weekends

The last two weekends have been absolutely wonderful!  Great weather (although yesterday was one of the hottest days we've had in a while) and we've tried to take full advantage of being out doors.

Last Sunday we were able to cross paddle boarding off our bucket list!  I absolutely loved it and told Coach I want a paddle board for Christmas. It was an incredible total body workout and a great family activity. Coach and I each fell off the board once but KJ never fell off at all.  We were together as a family but paddle boarded at our own pace.

Friday night KJ had a volleyball game in Dallas and Saturday she had a tournament in Arlington which was perfect because we were right by the stadium and made it to the Alabama vs. Wisconsin game with plenty of time for a little tailgating. Although we really wanted to go to the game, we were hesitant to buy tickets before she tried out for volleyball.  We knew there was a tournament the same day as the game and didn't want to spend big bucks on tickets only to be sitting at a tournament clear on the other side of town.  At the last minute a friend mentioned on FB he had four tickets so we jumped on the chance.

We had never been to a game at AT&T stadium and it did not disappoint.  What an incredible place to see a game!!  The stadium is phenomenal and there is not a bad seat in the house. We had such a good time at the game and of course KJ and Coach loved being among true Alabama fans. 

Today we slept in a little, Cosmo made French toast for breakfast, did a few things around the house and spent the rest of the day in the pool.  Last week the pool temp had cooled considerably and I thought maybe our pool days were numbered but today was absolutely perfect! 

A Little Snow and the Power of the Internet

We woke up Thursday to an absolutely beautiful winter wonderland.  I know most people hate the snow, but honestly, I love it.  I love the snow as much as I love the rain.  Anyone can love a perfect, blue sky, cloudless day.  I think it takes something special to appreciate the subtle nuances of an inclement weather day. I love how weather can stop us in our tracks and make us slow down and enjoy  the day.

We knew in advance that KJ's school was closed, Cosmo closed his office and we all had a wonderfully relaxing day at home in the snow.  We shoveled the driveway, played with the dog in the snow and met several neighbors.  KJ walked over to her friend Connor's house and a bunch of the neighborhood kids walked over to the park to go snowboarding.  The plow hadn't been down our street yet and the snow was up over our knees.  Cosmo had to make a path for her so she could get to Connor's.  On the way, they met the new neighbors on the corner.  KJ said they just moved here from North?  South?  Carolina (she couldn't remember) and they had a little girl.  KJ thought the little girl was about 2 and said she was having so much fun in the snow.  Cosmo uncovered our sidewalk and cleared it over to the neighbor's on our left.  He finally got to meet Mr. W who graduated from Alabama, went on to TN for his Master's and New Mexico for his PhD.  Naturally, the conversation turned to Alabama football and the SEC.  Since the plow still hadn't come through, we didn't bother shoveling the end of the driveway.  Once the plow finally came down our street, it made a huge mountain of snow near the mailbox.  So in the late afternoon Cosmo went out to tackle the glacier.  By this time the snow had gotten quite heavy and wet so another neighbor came over to help him out with a small plow on the end of his lawn mower.  And then it snowed again overnight.  So, Friday morning Cosmo was shoveling out again.  The Pastor from next door came over and gave him a hand.  See!  Snow days can be fun!!!

This weekend is the Capital Hill Classic volleyball tournament at the DC Convention center.  Holy moly.  The largest tournament I had attended was the Regional's in Atlanta.  This is probably 5 times that.  Almost 900 volleyball teams from all over the country (girls from ages 12 to 18).  Our friend from Hoover, Amanda, had mentioned several times that she'd like to see KJ play so when she saw my post on FB about the tournament, she texted me and said she was on her way.  She got to the convention center in time to watch KJ's 7 and 8 PM games.  Amanda played volleyball in youth leagues like KJ and also played in high school.  I think she'd be a good coach!  After the games we all grabbed a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and had a good time catching up!  KJ played well but they lost a couple of games they shouldn't have.  She's an incredibly consistent server and is enjoying her first season as setter.  Unfortunately, we don't have much of a defense.

