Weekend Update: Soccer, Scouts, Hunger Games, and Grass

Not that this is unusual, but we had a busy weekend!

The Pinewood Derby was on Saturday, and its one of the biggest Scouting events of the year. Somehow, our den ended up with hosting duties. So we had to be at school Tuesday and Thursday nights for weighing and check-in, and again Carl and the dads set up the tracks Friday night. Meanwhile, some of the moms came over to our house so we could judge the cars. That took forever!

 The boys were all playing upstairs while we judged until almost 10pm. That's a late night, especially since Alex had a 8:00 am soccer game.

Saturday started bright and early with Alex's game. We were down two players, but the six boys who were there played the best they have ever played, so Coach Daddy gave every single one of them star patches.

Alex scored one goal. Here he is kicking a goal, after Caleb passed to him.

Score!

And here is Caleb giving him a high five after scoring. Now that's team work.

We had 45 minutes to wait for Ryan's game to start. Fortunately, Connor was around to keep us entertained and to enjoy the snack shack together.

Ryan had another fantastic game, and scored three goals.

 Go, Ryan!

We had a few hours to rest before we were due to report in for Derby work, at 2pm.

Here are Alex and Ryan's finished cars.

Alex had the Batmobile.

And Ryan made the Soccer Car.

First up was the Siblings and Adult Races. This is the last year Ryan can compete in the Siblings Race, since next year he will be an official Scout himself.

Go, Soccer Car!

Guess who won first place?

One very happy little soccer boy, that's who.

Our den (as the hosts) performed a great Flag Ceremony. I wish I had videoed it instead of taking pictures, but I was very proud of our boys. This was their first official ceremony in front of the whole Pack, and they did a great job, and took it very seriously.

The rest of the evening went by in a blur.

Our den did very well, and Alex's "Batmobile" especially did  very well.

For a while, he was even the top score of the night.

Out of 78 cars racing, he came in second place.

 Both of our boys were over the moon with their victories.

Carl was equally over the moon. Last year, when Alex came in 6th place, he asked Carl, "Daddy, next year can we try to win?" This year, I had to remind him to joke about it.

After the Derby, the boys went home with their grandparents, and Carl and I took off for a Hunger Games viewing. I love the Drafthouse's themed menus for big films.

Prim's goat cheese was every bit as wonderful as it sounds. Peeta's Strawberry Upside-Down Cake... not so much.

And on Sunday, we spent the entire day finishing getting the lawn ready for its new grass. We're replacing the thirsty St. Augustine grass with Habit-Turf. Its a drought tolerant blend of grasses developed by UT and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Here's hoping all our hard work and expense can do its bit to help reduce our water consumption. Once its established, we aren't supposed to have to water it at all. Now that's a grass I like!

Now on to another busy weekend...

Brenham Break

The boys started their Spring Break with my mom in Houston, but unfortunately she had some problems with her retina and we went back to Houston on Monday to pick them up so she could recuperate (and so the boys didn't go insane with staying inside and resting for the week).

On our way back to Austin on Tuesday, we enjoyed the 4th trip along Highway 290 in 4 days, and this was the first time that we had no rain. So we actually had a chance to stop and take some photos in the bluebonnets.


I love springtime in Texas.

The drive was so beautiful, it helped ease the pain of driving to Houston on Monday, back to Austin on Sunday, then again to Houston on Monday, and back again to Austin on Tuesday.

We also stopped in Brenham and went on a tour of the Blue Bell factory. Its always closed on weekends, so we don't usually have the option to do this when we make our Houston trips.

A good chunk of Texas also had the same idea, alas, so we had to wait an hour for our tour to start.

Which left us with plenty of time for more pictures.

As well as ice cream before the tour.

No cameras were allowed on the tour, but it was a lot of fun. Alex was especially fascinated with the assembly lines. He declared this was his "best day ever!" and asked if working in the Blue Bell factory would be a good job for him. When he heard that employees can eat unlimited free ice cream, he decided that yes, it could be a good job for him.

After lunch in an old fifties style diner, we stopped at Horseshoe Junction. We've driven past this place hundreds of times, but it seemed like a good way to help ease the pain of the aborted spring break week at Camp Granny.

The boys drove go-karts, went on bumper boats, rock climbed, played laser tag, and we all played a round of mini golf.

We were here WAY longer than we thought we would be - almost four hours!!

Finally, it was time to drive the rest of the way back to Austin. Despite the change in circumstance for the week, we had a great Spring Break Day in Brenham!