Our life and stuff

Bittersweet

Our last tournament was this weekend.  I think we all had that same Bittersweet feeling.  It had been a long few months and I think we're all ready for a break, to catch up with life.    

On Saturday we won both games.  We finished the #1 seed allowing only 5 runs total.  That night we had our end of the season team party.  The kids (and parents) all had a blast! 

We watched a little slide show of the season.  Pictures of the kids, coaches, fans, siblings... remembering the fun times, great plays and the relentless heat of a summer playing in Chino Hills.  

Ironically I think we all froze this weekend.  It was maybe 50* but the chilling wind would go right through you.  (no comments from Kim on this one- I know 50* is not cold to you over in NY but we're not used to this sorta thing- K)  We still sat outside, cheered them on and chattered our teeth for them. 

Great hit AJ!                          

                      

Our Sunday morning game finished mid-inning, courtesy of the mercy rule.  We advanced to the Championship- undefeated thus far.  We seem to repeatedly crack on Sunday's - like last weekend and the tournament before that and the tournament before that one etc.  We've been to so many championship games, get so close and then it slips away.

Signs of a repeat were apparent.  We had faith in them but that sinking feeling was there... we were struggling early on.  Finally down 1-6 in the last inning... but we were HOME and had our last ups. 

 

This is the bittersweet part...

 

They battled back...  our last tournament and they finish 1st place! 

This is when we all started thinking 'let's do this every weekend'.

No better way to go out.

     

Presenting:  The 10&U SoCal Mavericks

(I can not believe we kept their award plaques in those terrible cardboard boxes for the picture.  And don't even get me started on why we sat there for the worst possible shadows EVER.)      

- I love these crazy kids -  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left the park to pick up our girl... 

 

The storm is rolling in and I can't resist a sunset picture.

 

:: A picture perfect ending to our weekend :: 

Today we practiced

Today Luke had practice with the team - the LAST tournament is this weekend. We had about 40 minutes of light so it was go.go.go.

We just watched...

like princesses...

Then it happened...

 

Do you see it?  This is not a filter or photoshop. 

It's called-  a broke down camera. 

You see... another piece fell out of the front of camera right after I took this picture:

 

It won't open or turn on or even play back. 

It is dead.  sniff sniff

 

So it was my turn to practice. 

I pulled out my phone and took some pictures.  

She had run off to find a few sticks - and returned with these...

 

Well lookie there...  my iphone ain't so bad.

 

 

I gave it some practice.  

I'm still buying a new camera the next chance I get.     

 

more baseball

 

The boys played again this last weekend... back to Big League Dreams

 

It was business as usual:  early wake-up calls, slurpee's with pizza at 9am and more lost little siblings.  There were tail-gate picnics following the nail-biting wins and even the disappointing loss.

 

 

 

Sydney cracks me up.  It is 6-something and she is snug and cozy under the covers.  I whisper, do you want to go Luke's baseball game?  She jumps up with a smile. 

 

I left the stroller in the car today - so she improvised and hopped aboard the rolling suitcase.

(Some consider this a baseball bag even though it is the size of walk-in closet)

  

 

 

We return on Sunday...

 

Our morning win advanced up to the Gold Bracket Semi-Championship

where we ... 

 

fell apart  

 

I used to take anywhere from 400-600 pictures over the baseball weekend.  Sydney would be getting lost or pee herself because I didn't take her potty.  I never sat and watched.  Then I would spend 8 hours mulling through jpegs, editing and emailing. 

I think I took about 120 pictures this time.  Sydney stayed clean (although she did disappear for a few minutes when she took $3 from my wallet and purchased her own slurpee in the restaurant).  I spent 30 minutes deleting or saving in a file and choosing a few of Luke to share with my family.  

 

this feels better 

  

 

our Weekend in Words

~ with pictures and even video... in no particular order ~

Well Surprise, Surprise... on Saturday and Sunday we were at the West Covina Big Leagues Dreams.  It went something like this- 

 

[  Luke: on-deck circle  ]

 

[ Luke: at bat  ]

 

[  Mavericks:  Stealing home for the winning run  ]

 

We returned on Sunday, it was freezing.  I felt horrible.  My throat is so sore.  I think it has something to do with those fires last week. 

Anyhow... the boys won their morning game and we had a lovely two hour break- so we decided to go feed these crazy hungry boys ~

 

A group of Pomona Firefighters - Company 185 were at the restaurant picking up some lunch as well.  They do things old school apparently, wooden ladders and all...

 

We played a familiar team the next game.  This time, in a reverse of fortune, they beat us with a steal at home.  It was kinda- in your face. 

Let me tell ya, not so fun to be on the other side.  And no, there is no video of defeat.  Oh well.. you win some you... _{you know}

 

 

On a personal note:  I got a haircut finally and replaced all this over the weekend.

 

Ironically I have no desire to style my new hair or make up my face with my fresh supply of MAC.

Instead, I'm off to make soup today...  chock'full of veggies, barley and garlic to help soothe everyone's sore, scratchy throat.

 

We capped off the weekend with the Mother-load of all Costco runs: 

    -the kind that require 2 carts; the back seat of the Suburban put down to hold the goods and approximately 75 minutes to haul in and put away. 

 

 

sunUP to sunDOWN

We were on the road by 7am...  it was a long day in Chino Hills.  

