DAY 3 -- The Return of my Daddy Swagger

I started to get my swagger back on day three.

7:30 -- The kids woke up before me but played nice and watched cartoons for a bit. Feeling hapy about that I declared we were going to Chik-Fil-A for breakfast (a great southern fast food treat that we frequent often on Saturday mornings).

9:00 - 10:00 We then went to my basketball game where there was a solid pack of kids that I just let my three join while I was playing. We won by 20 and we are not that good. So they were just awful. I mean they shot a lot of air balls. If I were to guess, I would say like 15.

10:00 - 12:00 -- Next we went to Cooper's practice. The weather was great and their were lots of kids for my kids to play with. This was more like I imagined this experience going.

SPORTS TANGENT COMING (PROUD DAD MOMENT / BORDERLINE BRAGGING) -- If you are tired of me talking about my kids sports triumphs, just skip down a few paragraphs. One of my favorite parts of the day was when Jason Garfinkle, the #1 kid in Cooper's baseball league was playing shortstop (5th grader, 5 time All-Star, one game away from the little league Nationals (AKA the little league World Series)), while his Dad (the Coach) hit pop flies to all the players in the field.

Jason was supposed to be the cut off man. The other kids were supposed to catch the pop fly and then throw it in to the cut off man. The coach hit the pop flies to all the kids and then Jason went out and called for the cut off. And he did that for the first 6 - 7 players. Then it was Coops turn. He caught the pop fly and then Jason did not go out for the cut, signaling to throw it straight to the second baseman. Cooper then threw the ball in from the outfield and hit the second baseman standing on second in the glove.

The coach then asked his son, "Jason, why didn't you go out and call for the cut off?"
"Because he's got an arm, Dad. That kid has an arm, I would have only slowed the play up, if I went and cut it off."

Respect from the biggest stud in the league. No one else at practice probably even noticed, but I thought it was cool.

12:00 - 2:00 After practice we went to Five Guys for lunch. We then got Will some new cleats. Ahhhh, the-little-boy-with-a- new-pair-of-shoes / cleats never gets old. I told him to run a few laps with his new cleats on to try them out. I then told him how fast he looked. Will then talked about how he might be the fastest kid on his team with his new cleats and how he would always be the fastest "if people just didn't get in my way!". I love it. I can still remember running sprints for my next door neighbor as a kid because he told me thought I could run fast in my new shoes.

2:00 - 3:45 Paris takes a quick nap. We have to wake her up to go to Will's practice.

4:00 - 6:00 Will's Practice. Will half cracks me up and half annoys me because the coach puts him at shortstop but he rarely concentrates. He has the attention span of like 5 seconds. But if he pays attention, he is usually pretty good. But I look around and most all the 6 year olds are not paying attention, so I pause for about three minutes, and then start yelling at him to pay attention, quit dancing with his shadow, etc.

6:30 - 8:30 Came home - made pizza and all four of us snuggled on the couch to watch the new episode of Phineas and Ferb -- one our our family favorites from disney.

And that's a wrap -- Not too much drama -- We also got a new toilet today and Paris was the first to christen it.

Also of note -- I did the dishes for the first time. I wrongfully accused Paris of pooping somewhere because a nasty stench had started to stink up the place and then I realized that that the little bit of milk left in your cereal bowl actually curdles after a couple of days. The bad smell did inspire me to bathe all the children tonight.

And there was another poop story, but no one can take back-to-back poop stories.

Last thing -- and the highlight of the day. As we were eating Pizza that night, Will turned to me and said, "Dad, Thanks for an awesome day. We had lots of fun. You are the greatest." The other kids chimed in too. Will is definitely an emotional roller coaster, but he definitely has the kindest heart of the bunch.

Feeling pretty good through 3 days - all things considered.