Happy 4th of July 2016

There are the age when you say "smile so I can take a photo" you get a mean look, or their tongue sticking out and a sour face. I get it... mean old mom taking time away from a good time to get a picture, but hey... it's my job and my right as a parent.   This 4th of July we were in Chatanooga all morning at baseball and got home around 4pm. Todd and Drew tool a long nap and no one was really in the mood to go fight crowds, mosquitos, and traffic to see fireworks. But... we had promised the kids so off we went.

To our surprise, we had a really nice night. Low expectations yield excellent results :) Caitlin and Lila came with us, and we headed to Indian Hills Country Club with another 4 families from baseball. Once we were there, I think we saw half of east side elementary and the kids were so excited to see all their friends.   All the kids were running around playing football, baseball, kickball, frisbee, tag, you name it.. they were running. It was truly a perfect 4th of july evening. Kids running wild with nothing in their way to get them hurt, and parents could actually sit back and have a conversation.

Here is Todd who got put in charge of sparklers. At one point he had a line about 25 kids long all waiting to get their sparkler lit up.

And here is Drew soaked in sweat from running around with his sparkler. It is a good think he took a long nap cause he definitely used all his energy up that evening!

Overall, it was a great night with some new friends. The crowds were nothing since we seemed to know everyone out there, and we found a little hidden parking area with no traffic. Fireworks traffic was all of 3 minutes.

Happy 4th of July everyone! We are so grateful for everyone who protects our country and the wonderful lives we live.

East Side 6U Thunder State Tournament - Chattanooga

 Drew, #2!  I love watching his kid play baseball. Even when he messes up and has a rough game or two... he always hustles and tries his hardest, the kid will never give up and is so coachable. It isn't very often he makes the same mistake twice that is for sure.  Here he is right before game # 1 of the state tournament in Chattanooga.     The won the game and played their hearts out.

 Post game here is Drew and his new buddy Max. We think they actually look a little alike with their hair cuts and dark skin. They are pretty cute together. Max has a sister Hannah's age and they all get along really well.

 Drew on second base, ready to make his move.

  Our left outfielder. Sometime he does well, sometimes it is rough. I felt bad for him during this game he was looking right into the sun the entire game. Everyone else already had shade. He still make some great plays.

And this is a kid that will run as fast as he can always looking to get a good slide into base.
He is a strong base runner and has a great arm with good hitting skills. Still working on grounders and pop ups, but he is a solid player. We are thrilled he is on the team and is doing so well.

The Thudner lost in double elimination by two really good teams. Both teams have played together much longer and I hear from both teams parents they practice EVERY single night and play in tournaments every weekend. I would rather lose and let the kids have a fun summer at 6 years old than to burn them out.  I think they kids have had enough baseball they don't need to practice 5 nights a week at 6 years old. We are proud of them no matter what, they are a great group of kids!

We play again next weekend in Gwinnet then we are off for a week. There are two kids on the team that are going to be out next week so the coach told Drew he will be playing some catcher. He was pretty darn excited to hear that. Now we just have to explain to him how to play it since he never has before!! Don't worry, I will take plenty of pictures :)

Chatanooga Aquarium

Every wonder what you do after losing a baseball game in Chattanooga? You head to the aquarium and stay in the air conditioning to cool off. Everyone around Atlanta always raves about the Chatanooga aquarium.  We like it, but I think I like the Georgia one better. The people watching there was interesting to say the least. And as Todd and I said, there are people we saw there you just can't unseen. Wow, not sure where they all came from. The south's finest.  The kids loved it and had a great time, so that is all that mattered.

Hannah and Drew loved looking at the penguins because they love the movie Mr Poppers Penguins. Drew was looking for "nimrod" the whole time.

 Here is Drew and Hannah inside the glass enclosure of the king crabs. They thought that was kind of cool. I actually had no idea king crabs were so big, I guess I learned something new too.

 I love Hannah's expression here as the shark is right behind her making its way. Drew is just fine, Hannah is like wait... check out that Shark!

I don't even know what they were looking at here, but I am sure it was interesting? :) The good news about travel baseball is that gives you a lot of family time together in strange places and small towns. While Chatanooga isn't necessarily a small town, it is surrounded by some interesting places. We all appreciated home a little more after that trip!

