Amazing Summer & Surviving Middle School

So we really did have an amazing summer! Bradley's baseball team competed in the Elite 32 World Series - top 32 10-year old travel baseball teams in the country and we were not first out at 0-5 - we did win one game in bracket play! This was a huge accomplishment for our boys and gave them all a taste of what it takes to play at the top level of travel ball. Needless to say, they will all be working hard for next year!

The Powerhouse then competed in the Global World Series at Disney and placed 3rd. They played a great tournament and only had one bad game which knocked them out of contention for first. After the game, they were able to get their picture taken with their medals & Mickey. I'm not sure where the picture for this went - but I'll try and find one. Special thanks to Liam Dillon (Temecula, CA) and Brooks Walton (Gainesville, FL) for playing with the Powerhouse this week!

In the midst of all of our baseball, we also had the Pride coming back into town for two series at Disney around our fastpitch events. We were blessed to have great weather and no marathon rain delays! For three weeks straight, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney was our home. Bradley can tell you every nook & cranny of the facility.

August found us hitting the road for Austin, TX for a series with the Chicago Bandits at the Round Rock Express minor league facility. TR & Bradley had some great "family" time and saw a bunch of country as they drove the truck & merchandise trailer to Austin and were waiting for us at the airport when we landed. Bradley & Ace (Jennie Finch's son) had a great time playing together and, of course, acted like they owned the park! This was the second series we attended with a special retirement segment dedicated to Jennie and yes, I teared up again. Hard to believe that she's not going to be playing in the NPF next year!

Bradley definitely had a GREAT summer living it up at the ballfield - from meeting Gator Coach Tim Walton & family (and a weekend trip to stay at the Walton house in Gainesville) to hanging with his Pride girls - I really don't think he would have changed a thing. Special thanks to Sam Walton for taking Bradley to the waterparks and giving everyone a much needed break during a really tough span of home games. Brooks & Bradley were pretty much inseparable and if Bradley wasn't with us - you could bet he was with his "other" family - the Waltons who he insists are much cooler!

Late August found us preparing for school and the NPF Championship series. Bradley was definitely not happy that the first week of school coincided with the series in Sulphur, LA. While TR & I hit the road (actually we flew) we left a very disgruntled middle schooler! He definitely did not think that it was fair he had to miss the Championship series because of school. In Louisiana, we stayed at the L'Auberge du Lac - a great casino property (complete with a lazy river) in Lake Charles. One last retirement special for Jennie (thank goodness since I really didn't need the waterworks!) and a NPF Championship for the Pride! Cat, who had suffered an arm injury in July, came out and pitched a complete game to take the third and final game of the Championship series from the Bandits. She was absolutely amazing - difficult zipper (inside joke) and all!

It was difficult to say goodbye to all of our Pride family members at the end of the season. However, they all signed a helmet for Bradley and wrote some great things about him. Bradley misses his "big sisters" and his girl Cat. Who would have ever thought when we were watching Cat play for Texas and Bradley declared her the best pitcher ever that he would get a chance to hang out with her daily!

Of course, we got back to Florida just in time for the Conference USSSA slow pitch Championship Series followed by our slow pitch World Tournaments (back at Disney!). September was a complete blur. Dot & Tommy came for a visit around a convention he attended and managed to stay a couple of extra days. It was nice to visit with them and they even were able to watch some major slow pitch softball.

We've also managed to survive the first 9 weeks of middle school and everyone is still breathing! With middle school in full swing, we're now getting back to normal and back to the baseball field. Bradley's been playing fall league and we had our first fall travel ball tourney last weekend. Also with the Rays losing in the playoffs that meant Stan could come home - BIG CHEERS - as we are definitely ready for some extra pitching & hitting!

And our Gator fan has jumped on the Bama bandwagon for football season since the Gators seem to have disappeared. This, of course, has been assisted by Bama alums Kelly Kretschman and Charlotte Morgan who brought Bradley back a Bama hat from their recent trip. Look closely, and you'll notice that with the Bama hat, he's wearing his Gator shorts!

