Football Practice

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was around 56 degrees walking the boys to school today.  It was a bit chilly but I'd rather than the really hot temperatures.

When we got home, Rachel went for a run.  She came home, showered, and then had a hair appointment.

I met Rachel at Wholy Bagel when she was done.  Then she continued her busy day and drove up to HomeAway to go to a meeting with Aaron up there.

She and Deborah stayed at the Domain and saw a movie there.

I picked Noah up from school.  Evan went home with Wade.

After I finished working, I took Noah to football practice.  He had a good flag pull and he also caught a pass.  Overall, he had a good practice.

Rachel picked up Chinese food on the way home for dinner.  I picked Evan up.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Lots of Construction

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Yesterday, construction started outside of our house.  Google is installing fiber in our neighborhood so we can get Google Fiber.  They have drilled two large holes right out in front of our house.  We signed up for Google Fiber so as soon as they finish installing the fiber lines in the neighborhood, we'll get that.  What that means, is we'll start getting a gigabit/sec download and upload speeds.

We walked to school today and then went to CG.  It's been somewhat easier with the colder weather but we did one exercise that was really difficult today.

Both Rachel and I stayed home.  For part of the day, it was impossible to leave our house with the construction right out in front.

We walked to get the kids.  Neither boy had practice today.

Rachel tutored in the afternoon.

We had leftover pork for dinner.

The boys are about to get ready for bed.

Until next time...

Not as busy

This morning we walked to drop the kids off at school.

We did not have CG today.

I got some things done at home and later met Deborah to take a little walk.  There's a trail behind a shopping center nearby.  We walked for about 30 minutes.

I came home and then Morry and I walked to pick up the boys from school.

Evan had baseball practice from 5:30-6:30.  Noah wanted to go with them.

They got back around 7pm and we made dinner.  We had steak, salmon, and corn on the cob.

The kids are getting ready for bed now.

Late Night

We walked to school this morning.

After dropping off the kids we went to CG.  Today was Fight Gone Right.  It was basically a fitness test.  We had 5 exercises to do for one minute each.  We kept track of how many reps we did of each exercise.  For the test, we had 5 sets of the 5 exercises with a 1 minute break in between.   So, 5 minutes of rotating exercises followed by a one minute break.  Then, repeat that 4 more time. It was pretty rough today.

I took it easy today after that.  I was pretty tired.

Morry went into Aaron's.

I left to tutor around 2:15.  I picked Noah up from Grandma and Papa's on my way home around 7:30.

Morry and Evan went to baseball practice from 7:30-9:30.

They are on their way home now.

Noah is in bed.

We all had a busy day today.

Workout in the rain

This morning it was raining pretty hard so we drove the kids to school.

Camp Gladiator was moved to another nearby park so that we could meet under a pavilion.  We still got a little wet.  There were a lot less people there today.

I took care of things around the house today.

We were able to walk to pick up the boys from school.  Evan and Noah were in good moods.

We went to HEB around 5pm to get groceries for the week.

Morry left to go to dinner at Hula Hut for a friend's birthday.

The boys and I ate at home.  I made scrambled eggs for them and I ate leftover pizza.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Long Weekend of Baseball and Reunion

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan's team scheduled a tournament in Mansfield, TX this weekend which is due south of Arlington, TX in the DFW area.   They requested late games but they got scheduled for the first two games of the morning on Saturday morning.  So Evan and I drove up on Friday night.  Another boy from the team drove up with us too.  Evan has played on one team (basketball) with him before and played against him all throughout flag football and rec baseball.  They have known each other a long time.

Noah had a flag football game on Saturday, so Rachel and Noah stayed home on Friday night.

Evan's team won the first game on Saturday morning and lost the second game.  Evan came in to calm down the pitching in the second game.   He induced three easy ground balls in about 6 or 7 pitches.  He looked terrific.

All afternoon the boys from the team ran around the hotel together.  They really bonded.  Somehow our room became the meeting place.  Every two seconds there'd be a knock at the door and kids would come in - some kids would leave.  They had a blast.

Noah had a good first game of flag football.  He was able to pull a flag which is good.  I'm sorry that I was not able to see him play.