KJ's team was in the afternoon wave today and has some very late games so I did not go to the tournament today (we got home last night around 1 AM, of course I was wired and couldn't settled down.  I finally fell asleep around 5 AM but woke up at 9 AM.  So yeah, I'm operating on less than 4 hours of sleep).  I was on FB and noticed a friend of our's from high school posted about watching his daughter play at a tournament in DC!  So, I quick wrote on Zap's wall (his nickname in high school), texted Cosmo and voila!  The two of them met up and got to visit for a while.  I think they saw each other last year at the alumni lax game but still!  I love the power of the Internet!

It's OK Thursday

Link up with http://www.brunchwithamber.com/ for the very last It's OK Thursday. 
I have had so much fun posting "It's OK" and I thank Amber and Neely for this wonderful opportunity!

It's OK . . .

...that I have absolutely zero plans for the weekend other than laying at the pool with an adult bevvie and my Nook.

...to be extremely proud of the sweet high school kids I work with.  Congratulations on your graduation!

...to be extremely proud of my girls.  T is really enjoying her internship with Rick and Bubba and KJ is just so happy to be a rising 8th grader and is looking forward to volleyball season.
...that the 13 year old has a better social life than me and is breaking the bank. 
...that I really like Mariah Carey's new song "Beautiful."
...that I've been walking around with a Flat Stanley in my purse for over a week now. 

Tradition

Tonight is our annual "End of School" sleep-over tradition.  T started it way back in elementary school and KJ carries on the torch.  It's such a fun way of kicking off the summer!  I don't even know why they have school this week -- today they got out around 1 PM and tomorrow they are released around 11:30 AM.  T will take them to school in the morning and then head over to the SEC games at the Met.  #hottytoddy

Thank You

A great big Thank You to our service men and women on Veterans Day and everyday! 

I am so thankful and proud to come from a long line of Americans who served their country.  My great grandfather on my mother's side, my Grandpa Castle and his brother, Uncle Robert both served in World War I.  Both of my grandfathers served in WWII and my Grandpa Shrodo was a POW in a German camp and escaped.  My dad served in the Air Force during Viet Nam and my Uncle Zip (my mom's oldest brother) served in the Navy on a nuclear sub during during some very frosty years with Russia.  My mom's two other brother's, my Uncle Smokey and my Uncle Mike, served in the Navy and the Air Force respectively.  My Uncle Mike did a tour in the Middle East and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for heroism during combat.  My dad also told me one time that my great-Aunt Betty was a nurse during WWII.  I need to get a little more info on her.  Cosmo's family has served his country well, too.  His dad was in Korea and Cosmo's nephew, Louie, is in the Navy. 

Yesterday we had the opportunity to see a wonderful half-time show dedicated to the men and women of the Armed Forces at Troy University during the Navy game.  They asked all current and past service men and women to come onto the field and they received a well-deserved stading ovation.  The Troy marching band was OUTSTANDING and we clapped and cheered along as they played each the alma mater for each branch of the service.  We had such a good time at the game!  We had never been to Troy before and the campus was beautiful!  We tailgated with Brye's family before the game, got to see our favorite cheerleader, Rory, in action and even got to spend a few minutes w/ Brye after the game.  The Troy fans were very supportive of their team and it was a really great atmosphere. 

 

A little foosball

Enjoying the rest of the Saturday with a little Alabama football.  KJ had a volleyball tourney today so I didn't get to see any of the Auburn game.  Folks on Twitter & Facebook are just tearing Auburn up after that game.  And my friend Julie is just loving life right about now.  I don't dislike Auburn, I just like Alabama a heck of a lot better.  Which is hard for Alabama natives to understand.  But, "not being from around these parts," I didn't have to choose a side while growing up.  Auburn's going to have a rough year and I wonder how long it will take before Chizik is on the chopping block. 

I'm such a total dweeb.  I just luv, luv, luv Nick Saban and I luv, luv, luv seeing the new Crimsonette costumes each year.  They are magnificent and positively scream football.  I don't like when schools try to break from tradition and modernize and fool around with uniforms (yes Oregon, I'm talking to you.  And you too, Terps.). 

