Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Here's what we did the last few days.

Friday
The boys and I went to an indoor mini golf and laser tag place in Round Rock.   Then, we went to Charles Maund to sign the papers for the next 30 days for my car.

We ate at home for dinner and then walked to the food trailer night.  We didn't buy anything there.

Saturday
Evan had a birthday party to go to from 10-1.  While he was there Morry got new tires for his car.

I made challah.  I thought it would be something Noah and I could do together, but he preferred to play video games.

We ate an early dinner at TLC and then we to see the live musical, The Music Man.   It was very good.

Sunday
Morry and Evan met Evan's old coach, Chris at Oak Hill to play and practice baseball.

While they were gone I went for a run and then walked Chewie.

Shortly after getting home, Morry and Evan left to see Mission Impossible.  Noah already had plans later in the day to go to the movies with Jude.

Around 1pm I dropped Noah off at Jude's and they went to the afternoon showing of Mission Impossible.  After the movie, Noah went back to Jude's for a little bit.

I picked up Noah from Jude's and we all ate dinner at home.

The boys cleaned up and then we had dessert at Bahama Bucks.

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Camp, Camp, Camp, and Camp

We all went to camp today.

This morning Morry dropped off Noah at camp and then went to Camp Gladitor.

I stayed home since Evan was getting picked up for the middle school camp at 8:30.

At 10am I had a meeting at the Honda Dealer about possibly doing some social media for them.

Evan got home a little after 12.

Later in the afternoon Morry and Evan went to the baseball fields.

I picked up Noah from camp.  Then, I went to an evening class of Camp Gladiator.

When I got home we started making dinner.

We had grilled chicken and salad for dinner.

Soon, the kids will get ready for bed.

No New Food

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was raining hard when we got up so we drove the boys to the front of the school.  They had predicted a chance of rain, but I was still surprised to see how hard it rained.

Rachel took Grandma and Papa to the airport for a trip shortly after we got home.

Rachel and I had a phone meeting with Focus Forward.  After that we went to Wholy Bagel for lunch.

It had stopped raining earlier in the day so we were able to walk to school.

Evan and I had a parent/player meeting to kick off the spring season at TRPD.   The director of the organization spoke to the parents and Evan's coach talked to the team.  They got their goal books for the season.  Everyone on the team except for one boy is returning from the fall.  The "new" boy is not really new.  He played on the team last spring but took a break in the fall.  While Evan wasn't on the team in the spring, Evan knows the boy.  He played with Evan on the Marauders and they played against each other for years at Oak Hill.  It's nice to keep that consistency.

Evan went home with a boy from the team - Everett - after the meeting.  He'll be staying over Everett's tonight and go with Everett to practice tomorrow where I'll pick him up.

I stopped at Via 313 on the way home and got dinner for Noah, Rachel and me.  Noah seemed to enjoy having us to himself.

Until next time...

Mrs. Grandma

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We went to Camp Gladiator this morning after taking the kids to school.  Today was a bit different.  The normal trainer brought in a yoga instructor so it was a yoga session.  I knew the yoga instructor.  He was a trainer that had worked with Your Trainer to create all the videos and workout sessions.  We talked for a bit before class.  The class was good.

When we got home, Rachel went on a walk with Lorena.

I stayed home today.

Evan's teacher asked if either Rachel or Grandma would be willing to work with a few kids each week on advanced math.  It was opened up to all the kids in the class and those kids that were interested could do it.  Evan, of course wanted to do the advanced math.  So Grandma came into school today and worked with 12 of the kids from Evan's class.  Rachel joked about what Evan would call her.  She said that Evan should call Grandma, Mrs. Grandma.  Evan really enjoyed it.  He said he likes sixth grade math better than fifth grade math.

We picked up the boys from school and then Rachel left to tutor.

The boys and I went to Oak Hill.  I pitched to each boy in the batting cage.

We stopped at HEB on the way home to get some things.

For dinner we had flank steak.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Return to Wholy Bagel

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

It was a low-key morning as we didn't have anything going on.  I had a phone meeting at 10:30, but otherwise, we were home.

For lunch we went to Wholy Bagel.  We missed last week since Rachel and I went out to a different lunch for her birthday.

We stayed home for most of the afternoon.  In the late afternoon, Evan and I went to the Oak Hill baseball fields so he could try to hit more home runs.  He hit three this time.  Two were absolutely crushed.  He had a good time, but it was hot.

We then went to Costco to get a few things.  From there, we tried to find a place to eat dinner.  The place we were trying to go, Uncle Maddio's, apparently went out of business.  We didn't find out until we got there.  We ended up eating at Chipotle.

