Opposite sides of town

This morning we were able to somewhat take it easy.  Morry and Evan left the house around 11am for baseball games in Taylor (an hour away, up north).  Noah and I left about 1pm to get to his football game downtown.

Noah's team lost the game, but Noah played well.

After the game, we just came home since Noah was pretty hot.

I was busy all afternoon mostly just doing things around the house.

Evan and Morry got home around 6:30.

We ate dinner at home and then went to Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

The boys are playing video games now.

Dallas Weekend

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

 After Evan got home from school on Friday, he and I drove to the Dallas-area (Cedar Hill) for another tournament.  Rachel and Noah stayed home to spend time with Uncle Mike, Aunt Jen, Maya and Artie.

 When we got there, we went with some other families to dinner.  We enjoyed ourselves.  The food was good and the company was nice.

  Their first game was at 11:30 on Saturday morning.  It was cold and very windy.  The wind was blowing so strong, the boys' hats would blow off.  It actually affected the pitches being thrown.  Several kids looked like they were throwing sliders when in reality, the wind was just pushing the ball.  Evan did great.  He caught most of the first game and pitched two innings in the second game.  He was 3-4 with two doubles.  His team went 1-1.

  Noah had a flag football game. Uncle Mike and Aunt Jen were at a wedding so Grandma and Papa were taking care of Artie and Maya.  They all came to Noah's game.  Noah pulled several flags.  His team won 24-0.  After that, they stopped at Sweet Caroline's for a post-game snack.  Later in the afternoon they went to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.  The Garden had a scavenger hunt to find statues.  The kids enjoyed it.  Noah stayed over with Maya and Artie to keep them company.  Grandma and Papa said it was like having an extra adult because Noah could entertain the younger kids and make sure they were ok.

  This morning, Evan's game was also at 11:30.  He struck out in his first at-bat, though he fouled off a number of pitches before he couldn't catch up to a fastball.  He started at catcher.  The second batter of the game grounded out and in the process threw his bat back and hit Evan with the bat.  The game was delayed a bit while Evan tried to work the pain out of his shoulder.  Two batters later, a very large kid - probably 5'9 or 5'10 crushed a ball to the fence.  There was going to be a play at the plate.  The ball and kid arrived at the same time and as Evan reached to catch the ball and apply the tag, the boy slid and took Evan's legs out from under him.  It caused Evan to flip in the air and come down hard.  Some people say that Evan flipped twice.  My memory is that he flipped on a couple different axes.  In any event, some part of the boy rammed into Evan's thigh and he wasn't able to put weight on his left leg.  He had to come out of the game.  He still is having trouble putting too much weight on his leg.  However, because he had already batted, and the team was batting 10 batters, Evan had to come to bat again.  Batting was not the problem, it was running bases and they could not pinch run for him if he got on base.  Evan had a good at-bat and worked the count full.  He fouled off a couple of pitches only to eventually reach base by - being hit by a pitch.  Yes, the kid could not catch a break.  He hobbled down to first and barely took a lead because there was no way he could steal.  Just then the batter behind him crushed a ball to the fence which ended up being a triple.  Poor Evan ran as hard as he could and ended up scoring.  You could tell as he was running he was in pain.  But he did it.  The whole game, coaches and parents from all over the complex were coming to tell Evan how tough he was.  After he ran the bases like that, some parent from another team that wasn't playing came over and said "Hey 21, that was awesome.  You are one tough kid"  Evan's team lost 3-2. 

  Before we drove home, we joined the 13U team for lunch at Chili's.

  Rachel and Chewie joined Grandma, Papa, Artie and Maya at Lady Bird Lake.  First Rachel took Chewie to the dog park.  Then she jogged with Chewie to meet everyone else.  Then they took Chewie back to the dog park for a bit.

  When Evan and I got home, we went with Grandma and Papa to Tarbouch.  Uncle Mike and Aunt Jen and family had left by then. 

  The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

ZDT's

This morning Noah and I got to his friend's Ben's house around 10am.  He was invited to go to ZDT's (a small amusement park in Seguin) for Ben's birthday party.  Noah wanted me to come too.  There were six kids that came along with some adults.  We went in two cars to Seguin, about an hour away.

The kids had a good time.  It was good that there were a few adults there as the kids wanted to do different things and not necessary stick with the group.  Noah liked the water slides best.

We left around 3 pm and stopped at Sweet Carolines on the way home.

Noah stayed at Ben's house for a little while and I went home.  Later, Ben's mom dropped Noah off at home.

For dinner we had hamburgers.

After dinner, we took a short walk.

This evening we spent a lot of time finishing packing the kids for camp.