Rachel and Noah drove up after his game.  It was Rachel's 20 Year Reunion from high school.  The class was having a party in downtown Dallas.  Rachel got ready at the hotel and then went to that.  Evan, Noah and I joined the other families for a team dinner.

We had another 5:45am wake up this morning because Evan had to play then.  Evan's team won the first game.  Evan played well, but didn't have many fielding opportunities.  His team played again at 11:30.  Rachel and Noah were able to see the end of the game.

Rachel left to go home before the second game started.

The second game was delayed due to lightning and thunder in the middle of the second game.  When the game resumed, Evan came in and played first base for the first time in his select baseball career.  He was involved in two of the outs that inning.  His team won that game.

They moved onto the semifinals and they had a shortened game.  Due to all the rain delays they made the games be 45 minutes in length rather than an hour and a half.  Evan's team unfortunately lost.  Evan, Noah, Evan's teammate Reid who came up with us, and I drove home.

We picked up dinner at Via 313 and ate when we got home after 8pm.

The boys are in bed.

Until next time...

No Sports Today

We walked to school and then went to Camp Gladiator.

Later in the morning Morry got a hair cut and I met Deborah at Starbucks.

I stopped at HEB on my way home.

We walked to get the kids from school.

I left to tutor.

When I got home we had dinner.  Morry grilled a pork tenderloin and corn on the cob.

The kids will be getting ready for bed soon.

Mid Week

We walked like usual to school.

Since we didn't have Camp Gladiator today, I took it easy at home.  I got some stuff done around the house and on the computer.

We walked to pick up the kids from school.

Evan had baseball practice today.

Morry and Evan got home around 7pm.

While we were getting dinner ready, the boys walked around outside playing Pokemon Go.

We had burgers for dinner.  

The kids are getting ready for bed now.

Separate Dinners

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning Lizzy got to see her buddy, Brody.  Lizzy is always hyper after seeing her dog friends.

We had another intense class with Camp Gladiator.  What made it tough was it was 85% humidity.  The moment you started to work out, you started to sweat.

I worked from home all day.  Rachel left around lunch time to do pilates.  From there, she went to tutoring.

I walked to pick up the boys.  We didn't stay home for long before we need to leave for Evan's baseball practice.  We dropped Noah off with Grandma and he ate dinner with her.

Evan had a good baseball practice.  They really learn quite a bit at these practices.  They do not waste any moment during practice.

Rachel went to dinner at Whole Foods in the Domain with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls.

Evan and I stopped at Raising Cane's for dinner on the way home.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Burning Calories

This morning we walked to school and then went to Camp Gladiator.

This week is interval week.  We did a lot of sprints and weight work in between.  We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the workout.  I think this was the hardest one so far.  It's still hot and humid out, so that makes it seem even worse.

We walked again to pick up the boys from school.

Evan and Noah were outside this afternoon playing Pokemon Go.

Noah had football practice from 5:30-6:30.

When Morry and Noah got back we all went to HEB.  We did our shopping and picked up food for dinner.  Morry and Evan got pizza.  Noah had a sandwich made, and I got a shrimp meal from the Cafe on the Run.

The kids ate their dinner while we put groceries away.  They will get ready for bed soon and then we can eat our dinner.

Sunday Game

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The third game in the tournament Evan is in was at 11:30am this morning.  We had to be there at 10:15 which meant we need to leave by 9:15.  We did stop at Donut Taco Palace in the morning.

Again, I was impressed with the way the team warms up.  It reminds me of what I see at Spring Training.

In these tournaments, you are allowed to play everyone on your team.  So for example, if you have 11 players, you can bat all 11 players.  In the field, 9 players play with two on the bench, but you can openly substitute.  If you pull someone out of the game, they are eligible to come in.  Or you can choose to play like real baseball with 9 people batting and playing and 2 people off the bench.  Any time someone comes out of the game, they can not return.  The team Evan is on played it that way today.  Evan started the game on the bench.  His coach told him that one of the reasons was he wanted Evan to be able to come in to pitch.  Sure enough, in the bottom of the second, I saw Evan out in the bullpen warming up.  He came in to pitch the bottom of the third.  He wasn't quite as accurate as yesterday but he was pitching well.  The umpire was definitely squeezing him.  But Evan maintained his composure and really did well, I thought.  It seemed to me the coaches were very impressed.

