Well, first term is nearly over and has been quite exciting for both the boys. Conrad was given the opportunity to attend Mindquest last weekend and had a fantastic time. His first choice “forensic science” was booked out so he was a little disappointed , but as it turned out the ‘Space’ classes were just as good. He still loves year 5 at Hurstville South and has decided that ‘year 5 is the best year he has had so far’. This may be partly due to the fact that he is feeling better and does not get sick as often as last year. He is on new medication and takes it without fail. It will take about three months to take full effect so we have to wait and see.
In cricket, Conrad’s team ,the ICC U10A, reached the semi-finals, which unfortunately they lost, but because they were undefeated all season, his team, ended up being undefeated minor premiers again, of which they are very proud . The coach, Damien Mullins, did a great job again and got the team through the season with a lot of enthusiasm and good coaching. They were a little upset that they didn’t get to the final but on the other hand we all enjoyed having a weekend off and only having to go to soccer on the Saturday.
Callum’s team was exactly the same. The also played up to the second last match when they were beaten and so didn’t make the finals either. Callum found it a bit hard going at teh beginning of the year becauese he ended up in the Under 14s age group due to his birthday being in August. Most of his friends played in the Under 12s. Some of the 14 year olds are quite big and strong compared to the slighter 12 year olds and some of them have played for years, whereas this is only Callum’s second year. However he did enjoy it more as time went on and as they kept winning so he has said that he might play cricket again next season.
Steven’s Mum Barbara came to all the matches, which the boys really enjoyed. She knows heaps about cricket, having taken her four boys all over Sydney when they played, and she and Steven exchanged SMS messages all morning about the results during the game. Cricket is still a bit of a ‘Spanisches Dorf” for me but I am slowly learning. I don’t understand a lot of the laws and the scoring yet so I usually ask Barbara and Steven about the details.
Conrad’s soccer season started while cricket was still on so he missed the first few weeks of training and one friendly match. He managed to play in one friendly at Georges Hall and as he knew some kids from last year and the year before he felt right at home. He is in the Oatley RSL 10Bs this year and because their skill level has improved so much it lokks like it is going to be an exciting season. Callum chose not to join the Oatley RSL team this winter because he plays soccer for BLakehurst High School. He actually has try-outs for the team today so we are keeping our fingers crossed for him to get into a nice team.
He still loves being at High School and is very diligent with his work and his preparation for school. He is very happy at the moment because he managed to get a locker at school and so he feels like a ‘real’ high school student now. When I heard about the locker I couldn’t help but think of ‘Degrassi High’ and other high school movies where the High Schoolers always talk at their lockers. Pretty cool.
So now Easter is nearly here and the boys will have two weeks off. Steven is taking a week off in two weeks and we are really looking forward to spending the week lounging around, going to the Easter Show at Olympic Park and doing stuff outside. Due to daylight saving and the weather getting colder it gets dark too early now for Steven to play soccer in the street with Callum and Conrad so the holidays will give us plenty of time to fit in afternoon trips to the park. Now that we have a bicycle rack we might even take up cycling at Todd Park again.
Oh, I nearly forgot. We went to see the Socceroos versus Uzbekistan World Cup decider match at ANZ Stadium last Wednesday. It was great, but wet. We got rained on a few times but it could have been a lot worse. Our ponchos and raincoats kept us reasonably dry and as it wasn’t a cold night things weren’t bad at all. It was actually quite spectactular at times to see the rain come towards the stadium and reflecting in the strong flood lights. We were quite close to the front and could see the players well. The goalie, Schwarzer, did his magic as usual and after a disappointing and disorganised first half Harry Kewell and Josh Kennedy certainly lived up to everyone’s expectations in the second 45 minutes and we won 2:0. But all is not safe yet because Bahrain also won their match that night which means that the Socceroos need one more point from their remaining three matches to guarantee a place at the World Cup in South Africa. We will see them play again on 10 June against Bahrain.