Weekly Roundup July 20-24

First off, let's go over last week. I didn't do a post because all we had was one baseball practice and one soccer game. Our baseball game on Wed. was rained out, and we headed downstate on Thurs., so Trevor had to miss that game. The Hawks unfortunately lost both games last week. Lily did have a doctor's appointment on St. Ignace, and they said her hand is doing really well and her x-rays looked good. So, this week she returned to the lineup, so we can recap that...

Monday Lily returned to the lineup and did pretty well. She went 2-3 at the plate and hit the ball pretty well. Trever went 1-3, but he hit the ball well, too. Sometimes they hit it hard, but right at someone. On Wed., it was the last game of the season. All of the kids seemed distracted by this, but we did ok, anyway. Both Lily and Trevor went 2-3 at the plate again, but had some trouble making contact at first. I don't think any of the kids were really paying much attention, just trying to get through the last game. Both kids also made some nice plays in the field, though. It was kind of a sad day for me.

In soccer, the Hawks won both game to improve their record to 3-2 in the playoffs. Next week they'll play for either 1st or 3rd place. They won 3-1 on Tuesday, and 4-2 on Thursday. Trevor played well in both games and got an assist in the first game. I think all of their players showed up this week, which made a big difference. Lisa even came to Thursdays game to root him on.

Friday we had Fun Night for baseball. The kids got to partake in various activities and had a lot of fun. I even took a turn in the dunk tank and got extremely wet. I told Lily I'd double her allowance if she knocked me in, and she did the very next throw. Lots of fun and I wish we would have gotten some pictures of that.

Birthday At The Ballpark

It doesn't get much better than spending your birthday at a baseball game with your kids. We headed down to Cadillac, and Papa took Lily, Trevor, and I to the Whitecaps game on Friday. First we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for the kids, and no, I didn't have a birthday party there. We got to the ballpark and met Barbaro Garbey, who played on the Tigers 1984 World Series team, and who is now a coach with Peoria. He was nice enough to sign some cards for the kids. Also on hand, was former Tiger John Wockenfuss. He also signed some cards for the kids and was very nice to them.

The game itself was great, as the Whitecaps pounded Peoria 9-0. We saw some great plays and a home run. It would have been nice to have Brian and Lisa there, too, but Brian is a little too rambunctious to have at a game, so Lisa took him to meet some family in Mt. Pleasant. Spending time with my family at a game was the best present I could get.

Weekly Roundup July 6-10

Another busy week for us and we finally had some nice weather. We were able to get in both baseball games, soccer practice and a soccer game. Papa and Nana even made the trip from Cadillac to see the kids, too.

Monday we had a good baseball game. Trevor is starting to hit the ball a lot better. It's not taking him as many swings to hit, and he's making better contact. He went 2-3 at the plate, but no RBI's, as no one was on base when he hit. He's making some good plays in the field, to, just have to learn to take the throws when he covering a base. Wednesday he went 2-3 also, with four RBI's being the last batter in the inning. Papa even helped out on the field a bit. Lily is still doing a great job helping on the bench. I actually would be lost without her keeping track of the lineup for me.

Thursday started the soccer playoffs. I am really proud of his team the Hawks, as they had NO substitute players and won the game 3-1. Trevor almost had his first goal, but missed the ball by just centimeters. If he keeps playing like this, he'll get one soon. He did have an assist, though, and is doing really well at throwing the ball in. No more practices, as we'll have game on Tuesdays and Thursdays from now on.

Happy 4th From The North

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays, and this year it was made even better by the fact that Lily, Trevor, and I were in the holiday parade here in town representing the Sault Area Little League. We were happy to be involved as nothing is more American than baseball, other than maybe hot dogs and apple pie. We had a pretty good group of kids turn out from all levels of baseball and softball. Another few years and Brian will be riding along with us, too. I'll try to find a way to get some pics of him up on the site. In the picture here, I'm in the middle of a wave, but looks like I'm casting some wierd voodoo spell on Lisa or something.

Denied The Cup-Again!!!

It was bad enough that the Detroit Red Wings flopped in the Stanley Cup Finals, losing the last two games to a less talented and less worthy Pittsburgh Penguins. The only silver lining in this dark cloud was that Sault native, former Soo Greyhound, and current Penguin Tyler Kennedy would bring hockey's 'Holy Grail' up north here for all local fans to enjoy. So he did. Unfortunately for Lily, Trevor, myself, and hundreds of other fans who waited in line for hours, we were denied the Cup once again. The staff at the Essar Centre must have brainstormed to come up with the least logical and least efficient way to get fans through to meet Tyler and see the Cup. Instead of hurrying people along, the staff let the lucky few who made it to the front chat with Tyler like they were old friends who had all day to catch up. No offense to Tyler, but we were there just to see the Cup so the kids could get their picture taken with it. No big deal for me, as I've seen it a few times already, and have been to Toronto to see the 'real' Cup. So I guess this just adds fuel to my fire, another reason to despise the Penguins-denying my kids a chance to see the Stanley Cup.
I did get a pic of the kids with the Cup in the background, and I guess that's as close as they'll get for now.

Weekly Roundup June 29-July 2

Lots of rain this week, so we missed out on baseball practice on Monday and soccer practice on Tuesday. Not that I didn't need the rest, but summer isn't that long and we hate to miss out on anything, not even practice. I had some good drills set up, too, so we'll have to save those for next time.
We played baseball in the rain on Wednesday, too. Only had five players show up so we borrowed a couple from the other team. Trevor went 2 for 3 at the plate and hit the ball real solid his first time up. Maybe I can get them out this weekend and work on some things. He made a nice play in the field, too. He's getting a lot better at catching the ball and at least getting in front of it. Lily is being a big help as an assistant coach, as my regular is on vacation. She's calling out the batting order and actually providing the game pics of Trevor.
Thursday night Trevor's soccer team the Hawks suffered their first loss of the season as they fell to the Wolverines 4-2. Trevor had an assist on the first goal, but didn't get a lot of playing time in the second half when the teams defense fell apart. They were short-handed again, only having one sub and missing a couple of their better players. They'll have to toughen up and get them next week. Trevor's doing better, but keeps getting distracted by the seagulls flying around.
Also, we'll be marching in the 4th of July parade with Little League Baseball.