4th of July

The cousins invited us down for the Fourth of July so we headed down Tuesday the 3rd, watched their swim meet, stayed up too late and woke up bright and early (sort of) for their neighborhood's parade, followed by swim party.

(flipped the picture so the tattoo was correct)

We all got super sunburned after close to 5 or 6 hours at the pool.

We came home, showered, ate dinner and headed to Ray's for custards and shaved ices.

 Guess who got a shaved ice - blue raspberry.

Then a minor league baseball game where we watched the Flying Squirrels play the Mets.

It was SUPER hot and we were all tired and sunburned.

But it was worth it for the fireworks after the game.

Orioles vs. Pirates

I'm not sure why the stadium staff doesn't get that the whole point of getting your picture taken at the park (center picture) is so that you can tell from the picture what park you're at.  Luckily, we went to a Red Sox v. Orioles game at Camden Yards two years ago and my parents took a better picture, although looking more closely at it, it doesn't necessarily tell which ball park we're in either.  Argh. It is however better than the family picture above which is just us and stadium seats.  Sadly, the Pirates lost... by a lot. 

Nationals vs. Pirates Baseball

B is a Pirates fan.  The kids... they go back and forth with who they cheer for.  Since we went to a Cincinnati Reds game in Ohio last year, Buddy is apparently a Reds fan.  This is slightly infuriating.  I'm okay with him cheering for our local team (he's decked out in his Nationals apparel for this game) but I'm not okay with him cheering for random teams he has no connetion to.  Oh well.  My dad loves baseball and enjoys visiting different ballparks so we headed to Nationals Park Thursday night for the Pirates v. Nationals game.

And the Pirates WON!

Sad Art

For my dad:

We've been going through all the kids art this week.  B came across this in one of Buddy's notebooks.  It looks like a depiction of the ball rolling through the legs of Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series.  A sad, sad day in the life of Red Sox fans.  (Notice the NY Met in the background.)  He questioned Buddy and Buddy replied, "Yeah, that's what it looks like, huh?"  So, he doesn't specifically remember drawing this picture, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that this is what he was trying to draw.



Baseball

Now that Buddy has graduated from T-ball, he's been wanting to practice hitting pitched balls.   Luckily he has a dad that loves baseball as much as he does, so we've spent a lot of time at Grandma's playing baseball.  (Videos coming.)

Cincinnati Reds vs. Cleaveland Indians

July 1

The grandparents were trying to take us to their local minor league game, but they were sold out.  Then they decided if they took us to a Friday night Cincinnati game there would be fireworks, and we wouldn't have to make a crazy stop on our way home to see a fireworks show in West Virginia somewhere. 

At the beginning of the game, Princess Sparkley, who isn't as excited about baseball, asked if I'd ever been on the giant tv at a baseball game.  I explained to her that we've been to a lot of games and never known anyone on the jumbo tron.  Flash forward several innings, the jumbotron pans across Buddy's arm (he says he's sure he saw it and it was waving) to Little Guy, me, Grandma M and PS before it heads to the baby Reds fan next to PS.  Very fun!

And the fireworks afterwards were awesome!  We tend to hit baseball games around the 4th of July because we're already going to be in a a crowd, why not skip the 4th of July fireworks viewing crowd and just enjoy the fireworks at the game.  This show was really long and super impressive.  Very loud as well, which PS didn't enjoy.

Also, I have a cousin who lives in Cincinnati.  I figured there was no point calling his family when we'd only be in the town for a short period of time during which we'd be at the game.  I found out the next day via Facebook that his family was at the game!  Based on their pictures, they were a few sections to our left and down.

Last T-ball Game

Red Sox vs. Braves: 6/18/11

2nd at bat (I missed filming the first one)

3rd at bat

4th at bat (last batter=Grand Slam!)

At the end of games or practice the coach chases the kids.  He gives them a head start (the players, their brothers and sisters, etc.) on first base.  Then he says go and tries to beat them (he starts on home plate).  And he goes FAST!

Four at Bats

Saturday, June 11 vs. Baltimore Orioles

P-Nats

One of the Washington Nationals' minor league teams is the Potomac Nationals who have $1 Mondays.  So for $1 per person we got into the game.  And for an additional dollar per person, everyone got a hot dog.

