Ho! Ho! Ho?

Okay, I think I'm sufficiently thawed out from our trip to Raleigh. Here's a recap of some of our adventures...

First of all, Michael & I had no intention of going to this tournament. We've been there, done that & spent all of the money... we thought we would just fly Jordan up & have her room along with a teammate. We are new to this team, but with previous teams the girls have played on, with tournaments like this that involve so much travel and expense, this happens often. One mom or dad will take responsibility for 2 or 3 extra girls for the weekend, then you split the costs. Apparently that's not how this team operates & no one could/would keep Jordan, so we decided to drive.



One of her teammates (who miraculously found someone to room with) doesn't like to fly, so we offered to bring her up with us. Although Jordan has made some good friends on the team, she's somewhat shy & hasn't gotten to know this particular girl very well. I'm also pretty reserved & find it hard to start a conversation with someone I don't know very well, but once I know someone, I don't think they would ever guess that about me. I'm not TOO worried about it though, because Michael is really outgoing and an excellent conversationalist & I know he will break the ice & the car ride will be full of fun, music & witty conversation.



At the last minute, Michael has a meeting at work on Thursday & will have to fly up Friday morning. UGH! Okay, so I couldn't sleep Wednesday night trying to think of some good conversation starters ( I know it's silly, she's a 16 year old girl, for goodness sake, but I really wanted to be a fun mom & have a fun ride). I get the car loaded & go to the parking lot where we are meeting "said teammate" & her mom... her mom loads up "said teammate's" things into my car while "said teammate" texts on her phone. As we head out of the parking lot, I try to start one of my witty conversations, but "said teammate" already has her headphones in & is listening to her ipod. IN THE FREAKING PARKING LOT! Over the next hour or so, I tried several times to talk to her, but all I got in response was "huhs?" & "whats?", so I stopped trying & Jordan & I had our own conversation. I know that at some in the 10 hour drive, her ipod had to have run out of power, but she kept that damn thing in the WHOLE time! I know I should be an adult about it, but once we got to the hotel, I had a hard time even being civil to her. I have no problem with teenagers tuning out once in awhile with their headset, but geez! at least get allow a little time for some interaction before you do. Who knows? She might have liked us...I had some good stuff planned... now we'll never know. We had a stop to make on the way back & she was anxious to get home, so we arranged for get a ride back with another family.

On Saturday night, we went to a really cool bar & grill in downtown Raleigh with a couple of Jordan's teammates & their dads to have dinner & watch the Gators game (GO GATORS!). As we are arriving, we notice a few guys there dressed kind of "Christmas-y" and, shall we say a little less than masculine-like. One of them was wearing a (very short) kilt & then there was this guy... with the white furry platform boots.



Okay, so no big deal. Jordan is pretty straight-laced, but we figure she's almost 17, she can handle a few "happy" Santas. The girls had a table in the middle & the dads & I were a few tables away by the wall. About 10 minutes after we got settled in, we noticed that the girls were becoming surrounded by "happy" Santas & their friends...

and then there were more...

Apparently, there was lots of drinking & a costume contest to go along with this get together & from what the girls could gather, a real-life stripper won for the Sluttiest Santa. AWESOME! Then, POOF! as quickly as they appeared, the Santas left the building enmasse to go to the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey game. Who would've thought?!

Oh yeah! We were there for soccer. This was a College Showcase, where the college coaches come to find recruits and the girls "showed" really well. Jordan was the only one there from her team that was already "committed" to a college, but I think there will be lots of offers made to the other girls after this weekend. I have lots of pictures of the soccer too, but I won't bore you with too many. Here's a picture of the grass covered with thick frost on Saturday morning...

as the sun came out the frost melted and the ground became slippery. That's the only reason I can think of for my little baby to behave in such unlady-like behavior as this (she's #4 in the red)...

There was more, but I've rambled on quite enough for today. Joanne tagged me for a 10 Random Things About Me post, I'll get right on that... tomorrow.