Atlanta Braves Game

 Good news, I am only two weeks behind on this entry. I am catching up. Last weekend we went to the Braves vs the Mets game. Two years ago Drew went to the Braves baseball camp and got to meet Kelly Johnson who is an Atlanta native. He was so excited about meeting him and has his autograph and everything. A week later he got traded to the NY Mets. So.. we had to go see him play this time on the Mets.

This is the last season the Braves will play at Turner field.  Next spring their field will be Suntrust Field in Cobb Country smack dab in the middle of my house and work. Commutes will be so fun?!  We want to make sure we had a few last memories at Turner field which I really like as a stadium.

WE had great seats right behind the Mets dug out. Surprsingly, when your team isn't very good it isn't hard to get good seats. It was fun being so close and right at the third base line. We got to see quite a bit of action on the field.

 Between every inning Drew would run to the dugout and try to get one of the players to throw a ball at him. He was getting so frustrated since a bunch of little kids around him got balls. He never gave up though, he was determine to get a ball.

 Here is his hero, #55 Kelly Johnson who also plays left outfield just like Drew. Drew was so excited to see him.

Hannah was just excited to get ice cream and frozen lemonade and hang out with the family. She loved the fireworks at the end too!!

Our little guy got his game ball. It made his night and ours too!!

Staying for Friday night fireworks was totally worth it. The fireworks were great and the kids loved it. It was a perfect way to end a great family night.

We are looking forward to going to more Braves games next year when the stadium is a nice 5 miles from our house and we won't have to go all the way downtown and fight traffic. However...  i am sure the traffic will just end up in our backyard instead :)   Hopeing they are a better team next year but either way, it is always a fun outing.

Mother Daughter Day

Last night when we got home from baseball, Hannah asked me if we could have mother / daughter day just the two of us and do something fun. I said sure and said she had to plan the day and decide what we were doing to do. That... was my first mistake.  I have no pictures to post of our day. Why? Because Hannah took me on an adventure obstacle course filled with zip lining.  I was hanging on for dear life, not taking pictures. My 9 year old self would had thought it was a blast and a perfect day. My 40 year old self... well, I thought I was going to die out there. It was 102 degrees and I was zip lining from trees and had to get through obstacles of walking on a single line 200 ft in the air and swinging from ropes and balances on sticks to get to the next platform. OMG.

But here is what I learned today. Hannah is fearless, brave, adventurous and will be an amazing teacher on day. She had done this before with some friends this summer, I however had not. ( because a first is a last for me on this adventure). Hannah walked me through each step on how to attach the harnesses, how to best get through the obstacle, she cheered me on, she laughed at me and helped me along the way. At one point I was hanging off a rope a bit scared, and at the same time laughing hysterically picturing myself and what I probably looked like, and little Hannah had already made it to the platform watching me saying " you can do it mom, swing to the other side, use your left foot and pull". All the while she was standing there giving me the thumbs up with a big smile on her face ( also laughing at me).

I loved spending the day with Hannah. She had a great time, conquered some fears, got a lot of exercise, and laughed a lot through the day. She was a sweet heart and I am pretty sure she will remember this for a long time.  Why... because her mom made a complete idiot of herself. Picture if you will... the 2nd to last zip line of the course, it is a long one and above the parking lot with many bystanders below. Hannah has already made her way across standing on the platform already. Me, little nervous goes for it. Somehow in the middle of the line I get turned backwards and randomly pick up speed just as I was about to hit the platform ( backwards).  I don't even know what happened other than I bounced back and went half way back to the middle of the line. Oh guess what happens when you are stuck about 300 yards away from a platform? You have two options. 1.) Call for help and they send a rescue person to get you and pull you in. 2.) You face backwards and pull yourself to the end. My ego, and fear of a larger embarrassment to my daughter went with option 2.  Sure, I can do this. I am hanging 200 ft in the air and about 300 yards from the nearest platform, what could go wrong? I pulled, pulled, pulled pulled. Arms were shaking, stomach muscles clenched and burning. Some woman named "mama bear", yes... "mama bear" kept yelling... "mama bear goin' git you da rescue squad, hold on girl".  Ut huh.... I assumed mama bear I could do this on my own, just needed a rest stop in the middle of the air.   And I did, I pulled and pulled, imagined myself hanging off a cliff and needed a few more pulls to survive  ( insert drama) and I got there. I was a sweating hot mess, out of breathe, and Hannah was laughing and embarrassed. Success. This is what parents do best right?