Lastly, we were able to go to one of the Magic's preseason games last weekend and see the amazing new Amway Arena - not to mention our new seats which are only 3 rows from the floor and across from the Magic bench. Carson & Bradley had a great time and were able to see Vince Carter (go Tarheels!) and JJ Reddick both light it up.

Oh - and by the way - we've had PERFECT Florida weather - sunny & 85 -no humidity with a light breeze!

Sorry It's Been So Long....

So anyone who knows us, understands that once Pride season hits we are slammed. I really didn't realize it had been so long since I updated the blog and I apologize. To catch you up -

Bradley turned 11 in May - where has the time gone? Being the cool mom that I am, I let him have 5 baseball buddies spend the night after baseball practice that Friday night. We then let two more go to the movies with us the next day - so it was me plus 8 boys seeing Shrek The Final Chapter. (You'll notice that TR declined to accompany us to the movies! BIG CHICKEN) The boys were well behaved and I didn't have any problems.

TR & Miranda managed to grab a day and go fishing and were able to catch some dolphin. We ate them for dinner that night! Then we went out on the boat with friends Speedy and Jason. This was Speedy's first time out on the big water and let's just say green is not her color. I think she'll be sticking to the lake from here on out!

Memorial Day weekend we played in the State Championship tourney. We played awful during pool play - going 0-2 and setting us up for a long Sunday. We arrived at the park at 10 am on Sunday and left at 10:20 Sunday night. I'm very proud to say that our boys played 4 ballgames, sat through two weather delays and finished second! At the end they simply ran out of gas losing the Championship game 8-6.

The Pride season officially kicked off on Memorial Day against the Venezuelan National Team. This series was a tune up for our opening NPF series that was played in Lubbock.

Mom arrived just in time for our trip to Lubbock, Texas for the Pride series against Chicago that we were hosting at Texas Tech University. Everyone worked long and hard to make this a successful event - complete with exhibition games, clinics and the Professional Games. In case you missed it, Bradley is a STAR! The Saturday afternoon game was broadcast on ESPN2 and there are several shots of him in the dugout with his girls. I think TR even made it on TV. It was great to see Jennie & Ace. Bradley & Ace had a great time playing each day during the autograph session. It was a very successful event and we met some great people.

We came back to town just in time for the Pride to play the Canadian National Team at Disney. There's no rest in June with this schedule we had! That was followed up by the baseball team's Global State Championship. The boys didn't fare as well this time, coming in a dismal third place being knocked out of the event by Monsey's team the Orlando Braves.

Since we've been running a little ragged lately, last weekend we actually got home from the field on Sunday at a decent hour (4 pm). We went to the movies to see Toy Story 3. It was GREAT - other than the fact the theater was crowded and we had to sit on the second row.

Little League All-Stars were announced and Bradley made the team. Thanks to the Roes and the Barbers for making sure Bradley gets to Little League practice! The Little League All-Star tourney started on Friday. We won the first game 12-2. Bradley pitched two innings, played first and caught. He also hit two doubles. The next game is today at 6 pm.

For the 4th we kept it low-key. I worked from home in the morning then did laundry, ironing, dishes etc. The weather was cloudy and overcast so we met Speedy and went to the movies (twice in two weeks - this is a record!) and saw A-Team. This was ANOTHER great movie and definitely set up for a sequel. Bradley, of course, never saw the original A-Team. Now that he's seen the movie, I think he'll like the original show.

The travel baseball team has a tough July schedule. We'll be playing in the Elite 32 tourney at Disney beginning next Saturday. This is the 32 best 10 year old teams in the country. This should be a great experience for our boys and will let them know what it takes to play at the next level. The the following week, we will be playing in the Global World Series which is part of the ESPN Rise Games at Disney. Whew - lots of baseball - not to mention the Pride who return to town July 22.

I'll try not to have so much time in between posts. I'll also try and get some pictures to post.

