Yesterday was a busy day for Daniel. A very full day; involving a sporting debut, hard partying and a trip to an iconic venue for some live sport.

International Sporting Debut

In the morning Dani played his first ever official football match. His first football game representing one of his school’s teams in the local kids league. That’s real football – soccer if you prefer… It is a seven-aside game which is great for kids that age. No sense at all in playing on a full size football pitch at that age.

Clearly a novice, he was substituted a couple of times (as were one or two others). A few of the squad had clearly been playing for a couple of years or more. The difference in class was stark but Dani was not alone. There were two others in his team who were just as bad. Or should that be ‘just as good’? It was quite funny to watch. They lost but managed to score three goals. Dani said the official score was 5-3. I think the other team scored more like 7 or 8. I lost count actually. Anyway the main thing was that he enjoyed it. He will improve.

Party On Dudes!

Within a couple of hours after the football match he was off to a party at the home of one of his classmates. An eighth birthday party full of year 3 boys. The birthday boy’s sister (who is in year 6 of the same school) organised a live game of ‘Among Us’ and according to Dani she did a great job. I think there is a little bit of a crush going on there…

If you don’t know what that is I can tell you that it is a kids video game and that particular age group absolutely love it. The theme of the party was in fact ‘Among Us’. The boys absolutely loved it. they all seemed completely worn out when all the parents turned up to collect them. Take a look at the photos and you will se why. It looks like something out of that infamous John Belushi movie, Animal House. A Frat House Party!

No rest for the wicked. Back home to change then off out again to meet some of Dani’s mum’s colleagues at a bar near to a sporting event we had tickets for.

The ‘Footie’

Mostly worn out we dragged him to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for his first live Aussie Rules Football game. The ‘footie’ as they say here. The Sydney Swans vs The Geelong Cats. I really thought he might fall asleep before the end but he enjoyed it. The games last two hours which is way too long for me but this particular game was exciting right to the very end. Sydney Swans scoring to take the lead in the final minutes and then somehow holding out even in the final seconds. Amazing advert for the game and one that Dani will not forget in a hurry. There was a decent sized crowd there too. I reckoned about 30,000.

It was not my first taste of Aussie Rules but I till think it is an odd game. For one thing there’s 7 or 8 referees involved although I couldn’t really count them as they never kept still. Plus I had had several beers during the course of the game. It was one of those occasions. Honest.

By the time we left the stadium and walked to our bus route it was quite late. Needless to say Daniel was absolutely knackered. That was one full day.

In fact, it was such a busy day that we forgot that Sunday is Mother’s Day – in Spain! I suppose Dani forgot it really. Well, at least I remembered Mother’s Day in the UK (just). And the eAustralian Mther’s Day is next week!