A week of Football and Running

This week was a busy week for James, and a quiet week for everyone else.
Monday started with a 5-0 defeat for my girls soccer team, against the league champions. Actually not a bad result given the quality of the competition.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. I had a practice for my girls team.
On Wednesday, my adult team played and won 7-1. I scored 3 beautiful goals.
Anyway, on Thursday the whole family attended the "Goalossal Soccer Bash" that was put on by Dakota Alliance Soccer (the Sioux Falls Youth Soccer Association). The convention center room that it was held in was designed told hold maybe 500 people. When we got there, I would guess that over 1000 people were in attendance. This resulted in the kids not having a great time and leaving after 15 minutes with Marisa. They walked across the street to the Sioux Falls Pheasants Baseball Stadium and looked at the giant inflatable pheasant for a while.

Meanwhile, I stayed behind for the awards part of the event and was awarded COACH OF THE YEAR.
On Friday, Marisa took the kids to the Children's Museum in Brookings. They had a great time playing all day, and especially liked the giant dinosaurs that are located outside. These are mechanical, motion activated models of dinosaurs.

Saturday was an active day. I ran in a 4 mile race and was greeted at the finish line by Marisa and the kids. I came 3rd. Henry was excited to see me run. He came with me to have some water and a banana after the race.

That afternoon Team Hamm (my girls team) played their last game of the season. This was a 12-2 win. It was a nice was to end the season. Again, Henry, Gemma and Marisa came to the game. Henry had a great time and came with me when I took the girls for ice cream afterwards to celebrate the end of the season. He enjoyed giving high fives to the girls and telling them that they did a good job scoring goals.


Last night, we had movie night. We all sat down with popcorn and watched, "Daddy Daycare." Everyone sitting down lasted approximately 10 minutes (until the popcorn was gone). Then Gemma found more interesting things to do. After about an hour we decided it was bedtime !
The Oppenheimers have a busy few weeks coming up now. On Thursday, we take off for Hallock to go and visit Marisa's parents for a few days. The kids are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, as well as their cousins, aunts and uncles.
 

We get back from Hallock on Monday (Memorial Day Holiday). On Thursday night, my friends Kurt and Sam are coming into town. We are going on a road trip that weekend to Kansas City to watch the Minnesota Twins play 2 games there. Henry is probably more excited about Sam coming than anyone else. Sam plays "Choo Choo Bob" in a local kids TV show in Minneapolis. We have all of the DVD's and CD's. Henry loves them and is pumped that Choo Choo Bob is coming to visit.
Have a great week everyone.

Another Week in the Books

Well, there goes another week for our little family. The kids are a week older, and not much wiser.

Not the most eventful week in the world.

The football team that I play on is off to a winning start, with a 6-4 victory last week, in which I scored twice and had a penalty saved. We then won again this afternoon, 9-1. I had 2 assists.

Yesterday, we took a family trip to the town of Watertown, which is about 99 miles away, to visit some friends of ours, Holly and Matt, and their 6 month old baby Stella. The kids enjoyed meeting a baby and going to an indoor playground called "Ton O Fun." Henry particularly enjoyed jumping into the ball pit, and onto Gemma who was already in the ball pit.



In the evening, we had a babysitter come so Marisa and I could go and see the movie, "Bridesmaids," which was extremely funny.

Sunday was fairly quiet as well.

The day started with the kids and I eating breakfast and watching Chelsea Vs Newcastle.



After Chelsea conceded a 93rd minute equalizer, we decided to go to the Sioux Falls outdoor campus, and go for a nature walk. As you can see the children had a lot of fun.

The weather is slowly getting nicer so we have been able to spend some time outside which has been pleasant.
 
I am still running, and have a 4 mile race next Saturday. I also entered myself into a 10k race in June.

This coming week is extremely busy for me. Monday night, my girls team plays against the league champions. Tuesday night, the girls team has practice. Wednesday night, my adult team has a midweek game, Thursday night is the end of season party for my girls team league. I have been nominated for coach of the year, so get to find out if I won. Then Saturday, I run in a 4 mile race, and that is followed by the final match of the season for my Under 12 girls.

Meanwhile, Marisa and the kids will be on their own for most of the week.

Marisa Vacation and Mothers Day

This has been another eventful week in the Oppenheimer house.

After coming 2nd in a 3 month weight loss challenge, Marisa celebrated by taking us all out to eat at a new restaurant in town named, "Cravin." Their unique gimmick is that they start off your meal by giving you a martini glass full of Candy Floss/ Cotton Candy.