Back-to-Back Champions

It finally got hot here last weekend- just in time for our tournament. The boys went 1-1 in pool play on Saturday - easily defeating the Florida Storm 9-2 and then battling back but running out of time losting to the Elite Performance Cobras 15-10. Bradley pitched in the first game and had a great outing - it was definitely the best I had seen him pitch in a long time. He stayed hot at the plate going 2-3 in both games.

Sunday morning we had the 9 am bracket game as our 1-1 pool play finish put us in the 4th place seed for the event. We faced a tough AAA DP Select team who came out hitting in the first inning, scoring 6 runs in the first inning. Alec didn't give up and was able to hold DP for no hits and no runs after the first inning, pitching all six inning in our 9-6 win.

We immediately played our second pool play game against the #1 seeded Major team, West Orange Wolves. We knew this team was going to hit the ball- our goal was to play good defense. Bradley got the start on the mound for this game and did a great job through 3 innings. He tired in the fourth and Carson came in to close out the game as we went on to win 12-9. This semifinal win gave us a one-game break before the Championship game.

With 3 innings left to pitch, our coaching staff again decided to start Bradley and then follow up with Carson during the Championship game. This one was never really close as we came out hitting and beat the Tampa Titans 16-5 in four innings.

After a long hot day at the fields, it was back to the house for pool, drinks & pizza. We were joined by all but a couple of our players and had a great time. The boys, not having had enough baseball for one weekend, walked right by the pool and proceeded to play some homerun derby in the backyard. They all did eventually get in the pool!

This weekend is the Super NIT event - let's hope for the trifecta!

Here's a couple of pictures from the win last weekend.

Powerhouse Wins District 5 Championship!

Okay, we had a GREAT weekend at the ball fields. Friday we had a great travel ball practice then dinner with our group at Beef's. Saturday morning we headed to the field for our two pool play games. This was an Open tournament with teams from all divisions. Since we are in the AA division we knew this would be a tough event but on Sunday the bottom 6 teams in pool play would be split into their own championship. We lost 8-5 to Matrix Black on errors & walks. Then we faced the Winter Garden Warriors (cheaters!) and we were definitely ready for this rematch. Our boys fought hard and won 12-10. We ended up 1-1 in pool play (along with alot of other teams) but we gave up a lot of runs (18) and ended up in the lower flight for Sunday.

We enjoyed a cook out at the Goerner's Saturday night since we didn't have to be at the field until noon on Sunday. Our first opponent was Winter Spring Matrix Purple and we owed them as they seemingly had our number although, in my opinion, we are definitely the better team! This game was very tough and we had to go into an extra inning using the International Tie Breaker but we were home team and won the game 7-6.

Our next game was for the Championship against the Central Florida Wolverines AAA team. Our boys came out hitting and Alec hit his first homerun over the fence! Bradley caught this game and did a great job. More importantly, he hit a double, scoring Jalen to end the game 10-2 in the 4th inning. He had a great weekend - batting .667 for the tournament!

Here's a team pic- will post the celebratory pictures once I receive them from our official team photographer Tawnya.

Ball, Ball & More Ball

We had the men's Major softball tournament at the office last weekend. It was great to spend time with friends but we had a couple of long days! Thanks to Mark for keeping TR company in the crow's nest Friday night! Thank you Speedy, Cookie & Jody for some great laughs.

Monday we had the late little league game. Thankfully we won although we lost in another way as our Manager was ejected (wrongfully) leaving TR manage last night's game. Last night we lost to our other travel ball coach's team (Mike) but we definitely were overmatched. I was proud of the boys for coming back & keeping it a close 6-4. Bradley did great - catching the entire game & having two outs at the plate. He also was the only person on our team with two hits!

Osceola High School won their district game Tuesday night & face a touch Lake Wales team tonight. I have to take Bradley after practice as the girls insist he is their good luck charm!

We are back to it this weekend for a travel ball tourney. I just hope the boys come out to play as we have some stiff competition.

In A Slump

Boy oh boy - both the travel team and the little league team have had a bad week! Last week was Spring Break and I think some of our boys are still on vacation.

