On Monday morning I took Natalie to her soccer camp. Our lives are REALLY getting back to normal. Natalie had been worried about whether or not she would be able to jump back into her soccer routine. While we were in Poland she did not play on a team. Girls do not play soccer, or at least on soccer teams, there. When I looked for a team for her in Gdansk last fall I learned that she COULD play on a boys' team. I was not thrilled with the idea of my 13 year old daughter being the only girl on a team where she does not speak the language or know the culture. She was not too thrilled about that idea either. So she juggled the ball in the backyard when the weather was somewhat decent. She had PE at the British School on Mondays. She used that as her sporty outlet. Her PE teacher commented on her end of year report about how happy Natalie was playing sports.
I watched her for about 20 minutes at the end of camp today. She looked right at home on the soccer field in the goalie box, and I know she was so happy to be back on the field again. Note the skinned up knee that happened when she dove for the ball at camp this morning and the big smile on her face! She has played on the same soccer team since first grade, and will be rejoining them for the fall season in August. She can't wait!
I have had so much fun this past week running into people we know everywhere we go. I ran into Monica at Walmart, Tricia at Quiktrip and so many friends at church. I saw Karen cruising next to me as I was driving down Pflumm yesterday, and Wendy at Target this morning. There have been times this past week where I've had the Cheers theme song running through my head: "Where everybody knows your name..." It is nice to be home!
We have a new phone number. Since we were unwilling to pay the silly monthly fee to keep our old number for nine months, we ran the risk of our old number being unavailable, and that happened. We are adapting and have learned the new number. What I was not expecting was the deluge of sales calls! We had our old number registered with the attorney general in Kansas on the Do Not Call list. After this past week of countless telemarketing calls, I registered our new number this morning. But the telemarketers do not have to comply for 31 days. We will be doing some serious screening of calls in our house until August 1st!
Our trees are growing in the backyard. They are getting big and providing some much needed shade back there as the backyard gets the summer, southwest sun. Our peach tree is producing lots of fruit, but I think we will not be able to enjoy any of it. There seems to be a serious peach theft problem in our backyard. I caught one of the criminals red handed this morning.
And it looks like this was his second helping. The pit from his first course is right by his tail.
We have been running crazy and time has been flying! I cannot believe we have already been home for over a week. When we were in Poland I had promised Ben that he could get his driving permit when we came home. Well, we have not quite gotten around to that yet, but he did have his very first driving lesson. It is a very strange feeling to let my firstborn sit in the driver's seat. It's downright terrifying to allow him to operate the vehicle!
We went to a nearby parking lot and he navigated around curbs at very slow speeds. He was surprised to realize how many things one has to think about while driving a car. He is studying the manual and we will head to the DMV later this week for his permit. He has many more instructional hours in his future before he is allowed to venture off on his own.
Ben's lesson was given in Myles' car, not my BRAND NEW (to me--it's a 2009) minivan!
We picked it up yesterday, and I love it.
One of my requirements for a new car is that it NOT look like every other vehicle out there. I have a tendency to forget where I park in big parking lots, and it is very helpful to have a unique looking vehicle. My old, mint green Ford Windstar was awesome, and I never lost it. If that thing didn't die, I would still be driving it. When it did give out, I had a light blue Town & Country for a while. It happened more than once that I tried to get into a car that wasn't mine when we owned that van! We sold it right before we left for Poland. This new van is navy blue and has a little bit different body shape to it than all the others. In addition, I will slap my "I Love Gdansk," sticker on it to help it stand out.
All of our immediate coming home chores have been accomplished. I still have an attic full of plastic tubs to empty and sort. But we are functional. I'm not complaining!
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