Soccer practice started today for my oldest daughter (age 10), and my wife just informed me that we'll have soccer practices every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening for our three kids combine. The Soccer Jamboree event will be at the end of August, and then games start every Saturday (meaning three games every Saturday in addition to the practices during the week).

YIKES!!

Fortunately the practices are all at the same school, with each child at a different field. So at least we won't have to cart them around to different locations.

My kids are totally pumped too! We already started practicing soccer kicking in the backyard after practice today with all three kids, and I was impressed with how much my kids had retained from last year's soccer training.

I'm really looking forward to the season too, even though it's going to be a hectic schedule. I won't be coaching at all this year, so I'll be able to sit back and cheer my kids on from the side lines. Talk about a great way to unwind from a long day at the office!

One of the other dads happens to be the same guy who sold me my road bike, and we're both planning to bring our training stands and bikes next Wednesday. Heck, it'll give us a solid hour of riding, which means I can stop working out early in the morning. It'll also give me a chance to get to know him better, and maybe learn something about him other than just our mutual interest in cycling.

I also have my eye on just bought a new zoom lens for my Nikon D50 DSLR camera (the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens), which should help me capture some great shots of my kids in action. My folks gave us the camera last year as a much appreciated gift. It takes exceptional pictures, but the lens that came with it doesn't zoom in close enough when my kids are half way across the soccer field. This new zoom lens should take care of that nicely, and will be well worth the money when we look at the close-up photos years from now. I shopped around and found the cheapest deal at Amazon, which beat Costco's deal by $20 and includes free shipping.

The busy schedule should keep us scrambling through the end of October, and I'm looking forward to seeing our kids work hard and learn a great sport.

After that, it'll most likely be dance for the girls, and Karate for me and my 6-year-old son. I took American Free Style Karate for two years during college, and earned a blue belt in a dojo that requires 7 years of training to earn a black belt (compared to the numerous blackbelt mills that let students earn a black belt after only a year's worth of training). That was almost two decades ago though, and so it'll be interesting to see how well I do at it this time around.

One thing for sure: these are the times that parents live for, and the memories built during sports events are absolutely priceless.