Then we went to Academy so Rachel and Evan could get more shorts.  We also got some socks and sliding shorts for the upcoming baseball season for Evan.  Evan and Noah had some gift certificates for Academy that they hadn't used so they got some stuff.

We are home now and the boys are about to get ready for bed.

Until next time...

Noah Without Evan

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning when I woke the boys up for camp, Evan said he didn't feel well and couldn't go to camp.  Given it's baseball camp and he loves going, I knew he must not have felt well.  I still picked up Wade, but just Noah went to camp.  I told Evan that if he felt better around lunch, I'd bring him out for the second half of the day.  Noah seemed to be ok going to camp without Evan.  He was talking to Wade in the car.  Noah also knows Josh well so there didn't seem to be any issue.

I worked from home all morning.  Around lunch time, I checked on Evan.  He said he didn't think he could go.  I asked if he wanted to come with me to get a smoothie at Smoothie King.  He agreed to do that.  He was very quiet on the way there.  On the way home, after he had had about 1/4 of his smoothie, he was suddenly alert and talkative.  He said that the smoothie was "really good" and it made him feel much better.  I think it's possible, even though he had an entire jug of water, two Gatorades and a juice box the day before, he still need some liquid and fruit in him.

When we got to the camp, Josh saw him first.  He yelled out "hey, Evan's here."  Just then, someone yelled out "Evan!" and then all the boys started chanting "Eh-van, Eh-van!"  Evan got a big smile.  Evan had told me on the way to camp how much he was learning at camp.  I talked to the coach and he said that Evan just absorbs everything.  He said he was able to pass on 10 years of knowledge to Evan in about 10 minutes.  He was just so impressed with him.  I thanked him and told him how much Evan loves baseball.

Rachel went to get the boys in the afternoon.  Both boys seemed to have fun.  Noah said camp was good the whole day.  He stuck with Josh mostly and Wade.  He really enjoys that camp.

I had promised Evan that we would go to Oak Hill to one of the coach pitch (smaller) fields so he could try to hit home runs.  So we went after I finished work.  Rachel and Noah went to the airport to get Grandma and Papa who had been in Seattle.  I threw about 70-80 balls to Evan.  He hit 6 home runs, 4 ground rule doubles, and hit the fence in the air between 15-20 times.  Evan was hitting a ton of line drives which I think is good.  The line drives were hitting the wall.  They had the distance but were just too low.  Evan was very happy.

We had leftovers for dinner.

Then Rachel, Lizzy and I went for a walk.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Science Fair Project

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Rachel and I both slept in this morning.  I had know idea how late it was.

Evan and I planned to do his science fair project today.  We needed longer tape measures.  Rachel called Uncle Marvin and went to his house to pick up two 100 foot tape measures.

After that we stopped by Grandma and Papa's.  Noah hadn't wanted to come with us so we dropped him off there and we then picked him up.

We had lunch and then Evan and I went out with Papa to the Oak Hill fields to do the experiment.  The experiment was to see what hit the ball farther - a wood bat or an aluminum bat.  I had found a wood bat that was the exact length and weight as Evan's regular aluminum bat.  The teacher wanted Evan to hit 50 balls of each.  The aluminum bat hit the ball farther significantly.

For dinner we went with Grandma and Papa to Texas Roadhouse.  It was very good.

We stopped by Ashley Home Store to look at couches afterwards.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Playing Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Everyone slept in a bit this morning - even Zayde.  We didn't have anything that we were supposed to do today.

For lunch we went to Whole Foods and each got our own things.

When we got home, we decided to go to the Oak Hill Fields to play some baseball.  I called Jack's dad and they said they would meet us.  When we got to the fields they were locked so we went to an elementary school nearby that has a backstop.  It was hard to field ground balls, but I pitched to both boys before Jack and his dad got there.  Zayde was able to watch the boys play.   When Jack got there, his dad pitched to the boys.  Evan and Noah both hit well.

Afterwards we stopped and got Slurpees.

We hung out at the house for a while before going to Johnny Carino's for dinner.

The boys are now showering.

Until next time...

Five Games of Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The morning got started early for Evan's baseball tournament.  It was a double elimination game today.  We stopped by Donut Taco Palace on the way to the fields and then got to the fields at 8:15 for a 9am game.

The Bucs won the first game.  In Evan's first at-bat he got hit by a pitch for the first time.  It hit him right in the back of the elbow.  He walked it off, took first and then stole second and third before scoring on a single.  The Bucs started fairly slowly but ended up winning.

In the second game, the team was much better.  It was 1-1 after two innings.  The Bucs didn't score in the top of the third and then the their pitching fell apart in the bottom of the third.