Outside of my idiotic self, it was a great day and I will be sure to do two things. One, go on another mother daughter outing soon and two, plan it myself.  We ended our time at Menchies getting some frozen yogurt to cool off and laughed about our day. Hannah told me she was proud of me for doing. I told her I was proud of her fearless brave little self, but mostly for being an awesome teacher to me. She was so sweet, kind and patient.  There needs to be more days like this.   I am sure Hannah will laugh herself to sleep tonight, but it was worth it :)

East Side Thunder 6U 2016

Here is our little left outfielder.  He went from short stop to left outfield for the summer all star season. At first I was a little disappointed until I realized these all stars all hit the balls to the outfield, not like rec at this age when they are all in the infield. He has gotten quite a bit of action out there and has done a great job backing up the 3rd base man and making some great plays to third and second base. I am proud of him

We have had 3 tournaments so far. We had lost to the Canton Stingers twice and Sandy Plains once, other than that we have won all the games.  They are a talented little team that just needs to learn how to play together. We had a team full of first base and short stops. Now they are learning new positions and doing great. Drew is #2 this season, he chose #2 for Derek Jeter. He has about 10 books at home about Jeter and loves to read them over and over again.   The first tournament of the season Drew hit a home run OVER the fence. It was awesome and Todd, Hannah and I were jumping up and down with excitement. A home run is always cool, but over the fence for a 6 year old is just awesome. He was one proud little boy.

This is the look of a 6 year old that played 3 games in one day in 96 degree heat. That's exhaustion.

This picture is from last week's district tournament on Friday night. Since they won both games they went straight to the championship on Sunday.

And they won, 18-14. The boys played tough and it was a fun game to watch. Since they won districts, they advance to the state finals 4th of July weekend right outside of Chattanooga, TN. The kids are so excited about the tournament mostly because they get to stay in a hotel and swim :) 

District win family photo. Drew's cheering squad.

It's hot, it's fun, it's exhausting. Drew loves it. The biggest shocker of it all, Hannah loves it?!? That is one I was not expecting. She gets disappointed on weekends that we don't have a game.  It has been a great time overall for the entire family. It has actually forced us to spend a lot of time together as the 4 of us vs the kids going their separate ways to sleep overs and friends houses all summer. Even better, we have met some amazing families and new friends along the way. The parents and kids on this team are all amazing. Hannah has made friends with all the siblings from his team. They sit and watch the game and cheer their brothers on, and right after the game they all run off to play pickle and jackpot together. I am so happy that hannah is enjoying it more than anything as I was worried it was going to be a long summer for her. She has gotten really into baseball. She even tells me how she would do the batting line up differently and tell me which kids on the team won't listen to the coach and the mistakes they made because of it. Who knew?

We will see how long Drew plays, but baseball is currently his passion and loves baseball more than any other sport he has tried. We have three tournaments left this summer then he will do soccer at Mt Bethel this fall which is super low key. He is already asking to play baseball in the fall again but we have not decided yet, thinking a break would be good for him but he seems to love it so much so we will see!

Wish the Thunder good luck over the next week so they can beat those darn Canton Stingers and Sandy Plain Red so they can bring back a state title!

Lake Hartwell June 2016

 There isn't much better than lazy days at the lake during the summer. As Drew calls it his "happy place". I'd like the think it is all our happy place. I love that the hustle and bustle of life can stand still for awhile and you can sit back and relax, laugh, lounge and have some fun. A few weekends ago the Jaillets invited us to their lake house on Lake Hartwell for a fun filled weekend of laughs and water.  and indeed that is what we did.

The kids did a lot of tubing, I mean a lot. I am pretty sure they were sore the following week from hanging on for dear life. They love it though, and it is hilarious to be on the back of the boat watching them. I think I see more smiles from them in 5 minutes tubing than I do in a week's time. They are both pretty courageous and don't seem to fear the bumpy waves and high speed turns.

 Friends for a few years now, here is Lila and Hannah tubing their little hearts out. I am pretty sure they get more tubing and playing time on the lake than anyone as they beg from sun rise to sun down to get on the tubes.

When they are not tubing they are often playing "wipe out" off the dock by setting up a bunch up tubes tied together and running on top of them making an obstacle course. Those are pretty funny wipe outs too!

Here is little Drew popping right up on water skis. He is fearless and made it up each time he tried, now we just need to get him to hang on a little longer. He averages about 50ft or so then has a tendency to lean back and fall.  I am proud of him for trying and getting up on the skis. I think I was at least 13 until I figured it out and it took me a whole weekend on Lake Cumberland to get up and going.