We manged to go to the Tampa Rays/Baltimore Orioles game last Thursday night - two packed vehicles - us, The Roes, The Hoyles & The Barbers. Traffic was backed up getting over there so we missed the first inning but still had a great time. There were fireworks after the game so of course we stayed. Everyone was tired when we rolled back into St Cloud around 1:15 am! Good thing we were all off on Friday.

Friday we went to Melbourne Beach with the Roe family. By the time we got there, the clouds had cleared up and we had a nice afternoon. The temperature dropped suddenly late afternoon and decided we had enough beach so we packed it up and went to the beachside pizza place and followed it up with Cold Stone ice cream! A trip to Dick's Sporting Goods completed our day on the trip home. Saturday I ran a few errands and worked around the house. We had a "pre-all-star" little league scrimmage Saturday evening followed by a cookout at the Clayton's at their new pool. That brings us to Sunday...

Well, Sunday we had a travel ball doubleheader against the Winter Springs Matrix Purple, who beat us 10-9 in our last tournament. This team is NOT THAT GOOD! Our boys were definitely still on spring break - making errors and in general not playing well. We ended up losing both games - 7-4 and 8-4. Let's hope they regroup and get back in the swing of things.

Last night, we had our first little league game back from the break. It was definitely BAD! Bradley caught, played third and pitched and did fine in the field. At the plate, he was absolutely AWFUL - going o-fer which he hasn't done all year long. Our fielding was pitiful and we hope for much better on Monday.

We'll be at the ballfields all weekend as our first Men's Major tournament of the year starts today.

Tourney Update & Easter

Well Spring Break officially started last Friday. The travel ball team practiced on Friday morning and then the boys made a day of it - going to lunch and to the movies. Saturday we arrived at the ballfield bright & early for our tourney. We picked up our first game where we left off - leading 5-0 in the top of the 2nd inning. Our boys played well, beating the Rovito Reds 12-4 and putting us in the Semifinals.

In the semi's we faced a tough Seminole Warriors team. We led the game into the bottom of the 5th inning 2-1 but the Warriors bats finally came alive with great shots down the line to both right & left fields. All in all, they scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th. We tried to come back but fell a little short 6-3. All in all, it was a great weekend and our boys accomplished another goal.

Here are a few pictures from this tourney - including the homerun sluggers Ty & Bradley. Special thanks to Tawnya for the pics!

The Hanshews from Prince George made a trip down to Disney's Fort Wilderness for spring break. On Sunday, we headed out there and spent the day. Had a lot of fun and enjoyed the great weather.

The End of Spring Training

Well, it's the end of Spring Training -which while it is sad to see it go, is usually a happy day. Today, however, is a much different story for the end of spring training means our extended family, Jennie Finch & son Ace, leave us. We will miss them terribly but wish them safe travels! At least we know we will see them soon in Lubbock! Best wishes to Casey as he starts the season with AAA Houston affiliate Round Rock and hopefully he will get the call to the bigs soon - he definitely deserves his shot after the way he performed this spring.

Onto happier news, the little league team won ANOTHER (that's two in one week) game last night. Our boys soundly defeated the Reds who beat us the first game of the season. Last night Carson & Bradley split the pitching duties and both did AWESOME! It is so great to see our boys thriving on the mound. Our pitching rotation is two 10 year olds and one 11 year old while most other teams have at least two (in some cases more) 12 year old pitchers. Bradley also did a great job at the plate - hitting a clutch double with bases loaded!

Spring break starts here tomorrow and thankfully we finally have warm weather. We'll be spending lots of time at the ballfields!

Ding Ding!!!!

Well, it's tournament weekend number 2 for the Osceola Powerhouse. Our first pool play game was against Jacksonville Storm. The boys came out hitting strong and playing good ball. Ty hit his first homerun in the 2nd inning of the game. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, we were up 7 runs - needing one more run to invoke the mercy rule and end the game. Our first batter of the inning was able to get on base (Grume - our catcher) and we used our fastest courtesy runner (Jalen) for him. With a runner on second, needing just one run, Bradley stepped into the batter's box. All he needed was a solid basehit - just like he had been doing all day. Boy did he deliver - a 2-run walk-off line-drive homerun over the left centerfield fence! I think we were more excited than he was - it was AWESOME!!! Thankfully we were able to get back both of the homerun balls for our boys.

