Sunday - Tuesday

 On Sunday, we had plans to go to the Natural Gardener.  We put Chewie in the car and drove over only to find out they are closed on Sunday.  

We decided to try to find a place nearby to walk.  We ended up at the greenbelt in Lost Creek.  It was very pretty with lots of water.  At the beginning of the walk, we had to cross over water and there was not way to do it without getting wet.  Chewie loved that, of course.

Sunday afternoon Evan hung out with Reid at his house.  For dinner, they picked up Rudy's for all of us and we ate there.  As we were in the driveway coming over to their house we got a text that Evan needed a chance of clothes.  He fell in the pool!  He was reaching for a ball.  :) 

Monday was back to school/work.  I tutored in the afternoon.

Evan and Morry went to the first meeting for a baseball team Evan will be playing with in the spring.  Evan seemed happy with the coach and is excited to start playing.

Today, I tutored in the morning, went to school, and then tutored again in the afternoon.

Noah had Hebrew with Grandma.

We ate dinner. Morry grilled chicken. 

Then, after dinner, I met with another student at 9pm.  I normally meet with him at 5pm, but they had a conflict today.

Now Morry and I will sit down and watch some TV.

Here's a picture of the view from our walk on Sunday.

Bike Riding and Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

On Saturday morning, Rachel, Papa, and Evan did the Mamma Jamma Bike Ride.  It's a charity bike ride for cancer.  They got up early and it was raining some on the way to Martindale, TX but it was not raining for the ride itself.  They rode 26 miles.  Apparently, Evan had to slow down and wait for Papa and Rachel, especially on the uphill.

After the ride, I met them and I picked up Evan to take him to two baseball games.  Evan played great in the games.  He especially played well given that he had ridden 26 miles on a bike earlier that morning.  He went 0-1 with an RBI and two walks at the plate.  He played a great third base and he even caught for two innings.  In the second game, he made a great play to end the game. His team went 2-0 and earned the second seed in the tournament.

Rachel went to Grandma and Papa's for lunch.  Noah just stayed at home.

For dinner, we went to Rudy's.  We went there for Reid's mom's 40th birthday.

This morning, we all slept in some.  Rachel and Noah went to Grandma and Papa's for brunch this morning.  Evan and I left a short while later to go to his baseball game.  Rachel and Noah came up to watch the game.  Noah got to play with Angelo's brother, Tony.

Evan's team won their first game against a team they had never beat.  It was a close game 1-1 for much of the game.  The other team took the lead 3-1 going into the bottom of the last inning.  Evan lead off the inning with a base hit that started a rally.  The team put together 4 runs to win 5-3.

The second game was not as successful, though Evan still played well.  He caught in this game and did a good job.  He also walked once and grounded out once.

For dinner, we went with Grandma and Papa to a new place called Aviator Pizza.  It was pretty good.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Summer Break is Over

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Friday, I went into HomeAway for our weekly Friday morning meeting.  After that, I met Rachel, Evan and Noah, as well as Grandma and Papa and Rachel's cousin, Leah for lunch.  Leah was in town to see her dad and stepmother.  We ate lunch at Modern Market. 

Yesterday, we took it easy most of the day.  For dinner, we picked up  Rudy's and met Grandma and Papa at the Zilker Hillside Theater to watch a musical.  It's a nice free event.  They just ask for donations.

This morning, Luna's family came to pick her up.  Chewie was sad that Luna left the house.

Then Evan and I went to his first full practice of the season.  We stopped at Donut Taco Palace on the way up.  Evan was the catcher for about half of practice.  He looked good blocking balls.  He was able to pick off a runner who was a little far from third base.  The coaches really want him to be aggressive with his throws this season.

The boys relaxed and then cleaned their rooms and the game room this afternoon.

For dinner, we had waffles and scrambled eggs.

As one last fun thing this summer, we went to Bahama Buck's and got some shaved ice.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Long Time No Blog

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I didn't realize we hadn't written the blog since Friday.  So here's a quick recap. 

Saturday, Evan had football practice followed by a team meeting for his baseball.  Evan was excited for the team meeting because he got to see his teammates after being off for a month.  Josh came home with us and stayed the night.

