What's Been Going On

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

These last few weeks have been busy.  The boys finished school on June 3. The following day summer baseball kicked off for Evan with two games on Friday, June 4 and a game Sunday, June 6.

On Monday and Thursday of this week, Evan was a counselor at the TRPD camp. He also had practice, etc...

Meanwhile, we have been trying to find someone to fix up our yard.  We have some drainage issues.  That, along with lots of trees in the yard, has caused the grass to die.  Many of the plants did not survive the freeze over the winter.  The backyard is lots of dirt which turns into mud when it rains and that becomes a mess when Chewie goes out.

This week we hired someone to redo the whole yard.  We're adding lots of plants and trees and they are going to bring in dirt and regrade the whole yard along with rocks to help with drainage before putting new sod in completely around the front and back of the house. They started yesterday in trimming quite a few trees to let more light onto the property and they sprayed some herbicide to kill what grass we have left. So now we're taking Chewie on lots of walks because we don't want him out in the backyard with the herbicide down.

Evan played baseball on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week.  He has continued to excel at catcher.  He had a good weekend behind the plate.  The pitching was bad on Friday but he managed to block a ton of pitches in the dirt.  He gave the team a chance.  On Saturday, he caught again but the pitching was much better.  He didn't have to work as hard.  They brought him into pitch in the final inning with a lead.  He was able to shut down the other team and wound up with his second save of the season.  The coach was so happy with his pitching, he started him today.  Apparently, yesterday was just an appetizer.  Because he was lights out pitching today.  He pitched a 6-inning complete game. He struck out 5 and while allowing just 5 hits and only giving up one run. On the season he has now pitched 9 2/3 innings while only giving up the one run. Evan's best friend, Reid, was in the stands watching the game.  His coach from the spring baseball season came, as well, to watch him play.  It was nice that he had so much support.

Evan and Reid went back to Reid's house.  We picked up Simply Pho for dinner and brought it to Reid and Evan while, Rachel, Noah and I ate here.

Rachel is making cookies now.

Until next time...

The last week or so

 Here's what been happening since the last post.

Last weekend Michael came to town and we had a nice visit with him, Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Susan.

This week we celebrated our 18th anniversary.  On Tuesday we got dessert at Kerbey Lane. and last night we went out to dinner at Sundancer Grill overlooking the lake.

Evan worked out with Dio on Tuesday and I brought Chewie along.  While he worked out, I took Chewie for a walk on the trails around the school.

Tonight Morry made smoked chicken.  While he was cooking the chicken a big thunderstorm passed through and it's still raining.

Here are some pictures from the last week.

Pittsburgh

 Last weekend, we had a nice time in Pittsburgh. 

We went to spread Zayde's ashes but also got to spend some time with family and friends.

We met Fran, Ronald, and Rachel's families out there.  We also saw Mike and Darcy as well as Trent's families.

On Sunday, we went to the Pirates baseball game.

We stayed an extra day to do stuff around the city.

On Monday, we went to the Roberto Clemente Museum.

Here are pictures from the trip.

Mother's Day, Driving, Cooking

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Since we last wrote, several things have happened.  On Thursday, Noah went over to Grandma and Papa's and cooked dinner.  They made artichokes, teriyaki chicken, cauliflower, salad, and a baguette with roasted garlic.  Everyone enjoyed it.  Papa walked Noah home with some leftovers.

On Saturday, Rachel, Evan and I went to Lady Bird Lake and kayaked.  Rachel and I were in the inflatable kayak with two seats.  Evan had the single person, hard kayak.  Evan did really well, kayaking with no problems.  The inflatable kayak seemed to struggle with the 15mph winds.  I had to really work to row for the two of us.  At one point, the headwind was so strong that no matter how hard I rowed, we moved backwards.

From there, we went to Black Rock and got some drinks.  For dinner, Grandma and Papa came over and we picked up Hula Hut for dinner.

On Sunday morning, Grandmom came over. She joined us along with Grandma and Papa at Snooze for brunch. We checked in online and got to the restaurant when it told us to get there.  We still waited nearly an hour and a half before we could be seated.  Once we sat down, things were nice.  We were able to eat a good brunch.

On the way home, we stopped at Tiff's Treats to get Grandmom her present.

In the afternoon, we took Chewie for a walk.  Then we went to a large parking lot and let Evan drive around.  He did much better driving this time and really enjoyed it.

Today, after school and work, I took the boys to get their hair cut.  Then we stopped at Academy to get some stuff to wear for this weekend for the boys.

Until next time...

UT Baseball and Pup Cup

Today Evan and Noah went to the UT baseball games.  There was a partial game first (a make up from yesterday's rain).  We dropped them off and then took Chewie to Hamilton Greenbelt.

We walked around for about an hour and then stopped at Black Rock on the way home.  The barista offered Chewie a pup cup (whipped cream) and he loved it.

We went home for a little bit and then went back out to pick up the boys.

They had a good time at the game.

From there we went to H-E-B and then picked up Torchy's for dinner.

Here are pictures from today.

Successful Boys

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

So Saturday was a successful one for the boys. It was the last day of the high school baseball season for Evan. His team set up an event.  Two coaches had a draft of both Varsity and JV players and they played two games against each other.  After the games, there was a potluck for everyone to celebrate.

Evan had a good day playing.  Batting against mostly Varsity pitchers, he went 2-4 with two walks, a single and a double.  He was not intimated by the older kids pitching.

After the games, we ate, and then the coach talked to everyone.  He announced that some kids from the Varsity and JV were named to the "All-Tournament team" from the weekend before as voted by all the coaches of the teams in the tournament.  Evan was named to the team.  It was basically saying he was one of the best players out there.  It was a nice way to end the season with that recognition.

When we got home, Noah showed us an email.  He had officially been accepted to the National Junior Honor Society. It seemed like he should have been admitted since he does so well in school, but you never know.  It was nice to see that Noah got recognition for how good at school he was.

As a reward, we took the boys to Bahama Bucks.  Chewie came along and enjoyed it.

Yesterday, Rachel and I took Chewie for a walk around Lady Bird Lake.  We stopped at Black Rock Coffee on the way home.

In the afternoon, a kid in the neighborhood came by and detailed my car. For dinner, Grandma and Papa picked up food from Saps and came over and we ate on the porch.

Today, Rachel had a dentist appointment.  I took Noah to Gorzycki to swap out his Chromebook.

There was no baseball today, so I smoked chicken quarters for dinner.  It worked out well.

Until next time...