So we went into the loser's bracket and played another game.  In this game, Evan was crushing the ball.  He changed bats and seemed to find his confidence again.  The whole team started hitting.

So then the Bucs were in the finals.  If they won the game they'd have to play again to beat that team a second time.  If they lost it was over.  Again, they played the team very well.  Evan worked a nice walk after fouling off several pitches in his second at-bat that was really nice.  Unfortunately, the left-handed pitcher was able to pick him off.  He played a very good catcher again.  But the Bucs couldn't overcome another bad inning of pitching.  But after four games, they ended up as runner ups and got rings for it.

Evan and I jumped in the car and drove over to the Oak Hill fields for Noah's game.  Noah struck out in his first at-bat.  But in the second he fielded a ball and tagged a boy running to second for an out.  In his second at-bat he singled to knock in the fifth run of the inning.  Overall he did well but his team came up just a bit short.

We came home and had leftovers for dinner.

The boys are showered and in their rooms.

Until next time...

Marauders Tournament #2: Day 1

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The Marauders were in their second tournament of the spring/summer season today.  Our first game was not until 1pm followed by a 2:15 game.  We had to be at the fields by noon.  So we did nothing in the morning.  I put a movie on for the boys.  I just wanted them to relax.  Noah actually slept in until after 9am.

The tournament was at the Oak Hill fields where Evan plays during the regular season.  Because of that, when we pulled in, we saw quite a few people we knew.

In the first game, the Marauders came out very slow - especially hitting.  Well everyone not named Evan.  Evan batted second in the game and crushed a line drive to right.  It wound up a single as the outfielder kept it from going to the fence.  The second time Evan came up he had another hard hit line drive to the outfield for another single.  That kicked off a major rally and the team scored 7 runs to take the lead.  In the bottom half of the inning, the Marauders had to get three outs without giving up a run and were able to do it so the Marauders won their first game.

In the second game, again, the bats came out slowly.  The team that we played was better and they scored more runs in their half of the inning than the previous team.  In Evan's first at-bat, he hit a line drive down the third base line by foul.  The third baseman reached out as far as he could and somehow barely made the catch which was the only time Evan got out all day.  The next time Evan came up he doubled on a ball that rolled to the fence and wound up scoring.  Unfortunately, it was a little too late.  In the field, in the bottom of the last inning, Evan was playing second based.  He  moved to his right to back hand a ground ball.  It a little rock and shot up and hit Evan in the mouth - the same place he got hit 3 weeks ago at practice.  It wasn't as bad but his mouth was bleeding and he came out of the game.  He seems good now.

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

When we got home, I put on the movie Independence Day for the kids.  They seemed to like it.

We got Chinese food from China Dynasty delivered for dinner and then we got dessert at Sweet Caroline's.

The boys are in bed now.  We have a game tomorrow at 8am.

Until next time...

Nationals - Game 1

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was a normal morning.  Both boys were behaved and we went to school without incident.

Neither Rachel, nor I, had meetings or anything like that.  We stayed home most of the day.

Rachel and I picked the boys up from school.  It was very nice so we walked today.

I could not find Evan's red belt that he wears for the Nationals.  I looked everywhere.  So when I ran out to pick up his pants that were hemmed, I picked up a new red belt at Academy.

When I came home, we had dinner.  Then Rachel went to tutoring and Evan, Noah and I went to the Oak Hill fields for Evan's first game.

This was the first time either boy had a game at the Oak Hill fields since before the flood.  Their last game was on October 6 there.  We were excited to go out and play.

Evan led off the game with a hit.  Unfortunately, he did not the first run as he was forced at third.  In the second inning on a ground ball up the middle, Evan came over from shortstop and fielded the ball in front of second base and threw a bullet on the run.  It was a really nice play.  In the third inning, Evan was playing left center.  There was a boy on first.  There was a pop up that dropped into shallow right center.  Evan raced up fielded the ball and saw the running rounding second.  Evan turned and threw a bullet to third base which was caught by the third baseman.  Unfortunately, the third baseman didn't realize it was not a force and stood there with the ball in his glove not even attempting to apply the tag.  The throw reached third base when the runner was not quite half way to third base.  Inexplicably the runner, who was safe since he was not tagged, overran third base and then the third baseman tagged the boy.  Evan's team ended up winning the game.

We are home now and the boys are in bed.

Until next time...

More Baseball...Then Rain/Cold

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The first part of the tournament that the Marauders were in is setting up seeding for Sunday's games.  On Sunday the tournament becomes single elimination.  Since the Marauders played so poorly on Saturday, we had the lowest seed.  They actually had enough teams to break the bracket up and made two brackets out of it.  That sort of gave us a chance to win our bracket.  The game started at 9:30am.  It was really hot - nearly 80 degrees.  It was very overcast and looked like it could rain any minute.  It was also very very humid.

