Gung Gung came down to visit with the boys before heading off to England in a few days and we took the time to celebrate Sam’s birthday and Father’s Day all in one shot. Sam got a small fish tank and fish from Nana and Gung Gung, an Erector Set from Uncle Les and Aunt Laurie and a pair of neon green Dr Dre/Monster Headphones (so he can be as cool as his brother) from us. Gung Gung got a car care kit for his Bristol and Rod got some Jayhawk stuff – cool chair and lunch box. We also had a nice dinner and then watched the movie, ‘Jack Reacher.’ We all had a great time seeing Gung Gung and Sam wants to say Thanks! to everyone.

So we took Mom’s old computer and fixed the hard drive so the boys could play each other online (Minecraft – a silly Lego like game). Of course they both had to have a pair of headphones w/mic to be able to talk to one another as well. Alex has Mom’s computer in his room and Sam uses the one down in the fireplace room. Alex also found one of his school friends online and they stay up late at night talking on Skype. The boys have been online so much that Lis is having to encourage them to do their chores.

Sam had a little accident the other day at the pool. He was swimming up to the edge to get on the ladder and cracked his tooth. Today, Mom took Sam to the dentist (Coco) and he fixed him all up. When I asked him how the dentist went today he said it was awful… “they had all these fancy tools they stuck in my mouth.”

Sam had his Awards Program on Friday and he received his ‘B’ Honor Roll award from Mrs Hill. Unlike the last couple of years he did not receive the Citizen’s Award for his class. Sam seemed quite disappointed when they didn’t call his name, but then at the end of the program he did get a little surprise. This year for the first time they issued a President’s Award and Sam won the Award!!! The President’s Award is for the student that shows the most citizenship in his age range. So there are two awards, one for grades 1-3 and one for 4-6. Sam was chosen the best citizen in the 3 grades(4-6)! Sam was very happy and Mom was very proud as the parents sitting around her all congratulated Sam. 🙂

Sam had the last game of the season today and they lost 6-2. Apparently this team had been scoring 10-12 goals each game so holding them to 6 was pretty good. Not to mention we got 2 goals ourselves. Sam got some acknowledgement from the coach today about his defensive play and holding his own against the bigger boys. Sam even got a little dirty and a couple of small scrapes after taking a couple of tumbles on the field. The Soccer Party was held at Pizza Inn and all the boys got a trophy and a certificate – coach said that he hopes Sam comes back for the fall season. No photos of the game today, but we did get a quick one of Sam accepting his trophy.

Mom decided to redo the garden in front of the house so on Wednesday she somehow recruited Dad to help. We removed all of the weeds, found some stepping stones in the backyard we weren’t using an bought about $25 worth of mulch to spread around and voilà a brand new front yard. The last photo is of Nana’s boxwood basil that we will bring up the next time we visit.

While Mom is working in the yard, Farley is guarding the front door…

This one is from January 18, 2003… Bathtub time with the Rescue Heroes! Fast Forward to today, just 10 years later and it is hard enough just keeping them in the same room without arguing – especially in the bathroom. 🙂

Unlike last week, mother nature was much more cooperative for Sam’s soccer game – sunny and mid 70’s. Although it’s quite humid now as we are waiting for the Thunderboomers to come later this evening. We did get to make it to the pool today too as the boys were hounding us all morning to go. Mom and Dad declined to jump into the freezing water and we stayed in our clothes watching from the sidelines. Sam got in a couple of good plays today, but spent most of the game wandering around like he had never played before. After much yelling from the sidelines and a pep talk at half-time he did come around in the 2nd half. Fortunately for Sam, quite a few of the rest of the players were just as lethargic so he blended in rather well. They did win the game 3-0 as a couple of the mid-fielders were having a good game. Last game of the Spring session is next week, then a pizza party in the afternoon.

Went to see Sam play soccer today and it seemed like we were watching a match in England rather than North Carolina. Sam’s team won by forfeit as the other team didn’t have enough players until a few minutes into the game. Sam got in a couple of good kicks on defense and played over half the game. Good thing they won by forfeit though because the actual score was 2-2 at the end of the game. After the game, Rod and the boys rushed off to see Iron Man 3 at the 11:15am showing – almost completely full even that early and the boys loved it!