You can follow all of Evan's games live using GameChanger - http://www.gamechanger.io.  It's like ESPN GameCast.  If you are interested in following along to see how Evan and the rest of the team is doing, let me know and I'll email you think link to see it.

Evan got to bat in the top of the 4th.  He lined out to right when the right fielder made a great catch.  It was a good at-bat.  Unfortunately the team lost 5-3.

On the way home, we stopped at New York-style pizza place and got pizza for our long drive home.

We had to do our normal Sunday routine stuff when we got home.  Evan and Noah cleaned up.  Rachel made lunches for the week and I dealt with the litter.

For dinner, Grandma and Papa came over and we had hamburgers.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Back on the Field

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan had his first tournament as part of TRPD this morning.  He had to be in Taylor at 8:30 this morning.  It's about an hour away so we left at 7:15 which would give us a bit of time to stop at Donut Taco Palace.

The warm up on TRPD is quite intense.  They hook up bands to stretch their arms.  They have to do a whole series of exercises and stretches to get ready.  They also bring wrist/ankle weights to help loosen up their arms.

In the first game, the team was losing 6-0 and the opposing team had runners on second and third.  I didn't find this out until later, but Evan told the coaches he was a closer.  So they brought Evan in to get out of the inning.  He quickly got ahead 0-2 on the batter.  Then he threw a change up to get strike three.  TRPD scored 4 in the top of the next inning and Evan came back out.  He got three quick outs throwing all strikes with the exception of just 3 balls.  If you ask Evan, they were all strikes and there were three bad calls.  Unfortunately there was not enough time to start the next inning so they lost 6-4.  I think everyone felt that if we had gotten another inning, we would have won.

In the second game, Evan played some outfield and third base.  He knocked down a hard shot at third base but unfortunately over threw the first baseman.  He had a couple nice plays in the outfield.  Evan has some room to improve in hitting and fielding, but overall it was a good first day.  Evan had fun.

Noah drove with Evan and me in the car.  He had come up with Rachel.  We stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home and got Slurpees.

For dinner, we went to Evangeline's Cafe.  The food was good, but the service seemed slow.

Evan plays again at 11:30 tomorrow morning.

Until next time...

First Football Practice

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We didn't have a Camp Gladiator camp after dropping the kids off from school.  We were able to just go home.

I worked from home all morning long.  Then Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.

We only got Noah from school today.  Evan went home with Wade.

In the late afternoon, Noah had his first flag football practice.  He really seemed to enjoy it.  The coach had each kid trying all the positions out.  Noah threw the football as quarterback a few times.  He hiked the ball as a center and he went out as a wide receiver.  He also played defense and was able to deflect a pass.

Rachel picked Evan up from Wade's and took him to get his hair cut.  Then they went to Costco.

Noah and I met them after Costco and we went to Torchy's to get dinner.  Torchy's was moving very slow and said it would take 25-30 minutes to get the food to us.  Rachel needed gas and she needed to get the food from Costco home.  So she left.  The boys and I went to Redbox to get a movie.  Then we came back and it still took another 25 minutes to get our food.

We came home and ate.  Now the boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Family Fitness Night

We walked to school and then Morry and I went to Camp Gladiator.

I stayed home today.  Morry went out to get a smoothie.

We walked to school to pick up the boys.

I tutored this afternoon.

When I got home at 6:30, we all got in the car and went to the school.  They were having a family fitness night.   They had various stations with games and activities that the kids rotated around with their grade.  Both boys had a good time.

For dinner we had leftover corned beef.

The kids are getting ready for bed now.

More Baseball Practice

This morning we walked to school and Lizzy got to see Brody (the dog).

I stayed at home today.  Morry went to Aaron's for a little bit.

We walked to pick up the boys.  Noah was invited to Jude's house, so he rode home with them.

Morry and Evan went to baseball practice from 5:30-6:30.

I picked up Noah from Jude's around 5:30.

For dinner we had corned beef.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Check Ups

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning while dropping off the boys, Lizzy got to see her friend Brody.  Brody is another golden retriever.  They hadn't seen each other since last school year.  Rachel said that Lizzy perked up when she saw Brody from far away.

Rachel and I then went to Camp Gladiator.  So far, we have perfect attendance for the session.