Bradley didn't let it go to his head and during his first AB of the second game he roped a double to right centerfield. He caught most of the second game and did a great job. Ultimately though, we came up one run short and lost our second pool play game to the Matrix 10-9. We'll be back at the field tomorrow at noon for elimination bracket play. Real-time stats will be available on the FTB website through Pointstreak - http://ftb.bbstats.pointstreak.com/scoreboard.html?leagueid=147.

As promised, here are some photos from our doubleheader with the Canadian team. Special thanks to team photographer Tawnya Hoyle - look for more great pics all year long.

Braves LL Team On A Roll

The Braves LL team is on a roll - winning another game last night 15-10. Although, they tried to give it away, the boys managed to hang on. Game balls went to Bradley & Carson (no bias there - I promise!). Both boys had great games - Bradley caught the entire game - had a couple of sacrificies, struck out one, walked once and hit a triple. Carson played second and then came in and pitched the last two innings. He even had a homerun on a bunt! That's what speed does for you - a couple of bad throws and Carson is off to the races. Actually, all things considered, it may even have been overdue for Bradley & Carson to be recognized for their hard work. However, we are always much harder on our own kids than we are on others.

This weekend we'll be in Altamonte Springs for a travel ball tournament. Can't wait - hope to have great news to report in our next blog. Also, I hope to have pictures. It is impossible for us to take pictures at the games - there is way too much for us to worry about so I've recruited one of our "newbie" travel ball moms as designed her as photographer.

In other news - I broke down, gave in and got a bigger vehicle. As many of you know, I LOVED my 4-Runner. However, with all the travel ball gear, extra kids, etc, it just wasn't big enough. We are now the proud owners of a new Ford Expedition. There is definitely much more cargo room and more people room with the third seat. Here's the boys (Carson & Bradley) chillin in the new ride!

Baseball, Baseball & More Baseball

Well, the Osceola Powerhouse travel team has begun play. On Sunday, March 7, we played a doubleheader to get our boys ready for the tournament last weekend. They won both games which gave them a lot of confidence going into last weekend's tourney.

Last week was very busy for everyone - Bradley had FCATs, TR had high school games at the field and we had a director's seminar at work which included dinners on both Thursday & Friday. The Powerhouse uniforms were delivered Friday - just in time for the tourney this past weekend. The team met on Friday night for some batting practice and received their uniforms. From what I h ear, the boys were VERY excited. Saturday afternoon we headed to Leesburg for the tourney. Our first game was pretty ugly as we got whipped 16-0 by the eventual tournament champion. Our second game was much better as we won 14-0. Around 7 we left the field and headed for the hotel and dinner. The boys were super excited to be playing ball and staying in the hotel. We finally managed to get them to bed realizing that we would lose an hour of sleep but we had a decent draw and didn't play until 11. Our boys came out and played hard - winning their first bracket game behind some great pitching by Pedro. We had to then play another right away. We ended up losing by one run, long story including a cheating team, to the team that eventually came in second. All in all, we are very proud of how our boys played. Our "newbie" parents got to see it all this weekend - we got mercy ruled, we mercy ruled someone else, bad calls by the umpires, the opposing team cheating, a kid from the opposing team getting ejected and one of our parents getting ejected! WELCOME TO TRAVEL BASEBALL!

We have another busy week ahead. The little league team played last night and won their first game of the season! The boys were down 8-0 and came back to win 16-13. We have another little league game Wednesday night and will cap off the week with a travel ball doubleheader on Friday against a team visiting from Canada.

It was too much for us to try and get pictures this weekend so hopefully I will have some to post after Friday.

Harlem Globetrotters!

Last weekend, the Smith's came to town and stayed with us Sunday night. Even though it was cold to us, Alli insisted on getting in the pool (hot tub) which TR obliged by warming it up! She is so cute and full of personality. TR delivered them to the Disney resort Monday morning and we have been non-stop ever since.

