where they are now in Georgia. They have been through the best of times and the worst of times. Through the years, Mom and Dad have paid their dues to make sure that our family always had a roof over our head and food on the table, instilled good values in us, and taught us the importance of family. Whatever life dealt them, they dealt with it in remarkable fashion. What they taught us can be reflected in who Karen and I have become, and how it's being reflected in our children. In this day and age of high divorce rates and dysfunctional families, I feel blessed to be the son of two wonderful parents who have remained committed to each other this long, and who have since become wonderful grandparents to our children and Kyle. Here's hoping that they have many more anniversaries.

Happy 16th Birthday Kyle!

Kyle achieved another milestone birthday today as he turned 16, the legal driving age in Georgia. It's hard to believe Kyle is already 16! It doesn't seem that long ago that he was born. I have had the rare privilege of seeing Kyle from the very beginning when he was born, cutting the umbilical cord, to the fine young man he has become. It's because of watching him being born that I have come to my strong personal views on the dignity of life and protecting the unborn. I don't say this in attempt to be political, it's just witnessing a human life, and my nephew at that, being born has had a profound affect on who I am as a Catholic and a human being. I am so impressed with job Karen has done with him (along with Mom, Dad, and many others) to make Kyle the intelligent, talented, and gifted person he is today. When I watch Kyle with Christian and Reagan, I can see the love only a wonderful, selfless person can share, and I can see it in the eyes of both Christian and Reagan the love they have for him. They are truly blessed to have a cousin like Kyle, as I am to have him as a nephew. I know I'm sounding a bit sappy here, but it's rare that I get the opportunity to share my true thoughts on Kyle as a nephew, cousin, and a human being.

Kyle's Homecoming Football Game

(October 9th, 2008) I finally got the privelege of watching Kyle carry on the Sharp tradition of kicking field goals for their high school. (Actually, it was started by me as a kicker for Southwest Dekalb in 1983, but traditions have to start somewhere, right? ;o) I would sit with his proud mom and grandparents. This night was Our Lady of Mercy's (Kyle's high school) homecoming game against Southwest Atlanta Christian. Kyle was up for being Duke of his sophomore class. (I believe that's right). He was also an escort. He wouldn't get the award, but Kyle would honor "the Sharp tradition" with a perfect 5-5 on extra points as OLM would win 35-8. Kyle has 2 1/2 seasons to break the Sharp field goal record of 42 yards as well as making 20 straight extra points. (I know Kyle likes the challenge!) I think he'll shatter both records before it's all said and done.

I apologize for some of the pictures being blurry and/or grainy. These were taken from afar and have been digitally zoomed a great deal.

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Christian Gets a Big Wheel, Reagan gets a "pet kitten"

