Catching Our Breath

Never ones to let grass grow under our feet we are trying to take a little breather this week as it is not quite so full as more recent weeks. The Pride finished their home games on Sunday which was bittersweet. While it certainly means fewer late nights and maybe only working 6 days a week for the next couple of weeks, it is sad to see the girls go on the road and to the playoffs knowing that we won't see some of them again this year. It also meant it was time for Nana and Grandma to go home for some much needed rest. Our break didn't get off to the best start however as Bradley has come down with the flu (confirmed with the test at the doctor's office yesterday). He actually didn't feel well Saturday after a 3 hour marathon football practice - even went so far as to sleep on the souvenir table while we were prepping the field for Saturday's game! Sunday morning he had a fever and had thrown up! With a confirmed diagnosis his football season is over (and mom is clapping quietly). I really think he's happy he'll be able to play baseball this fall too.

Monday after getting everyone to the airport, I came home to the boys resting and a Happy Birthday cherry pie. Darla, Kevin & Riley came over to help celebrate quietly.

Tuesday came around and TR and George had plans to celebrate the end of the Pride's home season with an off-shore fishing trip. Bradley went to work with me and watched movies all day. TR and George were having a great day fishing - had several fish in the boat - when George lost his prescription Oakley sunglasses when he leaned over the boat to wash his hands (if there was some hair on his head to keep them on this may not have happened - I'll post a pic of George later). Deciding to head in a little after lunch they were approached by the Coast Guard about 27 miles offshore. Little did they know they had traveled into a live-fire exercise. Not wanting to be targets, they quickly sped toward Port Canaveral. On the way into port, the motor suddenly cut off. Try as he might, Mr. Fix It couldn't get the motor to stay running and alas had to call Sea-Tow. Needless to say, it was probably the most expensive Mahi either has ever had. Of course, when the boat made it home it started up immediately!

Since TR has been home taking care of Bradley, he's had a chance to get a few things done around the house - I'm so excited as the closet people are installing our new closet organizers on Monday! Happy Birthday to me! This also means the last of the carpet has been removed from our house (my closet & TR's closet) - YEAH!!!! We'll take pictures after everything has been installed and moved back in.

Hard to believe but school will be starting here in about 10 days - summer is over for Bradley.

Super Cool Kid

Okay - it doesn't get much better than this for a 10 year old boy - here's a picture of Bradley with 6 Olympians! Unbelievable to have them all in one place, much less the opportunity for a photo - Bradley with Lisa Fernandez, Caitlin Lowe, Stacey Nuveman, Monica Abbott, Jennie Finch and Kelly Kretschman.

Here are a few other pics from opening ceremonies - Bradley and his girls - Pauly, Desi, Sara, Diggy & Schnake (his big sister he never had!) By next year he'll be as big as Schnake.

Good Stuff

Well, we had a super busy week last week as we had multiple events going on including a 15/16 AAA Baseball World Series, Pride home games, Registration for our 16/18 Elite Baseball World Series, and Registration and Opening Ceremonies for our 10, 12, 14 Fastpitch World Series and preparation for this week's SlugFest events. Whew! We all worked very long and hard last week. On Sunday, we kicked off the Fastpitch World Series with our opening ceremonies that featured an appearance by our USSSA Pride Pro Fastpitch team as well as Jennie Finch, Lisa Fernandez, Stacey Nuveman and Stacy Nelson. Bradley was VERY excited to meet Stacy Nelson. After a marathon rain delay(s) the Pride finally finished the game we started at Noon around 8:30 pm. Thankfully this week has been better as the Pride are on the road so that at least has freed up the evenings a little so we can get to bed at a decent hour!

We Are the Champions!!

Bradley's baseball team won the USSSA 9AA World Series on Saturday! Oh what fun we had as the boys went 6-0 during the tournament! They really played great all week. Bradley didn't pitch as well as he would have liked but he played an awesome first base all week and hit and bunted very well. We're so proud of the Braves! We started off the event last Sunday evening with opening ceremonies at the stadium at our office. The Pride team came out to help and the boys (9, 10, 12 and 14 years old) really loved that. One of the perks of working for USSSA is Bradley's team was named the host team for the event and he got to throw out the first pitch!

But as you might have guessed, there's never any rest for the weary and we went straight from the baseball field to pick up the football equipment and have weigh-in and then followed that up with the Pride game. Bradley's team was recognized at the Pride game for winning their World Series and his coach threw out the first pitch.

It's been a very busy week and weekend but lots of fun nonetheless.

IMPORTANT - WORLD SERIES UPDATE

Okay - I know that I am behind on posting and need to fill you in on all the lastest happenings - boy it's been a whirlwind! But - that's for another post as this is very important stuff -

Bradley's team is playing in the 9AA World Series in Kissimmee this week. Currently they are 5-0 and will be playing in the Championship game tomorrow morning at 9:00 am!

GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!

Mohawks & Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! We spent most of our weekend at the ballpark. The boys were 1-1 in pool play yesterday. The game they won Bradley pitched the complete game - walked only 1 had 8 strikeouts and only gave up two hits in 4 innings. We mercy ruled them 12-2. He played outfield the second game which we lost 9-5 on errors. Today, we came out smoking this morning and won our first game 10-1. We then lost the semi-final game 7-6 in the bottom of the last inning. It was a great game and our boys did a great job. Although it is always hard to lose, it was a very exciting baseball game.

Carson & Brock got mohawks last weekend so Bradley has been asking for one ever since. They worked hard at baseball camp all week so after the games were over today Bradley received his mohawk. They are so cute!

Hope everyone enjoys their day - we're all going swimming!

All-Star Weekend

Bradley was selected to the Travel Ball All-Star Team. The festivities were held this past weekend - complete with Umpire Olympics, Skills Competitions for each age group and the All-Star Games. Bradley and his teammates from travel ball all did a great job this weekend. Two of his teammates finished first and second in the Golden Arm and two more finished first and second in homerun derby. Bradley finished fourth in the fastest pitch. His team pulled out a last inning win in the first game and tied the second game so they declared themselves All-Star Champions. What fun we had!

TR & Tommy were able to catch some dolphin and king mackeral also so we were able to have a fish fry Saturday evening. Everyone enjoyed hanging around the pool and a good meal.