Now Evan and Noah are in bed.

July 4 and July 3

Yesterday Evan and I rode our bikes with Papa.  We rode about 10 miles.  We rode to the Velloway, around it, and back.  It was a good workout.  Evan really had a good time.

Last night we had our July 3 street party.  We joined our neighbors in the cul-de-sac for a potluck and to watch the fireworks at the nearby golf course.

Today we went for a hike and a new-to-us trail, Slaughter Creek Trail.  At the start of the trail we saw a turkey and two deer.

After walking about 2-3 miles of the trail we went to Sweet Carolines for shaved ice.

Tonight, we went to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Marvin's house for dinner and hung out there for a while. The boys liked playing in their huge yard.

The boys are in bed now.  There are still fireworks going off in our neighborhood, which is illegal.  We are hoping they end soon.

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today.

Another Long Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan's teammate Carter came over this morning around 7:20.  His brother was playing a baseball tournament in another part of town so they dropped Carter off for me to bring him to the game.  Evan, Carter and I stopped at Donut Taco Palace on the way up.

Rachel and Noah stopped by Aunt Susan's to see Sherah, JW and her kids before coming to see Evan play in his game.

The Bucs won the first game today.  It was a good game as we came from behind.

Rachel and Noah left after the first game and went back to Aunt Susan's.

In the second game, Evan played very well.  He made a beautiful throw over to get a runner out.  He fielded the ball almost on the third base bag and throw such a perfect throw to first that he beat the runner by about 3 or 4 steps.  In the final inning, Evan raced to get a foul ball near the dugout and dove in a way to avoid hitting the fence.  He just missed catching the ball.  Unfortunately, the other team was able to squeak out a win in their final at bat.

We had Coke ham for dinner.

After dinner, we went to Sweet Caroline's for shaved ice for the first time this year.

The boys are in bed.

Until next time...

First Bucs Practice

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning was the first Bucs practice of the season.  We practiced from 9am to about noon.  It was still really hot.  I think all the kids played well and it was a really good practice.  I thought Evan played well, but he was a little hard on himself.  He actually played first base a bat.  On the last play of practice, he leapt up and caught a ball thrown to him at the height of his jump.  As he fell to the ground he reached out and touched first base with his foot.  All the kids were patting him on the head.
After practice, Darius came with us to get smoothies.  Daniel was going to meet us there.  There was a bit of a mix up and Daniel went to Smoothie Factory rather than Smoothie King so we went there instead.

As soon as we got home, Evan and I cleaned up his room.  Weeks ago we got all the new furniture in there, but we hadn't organized all of it.  I went through with Evan and we either found a place to put it in his room or it went into a box to be put into the attic, or it was thrown out.  After doing that, I installed a fan in Evan's room.

For dinner, we just had little things.  Rachel had some leftovers, Noah had a sandwich, and Evan and I had fried matzoh.

We went to Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

The boys just took showers and are getting ready for bed before their first day of school tomorrow.

Until next time...

Stay at Home

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Evan slept in a bit later than he has the last couple weeks.  Noah was awakened when Evan went to let Lizzy out but I hadn't yet turned off the house alarm.

I went into Aaron's but everyone else stayed home today.  Deborah came at 11 to work with Lizzy.

In the afternoon, I came home and Evan was reading.  Noah was playing with Legos.

After finishing up work, I played wiffleball with Evan.

We had hamburgers cooked on the grill for dinner.  For dessert, we went to Sweet Caroline's.  When we came home, we took a short walk with Lizzy.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Low-Key Fourth

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

All of us slept in to some degree today.  Rachel and Noah slept in the longest.

We thought we'd make waffles and pancakes for brunch and then go to the pool.  After we ate, the boys said they didn't want to go to the pool.

Nathan invited Evan to go to his house so he went down to Nathan's and was there until dinner time.

Rachel, Noah and I went to HEB to get some things for tonight and the week.  We saw Aunt Sandy there.

We took it easy in the afternoon.

For dinner, we grilled hamburgers, shrimp and corn.  I also made some garlic bread on the grill.  The boys ate very very well.

We went to Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

Until next time...

First Day of Summer Break

Early this morning the electrician came to fix our lights.

For lunch we went to Wholy Bagel.  We got there before noon and they were pretty much all sold out of bagels.  I think we got the last of the bagels.  Shortly after we ordered they put in a sign in the window saying they were all sold out.

In the afternoon Noah played with some of the neighborhood kids while Evan stayed at home.  Evan said his stomach was bothering him.

At 3pm Noah's friend Owen came over and stayed until 5pm.

We ate dinner at home and then got Sweet Caroline's shaved ice for dessert.

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...

