A Little More Baseball

Wyatt's new travel baseball team had their first game at the beginning of May.

He and his buddy Aden have been playing baseball together since they were itty bitty.  Last August we experienced a bit of "serendipitous" timing when the coaches of both of their travel teams decided to move on.  Their dads have talked for a long time about starting their own team, and it worked out really well that they both ended up with good reasons to leave their teams at the same time.

And the adventure began. Along with some of their friends from the baseball league, they began having practices in late fall, and practiced together at a gym all winter.  Finally in May, they were ready for their first game.

They scheduled the game for 7PM on a Saturday night, and all but one of the boys also had a 5PM game with their rec teams.  They were a little tired!  Wyatt didn't start the game, but he did come in and strike out three in the final inning.

These boys were over the moon excited that they won their first game!

Their coaches also had them shout "Happy Mother's Day!"  Smart dads!

Camp with the Tides!

We received an email from Wyatt's baseball league a few months ago about a camp opportunity with the Norfolk Tides.

We wasted no time signing him up. He was so excited to play on the field at Harbor Park!

He's out there somewhere.

Fielding grounders.

And throwing them back.

This player kept telling him to hustle.  Wyatt overthrew the ball and he made him go get it.  And he was (is) soooo slow.  

So he had to run to the dugout and back.  

And the Tides' player keep yelling at him to keep his arms at his side and run!

They got to field balls off the wall.

And I laughed hysterically when I saw this picture of a bunch of kids gathered around a beer sign.  Awesome.

Wyatt was excited to see the dugout and the batting cages! It was such a fun experience for these kids to get to play on a big league field.

But this week it's back to the pint sized ball fields!  Baseball season is back!

The End of All Stars

In other "I'm so behind on chronicling the lives of my children" news: Wyatt's All Star team party.

His coach invited both teams over for what can only be described as "A 7 year old's dream party."

There were rides in an army truck.  Which was probably the most popular thing ever.

They ran over things, they went up on hills, Wyatt described it as "amazing and awesome."

There was food, so this girl didn't have any complaints.

Trophies.

Fireworks.

Reese's expression pretty much sums up that part of the evening.

And there was a GIANT bonfire.  Firefighters may have pulled in just as we were leaving.

Wyatt had a lot of fun playing with the All Star team - and he's VERY excited for two baseball camps that he's going to in the next two weeks!

Now Batting, Hudson!

Hudson had to sit out from sports in the spring because there was just no way to fit his games into our schedule.  He was signed up for soccer, but they moved it from Monday nights to Saturday mornings, and that didn't work with our already overlapping schedule for the Talls.

When we saw that the Y had a summer tee ball league for three year olds, we signed this boy right up!

 His first game was June 14 - the same weekend as Wyatt's first All Star tournament.  Fortunately there wasn't any conflict, so everyone got to see him play.

 Can you tell that he gets in a lot of practice at home?

Little brother swings!  Someone asked Brian what he did to teach Hudson his swing.  The answer is that he just watches Wyatt.  A lot.  

Wyatt said that Hudson shouldn't be standing like this, and ran over to adjust his stance on the bag.  He's been serving as Brian's "First Base Coach" ever since.

 He had to end the game on a sad note.  He didn't get to touch the ball or get an out, so he was feeling a little sad.  Obviously.  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!

Tee Ball's Over, Too!

Reese ended her tee ball season two weeks ago (I know.  I blog about all the latest information).

She had so much fun playing tee ball this year.  She is eligible to move up to softball in the fall.  I'm not getting in the middle of the "discussion" she and Brian are having about whether or not she's moving up!  I'd love for her to play more tee ball, but I know she wants to play with girls and not the boys!

She is my lightning fast girl!  At her team's pizza party, another mom walked up to her just to tell her that she loved watching her run because she is so fast,  and she wished she was as fast as Reese is! I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of her speed, too!

She played second and pitched, and managed to get two outs in her final game!

Love that her trophy has a ponytail on it!  She came home and made a space for it immediately.  She's very proud of that thing - but we are much prouder of all her hard work and effort!

Can't wait to see what she chooses to do in the fall - soccer or baseball?  Guess we'll just have to wait and see!