Sunday, Evan had a football game.  During the first play of the game, Evan pulled a flag and he intercepted a pass on the second play.  Meanwhile, Noah went to a info session for the 6 Points camp he and Evan went to last year.  He volunteered during the session to speak and talk about his experience at the camp for the prospective campers.  After that they went to Sunday school and then we went to dinner with Grandma and Papa at Rudy's.

Monday, the kids went to school.  Rachel had to go into school for a teacher in-service day for a bit.  I went into the new Touch To office.  In the evening the boys and I watched the College Football Championship.

Today, I went to Camp Gladiator after taking Noah to school.  Rachel went into to teach.  After that I went into Touch To.

Rachel had a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls lunch at Whole Foods in the afternoon.

For dinner, Evan went to Grandma and Papa's house and had dinner with Grandma.  They had steel-head trout.  Rachel, Noah and I just had leftovers.

We walked to pick Evan up.

Now the boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Snow Day Followed by 66 Degrees

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We had a very lazy morning.  Rachel and I slept in.  It was a long week and it was nice to get the extra rest.

Around lunch time, we decided to go to Lady Bird Lake to walk around.  Chewie needed some exercise, the temperature was getting warmer, and the sun was out.  The moment we got to the trail, Chewie started pulling hard.  He was so excited.  We walked the first half of the trail and took a detour and walked to the dog park.  There Chewie raced around, played with other dogs, and went in the water.  When he started to slow down, we put the leash on him and walked the second half of the trail.  He must have gotten a second wind as he pulled the entirety of the walk.

We had a late lunch at home and relaxed in the afternoon.  Chewie slept.  He was spent.

For dinner we went to Rudy's.  Then we stopped at HEB on the way home.

We're home now and the boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Outside Day

The weather was very nice today.

I went to Camp Gladiator this morning while Morry took Evan to a baseball practice.

After they got home, Morry made the kids lunch and then we went for a hike with Adam at the Violet Crown trail.

We took it easy this afternoon.

Evan met some of his friends at Clayton.

For dinner, we went to Rudy's.  The kids were able to play outside there for a while. They have a big grassy area and seating outside.

After dinner, we went to HEB and saw Grandma and Papa there along with a few other neighbors.

We all took Adam for a short walk when we got back.

Now the kids are getting ready for bed.

Goodbye, Maya and Artie

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

After our big day yesterday, we decided to take it easy today.  Rachel and I slept in.  When I got up, Evan and I put on the tv and got ready for the Michigan-Ohio State game.

Rachel went for a long run.  When she got home, we made lunch for everyone.  The boys wanted crawfish, so we heated that up for them.  Rachel and I had left over pizza.

Before the game was over, we walked over to Grandma and Papa's to say goodbye to Uncle Mike, Aunt Jen, Maya and Artie.  We watched overtime in the game and then the boys played with Maya and Artie some before saying goodbye.

We came home and relaxed at home.

For dinner, we picked up Rudy's while stopping at Zoe's Kitchen to get a meal for Rachel.  We watched Timeless while eating.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Uncle Mike

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning I went into Aaron's as we need to prepare for a meeting we have next week.

As I was coming home, Rachel left to drop Noah off at Owen's and then go to a doctor's appointment.

I had a phone meeting this afternoon.  Evan was home with me.

The boys and I played some baseball in the front yard after I finished working.

Uncle Mike came into town for a work thing today.  So we went over to Grandma and Papa's and they brought in Rudy's for dinner.  We had a nice time.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Schlitterbahn

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We decided to go to Schlitterbahn today.  Both Allison and I were able to push off some work to join Rachel and the kids.

We stopped at HEB on the way out so everyone could get food to bring.  You're allowed to bring food into the park.

We got there as the park opened up.  Immediately, Allison and Noah went on the lazy river, while Rachel, Evan, Avery and I waited in line for the more popular slide.  The wait ended up being an hour even though we got there when the park opened.

The rest of the day we were able to stick together.   Everyone had a really nice time.  We stayed at the park until about 7:30pm.

After the park, we went to Rudy's for dinner.  Allison and Avery seemed to like it.

We stopped at Buc-ee's which is a giant gas station/market.  We just had to show it to Allison and Avery.  We got some dessert there.

We are home now and the boys are going to bed.

Until next time...

Back From Grandmom's

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We got back from Grandmom's this afternoon.  We flew up Thursday night - the day she moved into a new condo.  We got in very late on Thursday night - around 1:30am.  We helped unpack and get Grandmom settled on Friday and Saturday and came back today.