On Wednesday, Marisa further celebrated by leaving us for a relaxing few days in Minneapolis. She spent some time in her office, as well as visiting and staying with friends. Somehow Marisa also squeezed a trip to the Mall of America and Ikea into her hectic schedule.

Meanwhile, the kids and James had some quality Daddy and children bonding time.

The kids were immaculately well behaved for me. We went to some parks to play each night, and made Mothers Day cards for Marisa. Both kids, however, were very excited for Mummy to come home on Friday.

Saturday was a big day for Henry. He went to his 1st big kid birthday party. One of Henry's friends, Kamden, turned 4 on Saturday, so his Mum, Nikki (our daycare provider) came and picked up Henry, along with a few other kids for a party that included trips to McDonalds and the Sioux Falls Zoo. Henry returned exhausted and excited to tell us all about his day.


In the mean time, Marisa and I got to spend some time with Gemma. We think this is probably the 1st time since she was born that we have had a whole afternoon with the 2 of us and just Gemma. It was quite a relaxing afternoon. Gemma certainly enjoyed the extra attention.


Part of our afternoon with Gemma involved a trip to the Greenhouse to purchase flowers and pots for the yard. When I paid, and the bill came in at approximately $100 more than expected, I was a little shocked, until I studied the receipt and discovered we were charged for 14 bags of potting soil instead of just 1. After that $90 adjustment, the bill was a little bit more satisfactory.

Saturday evening, we also had our 1st bonfire of the Summer. Our friends Tim and Christie came over with their 2 kids. The kids helped me lost up the sticks onto the fire before we lit it. The children enjoyed making and eating "S'mores" which for those of you who have never had one, is a cooked marshmallow, and a bar of chocolate sandwiched in between a Graham Cracker (which is a big digestive biscuit). You toast the marshmallows on the campfire.

Mothers day has also been a success so far. Marisa loved her presents (flowers and cook books) and the home made cards from the kids. We also went out and had a delicious breakfast at the Phillips Diner this morning.

The other highlights this week included a victory for Marisa's Volleyball team, a long awaited win for my U12 girls team, and this evening will be my 1st outdoor football game of the year.

Have a great week all.

Royal Wedding Week

This week went by very quickly for the Oppenheimer Family.

Last Sunday, we visited some relatives of Marisa's for Easter and had a very nice time. Henry played some baseball with Marisa's cousin Zach, who currently plays for Southwest Minnesota State University. Gemma got to eat lots of food (her favorite pass time) and played in Marisa's cousin's old playhouse. It was very nice to be at a family Easter and eat a some tasty food.
Friday of course was the Royal Wedding. Marisa and I were both up at 4.30am to watch it. Actually, Marisa woke up at 4.15 before the alarm because she was so excited. That afternoon, I served Tea, Crumpets, McVities Digestives and Hob Nobs at work, as well as dressing up Progressive's advertising icon, "Flo" in a Union Jack. It was a lovely day and one that I did not want to come to an end.
 
When Gemma woke up, she loved watching the horses in the parade. She kept saying, "horse" and "neigh." Gemmas was glued to the TV for a while. Henry saw Buckingham Palace and asked if that was where Nana lived.

Marisa started her women's volleyball league this week with a victory in some blustery outdoor weather. She is playing with some friends and it sounds like a good time was had by all.

Yesterday (Saturday), I ran in the Viking 5k held for the 1st time at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. There were only about 40 runners. I came 5th with a time of 22.10. This is a 1 minute and 2 second improvement on my last 5k time. Today I ran 5 miles in 42 minutes, which was pretty good too. I am now concentrating on starting to extend my distance working towards a half marathon, although I think I will hit another 5k or 10k race in late May or early June.

On Saturday morning, we took the kids to the circus. They had a great time until the snacks ran out. Henry very much enjoyed the elephants, and seeing a very large yellow snake up close. Again, the food was the highlight for Gemma.

My girls soccer team had another horrible beating last Thursday. We have games on Tuesday and Saturday this week, both of which we should win, so hopefully that will get the confidence back.

Gemma has a new speech therapist named Kara. She started this week. We got a written report. Gemma is now working on stringing 2 words together and is progressing nicely.

Henry has not been too active this week. We are working on his manners at the moment. We are trying to make sure he asks nicely for things and does not complain or whine too much.

Finally, last night Marisa and I got a babysitter for a few hours and went out. We ended up going with a few friends to a bar to play pool and darts. It was a refreshing change to be out without kids, and something we both enjoyed.

This week is Marisa's rescheduled trip to Minneapolis. She cancelled it in March because of how ill Henry was, but is going to go ahead this week. She is leaving Wednesday to return Friday. It should be an interesting few days for me with the kids.

Have a great week.