Playoff Run

This spring Wyatt's rec ball team made it to the playoffs.  Their regular season ended with a 4-6-1 record, so when Brian told everyone that we made it to the playoffs, there was a bit of a collective groan from the stands.  Ha!  Brian thought that this team was good, but they had some tough games. And by tough, I mean that in those 6 losses they had lost by a combined total of 8 runs.  They were close games!

The first playoff game was on Tuesday, May 24th.  They were playing a team they had previously lost to, but they came out ready to play and cheer on their teammates!

This guy caught a great game behind the plate.  The umpire called him "Little Johnny Bench."

He also got some good hits!  The first season of Kid Pitch is so hard.  They're learning to hit off kids, they're worried about whether they're going to hit, sometimes they do get hit...it's crazy!

They won the game, and they were so excited and proud of themselves.  It was a little nuts because it was also the week of standardized state tests, so some boys couldn't play the late games.

These 4 play Raptors Baseball together, and they're Dodgers together!

And more Raptors also had a playoff game (and won!) that night, so Ian stopped by to do some photobombing!

The next night (May 25th) is where the fun began.  All of the other teams had looked at the Dodgers record, and assumed the boys would be out.  Brian and the other coaches did a great job encouraging the boys (and their parents), that they could do this!  They just needed to be reminded how close the scores had been, and they needed some good pitching.  The next game was against the team that they had tied during the regular season.  They were nervous, and it was a battle, but they won!

And enjoyed a popsicle as a bonus!  Ha!

On the 26th they all came in pumped to win.  The other team really thought that they were going to be playing the team we'd be the night before, and their expectations were probably pretty low. Brian was stressed out thinking about pitching and the boys' arms and pitch counts, but these boys managed to win again and were headed to the Championship game!

They were all on Cloud 9.  Floating in the air, I tell you!  If only they could have played the next night to keep the magic alive.  This picture has a combination of unwashed socks, heart guards, entire uniforms, etc. thanks to the magic of superstition in baseball!

The Championship game was the following Wednesday (June 1st).  And the Dodgers ended their season with a loss. If there's one thing people know about Wyatt, it's that he's competitive, and he takes every game seriously. Sometimes too seriously. But, he comes by his um, "competitive tendencies" honestly. It was a tough game. For him. For his team mates. For his dad and the other coaches. Reese's team had their party that night and I didn't think that he and Brian were going to come. BUT they showed up. And while we were there we (literally) ran into one of his favorite high school players (his mom is one of Reese's very favorite people at her school), and he had also just lost a big game. And he told him, "it's just another loss." That helped him tremendously. His face lit right up. And when we got home we got some ice on that welt on his arm!

It was a really great season for the Dodgers!  But it didn't end there for Wyatt...next up was All Stars!

Wyatt's School Year Wrap Up

Wyatt is done with Second Grade! It was an interesting year, and he learned a lot, but I'm pretty sure that he is thrilled that it's over.

His class had field day the same week as Reese, so Brian and I juggled getting to both.  I was able to make it to Wyatt's for a little bit before I had to pick Reese and Hudson up from school.

With the exception of the pink shirt (his class voted on class shirt color and he said three boys were traitors - ha!) - he had a lot of fun.  It helped that they were able to wear their hats to school.

Finley tagged along to watch him play with his friends, and she got her own snow cone at the snow cone station.

I'm pretty sure that the snow cone station is second only to the Gaga Ball station.

The last day of school was a little difficult!  He's moving on next year to the Intermediate school!  He and Reese were only together this year, and they won't be back in the same school until they're in third and fifth grades!

Last day of Primary School!    Here he comes third grade!

A Little More Baseball

We typically spend a lot of time at the ballfield, but we've been spending a lot more time there lately. This guy has been playing on his rec team that Brian coaches, and he's also playing on a travel team. We haven't had many conflicts, but we have been on the go a lot! He usually spends Saturdays playing in a rec game and a soccer game, and then he has one or two games on Sundays, too. Now that soccer is over and there are only a few rec games left, things are going to slow down a bit!

A photographer came to one of his "mini-tournaments" a few weeks ago to take pictures of the team before the game and also got some action shots during the game.  And since I'm too busy during games to actually take out my camera, I figured I'd share a few!

He plays the "Hot Corner" a lot on his travel team.

 He's the one on the ground here!

Man, sometimes baseball is a tough thing to love.  When he gets a hit, I can see how pumped he is. When he doesn't make it on base, goodness gracious can you tell he's upset.  And the thing is, we try to explain to him all the time that that's what baseball is about.  That the best players are considered great if they make it on base three times out of ten.  That it takes work and practice.  But oh my goodness, this boy wants to win.  And he hasn't quite grasped the "it's not going to happen all the time" thing.   It's a constant work in progress!

Sometimes I also try to explain that he has a better shot of making it to first if he runs fast and doesn't watch the ball :).