One of my fond memories of being a child was having a Big Wheel. I think everyone who was a child during the 70's had one. I know all my friends did. Being bigger than most kids, I tended to wear them out quicker than most. (Maybe that explains why my dad says I was always "hard on cars" when i first began driving ;o) The problem with big wheels was that they were made with hollow tires and the only way to top them was to lock the pedals, causing the front wheel to slide. In no time they would wear through. As a grew out of Big Wheels, they came out with a hand brake on the rear wheel, to prevent this problem. I thought this was cool, but was disappointed that they didn't have them when I was riding. Let's fast forward to 2008. I was talking with my next door neighboor (and Hunter's grandmother) Beckey Stonecipher about the Big Wheel. She remembers her son having one, and we both remark we haven't seen them in a long time, and how it would be neat if both the kids had one. Of course I shared my history of the Big Wheel with her. :o) Well, a couple of days later, the doorbell rings and it's Beckey and her husband Tom, and sitting there are two boxes of Big Wheels! I couldn't believe it. Beckey said she saw them at Target, and couldn't just get Hunter one, so she bought one for Christian as well. I told her that was so nice, and how much did I owe her for it. She said, don't worry about it, you just have to put Hunter's together along with Christian's. I said I could afford that! When Christian saw it, he couldn't wait! As I was putting it together, he looked at me with a smile and said "Daddy, thank you for putting this together for me." How thoughtful was that! I got a tear in my eye and told Christian it was no problem and thanked him for saying that. While putting it together, I realized that it no longer had a hand brake! I thought the handbrake was so cool! Then again, the ads back then showed kids using the brake and spinning everywhere like it was fun. I'm sure many broken bones and lacerations later Big Wheel decided that it was a safety problem, eliminated the hand brake, and made the tires thicker. At least that was the only logical solution I could come up with. Oh well, Christian didn't know any better and was so happy when I had put both together and him and Hunter could go riding. As soon as they started riding, I had flashbacks to my childhood riding with friends such as David Renker and Frankie Dimario. In this day and age of technology, 100+ television stations and video games, it's great that Big Wheel is still around to keep kids active.
Now to Reagan. Our neighbors have a cat and kitten that loves to hang out at the top of our yard near the street. Every time Reagan goes outside and sees them, she points to them and goes straight over to pet them. She just loves them! She even gives them kisses. She loves the dogs as well, but they don't sit still long enough for her to pet them. I just hope she doesn't want a cat when she gets older. I'm allergic and neither Rhian nor I particularly care for cats. (Sorry cat lovers!)

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ATC Cartersville 10K

(October 4th, 2008) Today my mom and I made the trip to Cartersville to run the ATC 10K on a very scenic course. Rhian didn't make the trip since she was still tired from traveling earlier in the week and wanted the rest. The weather was very nice, low 60's with low humidity. Last year's run was very humid with temperatures in the mid 70's. We saw the usually suspects that we see at every ATC race along with someone we hadn't seen in a long while, my dad's old friend Kermit Bowen. When we reached the starting area, my mom saw someone on the track warming up that resembled Kermit and pointed him out to me. I said it's got to be him, because he's wearing an old ATC Master's warm-up like the one dad wore when he competed. As the start approached we found out it was Kermit! He said he was trying to get back in shape and had lost about 30 lbs that he had gained. He was looking for someone to pace him, and I told him that I was planning on running between an 8:45 and 9:00 minute/mile pace, and he said that would be good. We both started out together and I let him control the pace, since I didn't want to go too fast and maybe push Kermit too hard. We reached the first mile in 7:56! I thought this was too fast for me since I was planning on finishing the race around 55 minutes. Kermit was upset because he felt this was too fast for him. I felt great and only slowed down a bit, Kermit slowed a little more. I was able to maintain a pace between 8:20 and 8:30 the rest of the way. Once I reached 4 miles, I still felt great, and knew I had a shot at breaking 52 minutes, which was now my new goal. The race finishes up with 1 1/2 laps around a track. Once I reached the track, I really began to push, and finished up in 51:41! This was about 5 minutes faster than my previous Over-40 10K time. Kermit would end up finishing in 53 minutes. My mom would come in at a time my dad would be pleased with, 1:17.

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Pictures From Christian's Soccer Practice

Christian is still doing very well with soccer. Each week is a different theme with the practice, which makes it very enjoyable for Christian and the rest of the kids. I finally got some pictures of Christian's soccer practice! Today was picture day, but being that I have a decent camera, I went ahead and took pictures of Christian and his friend and next door neighbor Hunter Tidwell. It would have cost us $30 to have their pictures taken by a professional. As you will see, I think I did a fairly adequate job!

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Christian's Friends at School

Christian has quite a few friends at his school. He knows all their names but has one friend in particular, a 4 year-old girl named Maya. Christian tells us she's his only friend, and when you see him on the playground, you usually see her. They make it a point for me to push the both of them on the swing when Reagan and I arrive to pick up Christian at 1:30. They are so cute together! They genuinely enjoy each others company! Reagan acts as if she's one of the students at the playground. She is not shy one bit! She does her own thing, and is usually in charge wherever she is, and usually gets very dirty in the process.

