All Stars and The Zoo

Summer baseball has been a point of discussion in our home for several months now with the debate being if we let Jake try out for All Stars ( a 3.5 week commitment but a very intense one) or just let him play summer ball- less intense and less competitive. In the end we pretty much left it up to Jake. We told him that if we let him do All Stars it would mean making a choice to give up some other stuff. With practices almost every evening we wanted to be sure that he knew what it meant:  fewer trips to the pool, fewer nights bouncing on the tramp, fewer play dates with friends. It also affected the first three weeks of summer: we haven't been able to take the boat out yet or go camping (although, to be fair, we probably wouldn't have done either of these things yet anyway due to the fact that we still haven't even finished moving in completely!). In the end Jake decided to try All Stars and the first 10 days has been crazy busy. 

We had a tournament last weekend with games on Thursday, Friday, and all day Saturday. Tanner and I went on Thursday night while Faith stayed with Nana. It was a beautiful night- a perfect evening for baseball. The boys won and played again on Friday. We sat out that game, letting Brian and Jake go alone, then decided to do the "marathon day" on Saturday. We were at the field from 11-7. Although a lot of it was fun and the kids had  a great time with their bubbles and balls that we brought along, it was also a lot of work on my part keeping them entertained, taking them back and forth to the porta potty and snack shack, etc... Tanner really enjoys the games, but Faith doesn't have much interest in them so she is a little trickier. The team played two games- winning the first and losing the second. The loss of the second meant that they were out of the tournament so there was no baseball on Sunday (I have to admit to being a little bit relieved that we wouldn't be at the ballpark again on Sunday!).  

We decided to let Faith choose a family activity for Sunday, being as she has had to be a major trooper through all this baseball. She decided to go to the zoo. So Sunday we headed out to breakfast at a new place downtown where we sat outdoors and even enjoyed a mimosa before heading to Zoo Boise.  We laid down the rules up front: Although we could walk through the gift shop there would be absolutely NO buying new "guys"!!!. She agreed and we all really enjoyed our morning with the monkeys, giraffes, and tigers. That afternoon we went to the pool together and that evening had a Family Movie Night. Even though it was a lot to fit into one Sunday, it all sort of just happened and it was really fun. 

I have been lamenting our loss of "Family Time" lately and realized just tonight that up until this point we have done almost everything as a team. Even the grocery store used to be a family affair and we all went to everyone's games and events. Lately though, with the kids getting older and their needs/interests being more diverse it has been more of a "divide and conquer" kind of thing. Brian will take Jake to baseball while I take Faith and Tanner to the park, or Brian stays home with Faith while I take Tanner and Jake to football camp, etc... I kind of miss the days of being able to do it all together. Actually.... I really miss it. It's not the same, and I miss being with Brian and with whichever child/children I am not with on the weekend and/or evenings.  It is yet another sign that our family is growing, the kids are getting older, and we are moving onto another stage in life. (And, as most of you know or remember: I am not good with change so I am having a difficult time with it right now!). 

Still, we have lots of great family stuff planned. This weekend is the Camp Out at the Green with our big tent, smores, movie at dusk outside, and a campfire. The next weekend will be another baseball tournament, and the weekend after that we have a boat trip on the calendar. Summer just always seems to go by so quickly... and there is never enough days in the season or hours in each day to do everything we want. At one of the tournament games last weekend an older gentleman (he was probably 75) looked at me with the two little kids and said, "You know this goes way too fast... enjoy it while you can. I was with my dad last year when he died at age 95 and I asked him, 'What surprised you most about life?' and he said, 'The brevity of it, Son, the brevity'.  I know you may not see it right now, but you really will miss this!".  Then he patted Faith and Tanner on the head and walked away. A good reminder and one I'd do well to remember on those days/ nights when I want to throw in the towel and sell them all to the highest bidder :)

Dad's Barbershop (Father's Day 2012)

“Parenthood...It's about guiding the next generation, and forgiving the last.” 