Their mascot is Uncle Slam.  Some people near us won the "sweetheart of the game" or something so the mascot came up and gave a girl some flowers and balloons, then sat with the group in front of us for a minute.  This bottom left picture was as close to him as I could convince Buddy to get.  Ryan Zimmerman was playing with the P-Nats the night we were there doing rehab starts.  He's normally the big league 3rd baseman from the Washington Nationals.  He signed autographs (top left picture) and got a lot of cheers.  (Professional pictures here.)

Little Guy told me at one point that baseball games are really long and T-ball games are really short.  He was happy some, and grumpy a lot.  He was also disappointed because at the big league stadium they set off fireworks last year when we went (and for home runs).

P-Nats lost 8 to 1, I think.

Team Picture

Top: Assistant Coach Rob, Grant, Jesse, [Buddy], Christopher, Coach James

Middle: Haley, Caleb, Ethan, Aiden

Front: Garrett, James, John


Buddy had a great hit today in the third inning.  I wish I'd gotten it on film.  Great swing, strong enough hit that he went up and over the pitcher and bounced out past second base.

T-ball Game

After Thursday Graduation, which was just B's College, not the entire University, he decided to blow off the giant Saturday morning graduation where they wouldn't even say his name, and we probably wouldn't be able to spot him.  The cousins headed home for a service project they were involved in and decided not to skip out on since the graduation wasn't happening.  And Buddy was thrilled that this meant Grandma and Grandpa were coming to his t-ball game.

Buddy as pitcher

Getting the ball to throw to first.

(video uploading problems)

Then we came home and enjoyed a giant hoagie that the Richmond relatives bought as our after Graduation feast before we decided to skip out on that graduation.  Thanks!

 

Game 3

 Today was Buddy's 3rd T-ball game of the season.  Red Sox vs. Orioles.  And we played against two boys from church, a boy from last year's T-ball team, and a girl from his soccer team (and the coach was Buddy's old soccer coach).

 

After the game.

After high fiving the other team.

T-ball: Game 2

This morning's game was against the Washington Nationals.  And their uniforms arrived in time for the game!  Buddy picked # 7 because he's 7 years old.

 

T-ball

Last year, Buddy showed up to his first day of t-ball practice dressed in Red Sox shorts, jersey and hat, only to find out he was going to be a Yankee.  This year, he showed up in his Yankee shirt and hat from last season, only to find out he's a Red Sox this year!  Too funny.  He's thrilled though since deep down, he's a bigger Red Sox fan.  They're uniforms hadn't come in yet by game one on Saturday, but he had enough Red Sox stuff to make it work.

Red Sox Game

Part of the reason Princess Sparkley's baptism was pushed back to the end of August (her birthday was the 10th) was so that my parents would be in town when the Red Sox played in Baltimore. Grandpa took us to the game last night (9/2) and the Red Sox WON!!! Red Sox 6, Orioles 4.

T-ball Pizza Party

Princess Sparkley, mid-chew at the pizza party.


Buddy (two from the right) and his team.


Buddy is the one with the trophy on his head. Sorry it's so blurry.


The team with their trophies.
Top: Coach Dave, John, Joshua, Jillian, Buddy, Matthew
Bottom: Liam, Ryleigh, Sam, Morgan, Ryan, Carsten

Last T-ball Game of the Season

Saturday was Buddy's last t-ball game of the season. He's sad to see it end, but is excited for soccer in the fall.


Buddy at bat. The last batter of each inning basically hits a grand slam.


Buddy at his favorite position, first base. Except he informed the coach during the game that his favorite position is actually catcher (which I think he's only gotten to play once). The coach told him he was best at first base.





Buddy is the 3rd "pitcher." He's to the left of the kid in the pitcher's position. The kids have all figured out that being in one of these three spots, or first base, is where you get the ball the most. I filmed a bunch of the other team's kids batting, but none ever went Buddy's way. And the kid in the pitcher's position, is probably the best fielder on the team, so Buddy didn't have much of a chance anyway.


At bat again.


The end of the last game.



Lining up behind the coach to high five the other team.


Go Yankees!!

T-Ball Team Pictures

Yesterday was team picture day. I didn't really want to pay $13 just for a 5x7 team picture (or much much more for all the different picture package options) and was planning on trying to slyly sneak a picture. Luckily, I wasn't the only mom with a camera out, and the professional photographer actually moved out of the way and let all the moms get some shots.


Top: Coach Dave, Ryleigh, Buddy, Jillian, Liam, Ian, and Carsten.
Bottom: Ryan, Sam, John, Joshua, and Matthew.
Not Pictured: Morgan and Julian