First Swim and First Sweet Carolines of the Year

For lunch we had leftover pizza from last night and then I took the boys over to the pool.

They had fun.  It was hot out, but the pool water was pretty cold. 

When we got back home Morry and Evan went to Marauders baseball practice.

On their way home they picked up dinner from Saps.

After dinner we went to Sweet Caroline's for shaved ice.

Now the boys are getting ready for bed.

Here are a few pictures.

Trail and Sweet Carolines

We stayed at home this morning. 

A little bit after lunch I took the boys and Lizzy to the Circle C park and we walked the trail there.  We had a good time.  The boys liked looking at rocks in the dry creek bed and trying to find fossils. 

After our walk we went to Sweet Carolines for shaved ice.

For dinner we had leftovers.

In a few minutes we'll start getting the boys ready for bed.

Thursday - Tutoring and Shaved Ice

This morning Noah went to Cole's house for a little bit and Evan and I stayed home.

I took the boys with me to tutoring today.  Today it was Evan's turn to pick where to go after tutoring.  He chose Sweet Caroline's.

Later in the afternoon Morry took the boys outside to play baseball. It started raining a little bit, so they came in and played Wii.

We had leftovers for dinner.

Noah and I did reading and writing while Evan played Legos.  Evan didn't want to do it.

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

Bagels

This morning the boys, Lizzy, and I took a walk to the elementary school.  Everyone had a good time.

When we got back I got ready for tutoring.

The boys came with me to tutoring today.  Since they were good, I let them pick out a place to get snacks.  It was Noah's turn to choose and he chose Sweet Caroline's.  So, we stopped there on the way home.

This afternoon I made bagels. I found a recipe online. They turned out pretty good, but next time I'll use less salt.

We had burgers for dinner and then took a walk.

Morry is reading to the boys now.

The 4th

This morning we went to see Despicable Me 2 at Alamo Drafthouse.  We all had a good time.  It was a fun movie.

We ate lunch at home and then stayed home pretty much the rest of the day.

For dinner we made pasta and then went to Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

The boys are playing in the backyard now.  Soon, we'll have them come in and get ready for bed.

Father's Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

There was no visit from a boy this morning asking me sports questions while I was asleep.  I was able to sleep in though I did hear at one point an argument between the boys.

We took it easy in the morning and stayed home.  We planned to go see E.T. at the movie theater at 2pm.  It was part of the Steven Spielberg series the theater was doing.  Before we left, the boys and Rachel gave me the present they got.  They got me a Fitbit Flex to keep track of my exercise and activity during the day.  It's pretty cool.

Rachel came with us to the movies.  The boys were good there.  They both really enjoyed it.

We came home for a bit, watched the end of the Pirates game (which was on nationally for the second time this week) and then left to go to Tokyo Steakhouse which is one of that Japanese restaurants where they cook in front of you.

The food was good and the boys enjoyed the "show".

On the way home, we stopped at Sweet Caroline's for dessert.

Until next time...

Brunch

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning the boys were very good and let us sleep in, although at one point, I was dead asleep and I heard, in a whisper, "Daddy, Daddy".  I looked up and it was Noah.  He said "Who is the Pirates' DH?"  I said "I don't know" and went back to sleep.

We never went to Mother's Day brunch since Rachel went to San Antonio so we did a somewhat Mother's Day/Father's Day brunch this morning.  We went up to a place in North Austin called Cafe Java.  It was good and the boys were good as well.

From there we went to Dick's Sporting Goods.  I wanted to get the boys new bat bags that are backpacks so they could carry their own backpacks.  We spent quite a while in the store and got new shoes for the boys as well as some shirts for me and a jacket for Rachel.  Rachel had printed out a bunch of coupons and we were going through trying to figure out which we could use in conjunction with each other and what was the best deal.  The cashier asked the manager and they just ended up giving us 30% off the purchase.

When we got home, the boys and I played Wii for a bit and then we went out to play baseball in the front yard.  I can definitely notice a difference, particularly in Noah, after their week of baseball camp.   Rachel trimmed some of the plants in the front bed while we played.

We had leftovers for dinner.

Then we went to go to Sweet Caroline's for shaved ice for dessert but they had just closed.  We went to TCBY instead.

We gave the baths to the boys when we got home and they are now in bed.

Until next time...

Season Is Over

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I got up at 6:30 and checked my mail to see if the game was still on.  We were going to have to be at the fields by 7:30 for an 8:30 game. I hadn't looked out the window but I didn't hear any rain.  I didn't have any email.  I got dressed and checked my email again - nothing. I woke Evan up and we came downstairs where I got his uniform together to put on and still no email.  I got him dressed and checked my email - the game was delayed an hour.  I was thinking of laying back down but Evan insisted that we still go to the field and practice.