Rachel went to Whole Foods for a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch.

I picked up the boys early from school.  They had their annual check ups.  Both boys are very healthy.  Evan is 4' 8" and 75 pounds.  Noah is 4' 1" and 52 pounds.  Evan is slightly above average in both height and weight in terms of percentile while Noah is on the low end for both.  They also got flu shots.  Both boys behaved well and it went very smoothly.

Both Evan and Noah went to Grandma and Papa's shortly after we got home.  Rachel dropped them off on her way to tutoring.  I picked up Evan a bit later as he had to go to baseball practice.  I brought him home and he ate dinner, and then we went to practice.  Noah ate dinner with Grandma (Papa had a meeting).

Evan did well at practice.  They had a relay race at the end.  Evan ended up being the anchor for his team and they won.  The losers had to, one-by-one, tell each member of the winning team that they were "the cutest baseball players ever."  All the boys were all laughing at all of this.

We are home now and the boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Monday Night Football

This morning we walked the kids to school and then went to Camp Gladiator.

We walked again in the afternoon to pick up the kids.

We were at home the rest of the day.  The kids played outside some this afternoon.

For dinner we made Buffalo chicken bites in the oven.  It was a frozen meal from Tysons.

Morry and the boys watched the Steelers game on TV.

Now, the boys are getting ready for bed.

Here are some pictures from the race yesterday.  I guess, I'm not really supposed to post these, since they want you to buy them.

Fit Family

This morning we got up early and did the Brain Power 5k.  We left the house around 7:15am.  The 5K race started at 8:40.  All of us ran.  Evan ran up ahead, but I could still see him most of the time.  He finished with a time of 31 minutes and 40 seconds.  He came in second place for girls ages 10 and under.  Yes, I said girls.  A friend of mine gave us their race number since they couldn't go.  I looked up the results and figured out Evan would have still been in second place for boys his age.  Noah did well too, he finished with a time of 40 minutes 27 seconds and was 8th in his age group.

After running we walked around the booths for a little bit.  The race benefited the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation for Brain Cancer.  Marnie was the sister of a friend of mine.  I saw her mom there, so I went to say hello.  She seemed very happy to see us and gave us some Run for the Rose t-shirts.

After that, we met Aunt Susan for brunch in at Cafe Java.  We had a nice time.

Evan and Morry went to a baseball scrimmage from 1pm - 4pm.  Noah and I went home.

At home, I was busy cleaning and getting stuff ready for the week.  Noah and I also played a game of Monopoly.

For dinner we went to Grandma and Papa's house.  Papa picked up Rudy's for us.

The boys are getting ready for bed now. We all had a long day.

Here are some pictures.

Morning Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, we met Josh and his dad at Oak Hill to play baseball.  Josh's dad talked to Coach Chris last night and Coach Chris met us there as well.  The boys worked out together for about an hour.  Then Evan worked for about 10 minutes on robbing home runs because he wanted to.  Chris taught him how to feel for the fence.

On the way home, we stopped and got smoothies at Smoothie King.

After lunch, Rachel met a student to tutor her.

When she got home, Rachel, Evan and I walked to the school and Evan played with the football on the field for a bit.

For dinner, we went to Tarbouch.  The boys ate really well.  We had to get a second order of the beef kabobs for the boys.

On our way home, we stopped at HEB and got food for the week.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Grand Opening

This morning we walked the kids to school.

I was invited to the grand opening of the Soft Surroundings store here in Austin.  I brought Salina with me.  When we arrived, at about the time the store was opening, the line was around the corner.  They were giving away a free swag bag to the first 100 people.  Since we were on the media list we didn't have to wait in the line and got our own swag bags that were reserved for us.  It was a nice store, but we were by far the youngest people there.  There were lots of gray haired women and many walkers and canes - I'm not exaggerating.  The store is sort of like a Chico's or Coldwater Creek.  There were a lot of casual, comfortable, flowy types of clothing and some home accessories and beauty products.  They had champaign and macarons too.  Salina and I had a nice time.  We got a tour and one of the makeup consultants put some mascara and lip gloss on us.

On my way home I picked up the race packets for the Brain Power 5k on Sunday.

Morry got bagels for us while I was gone and we both got home around the same time.

