This year I put the boys in a different baseball league. Last year they played in a local Cal Ripken league but there were many parts to it that I did not enjoy. Plus I thought it was a lot of driving. Before that league they played in another one that practiced and played at the park at the end of our block. I thought that would be a great way for them to play and this pregnant mama not to go crazy. Because as we know baseball goes on forever. I would be atteneding games and practices all through my third trimester and would not always feel like it. And how convienet on gas. So I signed them back up for that league, PenMar.
You may have seen the ball fields before if you like Extreme Home Makeover. Back in 2008 they did a house around here and they played on our fields. You can read about it here. And see more pictures of the very handsome Ty Pennington as the catcher. This is there photo not mine.
Well after signing them up and paying a ton of money, I can't believe how expensive kids club sports are. I found out they moved the practices and games! Apparently I was the only one to find this out, everyone else new and looked at me in disbelief for not knowing. The practices are not by my house nor are the games. They are a good distance away. It is a mix team pretty even of Marylanders and Pennsylvanians.
Our county is on the Mason Dixon line. Why is that important? Well...as the issue of slavery became more and more contentious, the people of the various U.S. states began to think of themselves more as living above or below a certain "line." The Mason-Dixon Line became a convenient dividing line between North and South. Half of my kids were born below the line in Maryland and the rest north in Pennsylvania. I say they fight like the north and south too.
Back to baseball, but you are welcome for the history lesson. Since we are such a mix team the pratices are in another county and close to Maryland. We live the furthest in Pennsylvania. Ugh. And the games are at the Extreme Home Makeover field, and why not, but not the close ones. They used to use both to play games on. I almost thought about pulling them but did not want to lose that money nor hurt a team that was depending on not just 1 but 2 of my kids to fill its roster. So we stayed. And I drive out there 4 times a week at $4 a gallon. But I am glad we stayed.
They have such good coaches this year. I am grateful for the instruction they are getting. The moms are nice and welcoming. Both of these are different from last years team.
Neither of the boys are baseball stars and it does not look like that is in there future, sorry boys. We all have strengths and baseball is just not it but they are having fun. They are taking pride in the fact there team is undefeated, mostly due to in-field home runs.
Gregory at bat.(up) He can play and often makes it on base.(down)
And then there is Evan.
He takes a lot of pep talks and instruction on what to do. But he is young only a new 7. Plus he broke his finger the first week. I am happy and surprised he is still playing.
He gives it a try, swings a lot. But misses. Sometimes that is the hardest part. You wait for so long for your turn and then 3 strikes your out and nothing. No running the bases just back to the bench then to the outfield where you try again next time.
In between baseball games and practices we head north for soccer, 2 different teams. Yeah, I am crazy I know. But soccer is for there school. They both play on school teams and I love them. I think it is very important that they support there school. And since it is a private school not a neighborhood one this gives them more chances to have fun and interact with their friends. Many of them travel great distances to come to school so we don't see them outside of it and this gives us that chance. Plus these moms are super. I enjoy spending time with them and call them all friends, at least facebook does :-)
They are both better at soccer and Gregory he has got some real talent. I love watching there soccer games. Evan's are just to funny. He is on the k-1 team. He gets plenty of play time in the 30 minutes the game last. He is actually one of the bigger kids and often plays more than his share when his brothers 2-3 team is short a player or someone gets injured it is Evan they always pull in and he plays well with the older kids too.
Gregory is just awesome and he knows it. He is fearless. He loves being the goalie best and it great at it. i would not want those balls to come flying at me but he stop over 90% of them. His skills have improved so much, the teams skills have improved so much. They are now working together. They have moved on past huddled around each other on their side of the field to now passing to each other and staying on the other side of the field.
Gregory is also a very fast kid. They put him on offensive often because of it. Today he scored the first goal and the winning goal. I try to remind him that soccer is a team sport he did it with them. He knows. He tells me mom I try passing it to so and so because they are open and they can shoot the goal.
I am so proud of him. He enjoys soccer thoroughly and he does so well. It warmed my heart that every time they blew the whistle he would run over to his sister (next to the water bottle) and smother her with kisses and head nuzzling until he had to go back out. He is a great big brother to them all.
Sports make for a long day and fast weeks. They keep the kids running and me too.
1 comment:
You're a seriously wonderful mom. And thanks for the history lesson too. :)
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