I woke Noah up and got him ready and we went to Donut Taco Palace and got donuts.  Then we went to the fields.  It was sunny out but humid.  I was surprised to see that the field was in pretty good condition.  It rained pretty hard last night.  I pitched to Evan in the batting cage for a while and then his team came.  I pitched to one other boy before Evan's coach came into the cage and started pitching.

Since I'm in the dugout and I help get the kids ready for their at-bats or going out into the field, Evan's coach gives me a lineup.  I looked and he had Evan playing third base every inning except one where he was catcher.  Those are Evan's two favorite positions.  I knew he'd be happy.  His team didn't give up any runs in the top of the first and quickly scored 5 in the bottom of the first.  Unfortunately, the other team scored 5 in the top of the second and Evan's team didn't score at all.  Evan lead off the top of the second and grounded to the first baseman who had to move a bit to his right.  It became a race to first base and the first baseman won.  The first baseman touched first and kept heading into foul territory.  I noticed Evan veered to the right as he hit first base.  I asked him later what that was about.  He said he was hoping to run into the first baseman and knock the ball out.  He's the only kid looking for contact.  The two teams played evenly with back and forth score the rest of the way. Unfortunately, at the end, the other team won by two runs.  Evan hit the ball hard (as you can see in the video below) but their third baseman was very good and had a very good arm.  In the video below, Evan hit into a fielder's choice and then later the third baseman threw him out on a great throw.  Evan was really distraught when they lost.  I felt so bad for him.

We stuck around as he wanted to be with his buddies for the team.  They watched a bit of the game following our game and then several of the parents said they were going to Doc's Backyard for lunch invited us along.  They have a big open space and a playground so we could all sit and talk while the kids played.  Both Evan and Noah seemed to have a good time.

We came home and at first Evan was in a bad mood.  I think he was tired and he didn't really eat lunch.  He ended up eating and then went outside to play baseball.

Later the boys drew on the sidewalk with chalk and then I had a catch with Evan.

We had dinner here and then went to Sweet Caroline's to get shaved ice for dessert.  We stopped at HEB to pick up food for the week on the way home.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Beautiful Day for Baseball

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We didn't have anything in the morning, but both boys had baseball games (both played the Astros) in the afternoon.  We decided to take it easy.  The boys played some Wii and then they cleaned up their rooms.  I did some work and Rachel did some cleaning.  But, for the most part, we didn't do much.

I made lunch for the boys and me and then I got them ready for their games.  We left the house shortly after 1pm.

Noah's game was first.  Noah has perfected leaving the base the moment the ball is hit.  He has it timed so well that I'm trying to figure out how he does it.  Being a smaller kid, it seems to have helped him run the bases.  I've been helping out as first base coach since the regular first base coach is on vacation. Unfortunately, leaving early cost him on one play as he got hit with the batted ball running between first and second.  But for the most part, I'm impressed at how he has it timed.  Noah's team won again.  It seemed like it was going to be tight early but they pulled away in the second and third innings.

There was an hour between the end of Noah's game and the when we had to be at the fields for Evan's warm up.  I figured Evan and I would stay at the fields and I'd get him something from the concession stand.  Noah decided he wanted to stay too.  Rachel, Grandma and Papa (who came into town today) went home.

Evan did well warming up and the game began.  Unfortunately, Evan's team did not play well.  It seemed like no one could hit today.  The other team was not hitting that well either, but Evan's team seemed to be moving a step slower today.  Evan did well for the most part.  He singled in his first at-bat.  In his second at-bat, he grounded out to second.

After the game, Evan insisted on getting shaved ice.  He said he was really hot.  I think he was upset about losing again.  Noah and Evan each got it and it did cheer him up.

We went to ZPizza for dinner.  That was Evan's choice since he didn't go to dinner last night.  Afterwards, we got more shaved ice at Sweet Caroline's.

The boys are in bed now but not sleeping.

Until next time...

Noah's school party

I took Noah to school today and then ate breakfast with Evan.  I decided to take it easy today and not run since we did hot Yoga last night.

Evan went to his friend Ben's house at 10:30.  While Evan was there I got some things done around the house.

Morry and I went to Noah's end of school party at noon.  They had food for the kids and adults from Chick-Fil-A.

After school we all went to pick up Evan from Ben's house.

Morry took the boys outside to play baseball before dinner.

For dinner we had Coke ham and rice.  Noah liked the ham. Evan wouldn't try it.

After dinner we went to Sweet Caroline's for shaved ice.

The boys are in bed now.