Birthday Bengal

More than anything else, Sammy wanted a Cincinnati Bengals uniform for his birthday. Why would a boy who just moved from Atlanta to Dallas not prefer the Cowboys or the Falcons? It's probably because of the tiger motives on the uniform. After all, Sammy also likes the LSU Tigers, the Auburn Tigers, and the Clemson Tigers.

Here's Sammy doing a two minute drill in the park down our street.

Happy 8th birthday, Sammy! Touchdown!

Pizza Hut Park

We went to see FC Dallas' last regular season game at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. That's a brand new, 20,000 seat soccer stadium not far from our home. Soccer is very family friendly entertainment. Many youth soccer teams come to see FC Dallas. Women and children almost outnumber men.

The match was sold out. Apart from FC Dallas and local team jerseys, there were many foreign shirts, primarily Latin American. There is also a Brazilian style drum band.

Since Dallas had already secured a spot in the MLS play-offs, their stars Denilson, Ricardinho and Carlos Ruiz had the night off. Dallas lost 2-0 to the Kansas City Wizards, but not many cared much about that. Next week, the MLS play offs start, and that's what really counts.

Just grass

The backyards of most new homes in Dallas are void of any landscaping. It's just grass. Mostly St. Augustine, Bermuda or Zoysia. Nevertheless, just grass. No shrubs or trees or borders with flowers: just grass.

What to do about it? Some people build a pool, others spend their money on landscaping, but most folks just leave it the way it is.

We were determined to buy a home with a landscaped backyard. But new homes with landscaping are hard to find, so we compromised. Now landscaping will be one of many projects. In the meantime, I get to play around with the lawnmower.

LaSalle Bank

On Chicago O'Hare today, I noticed a bunch of LaSalle Bank ATMs. They have always been there, I never used them. But today, I decided to withdraw some money. Maybe for the last time, just before the geen and yellow shield will be replaced with B of A's red, white and blue.

To me it felt that my red, white, and blue is disappearing.

Moving in

It felt like juggling balls. On July 6th, we tossed all our balls high up in the air. After almost three months of hangtime, everything landed perfectly today in our new home. There were two trucks this time, with smaller trailers and not as tightly packed. Nevertheless, the movers delivered a lot of stuff. We'll be unpacking boxes for weeks.

De eikeltjes

Fall is here. While the temperature is still hitting 90 degrees (32 Celsius) every day, there are sure signs that summer is over. Daylight is shorter for one thing, and the oaks are producing acorns.

We collected a bunch of live oak acorns today, and I introduced Greg and Sammy to the age old art of making acorn puppets and spinning tops. They could not believe toys could be that simple. Gregory even wanted to go shopping for more acorns.