Early Start. Rainy Day.

It's a fall Saturday which, in our house, means soccer and football games.

We were up at 7 in order to get the boys fed and out the door.  Matthew is odd man out today.  His game is at 9 in Maple Valley - about 40 minutes away.  Due to conflicts with Thomas and Victoria's games, he was catching a ride to/from the game with Coach Dave and I had to drop him at Dave's at 7:45am. Thomas had to be at school at 8:15 for his 10am game.  Victoria had the opportunity to sleep in but, as is her habit on weekends, was wide awake at 7 (if it were a school day, I'd be nagging her to get up).

Matthew missed out on the family fun last night.  He had a junior high dance at one of the neighboring schools.  I picked him and 2 buddies up when the dance ended at 10.  They require parents to go into the gym to claim kids.  It was loud, hot and sweaty in there - all signs of pre-teen fun.  The boys said they had a good time... very few details about the 'dancing' part, other than "yah... we danced".  I believe there were girls involved.

The local Catholic schools take turns hosting these dances and they sound like good fun for the kids.  There's a legend that the chaperons have been known to say "leave room for Jesus!" when a couple dances too close.  Not sure if that really happens (or if my boys have ever been the target of such a statement), but it's a nice addition to the lore of Catholic education.

I usually get an hour or so to myself between dropping Thomas off at school and the start of his game at 10 (too far to drive back home).  In nice weather, I try to get a walk in.  Today, it's overcast with intermittent showers, so I brought my laptop and am enjoying breakfast at Louisa's on Eastlake while writing this post and clearing out some work emails.  Pretty tasty egg sandwich!

Of course, I need to get over the "it's raining - stay inside" mentality. Seattleites don't typically let the rain get in the way of outdoor activities - and neither do I.  But it feels nice to hunker down with a cup of coffee on a gloomy day - especially after our long stretch of nice weather. I'll go for a walk next week...