But he's following his dad's advice here and using two hands...so I guess we'll take what we can get :)

Basketball Season

Wyatt, Reese, and Hudson are all playing basketball at the Y this season, and they are all on different teams.  Add in Wyatt's indoor soccer schedule and it makes for some crazy Saturdays. 

 

Hudson usually starts our mornings with his practice and game at 9AM.  His age group practices for about 20 minutes and then they play a game.  He was stoked to be on the court!

 



He scored 4 points in his first game!



 

Reese's game was next.  She is having so much fun!  She hustles up and down the court.

 We missed her first two baskets when we were getting Jeter, but Mimi and Baba were there to see them!

 Wyatt is playing his fourth season and he is having fun learning new skills (he learned a lot at basketball camp last summer, too.  Apparently I didn't include that on the blog.  So behind.).

 BUT, he's lost two games and tied the third.  This is how he handles losing.  He hopped up off the bench with a huge smile on his face when they ended in a tie.  I think he was just happy that he didn't actually lose!

Fortunately, his indoor soccer team has been winning by double digits, so that softens the blow of the basketball losses.  Ha!

All Star Season

Because I am so way behind on the times, I neglected to post anything about Wyatt's All Star season.

It ended two weeks ago, which is just unbelievable.  This summer is flying by!  He had several practices in the weeks leading up to the tournament, two "build up" tournaments, and then a big tournament at our field complex.

My father in law was awesome enough to take Wyatt to his practices so that I didn't have to drag the kids along, and they all did a pretty good job staying entertained during games thanks to, you know, fruit snacks and Gatorade.

This first tournament was a little bit crazy to me.  There's no other word for it other than MORE in comparison to the regular season.  More competitive, more pressure, more yelling (from the sidelines).  Just more.  Definitely fun and he was able to play a lot of baseball, but really interesting.  I was able to get used to it as the tournament went on, but the first tournament definitely left me a little shocked.

When it comes to baseball, you would be hard pressed to find a seven year old who knows as much about the game as this kid.

I'm honestly surprised that Brian hasn't started asking his advice on who to draft for his fantasy team.

When it comes to running, well, let's just say that this kid is probably going to get signed up for a speed and agility camp.  Pronto.  It took me awhile to figure out why he was moving so slowly.  Then I realized that he was actually running with arms up like he does when he's ice skating.  I guess that's one problem with not making him choose one sport.

The really great thing about the team is that Wyatt made lots of new friends and became better friends with the guys he already knew.  I got a kick out of taking him to places like Target or the Y and seeing him walk up to his friends (who I was not completely able to recognize without a hat. Ha!)

These boys wrapped up their time in the tournament, but there were still volunteer hours that we needed to perform (it was part of the All Star team commitment).  Wyatt had a blast going to the games and keeping score with Brian - because he got to announce the players over the loud speaker.  

We are super proud of what a great job Wyatt and his team did in the tournament!

Field Day

The school year is over!  Last week was CRAZY busy, but still so fun!

Wyatt's class had Field Day on Tuesday.  He has been looking forward to this all year!

Each First Grade class had shirts made - they've been perfect for Field Trips, "Team Days", and their class Easter Egg Hunt.  It made Field Day so easy because you could easily look up and see which class was which.

Wyatt's team won the Tug of War and his friend Rhianna hugged him.  This picture cracked. me. up.
Wyatt is typically very "Girls....ew."  But not when celebrating athletic achievements.

The "egg carrying race" was not his thing.  He opted out of the potato sack race because it was itchy (an alternative theory is that he suspected he may not be good at it, so he gave up.  That's just a hunch.), and then had a bit of an attitude about this.  Always fun times with this kid and his competitive streak!

Nothing like a a little "Gangnam Style" (you know, the Kids Bop version).

And an inflatable for the win.  

This water game cracked me up.  It was kind of funny to watch them carry the water back to dump out.  They wanted to fill up that bucket, but they also wanted to get the water all over their friends!

And then at the end my crazy child begged to have water dumped on him.  Awesome sauce!

Buddies!  Wyatt's made so many new friends this year - he came home every day talking about his friends and what they do at school.  It was such a great year for him!

During his class party, his teacher presented Class Superlatives to everyone.  Wyatt got the "MLB Award."  If you read his Writer's Workshop journal you would understand why - every journal entry is about baseball.  "Hi.  Wyatt here.  Today I want to talk about __________________, he plays _____________ for the _____________."  Pretty sure his writing was influenced by his early morning Sportscenter and MLB Network viewings!  His teacher was telling us a few weeks ago that she can't help but laugh about how competitive he is - even at math games!  She also said that she had a chance to sit down and read with him one on one a few weeks ago, and he is doing a really great job reading.  His love for non fiction animal books is apparent!

Before we left we stopped for snow cones at the truck that came to school.  What a great way to end an awesome year in first grade!