I don't know why this picture cracks me up a  little bit. The girls and Drew... He is being a little punk but it is funny. They all love the triple tube so they can stand up and switch seats along the way.

This part was the most fun. Two tubes tied on the back of the boat and they ultimately played a whole lot of bumper cars. They were going from side to side hitting big waves bouncing off of each other laughing hysterically.   The parents laughed even harder just watching them. Too cute!!!

And finally some morning and evening down time. Peach, quiet, serenity and the paddle board. I am pretty impressed all the kids are good paddle boarders and no one ever fell off. Not in this picture but the Jaillets dog Coco went paddle boarding too with the kids and Susan. It was really cute.

After a good lake weekend it is always hard to get back to reality. If it were up to me, I would move to a lake when I retire and enjoy every minute of it.   The kids just love it there. They love to fish, tube, ski, paddle board, jet ski... so much fun. I think they would rather do a lake vacation than any other kind of vacation there is.   We are so thankful for the Jaillets inviting us and letting us share the fun with them. We are so lucky to have good friends.

Mt Bethel Pirates Swim Team

It's been another fun summer of swim team! Drew is swimming in the 6u group and Hannah swims in the 9-10 age group. Both kids have done great. They don't always enjoy getting up in the morning for practice, but they seem to enjoy the meets and playing with the friends once they get there.

Luckily one of the parents on the team spends about 99% of the time at the meet taking pictures of all the kids. All the parents have to volunteer and I usually end up a timer so I don't have time to take the pictures myself, so this is helpful!! For 6u boys the only events they can do are the 25 free style, 25 freestyle relay and the 25 backstroke. Drew is currently undefeated for the season and has gotten 1st place in every single race he has swam. Way to go Drew. He is a rock star of a swimmer. His 25 free time is actually better than all the 7-8 boys and second place ranked for 9-10 boys. If he actually liked the sport he would be great at it, but has no interest at this point. He is really in for the candy at the swim meets and running around playing with his friends, which honestly at this age is what it should be!

Hannah has been swimming the 100IM, 50 free, 25 back, and the relays. She has done well but has lost a little of her spunk from last season. There is a big different from swimming year round then taking a winter off. Hannah does love the meets and summer swim but has not interest in doing year round swim again. Honestly, I am just fine with that as I have no interest in spending my weekends at swim meets. But if she changes her mind, I will happily do it.

 An action shot of Drew in his 25 free

Action shot of Hannah getting ready to do 100IM.

I am sure the kids will do this again next summer. Once Hannah gets to 11-12 age group I think it may end up being harder to convince her of summer swim. But for now, it's fun, good exercise and all their friends are there with them.   One more meet left in the season and we are done!

Future 1st and 4th Graders

I failed this year, I didn't get the last day of school picture... shame on me. Instead at the bus stop we had a water balloon fight, went to the pool, and went out to dinner with Drew's baseball team that night. It was a long day, a fun day, but I spent more time in the moment rather than capturing the moment. That seems to be my theme these days. I used to never leave the house with out the camera, now I rarely bring my camera. They are at the age they don't want their picture taken all the time, and i don't really want to fight them on it either. I do miss getting all the pictures all the time though. I can't tell you how many times I just scroll through photos of when they were babies and toddlers and smile. I love that a picture can bring you back to the day it happened and then you can focus on the day, the time, the experience that the picture represents. You feel like you can live it all over again, the good days, and the bad ones.  This means that I need to bring my camera out more huh? I need to balance capturing and being in the moment better than I have over the last year. Add one more thing on that to do list! :)

Even without the photos, I can tell you the kids had a great school year this past year. Hannah did awesome in 3rd grade. I was nervous for her starting the year as 2nd grade was tough on her academically. She didn't quite jive with the teacher and got behind early in the year and never really caught up. We spent last summer with math tutors and got her ready for 3rd grade. Wouldn't you know it, she did awesome. It was a whole new year, and a whole new Hannah. Hannah ended up with pretty much straight 3's ( A's) for the year and scored much better on the testing for 3rd grade. She worked hard, focused, and it paid off.  