Disney's Wide World of Sports has been rebranded as the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Last night was the big reveal of the changes to the complex - complete with a Harlem Globetrotters game. Bradley knew who Flight Time & Big Easy were from watching the Amazing Race and has seen the Globetrotters on TV. However, the Barber kids & the Roe kids didn't know anything about them. Armed with tickets, last night there were 10 of us attending the game - everyone except Johnny & Mandy! It was SOOOOO much fun - especially watching the kids as the Globetrotters make one unbelievable play after another. I remember watching the Globetrotters as a kid and was really glad to be able to do the same for Bradley - he will definitely never forget. Even TR had a great time - commenting that if basketball was always that entertaining he'd go to more games!

Busy, Busy, Busy (& Still Cold)

Yes, it is still cold here by Florida standards! And, yes, we are big wimps and don't like the cold - bring on the sunshine, flip flops & shorts!

I didn't realize it had been so long since we posted - probably since the last few weeks have been a complete blur. I'll try and update you on all that you have missed...

TR's birthday came and went with no visit to the ER! Much less eventful than last year thank goodness. Actually, he was very busy with some office renovations and Don had offered us the Orlando Magic tickets for that night. Since he felt like he needed to stay home and work on his building project, I took Bradley, Brock & Carson to the game. They had a ball and even made it on the Jumbotron acting like bobbleheads.

We started Little League practice and boy we have some work to do. It doesn't help that a couple of our practices have actually been rained out and we've been juggling practices around the last couple of basketball games. Thankfully, basketball is now over.

TR & I made a whirlwind trip for work to Dallas on Superbowl weekend. We left here on Friday morning and came back on Sunday. I had to present at a division slow pitch meeting. It was a great meeting with lots of great people. We were treated to two fantastic meals and also were able to join our group on a tour of the new Cowboys stadium - which was being readied for the NBA All-Star game. The facility is absolutely amazing and I'm ready to go watch Dallas in person!

We made it back to Florida in time for Superbowl at the Roe residence. A great time was had by all - even though most of us were in shock at the outcome. Superbowl weekend also brought to town Jennie Finch, her husband Casey and their little boy Ace. Casey is now part of the Astros organization and USSSA offered them a place to stay during spring training. It's been great getting to know them both better. I've always said that she was an amazing athlete, but she is also an amazing person and mother. Ace is the cutest thing and reminds me alot of Bradley at that age.

Last week brought the Pro Fastpitch League to town along with all the team owners for the 2010 NPF Draft. It was a very long and trying week, but we managed to pull it all off. We drafted 5 very strong players that will certainly help our team this summer. We also got our first chance to meet a couple of recent Pride signees, Tonya Callahan and Natasha Watley.

Saturday, TR went to the Busch race at Daytona. Lucky him, he even met Capt Jonathan Hillstrand from Deadliest Catch. There is a picture but I'll have to find it and post later. Bradley & I went to baseball practice and from there to Clermont for the College Invitational Softball event featuring UCLA, Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia and a couple of other teams. Aside from seeing some great softball, Bradley got to see his buddy, Kristin Schnake, who is a student coach for Georgia this year.

Sunday found us back at the ballfield for travel ball tryouts. We saw some impressive players and now just need to focus on getting ready for our first event in one month.

Florida Weather Returns!

Whew - we are all glad that the Florida weather has returned. We have enjoyed the return to shorts and short sleeves. We had another busy week. Basketball was good - the boys won in a blowout 26-11. Baseball, on the other hand, was another story. It's hard on your pitchers when your defense makes 15 errors in two games. Yes, I said 15, and I probably didn't count all of them! It was not a good weekend for the Braves.

Gotta go - the football game is back on - Go VIKINGS (ya gotta root for Farve!)

Back to Baseball

Wow - hard to believe it's been over a week since we posted. Well, let's try and get you caught up. We had a BIG basketball game last week as Bradley & Brock were playing against their buddy Carson. We won 13-12 in a very exciting game - although I thought it was pretty sloppy play by both teams. Bradley got in foul trouble and ended up with four fouls. He also was thankfully called for backcourt when he had a "senior moment" in the fourth quarter after he received a wide open pass and took off towards the wrong basket!

