The Boys of Summer

Warm weather, lush, green parks--nothing feels like summer quite like sitting on the edge of a diamond-shaped playing field, cheering on tanned children with sun-bleached hair.  There certainly wasn't a shortage of opportunities for Jason and I to do just that, with three boys involved in baseball and kickball this season.  I'll admit.  It's a good way to spend a portion of those lazy summer days.

Brevin participated in his second year of baseball in the Mustang league and was one of the older players on his team.  His coach often had him play first baseman, and he was able to see quite a bit of playtime action because of that.  His team, the Diamondbacks, had a relatively successful season and played into the post-season loosing in a close game in the semi-finals.

Garrett was able to start kickball this summer.  The main objective of this league is to introduce the children to the concept of base running and passing.  It is supposed to help with the transition to t-ball the following year, and it is very entertaining to watch.

It wasn't all spectating for Jason this summer.  He signed on to be the coach for Spencer's coach-pitch team for a second year.  All their practicing together really paid off.  As you can see from the pictures, Spencer was able to hit his pitches into the outfield nearly every time.

This post authored by Amber

Going, Going, Gone

The title of this post accurately sums up my feelings about the past baseball season.  As a family, we were going, going, going from one game/practice to another all through the month of June.  And then, just like that, the month was gone and the season was over.  It was kind of an abrupt (although welcomed) ending to the sport season.

Jason volunteered to coach Spencer's coach-pitch team, the Rays.  All the practicing at home with Dad seemed to give Spencer a slight advantage when it came to batting.  Jason knew where to put the ball just right for Spencer, and he'd send it into the outfield more often than not.  He's a pretty good little hitter.

Brevin participated in the Mustang league for his first time this year. His team was the Diamond Backs.  It was our first experience as spectators of games where the boys do all the pitching.  The games are more drawn out and the play action is sparse. More often than not, it all came down to whether the pitcher was on target with the catcher and which team managed to steal the most bases.  I will say, I was pleased to see that Brevin would take swings at the balls that looked good, and didn't just wait around for the pitcher to walk him to a base.  He was able to get in a few good hits for the season, too.  During the final practices and games, he even tried his hand at catching.  He really liked that.

And by the end of the season, I was really good at pushing a fully loaded stroller (with baby, camp chairs, diaper bag, camera, snacks, etc.) from the parking lot, through the grass, and to the field.

This post authored by Amber

Play Ball!

To fully enjoy this photo, click to enlarge to see the look on Brevin's face.  Priceless! 

Summer got off to a running start....literally.  We ran from here to there to get boys (and Jason who was a coach for the T-ball team and an assistant coach for the coach-pitch team) to ball games that were nearly every day of the week.  Miraculously, there was only one game that was played simultaneously during the whole season.

Though it sounds crazy to try and have two boys involved in a sport at once, it was really fun to watch games as a family and support each other.  It was also amazing to witness the improvement in the boys' skills from the beginning to end of the season.  And, holy cow!  Now June is over! 

This post was authored by Amber