― Peter Krause

After baseball all day yesterday, all I wanted to do today was take it easy. We went out to breakfast and then came home just to chill out and have a normal Sunday. Marisa and the kids went to the pool and I stayed in the AC (it's 95 today) to watch baseball and do laundry and mow the lawns. 


This week, it was time for haircuts for the boys. When we moved, I got a much larger workbench for my tools. Part of the area I sent up with a mirror so I can shave my head in the garage without getting hair all over the bathroom. Additionally, during the summer, when the boys have their short haircuts, I give them their cuts in the garage now. We've started calling it Dad's Barbershop. Here are a couple of pictures from Tanner's latest haircut. They really like the part where instead of brushing the hair of their necks, I just blow them off with the leaf blower. 


Later that night was Marisa's girls movie night out so the kids then went to Dad's Pizza Place on the patio where we had frozen pizza for dinner. We then got up the next day and spent all day together at the baseball fields watching baseball, which was awesome. 


Life is really great right now. We love the new house. All of the kids will be in the same school next year for a precious few years. The boys are starting to really get into the sports they love. Faith has really started to bloom, developing her own persona and really starting to be her own little person. We keep trying to get her interested and doing something, but everything we suggest she says, "Yes, that would be fun, but I don't want to do that". We'll keep trying, but until we figure it out, she's perfectly content to march to her own drumbeat.


So Father's Day weekend was a major success. I know that Marisa and the kids want it to be a bigger deal, want plans and goals and ideas. The truth is, I love my life each and every day, why would I want to do anything different?

Tournament Time

Jake played in his first Outlaw Tournament this weekend, and it was an experience. The tournament started on Thursday afternoon. Their first game was at 4:00. They lost to a team they had played before (while we were out of town). 


They played twice on Friday, playing at 8:00am first. We were up and out of the neighborhood by 6:30am. They lost that game as well, then played again at 12:00, also losing that game. Those three losses set up our seeding for the tournament on Saturday, ending up in the consolation bracket. We figured we would play 1st thing again in the morning on Saturday. They didn't get the seeding figured out until after 11:00 Friday night. I checked email when I woke up at 2:30 and found out we weren't playing until 12:00, which was awesome. I shut off the alarm and went back to sleep.


The won the 12:00 game, beating a Caldwell team in a great, tight game. Because they won, they played again at 4:00 that afternoon. By then they were just exhausted, and played like it, losing 14-3 to a year-round team that has been together for a couple of years. 


It was a lot of fun and a really good experience. This team will be on-going for the next year or two, in addition to regular baseball. We have an indoor facility to use here so they will be able to practice during the winter. The same coaching staff will be running the 9/10 All Stars team (tryouts are tomorrow night) and most of the same boys will be on that team as well.


Jake had fun in the tournament, did some work on how to handle losing and ended up going 1 for 4 with a run scored. He enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to continuing to play baseball for the next month or so. 

Bronco Football Camp 2012

Jake has done the Boise State Bronco Football camp for the last two years. This is the first year that Tanner has been able to do it as well. Jake has really enjoyed it the last two years, so Tanner was really excited to be able to do it this time. Jake took him up and introduced him to Coach Peterson the 1st day.


I have mentioned in the past that I like this camp because it was really well organized. They break the kids into three "leagues" based on age (Tanner was in the Arena League this year, Jake was in College). Then work on offensive drills, defensive drills, special team drills and then they play Bronco Ball, which is basically touch football. The coaches are all the BSU coaching staff and the kids get good instruction in the fundamentals and then have a lot of fun playing football. Additionally, the staff addresses the team each day about respect, teamwork and fair play.


Tanner did really well for his first time. He was one of the smallest kids on his team. He just went thru a growth sport and got taller, but is just skin and bones. He knows how to throw and catch though, so he was better than a lot of the kids in his league. He had fun doing the drills and enjoyed playing football, even scoring a couple of touchdowns. It's funny to see how he approaches it as opposed to Jake. Jake was always very into it and competitive during the games, getting upset when he threw an interception and cheering when his team scored. Tanner did what he was supposed to and was into it, but just seemed to roll with it more than Jake does. He's just more "Tanner" and it's really great to see how he's his own person and is true to himself. 