We played our first baseball tournament of the year this weekend. The boys came in third place - losing in the semi-finals to the tournament winner. Overall they played well but have a few things to improve on. Bradley had a really good weekend at the plate and it was nice to see all the boys having fun. TR couldn't resist backtalking the ump after a bad call in our first game Sunday morning and got tossed again! The boys are getting more used to this and laughed this time (instead of cried). Of course, they were glad he was back in the dugout for the last game of the day.

Last night we had our normal Monday night baseball practice and it was anything BUT normal. Monsey had arranged for a guest instructor, a formal professional baseball player from Venezuela, to come and do some instruction at practice. It was really just a good way to get the boys to pick up on some little things they can improve on (TR & John thought it was a great way for the coaches to have an easy practice!). About the middle of our practice, the boys received a big surprise when Bobby Abreu showed up to have a little talk. He is a friend of the instructor and talked with the boys at length about baseball and having fun. He patiently answered all their questions, signed autographs for them all and took pictures. Since we had an idea of who was coming, Bradley was prepared and was able to get his Phillies card of Bobby Abreu signed. It was definitely a practice they will not forget! Let's hope it keeps them pumped up for quite a while.

ICE - I Think We've Been Transported

Okay - I'm seriously doubting that we live in Florida. This morning there was actually frost all over my windshield and I had to defrost/deice so that I could see! I asked TR the other night if he was sure we still lived in Florida and he responded he thought that Florida had broken off from the US and was floating North! BRRRR, it's really cold here and I even had to go and buy Bradley some jeans as he only had one pair.

On another note, we had an extremely entertaining basketball game last night - almost 3 full quarters! Bradley's team came out play - redeeming themselves from their last dismal performance before the break. We were up 22-10 (Bradley had scored 6 points) near the end of the third quarter when the other coach apparently didn't like a call and started in on the refs. I couldn't hear what he was saying so he obviously wasn't loud but it must have been bad as he was hit with a technical foul. Keep in mind, this is just rec league basketball - not competitive travel basketball. Having coached in this league for the past two years, the refs aren't the greatest but I've never even been warned, much less received a technical and I'm pretty loud! Rather than give it up at that point, he continued running his mouth and was told by the ref and by the league director to take a seat on the bench. Still not willing to comply, he gets hit with ANOTHER technical which is automatic ejection of the coach. With the coach refusing to then leave the bench, the game is called as over and we were awarded the win. The worst part of this whole situation is that the coach of the other team DID NOT have his team shake hands with our team.

Happy New Year

It's been a busy few days and its only day 3 of 2010! We came home from the Keys on New Years Eve so we could celebrate New Years with our friends the Roes, and the Barbers, Blackmores, Icazas, Claytons, Priesters and more. It was a great evening and kids and adults had a blast. Always willing to throw a party, the Roes had the bounce house with obstacle course in the backyard for entertainment. We also had some pretty good fireworks!


New Years Day brought showers off and on so we kept busy by taking down all the Christmas decorations. Heidi, Austin & Bonnie also dropped by to pick up their RV and it was nice to visit with them for a bit before they hit the road. New Years night found us at the Blackmores (with most of the same crew from New Years Eve) for football - GO GATORS - and a poker game. Good food, good fun, good friends!


Yesterday I worked - trying to stay ahead of things as we have some important meetings this week. Bradley had baseball practice and then went off to have some fun with friends. This included roller skating, a movie and a sleepover. I hope the boys got some rest as they have a baseball game this afternoon. It was definitely their last hurrah as we are back to the real world tomorrow. TR managed to get all the outside decorations down so he can hunker down and stay warm this week as our temps are not even forecast to hit 60! We are all going to turn into popsicles!


As promised, I've included a few pictures from Christmas and the Keys and also one of Bradley who was obviously thrilled to be home and vacuuming after the "undecorating". Enjoy!