While we were there, Allison and Avery came.  Avery stayed with us from Friday until Saturday just before dinner.  Allison really helped unpack and clean up, particularly the kitchen but all over really.  Avery and the boys had a good time.

On Saturday, we went downtown and went to the Art Museum steps.  These are the steps that Rocky runs up in the Rocky movies.  The boys and Avery ran to the top and had a good time.  Actually they ran up 5 times.  They also took a picture in front of the Rocky statue.  We stopped at Nifty Fifty's on the way back.

Tonight, we went to Rudy's with Grandma and Papa.  Evan ate a ton.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Weekend of Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This weekend was the first tournament of the spring for the Bucs.  We had games scheduled for 5:45 and 7:30 last night.  Unfortunately, all the games were running behind.  The first game didn't start until 6:30 and the second game didn't start until after 8:15.  The Bucs won both games and Evan did really well.  In fact, in the first three games of the tournament, he went 7 for 9 hitting.  He made several good fielding plays at second base, third base and center field.  So we didn't leave the fields until 10:00 last night.

The reward for winning both games last night was to play as the 4th seed at 7:45 this morning.  The tournament was in Round Rock which is 45-60 minutes away.  So we got home around 11pm last night and I woke Evan up at 5:45am this morning to get up there.  The tournament had 18 teams in it and after the results yesterday, they broke up the teams into three brackets.  By winning both games, the Bucs ended up in the top bracket with teams that are classified as AAA and Majors.  The Bucs are classified as a AA team.  In fact in the top 5 teams, the Bucs were the only AA team.

The game started at 7:45 and immediately, the Bucs jumped out in front.  Evan hit the ball well.  And he made a sliding catch of a ball in center that was tailing away from him.  The Bucs were winning by 2 going into the top of the last inning.  The other team scored 3 runs to take the lead.  The Bucs came up in the bottom of the inning.  The first batter laid down a great bunt which surprised the other team and he beat it out for an infield single.  Evan came up and laced a ball towards second which ended up hitting the runner so Evan took first and the runner was out.  Evan stole second.  The next batter struck out.  So now there were two outs and the tying run at second.  The next better got down 0-2 and swung at strike 3, but the ball got away from the catcher.  The batter ran to second and the catcher threw to first but the first baseman dropped it.  The runner was safe and Evan came around to score to tie the game.  The runner on first stole second.  Then the batter hit a single to right and the runner from second came around to score and the Bucs won the game.

We were then scheduled to play in the semifinals at 1:15.  So we all went to lunch at Rudy's.  It was a nice time.

Noah and Rachel stayed home.  Rachel was not feeling well.

After Rudy's the team played again.  The Bucs jumped up 5-0 in the top of the first.  But the other team matched with 5 runs of their own.  No matter, the Bucs came right back with three in the top of the second.  Unfortunately, the other team matched again.  In the top of the third, Evan led off the inning.  The other team put in what appeared to be their best pitcher.  This kid could throw really hard.  I'm guessing he threw 55-60 mph.  His first pitch got Evan right in the thigh.  You could hear the ball hit.  Evan was able to make it to first, and to show the other team, that it didn't bother him, he stole second on the first pitch.  The pitcher settled down and struck out the next three batters unfortunately.  The Bucs didn't give up a run in the bottom of the third.  In the 4th, which was the last inning, we got a runner to second against the kid, but no further.  The other team scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to win the game.  The Bucs played their hearts out this weekend.  I was really proud of them.

Evan ended the weekend 7-10 with one hit-by-pitch, and no strikeouts.

Noah had a birthday party in the late afternoon.  With Rachel feeling badly, a mom of one of Noah's friends took him to and from the birthday party.

We tried to take Rachel to an urgent care facility to test to see if she has strep, but apparently, urgent care facilities close to us are closed on Sundays or close early.  We would have had to drive across town.  We'll probably go in the morning.

For dinner, Evan and I picked up Chinese food.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Tonsil Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The weather was much nicer this morning so Rachel and Evan decided to run to Wholy Bagel.  They left the house around 10am.  When they got to a certain point, Rachel texted me.  Noah and I got in the car and met them there.

Wholy Bagel was pretty crowded, but they had our bagels.

Since Noah is having his tonsils removed tomorrow, we called today Tonsil Day and let Noah pick what he wanted to do.  After bagels, Noah went to Owen's to play.

