Take me out to the ball game

Take me out to the ball game.
Remember how in May I mentioned the boys played tball in March? Now that it's August I thought I should let you see pictures of opening day.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks.

The boys had a splendid season. They had a little trouble transitioning from hitting a pitched ball to hitting off the "T". Seemed silly to me to practice the "pre" skill when you already know how to do it right, but on the other hand, they needed the confidence in "tball" more than they needed lifelong skill.
I don't care if I never come back.
Cause it's root root root for America's Game.
It took me a while to find our team name on the roster. I thought "America's Game" described the whole sport, not just our team. No wonder we were the favorite. (The tball version of the Dallas Cowboys).
If they don't win, well that's impossible.
1st week: Mom, who won? You both did. You mean it was a tie? Sure.
2nd week: Mom, who won? You both did? It was a tie AGAIN? Sure.
How do you explain to competitive kids why the league won't keep score in tball?
For it's 1-2-3- strikes, no one strikes out, at the old ball game.
Tackler especially was EXTREMELY upset to be forced to a stop at first when he could clearly have made a homerun. Ah, some day the rules will catch up to them.

Stay tuned for football - and the disappointment that abounds when the no tackling rule is explained.

First TBall Practice

On a blustery day in March the boys started Tball. Unfortunately, their very disappointed dad had to work so I was charged with taking the camera and recording every precious moment.
Here are the warmups:

...I'm sure warmups aren't supposed to be "cute" but it was so darling watching all the 5 year olds follow the coach across the field with big strides, hops, prancing (I don't think the coach was prancing but some of the 5 year olds were, mine included).

Here is batting practice:

Both boys made homeruns. The fact that a couple bases were inadvertantly missed was glossed over. They were both VERY thrilled with their homeruns and VERY VERY upset when they found out in tball games only the last batter of the inning gets to make a homerun. The rest have to stop at first base. Life isn't fair for us competitive folk when they make sports "fair" for all players.


The video shows all the rest of the details. Please excuse the whiny baby in the background - it was cold and windy and I felt like whining too. The accompanying song was chosen because all the other kids go to our neighborhood school and it took the coach about 5 minutes to understand that they are in kindergarten this year but homeschooled. In my boys' 5 yr old confused and confusing explanations, he drew every other possible conclusion first. To his credit he pursued the puzzle rather than saying Whatever.

Harlem Rockets Rock

Our town had a fun event last month. The Harlem Rockets played the Responders. For the uninitiated, the Rockets are like the Harlem Globetrotters. Um, but not. The Responders is a rag tag collection of police and fire personnel from our town. The game was a LOT of fun. We walked in, braved our way through the mob and to our shocked delight, found the boys' cousins at the game. We got front row seats which meant lots of sweaty attention from the star of the game.
Pretty Girl, whose trademark is getting really silly when she's tired, made the most of her front row seat and almost made it onto the court at least half a dozen times.
In the end, of course, the Rockets won, which led to teary disappointment from two overly tired boys. It took us most of the trip home to convince them the Rockets were just an amazingly talented team and the Responders held their own. ...I don't want to make you think they are competitive or anything. For that you'll have to wait for me to blog about THEIR sports seasons that recently started.