The camp was three days long and finished up today. Jake is still playing baseball, but Tanner is done with sports for a little bit as there really isn't anything for his age group that is appropriate for his skill level. Jake is still playing baseball and has practice tonight.


I did notice that there were considerably less kids at this years camp than in the past, it used to be packed. I wonder if this is the beginning of the trickle down of the concussion issue to youth football. Jake likely had a concussion last year in flag football and I'm nervous about him in tackle this year as he is so little for his age. I have gotten to a point that if they say they don't want to play football anymore it wouldn't break my heart, but in talking it over with Marisa, it's not something we will tell them they can't do. It will be interesting to see if Tanner is drawn to football the way Jake is. They are both so good at baseball, I'm hoping that sport just has a natural draw for them. They can play it for three seasons if they don't play football.

Another Year Comes to a Close

Last week Tanner "graduated" from Kindergarten. Side note..Brian and I are really not fans of graduation ceremonies outside of high school graduation. I mean we had pre-K graduation, K graduation, 6th grade graduation.... by the time these kids hit high school graduation it will mean nothing. But...what are we gonna do? Refuse to let our kids participate? I feel the same about yearbooks. Yearbooks in elementary school? Really?

Anyway, for better or worse. Tanner had his K graduation last Friday. He was very cute as he got himself all gussied up (for Tanner this means a plaid shirt and plaid shorts that clash), came downstairs, and said, "Mom, I think this is the best I have ever looked!".  Bless that boy's heart- it was definitely an improvement over his normal day-to-day uniform of sports shorts and a glaringly mismatched sports jersey of some sort.  He was very proud wearing his cap (no gown thank goodness- at least that will be something special to add to HS graduation).

The ceremony was very cute. They sang a bunch of songs and Tanner was very animated throughout. We took great videos but won't bore everyone here. It was short and sweet and included a handshake with the principal and a "diploma" which was promptly discarded by our boy.

Later that afternoon there was a pool party at our clubhouse to celebrate the end of the year. Since Faith had her last day with daycare (Goodbye, Miss Wendy!) on Thursday she was able to come with me. Tanner hung out with his buddies and swam for hours. Meanwhile, Jake was with his friends on the green playing sports and later headed to a sleepover to celebrate the end of 3rd grade.

It was a great school year for all of our kids. They have been so lucky to have had such amazing teachers -and we are also blessed to have three kids that actually like to learn, take to it easily, and are self motivated. It's official: We are the parents of a Kindergartner, a first grader, and a fourth grader.

Uncle Ricks Memorial

Our trip to CA was for a sad reason, my Uncle Rick's Memorial Service. It was great so see my family, but hard because Uncle Rick was always there and always had a smile for everyone. I have always had a great relationship with my Uncle, even when we didn't see each other all that much. 


From him, I got my love of old houses and construction. When I was younger he was always working on his various houses. In their first home that I remember in Fremont, he built a water fall and lazy river in their backyard. I remember going there and just being amazed at the amount of design and work went into it and how cool it was. Ever since then, when I am working on a house I think of that house and when I think of taking a shortcut, I think of the work that he did and don't. He helped me put an HVAC system in my first house, 14 years ago now, in the middle of Summer in Tracy CA (it must have been over a 100 degrees all three days). 


When we first got the news that he had cancer, I was devastated. That was almost three years ago. I saw Uncle Rick a few times between then and now and he was always the same, happy guy who always made you the center of the conversation. He told great stories and could always get a laugh. He seemed so happy that I started to think that maybe it was just going to fix itself and everything would be fine. The end came quickly and, even though we were told it was coming, that didn't make it any easier to take. 


Just as I liked to emulate Uncle Rick as I worked on houses, I would really like to have people think of me when I am gone as I think of him. The quote below is how I define a successful life after the fact, and Uncle Rick nailed it.


He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.


Thanks for giving me something to emulate and something to try to live up to. Love you.