We walked to get the kids and then Evan went to Wade's.  They later went to an indoor trampoline place.

For dinner, we ate at home and then went to the Food Trailer Night.  The only dessert they had was ice cream truck type popsicles, so we decided to go somewhere else for dessert.

We walked back home.  On the way home we chatted with some neighbors who were outside.

We ended up going to Cow Tipping Creamery for dessert. It was good, but Noah didn't eat much of his.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Here are some pictures from today.

What we did today

This morning we walked to school.

Shortly after getting home Morry and I left for Camp Gladiator.  It's still going well.

I stayed at home today.  Morry ran out to get a smoothie.

We walked to pick up the kids from school.

I tutored this afternoon.

While I was gone Morry took the boys to Play it Again Sports.  They got a new/used bat for Evan and some football mouth guards.

For dinner we had burgers and potatoes.

Soon, we'll get the boys ready for bed.

Very Busy Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today seemed like a busy day.  After taking the boys to school, I took my car into the dealership for it's 20,000 mile checkup/oil change.  As soon as I got back from that, I had a conference call.  After that I had a follow up call with Aaron and Mandy.

While I was on the conference call, Rachel went out and met Deborah for lunch and they went on a hike.

Shortly after Rachel got home, we went to get the boys from school.

I took Evan to baseball practice later in the afternoon.   Evan was able to do all his homework in the car to and from practice.

We had dinner as soon as we got home.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

What day is it?

Today the kids went back to school after the holiday weekend.  We walked, like usual.

Morry and I went to Camp Gladiator.  It was good.

Morry took Grandmom to the airport and then went to Aaron's.  

I went to pilates at 1:00.  Grabbed a quick coffee with a few women from the class, and then went to tutor.

While I was gone, Morry picked up the kids from school.

He dropped off Noah at Grandma and Papa's house around 4pm.  Then, he and Evan went to baseball practice.  They are still gone.  They will get home around 9pm.

Noah had dinner with Grandma and Papa.  I walked to pick him up around 7:15pm.  He had a good time there and beat Grandma at Monopoly.  

Noah is ready for bed now.

Weekend of Grandmom

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Saturday around lunchtime, Grandmom came in.  We got to see Matt and Rachael and the kids that afternoon.  Evan had an event for TRPD at Jumpstreet which is a trampoline place.  He had a good time.

Yesterday, the boys convinced Grandmom to go to Top Golf.  We were able to play two games there which was something new.  We had a good time.  All of us played well, though Grandmom just cheered us on.

In the evening, we watched the Texas-Notre Dame game on TV.

Today, we took Grandmom to Alamo Drafthouse for her first time.  We saw the movie Pete's Dragon.  Rachel had already seen it so she didn't come.  Both boys liked it but it seemed Evan really enjoyed it.

For dinner, we made fajitas on the grill along with corn on the cob.  Deborah, Grandma and Papa came over.  For dessert, Rachel made chocolate chip cookies.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Caught in the Rain

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Jack did not walk with us this morning.  He and his family are in Houston.  Poor Lizzy did not see any of her dog friends.

Rachel and I went to Wholy Bagel at lunch.  They were out of most bagels, but there were a few we could get to eat.

Evan went home with Wade.  He was supposed to go to Wade's last week but he was sick.  We still went to school to get Noah.

Before going to dinner, we picked up Evan from Wade's.  Apparently they had been outside doing "trick shots" and got caught out in the rain when the skies opened up.  Evan had to borrow Wade's clothes.

We went to Freebirds for dinner.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Back to School Night, Part 2

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Lizzy got to see her pal, Tucker this morning.  Tucker was really pulling his owner to get to Lizzy.

We stayed home most of the day.  I had to run out to ship Evan's baseball bat back to the manufacturer.  When he hit a ball on Tuesday, he cracked his aluminum bat.  Because I was out, I stopped at Smoothie King and got a smoothie.

After getting the boys, Rachel left to tutor in the afternoon.

I walked the boys to Grandma and Papa's and went to the school for Evan's Back to School Night.  Rachel came straight there from tutoring.  Evan has three teachers.  I liked his homeroom/math teacher the most.  All three seemed nice.

We picked up the boys on the way home.  They were very hyper.

They are in bed now.

Until next time...