All Star Sectionals

Michaela's All Star team played their All Star Sectional games Saturday, July 12th. They were scheduled to play two double header games...

GAME 1: Started at 10 am. Michaela caught the whole game and did an awesome job but they lost 7 - 0. The girls just couldn't get a hit off of their pitcher. They held them at 0 - 0 until the 4th inning and then Niceville started scoring. You wouldn't believe the size of those girls...HUGH! Our girls looked liked midgets! Game ended about 12:30 pm.

GAME 2: Started at 2:30 pm. Michaela played in center field and really didn't have much to do. The ball never made it her way. Jeff had to umpire their game (see above picture) and even had to "punch" Michaela out. The girls lost the game 11 - 1 in the 5th inning.

We are really proud of all of the

"FORT WEST ROADRUNNERS".

They played hard!

Family Addition

Several days before school got our Kelly's 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Harvey came to my office and asked me if we would like to take home one of the class goldfish. "Sure" I said...how much trouble could a goldfish be and it would make Kelly so happy. So off we went to Walmart to buy supplies...goldfish bowl, colored glass for the bottom and food. Kelly renamed the fish Captain Hook (had to keep going with our Peter Pan theme!) So far Hook has survived. His bowl has to sit on top of our refrigerator so that Wendy won't get him.

4 weeks and counting until another awesome family vacation!

Every other year my side of the family gets together for a vacation. We have been camping in North Carolina a couple of times and last time we met at my brother's camp in Pennsylvania (a.k.a. Mudville Lodge). We had an awesome time (15 people and 6 dogs!) with no running water, no electricity and an outhouse. We went swimming in the creek, played at the beach at a local State Park, went 4-wheeling and got really muddy! We had a BLAST!

Only 28 days and our family will be meeting up with my parents and brother & sister's families...15 people and 2 dogs! Wow! We have rented a house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week. Each adult couple has their own bedroom and the boys and girls each have their own. We also have a pool, 6 person hot tub, and aren't too far from the beach. What a step up from our last trip. I just hope we have as much fun...I'm sure we will. I am looking forward to spending the afternoons on the beach and checking out the local attractions. Madie is looking forward to getting a henna tattoo.

On our way up we will be taking a ferry ride from the mainland to Ocracoke Island. It's about a 2.5 hour ride (only $15 for us and the car...bargain!) and then we will travel up the Outer Banks checking out the sites on our way up to Corolla. Can't wait!!!

Happy 4th of July and Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Nana!!!

We spent a wonderful 4th of July down at my Mom's...the 4th is also her birthday so we had lots to celebrate. She made a wonderful lunch for us...BBQ ribs, potato salad, martian food, 4-bean salad and bread. We ate downstairs in the screened in room and then Mom and I sat around and talked for hours.

Kelly found the festive headband and decided to stick it on Moose. Believe it or not he just left it alone. Of course we had to grab the camera and take a few pictures and then it was Oso's turn and then we finally got Nana in on the fun.

Kelly and Abuelo also played horseshoes in the back yard for a long time.

We took the kids down to the beach late that afternoon and then played for a little bit. Kelly loved looking for shells and treasures. He knows that his Abuelo has found old pieces of pottery. He found a piece and asked his Abuelo if it was old and Abuelo told him it was modern. Later he asked me what modern was and I said "new". He replied, "while why didn't he just say new!"

Finally we sang "Happy Birthday", ate some of Mom's yummy chocolate cake, watched her open her presents and then the fireworks.

All Star District Pictures

I picked up the pictures from the photographer yeterday and he got some really good pictures of Michaela and I thought I'd share them. There are 3 pictures at the end of the slide show that show her amazing catch. Enjoy.

My love of giraffe

I was looking thru some old pictures and decided I was going to start blogging about some of them so periodically check in to see what I've found...you may be in one of the pics too.

The top 2 pictures were taken May 5, 1970 at the Kansas City Zoo. I was only 15 months old. My Dad is holding me while we are feeding the giraffe. Look at his tongue wrapped around my little hand. I think these are probably some of my favorite photos and always make me smile when I see them. The one below is one of my favorite "famous" pictures. I wonder how many pictures the photographer happened to snap just to get that one special moment.

Road Trip

We decided to take a quick little road trip over to Destin for a little shopping (and we were also going to go check out some of the other softball teams but didn't make it...oh well!). We got lots of new clothes for our upcoming trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina...only 30 days till we are there!!! We also took a little time out from shopping to eat at a local seafood restaurant...great shrimp! It was nice spending the day together as a family.

All Star Game #2

What a game! The girls started out in kind of a slump and let the Woodville girls get 6 runs in on them but then they started making their come back. By the end of the 4th the score was 7 - 13 and we were ahead. We thought it was funny that Michaela #13 was the 13th run! At the top of the 5th it started to rain and they had the girls continue to play. We walked 2 girls and then they call it because of lightning. After standing around and waiting for a decision it was finally decided that we would play at 2pm at our park...the field that we had been playing on was under water.

Fast forward to 2pm...We start back at the top of the 5th, 2 girls on base and no outs. Let's just say the wheels fell off for a little while and they let Woodville score 5 runs. Ugh! The score was now 12 - 13. Our girls get up but were unable to score any runs. Nail biting time! Stomachs churning! Hope the girls don't feel this way too! Top of the 6th...1st batter up strikes out! Next 2 get on base and then it's time for the play of the game...Their batter hits a screamer right down the center (I must admit we all thought that's it, it's right in the hole and out into center field and they are going to score 2 more runs and then we will behind!). It was not to be! Yes, our Michaela, who was playing 2nd, reaches...(oh no, it's a little to high)...stretches...(there's no way she is going to get it)...jumps and snags the ball!!! Holy cow, she did it!!! She told me later that she didn't think she had gotten it either and it took several seconds and a look in her glove to realize that she had actually caught the ball. (I was too busy being a mom to take a picture but I am hoping the professional photographer that was there got it and I will post it later.) 2nd out. The next batter up hits a pop fly to the shortstop who caught it and that was the game! District Champs! It was really kind of cool that the girls got to run the flag around their park for a victory lap.

Now it's back to practicing every night and getting ready for sectionals. They will be at our park on the 11th. Wish them luck!