Hoboken just got a little closer to the suburbs.

Last spring, I went onto the City of Hoboken's online registration portal to register my kids for the summer session of Art in the Park and randomly discovered my daughter was also eligible for peewee soccer. I signed her up, paid the $25 fee on my credit card and promptly forgot about it.

A couple of weeks ago, I started getting emails from Nicole Appice, the soccer coach for my daughter's team. She pointed us to the team's schedule online and scheduled practices to begin half an hour before each game.

I waited until the day of the first game to buy soccer gear since I wasn't sure if my daughter wanted to participate, which let to a rush visit to Target on the Saturday of the first game. $73 later, we emerged with regulation black shorts and socks, shin guards, cleats, a size 3 soccer ball and plenty of water. Then we headed over to Mama Johnson field, where the teeming crowds of short people dressed in colorful jerseys quickly reassured me we were in the right place.

When we walked onto the field, I instantly felt transported to the suburbs. The rough grassy field had been subdivided into four sections to allow for multiple games. After checking in with the main table right by the bleachers, we headed over to the quadrant where my daughter's team was scheduled to play. We were unable to identify her team or coach because of the teeming masses of children, but we did run into a bunch of her preschool classmates. My daughter was instantly excited to be playing on a team with her friends while my son made a beeline for a pile of dirt along with the toddler siblings of several other players.

At 11 a.m., I finally got my daughter dressed out and connected with her team while they lined up and practiced kicking balls in their goal. The whistle blew, and the game started! There is nothing more adorable than watching a group of five years olds stumble around a field chasing a ball, occasionally picking it up when it is about to go out of bounds. They kept getting stuck in a cluster around the ball; it looked more like a very polite rugby scrum than a soccer game.

The coaches kept rotating kids out since there were nine kids assigned to the team and only six could play, but those breaks were desperately needed for hydration. When the dust settled, the score was 4-2 in favor of my daughter's team, with all the goals scored by the same few kids. The coach high-fived my daughter for a great first effort, and then explained you are not supposed to kick the ball away from your own teammates (oops!)

So far Hoboken peewee soccer has been a relaxed, fun and incredibly convenient experience since the field is located two blocks from our home. With the fencing club five blocks in the other direction, our Saturday morning activities are set for years to come.

To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://momcondoliving.com/ and follow her at http://twitter.com/kathyzucker