Run Around the Universe

All I can say is that Bradley continues to amaze me. Today we ran a 5K (3.1 miles) with our friends, Shay & Melissa, at Universal Studios. Dubbed the "Run Around the Universe" it takes you through City Walk and both parks before ending in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. Start time was 7:30 am (too early) and it was a balmy 45! When the gun went off so did Bradley, leaving me (that was the plan) but also leaving Shay & Melissa (this was not the plan). However, we did have a plan as we assumed we would not all finish at the same time (hint - I'm the slow one). Amazingly enough, Bradley completed his FIRST 5K with a time of 28:30!!!! Melissa & Shay came in behind him at 33:00 and I brought up the rear at 45:00. However, since I bettered my time from the last 5K by more than 5 minutes I was very happy! Sorry there were no pictures but we didn't have anyone with us to take them and we certainly didn't have any way to carry a camera!

Almost Forgot...

As if I don't have enough on my plate, I'm the webmaster for Bradley's travel baseball team. Check out our team site - www.orlandobraves.com. We hope to get pictures of the team and the boys this weekend and add to the site.

Orange Bobcats Win Again

Whew, it's been a really busy week! So where do I start....TR is in California working this week - complete with a trip to Hollywood Blvd & Rodeo Drive. He'll be back late Saturday night just in time to leave again next Tuesday. Bradley and I have had a whirlwind week - Monday was basketball practice; Tuesday was track practice, pitching practice and baseball practice; Wednesday was co-ed softball and then the basketball game; thankfully tonight we will rest - good thing as the weekend is booked! Friday is baseball practice; Saturday Bradley and I are doing a 5K at Universal with our friends Shay & Melissa; Sunday Bradley has a double header baseball game and then, of course, we're doing Superbowl at the O'Hara's and celebrating TR's big day.

My boys did win their basketball game tonight. We were short one player who was out due to illness. Final score was 26-21. We still need to work on taking care of the basketball - not turning the ball over! I know that I am a broken record on the sidelines sometimes telling them to take care of the basketball. We are now all alone in first place as we are the only team to only have lost one game. With three games to go, the boys really have to tighten up and work hard.

Brrrrrr.....

I thought we lived in Florida? You'd never know it by the temperatures the last couple of days. It's been freezing here - right now it's only 37!

The Orange Bobcats got themselves back on track tonight with a win over the maroon team 21-14. It was good to get the win, but it was a really sloppy game on our part - we should have beaten this team by at least 20 points! We've had a rough couple of weeks with our practice schedule being interrupted due to the holiday Monday and a gym closing last week. Hopefully everyone will be back at practice next week as we'll be back to our normal schedule.

It's Baseball Time!

Whew - the cold weather has left just in time for our first baseball scrimmage game. Bradley attended his first practice Friday evening for his new travel team, the Orlando Braves. Friday's practice was really cold! TR got back from New Orleans last night and was glad it wasn't as cold here as it was there. Yesterday there was a team manager's meeting for baseball and Bradley's coach managed to schedule a scrimmage for today. The weather was perfect! Bradley pitched the first three innings, striking out 5, walking none, had three put-outs and only allowed 2 runs - his total pitch count was around 60. He did an awesome job! He then went to right field for two innings and then caught for two innings. He did a great job in all of his positions.

Bobcats Suffer First Loss

My boys lost their first basketball game tonight 19-17. All in all, it was a great game and the boys played really hard. We were short one man tonight and that hindered our rotation a little but overall I am really proud of the boys. We needed to shoot a little better from the foul line tonight though - Bradley was 0-4 on his free throws which is really unusual. However, he did a great job rebounding - so good that after the game was over, the referee stopped to ask him how old he was and who taught him how to box out - after a quick nod to indicate I was the instructor, the ref proceeded to compliment him on doing such a good job. That was a great off the ball comment for the ref to make. It could be a quiet day tomorrow as my voice was pretty much gone during the 4th quarter. We'll keep working hard and get ready for next week's game. TR has escaped our blast of cold weather with a trip to New Orleans for the Fench Tech trade show - he'll be back late Saturday evening - managing to miss our coldest nights. Bradley is supposed to have baseball practice Friday evening if its not too cold - at least its still sunny and we should be back to our normal 70s next week. Stay warm everyone!

What A Fish!!

So, TR and his buddy Daniel went fishing yesterday and managed to get this King Mackerel into the boat. They had great weather and a great day for deep sea fishing while some of us had to work ALL day (me) and others part of the day (Shay, Speedy & Melissa). Bradley got to spend the day with the McGinley family which is always fun for him - especially now that Riley has learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. After the boat was cleaned up, "the gang" went to Olive Garden for dinner which was great fun even though we had to wait over an hour - going somewhere else was not an option as I had seen a commercial for their new shrimp dish and had to have it! We almost closed them down as we stayed after dinner and talked and laughed lots (good thing we were in a niche which was like having our own private room or we might have disturbed others who were trying to dine!) Great times!

Back to the Regular Routine...

There is something to be said for getting back to a normal routine....

We spent the New Years in the Keys - our first trip and definitely not the last. The weather was perfect and Bradley got in the water although we thought it was a little cold. As usual, he found some new friends on the beach and they found several crabs and even a few shrimp in the shallow water. New Years Day found us traveling over the 7 mile bridge and all the way to Key West. We enjoyed walking around downtown and seeing all the sights - hard to believe we were only 90 miles from Cuba! TR was really bummed about the water - it was slick as glass and he didn't bring the boat since this was a "scouting trip". When we returned home, our geese had miraculously "flown" over onto our roof, into our tree and into Bradley's basketball goal - sorry I didn't get pictures of this. :(



Those few days off brought us back to the real world - work and school. We also started our "Winter" co-ed softball league this week. It still amazes me that we can play ball in shorts in January. Of course, with the normal routine was a return to the basketball court. My boys did really well this week - we won our third game of the season 25-11 over a tough Green team. Bradley scored 4 points and only had one foul this week. He played great defense and did well rebounding. We are now the only undefeated team in the league. I was very proud of the boys as they worked hard during the Christmas break, attended practices and it showed during the game. Next week we will face a really tough team who lost their first game this week in double OT...stay tuned for next week's update.

Okay - back to watching the football game - GO GATORS!!!!