The beauty of playing all three games on Saturday is getting it over with in one day ...  did I just say that?

~ with lots of down time in between ~ 

 

The little ones though could care less and know no difference between 'game-time' and 'down-time'...

To them, anytime is the perfect occassion to visit the arcade, make an unsupervised trip to the playground, steal money from your mother's purse to buy a slurpee or hide = watching your mother have a panic attack over her lost child. 

Some of the little boys were naughty and did this... 

 

Sydney just runs away... one second she's there and then - (poof, she's gone)

(I spotted her in the clubhouse and took evidence of her escape)

 

 

Finally, yes I said it, finally 9 hours later... it was time to go home.  

 

 

 

 

We exit at the BIG A

and 2 minutes later...

We are HOME

 

They keep going and going...

 

Our BUSY Friday rolled into Saturday and it tooks it's toll.

We went to Boston, you know to play at Fenway:

 

It was hot, it was dirty, it was not pretty... we lost both games.

Then both kids fell asleep on the way home.  I was SO tempted to bring them in, lay them on towels and let them rest but they were FILTHY (think layers of sunblock, dirt, sweat and half their lunch).  I couldn't have it so I put them in a quick shower.  That, along with their power nap in the car was apparently all they needed to keep going!  We however were drained.

I fed everyone, Sydney spilled her soup.  Not just spilled, it flew-  down the wall, under the glass on the tabletop, covered the chair and her.  Remember, she WAS fresh from the shower.  PERFECT

I clean that up and sent everyone away.  I dozed off for a bit and woke to some noise from her room. 

My hopes of her napping with Daddy were met with surprise.  I take a peek in and it was even sweeter...

She made him cozy along with pillow, blankies, her other babies, even room service. 

A luxurious nap includes an eye mask and a crown don't you know.

I managed to get one picture and then she popped up- "Mommmm, what are you doing?  Don't wake up Daddy!!!!" (in a quiet yelling manner).

I found Luke too- he was out on the trampoline... where do they get this energy?  I laid back down.

 

Sydney wakes me again with an announcement from the kitchen - "I'm making a sandwich"

'Super' - I thought, another mess- I didn't care.

 

You know when sometimes 2 more minutes of rest seems worth it at that moment.  Then when it takes 20 minutes to clean up you reconsider.  I will never learn. 

Finally I wise up.  Here's what I walk in on...

 

 

  

 

Looks good to me. 

She will now be making dinner on Wednesday nights. 

 

.......

 

And just because that's the way life is.

Sydney and I slept in on Sunday while the boys went back to Boston for the final game.  OF COURSE.... because I wasn't there... we won. 

It was tied in the last inning and guess who stole home for the walk off run we needed to win???

Anyone???

It was the photo opportunity of the century... anyone???

 

YES- that's right, my son. 

I've taken 50 kajillion pictures at these stinkin' games... and I missed it.

 

Next time.. right?!? ... tell me there will be a next time.

 

 

Trying to keep up-

It's like groundhogs day around here this summer!  Each weekend it's either a baseball tournament or back to the river and the last 2 weeks were no exception...

August 9/10:

The boys are warming up EARLY in the morning - we played at Yankee Stadium all weekend!  The irony here is that the Angels were playing in NY this same weekend with the same game times...

(I know I said I was going to videotape this weekend and I did but I couldn't resist taking a few hundred pictures.)

August 16/17:

All ready for another beautiful day!  Lots of sun, swimming, jumping off the boat and relaxing.  Thanks for joining us Maddy, we loved having you with us!!

 

We decide to make our way to the channel at Moabi to find a nice beach spot and eat lunch.  First we drive through the protected nature preserve and red rock canyon- one of my all time favorite spots. 

Finally we pass Topock-Gorge... we're getting close- 

Here are 'the boys' riding up front as we speed under the railroad tracks -  

and here we are driving next to those tracks on our way home...

 

as we leave Arizona and return back to California!

 

We are HOME this weekend as we prepare for next week and the return to school- YAY!!

Season opener

With our Little League season and All-Stars finished up that means one thing = travel ball.  We had our season opener last weekend out in at the Big League Dreams in Chino Hills.  There was a LOT of baseball - 5 games in two days... one of which went 9 innings!  

They won their way to the championship game but lost - I think they were all pretty drained at that point.  Everyone had so much fun even though it was SO hot!! 

~Great job boys!!~

We are heading out there for another tournament this weekdend.  This time, my little helper will be staying behind with Auntie- thanks Melanie!!  She has a ton of fun at the games and would probably prefer to go with me.  BUT- she is all over the place and it scares me.   

I'm actually going to try and videotape it, I've been trying to do that more.  It will be weird to not have 600 pictures to sort thru on Sunday night- especially ones like this that just make my heart melt.    

{ GO MAVERICKS!! }

Stealing

My life pretty much revolves around Luke's baseball schedule.  He loves his travel ball team the Socal Mavericks. 

The kids and I left the house at 5:30am on Saturday morning to be on the fields in Hemet by 7 for a double header.  Everyone had a great day and we finished in first place with both games called in mercy.  Luke's favorite part of the game was the new rule with the 9 & under division...

He scored all three times that he was up and had a great time... definatley worth waking up before the sun and driving 160 miles!