CLICK HERE to see the kids on the playground

CLICK HERE to see more pictures of the kids on the playground

ATC Awards Banquet

(September 18, 2008) Mom, Dad, Rhian, and I dressed up and attended the Atlanta Track Club's annual awards banquet held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. It was a special evening for my mother, Rhian, and I, since we all were receiving what is called "The David Jordan Bunny Award". This award is given to all track club members who enter and complete all of the Grand Prix races put on by the club during the year. It's named after David Jordan, who this year got the award for the 10th straight year. Mom would also go on to get a Grand Prix award for finishing first in the 65-69 age group. For many years, it was Dad who always got the awards at the races and banquets, being that he was a national class runner in his age group while in his 40's and 50's. Despite not getting an award this year, it was a special evening for Dad as well, as he got to see the fruits of his inspiration. It was also a nice evening eating, drinking, and mingling with friends and acquaintances.

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Christian Starts a New Soccer Season

(September 12, 2008) Christian began his 3rd season of soccer today. Unfortunately, Coach Graham, who had been his coach for the previous two seasons, is pursuing a master's degree, and isn't coaching this season, so Christian had a new coach, Coach Skip. The last two seasons, Christian would usually spend the first five minutes or so getting over his shyness of practicing with his teammates; but not so with this practice. From the get-go, Christian was very into his practice. I'm not sure if Rhian and Reagan being there had anything to do with it, but he was the best player of the 10 that were there (this is my non-biased opinion, of course! :o) Coach Skip made it fun, by applying a train theme to the practice. This was perfect for Christian! Trains and soccer, it couldn't get any better!! Unfortunately we had no camera to take pictures. Christian's friend Hunter is on the team as well, but wasn't able to make this practice. We'll definitely have the camera for his next practice!

My Head Coaching Debut

(September 6, 2008) This past Saturday (the 6th) marked my debut as a head soccer coach. I had previously been an assistant coach for 4 season with the Under-19 Girls at TYSA (Tucker, GA). When I heard that there would be no U-19 girls team this fall, I welcomed it as a break from coaching, since I pretty much had a full plate with the kids and triathlon training.
With about 2 weeks before the season began, I received a "desperation" call to be a head coach for a U-14 girls team at TYSA. I said sure, since I do have plans to coach at a higher level, perhaps academy level, and this would give me experience. I figured I could make the time. There were 51 girls divided amongst 3 teams, and not knowing anything about the girls, I was left to trust the other 2 coaches who would select their girls and give me whatever was left. It really didn't matter to me, since coaching isn't always about winning, but knowing that the girls learned something new and had fun doing so.
Coaching the U-14 girls proved to be a refreshing change from the U-19 girls. Unlike the U-19's, where maybe half the girls on the team would show up, over 90% of the U-14 girls had shown up for every practice. Granted, even though I was used to girls gossiping amongst themselves, I had to get used to the fact the U-14'did the same thing, only ten times as much! :o) Not having an assistant coach makes things pretty tough. Fortunately, one of my player's mother, Heather Shaver, stepped up as a team mother and offered her help in any way. I am so thankful she did, because it would have been next to impossible to run this team by myself!
Our first game was against another team from TYSA. We would start out slow, and fall 2-0 by half time. They would play valiantly in the 2nd half, scoring a goal, and then barely missing a shot off the post in final seconds, and we would lose 2-1. All the girls played well, and showed improvement in the 2nd half.

CLICK HERE to view the pictures taken by the Team Mom (and my right hand) Heather Shaver.

Labor Day Sunday on Lake Jackson

(August 31, 2008) It was another wonderful, rain-free day on Lake Jackson. Christian jumped off the diving board quite a few times, Dad did several back flips off the diving board, and Christian caught and kissed a fish! It was a great day to mark the unofficial end of Summer. As Dad would say, "It was the best day ever!"

CLICK HERE to view the pictures