Sports Madness

In seems though our lives revolve around sports. Practices and games. This isn't a complaint, just an observation. Ian plays football and basketball. Abby plays travel soccer and basketball. Things are very hectic right now because soccer and basketball are overlapping for a few weeks. Fortunately, Ian has finished up basketball, and Abby has only one game left. And Ian has blessed us by deciding against playing baseball this summer. However, he wants to take golf lessons. I am not opposed to that at all.

Today is a typical Thursday for us. It goes something like this. After school, Abby has soccer practice form 3:30-5:00, then she had basketball practice at 6:30, then a basketball game at 7:30. Then a mad dash home for homework. Between the kids there are four test tomorrow. Fortunately, we planned ahead for this. Although, it isn't typical for us to have a game during the week, we did so this time because Abby and another teammate have a soccer tournament this weekend in Memphis. And if Ian were still in basketball, he would have had practice tonight as well. Normally Abby has two soccer practices a week and an optional third, Ian would have one practice and then games on the weekend.

Travel soccer is back in swing. We will hopefully play four games this weekend at the Mike Rose Soccer complex in Memphis, well actually Collierville. It is going to be a tough tournament for the girls, but hopefully we can make the championship game. We have scheduled six total tournaments this spring, and will be playing all over Tennessee every other weekend. We as a family are having a great time with travel soccer and enjoy the other girls and families that are on our team. Abby is playing in the Jackson Soccer Club, U11 Lady Wolves team. It has been awesome watching her get better each week, and gain self-confidence in herself.

Oh yea, Abby's basketball team defeated the undefeated team from Medina tonight. It was a tough defensive battle, with the final score being 10-9. I can't remember such a low scoring game. Abby scored the opening two points of the game and played an awesome game on defense. She got many rebounds on defense tonight, but had two huge offensive rebounds in the final couple of minutes, to help seal the deal. But it was her friend Ashley who sunk two free throws with 17 seconds left that was the hero of the night. I know they are only in the fourth grade, but cut me a little slack for being a proud daddy, okay!!

The bottom line is this. As a parent, I have enjoyed watching my kids play sports because what it has given them. They have made great friends, learned how to work with others, learned how to win and lose the right way, and gain self-confidence that they couldn't have received any other way. Now I am not one of those parents that believe my kids are the next Candace Parker or Peyton Manning. Heck, they may not even make their school teams. But it has given us, as a family, something to do together, and I believe made us a closer family.

The Diet

Well, in my first post I kinda mentioned the diet I had planned for the year. And last Monday, I started the process. Why a diet? Well there are many reasons, some serious and some not.

First, health reasons. A few years ago, LeAnn and I went to the Virgin Islands. We went on a boat tour of the British Virgin Islands. On one of the stops, we had to jump off the boat and swim to shore. I almost didn't make it. It was very scary and honestly, it was embarrassing. Normally, the distance of the swim should not have been a problem. It was the first time I realized age and lifestyle were catching up with me. Of course, with my job, I work in a different town every day, which usually means fast food for lunch. And with the kid's homework every night, or running to sport practices and games, there isn't time for working out or running. So, now I have decided to take care of myself. If I don't do it now, I never will.

Secondly, our family vacation out west this summer. I know when we get out there, I am going to want to do some hiking. Hiking is one of my favorite hobbies. In the shape I am in now, there is no way I will be able to do that and enjoy the vacation. This is a dream vacation for me, so I am going to make sure I enjoy it to the fullest. My goal is to have all the weight I want to lose gone by the time we leave on June 17th.

Thirdly, it is vanity. Pure and simple, I don't like the way I look fat. The goal I have set is to get down to my college weight. I have a long way to go.

I have been on the diet for one week. I lost 3 1/4 lbs. It is a start and I have a long way to go. But if I can average that, I should reach my goals that I have set.

Well, there ya go. I am on a diet for only the second time in my life. I was successful the last time, and I have every intention of being so again. I will post each week the amount I have lost. And hopefully this will keep me on track.

3 1/4 down....31 3/4 to go.

Congratulations Jason and Heidi

Yesterday, good friends of ours, Jason and Heidi Batchelor, adopted a six year old little boy from Siberia. His name is Louis Dimitri Batchelor. They have been in Siberia for over a month, and after a roller coaster ride, they finally got the adoption finalized. I can't tell you how many hoops this family has had to jump through. Apparently, they don't make things go smoothly for Americans adopting Siberian children. But Jason and Heidi are extremely happy and so are we. They will not be able to leave the country with Dimitri until another ten days (another hoop), and Jason has to leave on Monday. So Heidi will be there with their daughter, Dinah until they are allowed to leave the country. The adoption was finalized yesterday with a judge, so it can't be reversed at this point. But we ask everyone to keep the Batchelor family in their prayers as they finish this process. Especially since they will be separated the last week or so.

The New Addition to the Family

Last Friday, I had a moment of weakness. I was watching the local ABC television station as I was getting ready for another hard day of work. Every Friday the morning show has a "Furry Pets" segment in which a lady from the local Humane Society comes on with a homeless animal that needs adoption. On this day, she had a beautiful puppy that was half Akita and half Siberian Husky. Both of these breeds are my favorites. The dog happened to be a female, but apparently she had a brother as well. I jokingly told LeAnn that I was going to get the puppy. As the day went on, I thought more and more about the puppy.

Of course it was a Friday and I had a short day. And you guessed it, I made a trip out to the Humane Society and came home with a puppy. I didn't get the female that was on TV, but I instead adopted her brother. He is a big guy, and he is a lot of fun. We wanted to give a cool name. I looked at several Siberian words, but couldn't pronounce any of them. So instead, we looked at Japanese names. We settled on Nikko. Nikko is a city in Japan, plus it kind of sounds short for Nicholas which is Russian. It seems to fit, he didn't seem to mind it.

Sam, our two year old Beagle mix, really likes his new "brother". I was a little worried about how Sam would react. But after only a couple minutes of hesitation, they decided it would work. Sam, of course, has made it clear that he is the dominant male of the "pack". And Nikko seems okay with this. But then again, when Nikko reaches 100 lbs., that may change.

We took Nikko back to the Humane Society this afternoon for his surgery. We can pick him up tomorrow afternoon. He didn't seem too concerned about being left, but we can't wait to get him back. We now have two dogs, two cats, and three fish. The cats and dogs have all come from the Humane Society. They have all been great animals and brought a lot to our family.

As We Enter the 21st Century

Well gang, we finally did it! We've joined the exciting world of blogging! We have been inspired by our family members who have entered this exciting world well before us. Of course, with friends and family getting more and more scattered around the world, it obviously is a great way to keep up with each other.

This year is a going to be busy for us. Abby is still playing on her traveling soccer team, as well as playing basketball. Ian plays football, basketball, and baseball. There are of course all the practices that go with those. I am still traveling all over Tennessee with my job. Sometimes, they even unleash me on the rest of the country as well! LeAnn's job is hectic as usual. This summer is going to be highlighted by what we are calling "The Great Western Family Adventure". We are so excited about our trip out to South Dakota and Wyoming in June. I am sure you will hear a lot about this trip. Of course, we will have some very personal tidbits as well. One for sure is my diet and exercise regimen that I am starting tomorrow. I think if I blog about it, I will be more likely to stay on the diet (at least, that is my theory).

With everything going on, you can obviously see the reason for the blog title. So stayed tuned for all the craziness of the Rial family!!