In the top of the first, against the sixth seed (we were ninth), the Marauders scored 3 runs.  Evan hit a hard ground ball that the third baseman actually got to.  He was going to have a hard time getting anyone out but chose to throw the ball anyway and it went into right field.  Evan ended up hustling and made it all the way to third.  In the bottom of the first, I was in the dugout and I heard the crack of the bat from the first batter for the other team.  I could hear that he hit it well.  I looked at Evan, who was playing second base, and he jumped up and at full extension snagged the line drive.  Even the parents of the other team were clapping very loudly.  It was quite an athletic play.  Evan singled again in the second and took second on a throw to third and wound up scoring.  Evan made a few more good plays in the field.  At the end we had won 17-2.  We had a 30 minute break until the next game.  I was talking to Rachel and all of a sudden a cold wind came through.  I said, "Wow, that's pretty cold".  Two minutes later the skies opened up and the temperature dropped 30 degrees (no exaggeration).  So unfortunately, the second game was called off.  I felt the Marauders would have had a really good chance to win.

We came home and had lunch.  The boys played upstairs for a while.  Then Noah came down and played Wii.

Rachel had an Oscar party to go to this evening and I found out that Oak Hill was having a coaches' meeting.  So Blanca came over to babysit.

When I got home, I put the boys to bed.

Until next time...

(Pictures from yesterday's game)

Full Day of Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today, we had the first day of a tournament that is benefiting the Oak Hill fields that were destroyed in the flooding a few weeks ago.  Each boy had two games today.  The games today set up seeding for tomorrow.  Noah had games at 10:30 and 1:30.  Evan played at 4:30 and 6pm.

Noah and I left the house around 8:45 to get to the fields which were far up north.  We were playing a team from Cedar Park.  I wasn't sure how good they were going to be.  During the regular season, I am required to have each player play in the infield sometime in the first three innings.  The tournament rules do not have such a requirement.  I decided to stick with those rules for our team.  Unfortunately, the other team was really good - they were a select team and we got absolutely killed.  We started off well getting three outs on the other team, but that was pretty much the high point.  Noah hit the ball well though.  His hitting has been doing well.

From there, much of the team went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, so we joined them.  Evan and Rachel met us there.  Noah seemed to enjoy playing with his teammates.

In the second game, we played another team from Oak Hill.  But I didn't want to wind up with the lowest seed on Sunday so I changed the lineup to play to win.  I talked to some of the parents about this ahead of time and I didn't get any push back.  The strategy worked and we scored the most runs of any team in the tee ball portion of the tournament.

We stopped by the concession stand between that game and Evan's first game.  Then we had warm ups for Evan's team.

His team also was playing against a select team and like me, Evan's coach tried to play fairly in the first game with similar results.  Evan crushed a ball in the first inning down the left field line for a double.  He singled in his second at bat.  Unfortunately a mix-up with the third base coach had Evan running to third and he was a sitting duck.  He realized this but there was a kid on second and he had to run but he slid hard.  I mean really hard.  Somehow the third baseman held onto the ball because Evan clearly was trying to knock it loose.

Evan's coach employed my strategy in the second game.  The results were not the same as mine because we played another select team.  But the game went better even if we didn't win.  My feeling has been that Evan's best position is third base.  He played first base in the first inning and made a sliding catch of a really short pop up, but then he was at third base the rest of the game.  There he caught a really high pop up in short left field, snagged a hard hit line drive, and caught a force thrown by the shortstop with the boy running hard on him and sort of running into him without sliding.  His coach described him as a "monster" at third base.  His hitting was not as good in the second game but I think he really liked being at third base.

So after getting to the fields at 9:30am, we finally left the fields around 7:20pm or so.  For Father's Day, Rachel got me a Fitbit which keeps track of your steps, active minutes, calories burned, miles walked and even your sleep.  I set personal highs in steps, calories burned and miles walked today.  I think I stood pretty much the whole day as I was the assistant coach for Evan's team.

For dinner, I stopped and picked up Torchy's Tacos.  We ate dinner when we got home and then put the boys to bed.  Both boys went to sleep fairly quickly, though Noah didn't go down right away.

Noah's team is the number three seed in just a 5 team field.  The game is at 4:30pm.  Evan is the #8 seed in a 9 team field.  He is part of a play-in game now.  He will play at 10:30am.  If he wins he plays at noon against the 1 seed.  If he wins that at 3pm and then with a win there he'd have to play at 6pm.  If Noah wins, he will play at 6pm.

Until next time...