And Drew, well he rocked kindergarten with no surprise. He is an entirely different kid at school than home. The teachers actually tell me he is polite and listens. That doesn't happen at home so I am glad he knows some type of manners! Academically Drew did just fine and hit a first grade reading level early in the year. Drew made a lot of new little friends in his classroom and has a lot of little baseball friends in other classrooms at the school too.   We would get Drew's writing workshop papers home at the end of each quarter and I loved looking at them. There would always be a picture, then they would write about it. 90% of Drew's pictures had an army tank, navy ship, missiles and explosives. The remainder generally had to do with baseball, fishing, sharks or being at the lake. They are so funny and I love to see what is happening in his little mind. The writing is so different from when Hannah was in kindergarten. She would come home with writing and pictures about rainbows, flowers, puppies, family and sunshine. And that is the difference between girls and boys! I love it.

I hope Hannah and Drew both have a great school year next year. 1st and 4th grade kind of blows my mind. Darn it.. stay little. 4th grade is getting awfully close to middle school and I can tell you I am not ready for that!

Spring Sports Continued....

There is no question I am way behind on this blog. A little over 2 months to be exact.  I have zero free time, zero. Todd and I go to work, and either run home to change clothes to get to fields, or go directly to soccer and baseball fields.  After practices and games, we end up eating dinner sometime between 8-9pm, then get the kids showered and cleaned up for bed. Todd and I end up finally getting to bed around 11am each night completely exhausted, ready to do it all over again the next day. That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way.  For the life of me, I really have no idea what I did before kids, or how the words "I'm tired" ever came out of my mouth with real meaning.  I have now been tired for 9 and a half years, but wouldn't have it any other way.

This picture was from the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. Hannah's team won the Nasa Friensdhip cup!  These girls played their hearts out. Each game was a battle and they gave it their all. Game 1 was a 1-1 tie. Game 2 was a 2-2 tie, and Game 3 was a 3-2 win. They made the finals and won 2-1. Each and every game was so equally played it could had gone either way. In the finals they beat a team that came all the way from Nashville, TN. The girls were winning 2-1 and they put Hannah in goalie the last 10 minutes of the game. Hannah is a pretty good little goalie and one of the better ones on the team. They tend to put her in their when they need her. Parents worst nightmare, 2 minutes until the game is over, and a kid on our team gets a hand ball in the penalty box. Hannah was in goal, and the other team had a penalty kick to possibly tie up the game and put us in overtime.  I had to turn my head and not watch. I was a nervous mom.  Wouldn't you know it, the opponent kicked a line drive and little Hannah blocked up partly with her hands and partly with his face :(. The ball bounced out and the other team had a mother shot on goal, Hannah went for it and saved it again. Phew! I was so proud of her and how tough she was.  All the girls came running and hugging Hannah which made her feel so good and confident.

 Hannah wore her medal around her neck for the rest of the day. I was a proud momma.   She was so cute, I asked her if she was nervous for the penalty kick, she told me "no, I knew I would save it". That's my girl.   We were all so happy the girls ended the season on a happy note! Next season the US soccer association has changed the leagues to birth year so half her team plays 11U and the other half plays 10U. Hannah tried out again for next years team and made it. She was really happy and excited to be able to play with most of her little friends again.

And here is out little NY Yankee.  # 10 on the field, and #1 in my heart.  The Yankees had a rougher season than we would had liked, but once again, Drew loved it and made some new little friends and that is all that matters.   Drew ended up playing short stop, pitcher and once in awhile 3rd base this  last  season.  The Yankees started off good, and lost some of their spark as the season went off. The lost in the play offs pretty early on. Here are a few action shots that I love. Drew throwing the ball from a sitting position making a play to first base.

This kids LOVES to slide into base. I mean, loves it. He can hit a home run, and will still slide into home plate with no one around. The dirtier he has after the game, the happier he is. I mean what 6 year old doesn't love to play in the dirt?

This was one of Drew's best and coolest catches of the season against the White Sox. Check him out, love his spirit and spunk out there.  One of the things I absolutely love about watching Drew play baseball or any sport for that matter is that he always give 110% no matter what  ( unless he is sick, then it is about 20% rightfully so).  He always try his hardest, hustles and learn from his mistakes. He even looked at the  picture below of his swing and told me his shoulder was too low and that causes him to hit pop ups.  He has a lot of potential if he sticks with it and continues to love this game.

Post season Drew tried out for the All Starts Tournament team. In Drew fashion, he made the A team, East Side Thunder, and will be spending his summer on baseball fields in Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi! Go Drew!