Talking Baseball

We spent a delightful day at the old ball park. The boys staged a come back but fell just short of a win.

John and Bill have coached together for a long time now. They work well together.

The team is starting to gell. We have a lot of new guys. They've learned to get behind one another. Jack has even offered to cut his hair if the team makes the championship. Cut his trademark hair. Shave it actually. With each teammate getting a chance at the clippers. I'll alert the media. No really. That's what I do. The PR in me just can't stop it.

This team should play well in the end of season tournament that determines championship rights. We have 6 good pitchers. Could it be the end of the curly rock star era?

Speaking about dreams....... check out Jackson's face. He's in complete awe. His hands were actually shaking. Those are Boston Red Sox world championship rings. Their owner plays softball at the park John manages.

Maybe someday he'll wear one of his own. I just hope he still has that look on his face.

Summer Life by the Numbers

Number of rows in my garden: 7
Number of veggies: 4 (tomatoes, green beans, lettuce & carrots)


Number of 8th grade boys attending May meeting for football: 137
Number of 8th grade boys working out with the high school team: 10
Number of hours per day boys work out with high school team past two weeks: 4 (including 2 hours of football camp one week, and 2 hours of speed camp the next)
Number of boys in the carpool: 7
Number of people my van seats comfortably: 6

Number of pounds Colby weighs: 87
Number of pounds vet says she should weigh: 50
Number of red blood cells in her blood work in January: 21
Number of Red Blood Cells in her blood work now: 42 (yes!)
Number of weeks she's been on steroids: 21
Number of steps her very arthritic joints have to climb every day: 14

Number of boys on the baseball team: 13

Number of boys who are pitchers: 6

Number of boys who are also offensive lineman: 4

Number of times the boys have been to the city pool :10

Number of times the boys have been to other pools: 3

Number of after hours pool parties the boys have attended: 2

Average length of stay at the pool: 3 hours

the Natural History of the Chicken

We don't really rough it much when we camp these days. We have this little apartment that we park next to the tent. It's got a sweet flat screen tv, which we used to watch the funniest documentary. We laughed until we flat out cried. All cuddled up on the bed made out of the table. It's the Natural History of the Chicken. It's on You Tube. It's a collection of the strangest chicken lovin' people you will ever meet. And you'll never forget them.

One lady gives her chicken mouth to mouth resuscitation. Another brings her chicken with her everywhere. I highly recommend it. You'll thank me for the laugh.

the Camping Trip

You've been neglected dear reader. I'm very sorry for the oversight.

We've been camping at the lake. We've camped at the same camp site at the same camp ground at the same lake for over 20 years. Of course Erin's only been for the past 4 years so it's all new to her. She slit open just the very bottom of the tent door and slithered in and sat watching.

The boys liked hanging out with grandma and grandpa. And hanging out by themselves. And watching girls in bikini's cause well that's what they do. Sometimes while they are supposed to be pulling the boat up to the shore. And yea we all noticed and laughed.

Harold is a great camp cook. He was the one who introduced us to the campground. Just another good reason to love Harold.

We have lots of good camp memories. 20 years worth of memories. This trip will forever be remembered for the naturalist program on caves. This campground is ran by the state parks and features an awesome naturalist who presents programs on all sorts of natural things. We've been to a lot of them. Jackson earned his junior naturalist badge which required that we attend oh 7 or 8 of them back when he was about 9. We once played nature bingo for like 4 hours much to his utter delight. Now it's the girls turn. So Deb and I hiked up to a rousing presentation on Missouri caves. She was talking 'bout some cave crickets that eat hairworm eggs and then the eggs grown in their bellies until they get a bubble and the bubble explodes hatching the worm. And she went on with the presentation without telling us at all what happened to those poor little crickets. It ate at me until I finally had to ask. And the girls about fell over laughing "Um did the cricket die?" Maybe it was the fact that just before I asked Erin, having grown bored, was trying to eat her toe nails. Oh it was a good laugh.

The best part of camping is just hanging out together. It's very common for many generations to come to the lake together. This weekend there was a 95 year old women celebrating her birthday with all sorts of camping family. How fun is that?

Jack and Nick rode 'big bertha' the big inter tube.

We all rode under Mom's watchful eye. Jackson took a turn as flag man.

Lauren's HS Musical Birthday

My beautiful Lauren turned 7 over the weekend. She and her friends rocked out with a high school musical theme.

The girls put on a show and "auditioned" for our musical.

And played games like the kiss troy one. Kinda like pin the tail on the donkey. But it was plant a wet one on Troy. A wet one with lips smothered with bright red lipstick. Blind fold them and spin em and the giggles went wild.

All this bored Jackson to tears. He finally went downstairs and hung out with Hank the dog. Notice however that Jackson has HS Musical hair.

This week my baby officially started working out with the high school football team. They invite lowly 8th graders to work out in the summer. He's making some muscles and getting to know the coaches. And hanging out with his football friends. This week is also football camp so he's getting a double dose.

That's not big Pa pee.

That's Brady the cat being tormented by the boys. Everyone in our house dresses as Red Sox nation even the cat.

Swimmingly

The summer has gotten off to a swimmingy good start. We celebrated my cousins daughter Mallory's birthday at a swim party. I love this picture. It's got a lot of personality.

Happy 6th Birthday Mallory!

That crazy Aunt Renie went on the big slide! Much to the delight of her little fan club who cheered wildly from below.

Erin was so pleased to pose with the big girls. What a little bathing beauty! Now the other girls looked like they got hit with the silly stick!

My cousin Angie, my aunt Bev and my cousin-in-law Stacee soak up some sun.

I took Lauren to the deep side. And without my noticing Erin came to join us. She exclaimed that she was "um sinking."

After the party we had a real treat. A recital. Lauren was wonderful. She plunked out her little happy song with the utmost of confidence and beauty.

Then my beautiful sister played her piece accompanied by teacher Mrs. Fry. The recital was held at a local nursing home much to the joy of the dozen or so residents who came to watch or to catch up on their sleep.