Extended Season

Well, this coming weekend was supposed to be the end of the soccer season for me. In my previous 4 years of college refereeing, I've not been involved in post season action. This year, however, it looks like I may be called into action with a couple of extra post season tournaments taking up referees. That means one extra week for now, and we'll see when round two comes out. So, instead of being done in October, now I'll referee into November. All I ask is that the weather continues to be like it is now!

Olivia has been busy and keeping us hopping. She's getting more adventurous and dangerous. She knows very little fear, which is tough on us because it means that she's bound to be finding pain in interesting places. We've finally gone back to sleeping through the night, so that has been incredibly nice. I know Heather appreciates it a ton. O wanted to tell you all to have a good rest of the week!

One Quiet Ride

This weekend we made a quick trip up to the farm to visit Grandpa and Grandma Wipf! That's what O would write if she could type here. And she does try and type here most of the time. If I'm sitting on the couch trying to look things up on the internet, Olivia will come and stand beside the couch and try and hit as many keys as possible. It's kind of cute, but gets annoying after awhile. At any rate, we took a trip in our new and improved Trailblazer. Ok, it's not new, but it's improved.

A week ago I took the trailblazer to Iowa for a soccer match because the other two referees were going with me. I picked the first one up in Sioux Falls, and he gets in and says, "Man you vehicle is loud!" I knew that there was a whine on one of the pulleys in the engine, but it had been doing that since we got it, so I wasn't too concerned, but he was right, it was fairly loud. So, we went south of Sioux Falls and picked up the third referee. He gets in and says the exact same thing, that the blazer sounds really loud. I told them that I usually don't drive the Trailblazer, but I'm sure if it was getting too loud, that she'd let me know about it. I got home no problem, and the next morning, my wife goes out to start the vehicle to go to work. She comes back in and starts saying that the trailblazer sounds different, that it's way louder than it's ever been. So, I ran it over to the repair shop, and they told me how much it would cost, which wasn't too bad. So, they replaced a bearing in the air conditioner compresser, and now it's quiet as a mouse. The best part was the trip to mom and dads. I couldn't believe the improvement in milage. Anywhere from 5 to 8 miles to the gallon better now! I should have replaced that thing a year and a half ago!

Here is Olivia telling you to have a great week!

One Season Done

Last weekend was the finale of the high school soccer season. As much as I enjoy the whole season, I'm glad to be done with one. I'm still busy enough though. 2-3 nights a week I still have some college games, and that is still keeping me busy. I'll be ready to just spend some weekends at home here soon, but as of right now, no free weekends until November. Then we'll have a couple holidays, and business will still prevail. So when does life slow down so it can just be enjoyed? Last night I was in Iowa for a double header and didn't get home until nearly 1am. I'm not young enough to do that any more!

Olivia is keeping us busy with her antics. She's up on anything she can grab, so that keeps her busy, and us busy, and is wearing her out. We've had some issues getting her to sleep through the night for a few weeks now, but I think that growing period may be by us. At least that is what we're hoping so we can sleep through the entire night.

Big Changes for Big O

I've been meaning to post updates more frequently, but it's been a rat race around here. I've been on the road for work, and on the road for soccer, and Heather has been busy just trying to keep up with O. Olivia has lots of new tricks up her sleeve, but her biggest and most impressive one is pulling her self up. She can go to pretty much anything and pull herself into a standing position, and then slowly begin to walk while holding on to whatever she pulled herself up on. So, the couch is a favorite, but right now this morning, she's standing by her favorite chair, looking back every minute or so to make sure I'm still watching. Now she's making her way to the couch where I'm at so she can stand here and try to get to the computer keyboard. It's one of her favorite things to bang on since she's not supposed to. She hasn't figured out the dismount from standing yet. It's pretty much a big spill or land on the rear end with all the weight. She's gotta work on that, but it will come. We've only had a couple big head smacks, but it's part of learning all this.

This weekend wraps up high school soccer for me. The state tournement is in town, and after this weekend, only 5 weeks of the college season remain, but I'll become a lot less busy. It will be a busy weekend, but in the end, it will be nice to close the book on another soccer season. I don't see Olivia anymore, I gotta go see what trouble she's found now.