While Noah was there, I did some work and had the football scores near me so I could check on the Steelers and their chances of making the playoffs.  Evan and focused solely on the scores as it got to under 7 minutes in the fourth quarter.

After football, we drove and picked Grandma and Papa up at their house and then got Noah from Owen's.  The next thing Noah wanted to do on Tonsil Day was to go see Daddy's Home.  We went to see it at the Regal theater.  He enjoyed the movie.

After dinner, we picked up Rudy's and brought it back to Grandma and Papa's.

Evan is staying over there since we have to get up early.

Noah is now in bed.  We have to be at the surgery facility early in the morning.

Until next time...

Ikea

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

For most of the day, we didn't do anything.  We stayed in.  Rachel did go for a run.  The boys acted tired because we got in so late last night.  They didn't want to do anything. They simply wanted to take it easy.

Rachel and I have been wanting to go to Ikea and get stuff to clean up Evan and Noah's room, the game room, the laundry room and the garage.  We decided it might not be as crowded at Ikea if we got on a Saturday night before closing.

We drove up to Round Rock and first had dinner with Aunt Susan and Rudy's.  It was nice seeing her and the boys enjoyed her and the food.

Then we went over to Ikea.  We got there around 7 and it closed at 9.  Apparently two hours was not enough for what we wanted to do.  We didn't get anything for the garage or laundry room and we didn't get out of there until 9:30 as we were trying to get all of the stuff off the shelves in the self-service area even after closing time.   We did do pretty well.  We did see the stuff we wanted for the garage and laundry room so we can order it.

The boys got cinnamon rolls for dessert from the snack section at the end on the way home.

They are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

End of Season Party

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

When I woke up and came downstairs, Noah was playing on his iPad quietly.  He then moved to the playstation.

I got things ready to go meet the Bucs' parents over at Rudy's for the end-of-season party.  Josh's dad was bringing Evan since Evan stayed over there last night.

The party itself was very nice.  The kids all played various sports and had a great time.  We ended up being there for 3 hours.  Evan played the whole time.  Rachel and Noah got there an hour after we did and Noah played with the boys until the end.  Both boys looks very sweaty and hot at the end.  We had a nice time though.

We came home and the boys played on the Playstation for awhile.  It was good for them to take it easy.  Then they cleaned up.

For dinner we picked up Pho Thai Son. The boys ate very well.

They showered and now they are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Bye Grandmom

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Early this morning, I drove Grandmom to the airport after her visit with us.  I was able to get back in time to get the boys ready to go to school.  We walked to school this morning with Lizzy.  I think she was glad to get out of the house.

While I was working, Rachel went to Donut Taco Palace to get donuts.  We were celebrating Evan's birthday at school and he asked us to get donuts for his class.

Around 11:30 we left for school.  Just as we signed in, Evan's class came downstairs to go to the cafeteria.  We walked with the class into the lunch room and ate with Evan.  At the end of the lunch we handed out the donuts to all the kids.  Evan seemed very glad to have us there.

I had to run to Aaron's in the afternoon.  Rachel walked to get the boys.

When I came home, Rachel left to tutor.

We had leftover Rudy's for dinner.  The boys are now watching Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.  I'm about to read with Noah and put the boys to bed.

Until next time...

Zayde

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The cold, wet weather has just not let up.  I realize it's warmer than many other places, but it's still pretty cold here and still too cold and too wet to walk to school.  We drove and walked the trail this morning as we've been doing.

Rachel cleaned the kitchen today.

At lunch, I ran to the bank and then to Aaron's for just a bit.

We drove to get the kids.  It was misting the whole time.  You don't really get wet but everything - the ground the streets, seems very wet.

Around 4:30, the boys and I left to get to the airport to get Zayde while Rachel tutored.  The airport went smoothly.  The boys were very excited to see Zayde.

We drove straight to Rudy's where we were supposed to meet Rachel.  She came and we had a good dinner.  Evan ate really well.

We came home and Noah read to Rachel and Zayde.

The boys are in their rooms now.

Until next time...

Back To Normal

Hello everyone, this Evan and Daddy.

I woke up and I had corn pops for breakfast.  Noah was feeling better this morning.

I had a good day at school.   At recess I played kickball.  I was pitcher.

We had popsicles on our way home from school.