 

 

 

T is gearing up for the Ole Miss game vs. UTEP.  It's parent's weekend and she gets to do the Rebel Run this afternoon.  She's still loving college life but in all seriousness, what's not to love?  She's at one of the prettiest campuses on the planet, loves her classes, likes her roommate, lax started this week and she's meeting lots of new peoople.  She likes the girls on her lax team alot and she's even met a couple of laxers who played against Hoover and remember Coach.  She tried out for the campus news team last week and originally did not make it.  Which we kind of expected as a freshmen.  But then, she got an e-mail saying they'd like her to do some B-reel, background work, research, etc.  And, she was also invited to two different journalism conferences.  The one in September interferes with Rush but she will go to the one in November. 

Didn't go to the Hoover football game Friday night and quite honestly, I'm not sure if we'll even make a game this year.  I hate this new alignment and have zero interest in any of the games (maybe I'll feel differently when KJ hits high school.  But for now, I'm really enjoying my Friday nights!).  The rivalries are gone, the excitement/anticipation is gone.  Don't get me wrong, Hoover is still an incredible team and no matter the conference or divison they play in, they will steamroll over everyone.  But I miss the Spain Parkers thinking they have a shot each year, I like the ugliness of the Vestavia game and I like the Brookies snubbing their noses at Hoover each year.  Oh!  And Homewood!  I always like their band.  They put on a good half-time show.   

Breaking the Huddle

I can NOT believe I missed the SAG awards Sunday! It was such a crazy day and I totally forgot they were on! Our little emergency room visit kind of threw us all off kilter but we did watch two incredible documentaries on HBO when things finally settled down.

The first documentary was on Integration in the SEC (football). This was all a little before my time and, being a "Yankee" I will admit what little I know about the Civil Rights Movement I learned in a high school class or from news snippets. This documentary was a fascinating look at how sports played an important role in the movement. There was a lot of pressure on these young men to represent their race in a positive light and each victory on the field was considered a victory for all African-Americans. These were very brave young men (and women) and I had absolutely no idea that Alabama had an all-white football team until 1970. 1970! Insane.

http://www.hbo.com/sports/breaking-the-huddle-the-integration-of-college-football/index.html

The following article doesn't not portray Bear Bryant in a positive light and accuses him of not using his power as the head coach of Alabama to do more for African-Americans (simply amazing to me that the masses look to their sports heroes to be their moral compasses -- i.e., Paterno. But that's a rant for another day.). That is the writer's opinion and I am in no way, shape or form trying to smear Bear Bryant's legacy. I only post the link because it details the HBO documentary better than I can. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and I think Bear Bryant did the best he could based on the political temperature in the South at the time. I think if he had just went out and recruited a bunch of African-American players and threw them onto the playing field he would have had a race riot on his hands. He needed to introduce the concept in such a way that Alabamaians thought it was their own idea. Baby steps. And that's why he invited USC to Legion Field.

http://www.aolnews.com/2008/11/29/breaking-the-huddle-hbos-powerful-look-at-the-integration-of-c/

The next documentary we watched was on Joe Namath. Interestingly enough, while we were watching the Integration documentary I asked Cosmo if Namath was at Alabama while all this was going on and quickly did the math in our heads (1969 NY Jets Super Bowl victory minus a couple of years for college). Namath does talk about when he first arrived at Alabama, how his teammates gave him a hard time because he was a "Yankee," how he didn't understand what segregation was all about, and about the history making day when the two black students tried to register for classes. You could just hear the pride and excitement in his voice when he talks about Vivien Malone walking into the building. He was rooting for her. I think this was an excellent story about a simple kid from Beaver Falls, PA and they did not hide from his alcohol issues. He was from a broken working class family, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed (couldn't pass the entrance exam @ Maryland), caused a lot of mischief when he was a kid and just lived his life to the fullest and went along for the ride. My favorite part of the whole 90 minutes is when his older sister referred to him as a PIA --- Pain in the Ass.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/01/27/namath/index.html

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/138259629.html