The First Win

A great crowd came out to see the game! Uncle Denny, Aunt Sherry, Stephanie, Grandma and Grandpa R, Uncle Nate, Aunt Joanie, Uncle Josh and Zissou, Uncle Billy and Katie were all there to cheer the Angels on to their first victory of the season! Unfortunately, my camera's battery was dead so no visuals of this special occasion.

Again, here's Kevin's review of the game (the parentheses are mine):

Angels vs. Cardinals
Win, 20-5
Ben: 4-4
Lou: 3-4

The Angels batted all 11 batters 3 of the 5 innings. Gavin (a boy who has struggled mightily, and Kevin has been working with, since the beginning) had a big game with 4 hits. Lou's out was a pop-up to the pitcher (in my opinion, one of the best opponents we've seen thus far). Luckily, the Cardinals had no offense to speak of. Lou and Ben both played catcher for an inning. Lots of playing in the dirt by the Angels' infield--it was tough to watch even though it was a win!

Sawyer Point

Snack time--These boys are always hungry.

We met Amanda, Owen and Eli down at Sawyer Point and Amanda said something that never occurred to me before, "This is the epitome of city living," referencing the fact that the kids were playing in a park located under an overpass.

Sawyer Point took a place that could have been only for tall buildings, parking lots, and the bank of a river where it isn't uncommon to see a cooler or a lamp floating with the current, and made a beautiful park where kids from all over the city can come together and enjoy the day.

And that's exactly what we did!

Not a whole lot of sun, but the boys had a great time racing through the wooden castle.

Game 2

The weather for the second game of the season couldn't have been nicer. The turnout wasn't what we would have wished for, but some good things happened. I forgot the camera, so below I'll type out Kevin's version of what happened at the game:

Angels vs. Reds
5/5/10
Lost, 13-10
Ben: 3-4
Lou: 4-4
Attendees: Grandma & Grandpa R.

The Angels were up four runs going into the bottom of the 5th. They got two outs with no runs scoring, then couldn't get the final out.

The Highlights: With Ben playing 2nd and Lou at 1st, a ground ball was hit to Ben. He fields and throws to Louie for the out. Lou had 5 putouts. Too bad the rest of the team couldn't pay attention in the field.

Mere Bear

Over the weekend Meredith turned 11-months-old. I'm not embarking on any new territory by saying how hard it is for me to believe that we're closing in on a year already. No, she's not walking yet. She's not even crawling, but she is developing and becoming her own little person.

I love that when I hold her she now holds on to me. What a great feeling! She knows the important people in her life and she gets so excited to see them. Especially in the morning when her brothers come into her room singing their "Good Morning" song.

Her nickname is destined to be "Scooter." She has developed the ability to fly across the room on her bottom. I've never seen another kid do what she does! Who says you have to do what all the other kids are doing (i.e. crawling before walking)? This girl has an independent streak that runs deep and she's showing us what she's got :)

She chatters so much more than the boys ever did, I feel like we'll have one of those talky-talk girls that annoy the boys before long. She has been such a pleasant baby, I can't wait to see what her toddler years bring!

Play Ball!

It's that time of year again, and this time Louie is joined by Benny on the Angels baseball team. We've been anticipating this moment ever since last season ended, so there was no need to get the boys pumped up for this--they were there weeks ago!

We had tickets for the Reds game after the Angels' game, so in packing up hot dogs and juice boxes it didn't leave us time to get to the game until it had started. Walking in I captured Louie's first hit of the season--a double!

Here's Benny's wallop of a hit! He looks so minature out there compared to the rest of the guys. It probably doesn't help that he's almost five and this is a six and seven-year-old league. But he holds his own!

Each inning the kids are put in a different position. Obviously, they like the infield the best, where the action is, but each time the Angels take the field Lou and Ben race to their position and put their hands on their knees.

Benny was pretty pumped to be the catcher. He definitely looked like he knew what he was doing, squatting there with one hand behind his back. He may be pint-sized, but that wasn't going to stop him from doing his best.

We were worried that the game wasn't going to be played because when I went to check on the fields at 2pm they still had standing water. The guys who work on the field must have used some magic because even though the dirt was a bit moist, they definitely got it playable between then and gametime.

Kevin is an assistant coach this year for the Angels. His main job is to get the kids ready to bat and help them at the plate.

Although she went to many games in my belly last year, this was Meredith's first time watching her brothers play. The first of more than she'll be able to keep track of.

Louie and Benny did well, but the Angels fell to the Indians 6-5 that day. Uncle Paul, Uncle Jeff, Grandma and Grandpa R. were in attendance, rooting on the boys.

Entering a Third Decade

It's hard for me to fathom I'm at an age that I remember my parents turning. The fact that I am 30+ was solidified when my brother Billy celebrated a birthday this month. Here are some pictures from the somewhat rainy day, that could have been a heck of a lot worse! His girlfriend Lisa threw a Tex-Mex themed party and what a fun theme it was!

Two things to take from this picture: the deck was covered by a big blue tarp and the boys played baseball 93% of the time we were there. The other 7% was taken by eating.

Although it was Billy's party, the show was stolen by the dogs and babies. Here's Billy's dog Bullet welcoming guests.

Charlie was dressed like Alvin for some reason. I told the boys that they could dress up (I was wearing my cowboy boots) and this is what Charlie came up with. The back of his shirt says "mama."

Everybody was excited to eat!

Here's my cutie-pie niece with her Scuba Steve.

Bullet + Zissou = Best Friends

How big's Meredith? Sooo big!

My brothers

Uncle Josh was using Meredith's leg for a guitar

This Hollywood lady has a birthday coming up, too!

Lessons Learned

Earlier today I was lucky enough to be able to go on Benny's end of the school year field trip to Glenwood Garden's Highfield Discovery Center. Long name, but it definitely lives up to the billing. Last year I went with Louie's class to the same park, but they had a different program for the kids. If you remember, last year a large frog talked to the kids about the changes an amphibian goes through. This time, they talked about flowers and the kids got to actually dissect a flower!

All the time I feel like I'm telling the kids to use your eyes to look at the pretty flower (or some other plant). After the program today it came to my attention that they probably haven't been able to examine the plants, know what they're really all about because they aren't allowed to touch them. They talked about all the different parts of a flower and what their purpose is. They also talked about how many things that we like (i.e. tomatoes, strawberries) start out as flowers.

As with last year, the team that put on the program did a wonderful job and I really think the kids learned a lot. Afterward they were let loose into the play area that was filled with a giant tree, over-sized mushrooms, and a tiny train track. I might have mentioned this when Louie went, but it reminds me a lot of Smurf-world ride from Kings Island in the '80s. This was much cooler, though, because the kids were able to run through the tree, peeping in holes that contained dancing spiders and bat with flashing eyes.

The weather was sunny and mild, making for a perfect day, except for one thing in Benny's eyes: after riding in a van with all girls he proclaimed, "Girls talk too much." Eerily similar to what his brother said one year ago...