I decided to play MLB Power Pros.  I went outside with Daddy and played wiffleball.

For dinner we had left over Rudy's.  It was a lot of brisket.  It was spicy too.  I like spiciness.

Now I'm playing with a stuffed soccer ball and helping Daddy write the blog.

Next we're going to go to bed.

On the Mend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I got up around 8:30 and came downstairs.  Evan was playing Wii and Noah was watching him.  Noah seemed better than yesterday but still seemed sick.  I got breakfast for the boys.  After Noah ate his breakfast, I gave him medicine.

The boys continued to play throughout the morning.  Nikki left after 10am to take Keith to the airport.

At 11:30, Rachel and Evan left to go to Aunt Susan's 60th birthday party.  With Noah being contagious it wasn't a good idea to bring Noah, so I stayed home with Noah.  Noah played Wii all day long.

I did work and watched the Steelers game on the computer.

Rachel and Evan got home after 3pm.  Evan got dressed for his football game.  Today was a make up of the rain out two weeks ago.

Evan's team won today.  The team they played was made up of mostly 3rd graders.  Evan's team really played well and dominated the game.  Evan played a good defense and pulled a few flags.  He didn't catch a pass on offense though.

We went to Rudy's after the game to get food for dinner.  Darius' family was there.  They were planning to eat there.  While I ordered food, Evan and Darius stayed together.  They were walking around the place like they owned it.  We'll eat with them after next week's game.

When I got home, Noah looked like a new kid.  His color was back, he was hyper.  He ate a ton of sausage and brisket.  Evan also ate a bunch of brisket.

They had showers and now they are in bed.

Until next time...

First Tournament of the Season

Hello everyone, this is Evan and Daddy.

This morning, I played Minecraft with Noah (Poop).

Then we went to Smoothie King and got smoothies.  From there we drove to Taylor, TX for the tournament.  It was an hour away.  I told Daddy how to get to the fields and gave him a shortcut after we drove by them.

I didn't get to see Calvin and Flash for a while :(

In the first game, we lost.  We got crushed.  We only scored one run.  I went 1 for 2 in that game.  I pitched two innings and struck out one batter.  I caught two "come-backers" and threw to first for outs in each time.  I also caught a fly ball when I was playing right field.

After the first game, we took a break and I got water ice in a Tampa Bay Rays helmet. I would have gotten a Pirates helmet but they were out of them.

In the second game, I knocked in a run in my first at-bat.  Then I played catcher.  Everyone said I did well.  The umpire liked me.

Then we went to Rudy's.  I ate a ton of brisket.

Then we came home and I had a shower.

Now I'm going to bed because we have another game tomorrow and more if we win.

Season is Over

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Rachel and I slept in a bit.  Evan came into our room a bit after 9 and wanted me to cut up some apples for him.

We decided to take it easy today.  It seemed like a hectic week and Evan had at least one if not two baseball games.  Rachel and Noah were going to go to San Antonio for Tegan's birthday so they were going to have a long day later in the day so we decided to do nothing.

I put on the movie National Treasure for Evan.  Noah eventually came down to watch it.  I think Evan really enjoyed it.

We had apple cinnamon pancakes for lunch.

Around 2:30, Rachel and Noah left for San Antonio.  Evan and I went to Smoothie King and then on to the fields.

In the first game, the team played really well and led for most of the game until the end.  Evan played very well.  He backhanded a ball moving to his right while he was shortstop and as he fell towards third, threw a perfect strike to second base for the force.  He also played a bunch of first base and made some nice stops.  Unfortunately because we lost, we had to play a second game 10 minutes after the first game.

Again, Evan played a good game and again the team led early only to lose steam at the end.  Evan fielded a ball behind second base, stepped on second and threw on to first for the double play.  When he was at first base, he fielded a ball to his right and turned and threw a perfect ball to second for another force.  He made a really big stretch as a first baseman.  In fact I didn't know he could stretch like that.  When the game was over and we lost Evan was really crying.  He absolutely hates to lose.

We went to Rudy's after the game because that's what Evan wanted.  Rachel said she had picked me up a surprise for dinner on the way home.  Ironically, she picked up Cooper's Barbeque which is my favorite on the way home.  So we have a lot of barbeque at home.  I really enjoyed the Cooper's.

The boys are in their rooms now.

Until next time...