Summer T-Ball--Jack 2013

Jack was old enough this year to join Rochester Youth Baseball! He played "Kinderball" on the Premier Bank team.

He had a blast.  And, if I do say so myself, he was quite good!  His coaches were wonderful and he made some little friends.  His best friend, Ryan, was also on his team.

This picture was taken by one of the parents on the team.  He had a fancy camera, and was clearly an amazing photographer!  He took action shots of each kid and then blew them up to 8 x 10 for each child's family!

Jack got the coach's game ball the first game because he had some good plays.  He was pretty excited about that. Each kid got the game ball at least once!  Jack got it twice!

Jack's favorite positions to play were "pitcher," catcher and first base!  I say "pitcher" because they actually hit off a tee, but there was someone in that position pretending to pitch, but then most of the balls would come to that position.  The picture below is when he was playing catcher.

Almost every day on the way to t-ball, Jack would fall asleep in the car! He was tuckered out from VBS or Quarry Hill Camp or swimming all afternoon!

And, of course, each game and practice meant antics from the little brother!

We're already looking forward to baseball next summer.  Next year it's "coach pitch."

Luke's two-wheel bike

Luke wanted to be just like his big brother and start riding a two-wheel bike.  Lucky for us, we have several bikes of all sizes.  Luke got right on and after a couple practice tries, he's taken off! Jack never started riding a two-wheel bike when he was two!  I think he was three, and then he was off of training wheels by 4 1/2.  I guess it pays to be the younger brother who's trying to keep up with his big bro!  Go Luke!

Twins Game

Grandpa Jim got us sweet seats to the Twins game in May.  We chose to go in May so it wouldn't be too hot.  Unfortunately we went a week or two too early because just weeks later, Jay's cousin, Caleb Thielbar, got called up to the Twins as a pitcher!  That would have been so cool to see him play.  We'll have to get to another game this season, cause he's playing quite a bit! We had four seats right behind home plate.  We invited Heidi to come along and then took Jack!

A May Snowstorm for the Record Books! (15 inches)

May 2nd, 2013--the first snow day in May I've ever experienced as a student or as a teacher in my 30 years living in MN!  It was a sight to see.  It was our 6th snow day this school year and it was the worst one by far.  The craziest part was that we didn't even see it coming.  The weather was reporting "snow on grassy areas" for Rochester! I woke to the text saying school was canceled and I was in true disbelief!

Jay had to go to work, naturally.  He went out to shovel before he left and then took off.  It wasn't until 15 minutes later that I realized he was stuck in the middle of our road!  It took our neighbor's help to get him out.  FOUR total cars tried to go to work that morning.  Every one got stuck.  This picture is of our neighbor, Dave's Prius.  It took them 45 minutes to get his car back into his driveway from the three houses he traveled!  He didn't end up leaving for work until a few hours later in his wife's  SUV! Plows didn't come through until 1 pm.  

We lost power for 3 and a 1/2 hours.  I was hearing that trees were breaking like crazy all over town and that's why we were losing power.  In our rather new neighborhood, I wasn't seeing that devastation.  It wasn't until my drive to work the next morning that I saw all the downed trees.

The boys played outside on and off all day.  They were soaking wet.  It was the heaviest, wettest snow I've seen!  They were making the best of the surprise May Snow Day, that's for sure!

 

Mind you, less than a week ago, we were at the MN Zoo and it was in the 70s!

 Today, May 5th, most of the snow has melted, though there are still some large piles.  It's shocking that 15 inches can melt in just 3-4 days!

Only in MN do you play in shorts and a t-shirt, eat a popsicle while sitting by a snow pile!

Let's hope this is really the end of the snow for the season.  It's been one LOOOOONNNNNGGG winter!

Spring Break Trip to KC with the boys! (and Easter)

Everyone thought I was crazy.  Crazy to travel all the way to Kansas City with two little boys.  I might have been a little crazy, but I had great confidence in the boys.  I was well prepared with hourly treats and little activities.  That worked well because Jack is so into telling time right now.  The trip to and from was basically a breeze (aside from my back, but that's another post).  Once we arrived in KC, it was easy peasy because there were three other little boys to play with and all sorts of adults!  We had a great time and really enjoyed the time at Brad and Geri's!  The boys were really well behaved.  We enjoyed nice weather, Easter, buggy rides and feeding the horses.  A boy's haven, for sure!

(Oops, looks like the pictures are in reverse order.  Oh well!)  It was warmer the first few days and chillier the last day.