Over the last couple of months the kids and I have travelled one kid at a time a few times. Vivian and my trip to Brooklyn was sandwiched between two trips with Evan for soccer, the first to Memphis, and the second to Mesa. Jo and I aren’t particularly rabid soccer parents. Evan isn’t a bad soccer player. He tolerates playing the game. But he has no interest in soccer outside his play – he would not be able to pick Messi in a lineup. Till this year we and Evan’s friends’ parents had opted for a local league. Most games were in Austin with occasional matches in San Antonio and tournaments in Houston. For completely accidental reasons that I am to blame for, this year Evan and a few of his friends have ended up in a team that plays in the local league in San Antonio and a regional travel league. Which is why we are on our way to Mesa. I am secretly hoping the boys bomb so we don’t have to travel to California for the nationals next. Odds are in my favor. This is a new team and needs to play together for a bit to be less sucky. They are beating every team in the local league and getting their asses handed to them in the travel league. A teammate’s mother has taken it upon herself to be the team photographer. She is pretty good. Thanks to her, here are some of Evan’s antics from the field.
Mesa was a blast. Not because they won. In fact they lost every game. But we were there to have a good time. Some of these kids were together at Magellan years ago. The parents meet at the sidelines often twice a weekend and three times at practice so we know each other well. Evan and I had gone to Milan last year with one of these boys and his dad.
One night the boys celebrated a birthday with a zombie escape room experience. Then we went out for a super cheesy fun dinner at Beni Hana. Yes, they still do the volcano and the Japanese egg roll. We saw The Marvels in Imax and then cruised a retro mall (I don’t think they knew it was retro) till closing time. The kids raced RC cars and bought retro (by design) clothing from an Adidas store.
The Phoenix area is a sprawl in the desert. Highways and malls and big box stores and single family developments stretch in every direction. I managed to get out one morning and hike in the South Mountain Preserve. But we mostly drove back and forth to the tournament facilities and ate and drank and chatted. I dare say Evan enjoyed himself.
Notes from Dad 
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