June Equals Baseball

Greg is all about baseball.  He REALLY wants to play. The older kids had city ball every Tuesday night since school got out.  Then every Thursday night was Daddy's church ball.  And Greg watched. And wanted to play.  Really bad.  I have become his catching buddy. That's okay because I wanted to play too, and couldn't.

Nicole and Zach played on the little kids' team.  They were hilarious to watch. Grandma helped the team with their batting order and helmets.

 Here's a video of Nicole hitting.  She was the smallest girl on the team and it was fun to hear all the crowd giggle while she ran the bases.

For the first half of the season Nicole skipped third base every time.  She ran from first to second and then straight home.  I took this picture when she finally figured out that there IS a third base. Zach was a good little hitter but he was always too fast for me to get a good picture.

Zach is not a huge fan of fielding.

 

Nicole caught on to that after awhile too. She loved running to the ball and throwing it to first base.  (Notice the attentiveness of the other kids in the background. I love it.)

One of the weeks Ben and I had to be at his work party so we sent the kids to their baseball games with a babysitter.  (18 years old, my cousin, fully capable.) She was fabulous from what I heard, and Greg enjoyed having a little extra freedom. Apparently mud is not off-limits to a babysitter the way it is to Mom! No harm done. A friend took this cell phone picture of Greg and his buddy. It sounds like they were the true crowd-pleasers of the night.  And after two thorough baths, Greg still woke up the next morning with dirt rings under his eyes!

Jonathan played on the older team. He wasn't really into it this year. I think it's partly because they combined age groups so he was playing with boys up to 12 years old!  It was hard for him.  But he did his best and didn't quit.  Jonathan's favorite part of every game was the treat at the end. 

Come to think of it, that was Zach's and Nicole's favorite part of playing too.  Maybe next summer we'll skip baseball and just eat treats twice a week!  But I personally have a lot of fun memories from baseball this summer.  I'm glad we did it.  I think they are too.

The kids' city ball is all done and there's just two more weeks of church ball.  Our favorite is watching Daddy play with the adults. I wish I could play but obviously that's not safe for the baby. I have been coaching the coed youth team (ages 12-17) most weeks and that's been an adventure. I'm not a coach. But I am there trying - that seems to be the only requirement.  And I'm having fun. (Yes, I keep my belly behind the fence the whole time.) Tonight is our first tournament game and we'll see how that goes.

 

And as for Greg, he'll just keep practicing his baseball skills.  Next year, buddy!  You'll have your chance to play in a real game. You and me both.