baseball, the beach, and home....

Baseball season for us if over as of June 16. My son had a great time playing this year and he finally landed on a team he had been wanting on since he started playing ball five years ago, the Braves. He has been on the Rockies once and the Cubs three years in a row but this year his team was the Braves. My son has loved baseball since he was just a little tiny thing. Mr. B use to play softball so we were always at the field watching him play and we spent many Saturdays watching tournaments. From the time our son Ty could hold a baseball he has been in love with the game and as soon as he could walk, Mr. B has had him out in the yard playing ball.

I remember Ty's first year of tee ball, that kid was like a freak of nature,he could do anything on that field but his best was hitting and throwing. That kid has always been able to smack a ball to the outfield and he can stand back against the fence in left field and put the ball into the first baseman's glove at nothing but he for some reason can't control his pitches that well. This year was his first year of kid pitch and the ages on each team ranged from 9-12. In their third game this year Ty was up to bat and there was this kid that was throwing heat. I mean he was really pitching the ball hard. On his second pitch the ball went astray and struck my son in the right leg a few inches above the ankle, my son is ambidextrous however he bats better left handed but he pitches and catches better right handed, he can write with both hands. My son is 9 & 1/2 and weighs 60 lbs, he was one of the smallest guys in the 9-12 minor leagues this year and when he got hit he didn't even flinch. He just stepped out of the batters box, done a practice swing and stepped back in. Of course if they get hit they automatically go to first base. Regardless of being such a good hitter, for the remainder of the season my son didn't swing the bat. He would step out of the box about the time the ball left the pitchers hand until the last three or four games then he would stay in but he still wouldn't swing that bat, the good thing is that he only struck out once.

With all that being said, I thought I would show you some pics of my son in action. These pics were taken on April 21 the first time Ty got to pitch in an actual game. Like I said previously, my son has a cannon for an arm but he can't control his pitches that well and some of that is probably age right now but this fall/winter we are putting him in pitching and batting lessons so that he will be ready for next year. So here he is after releasing a good pitch.














In this pic he is watching to see where the ball is going. If you look behind him at the kid on second, he was the other smallest guy on our team this year. Him and my son are the exact same height and weight and they became fast friends at the first of the season. Finally he is talking of playing football and basketball this year so I hope he sticks to his word and goes for it!














It is almost that time of year again, beach time! We leave in three weeks and three days and I can't wait. This year we are only staying for a week whereas in the past we have stayed for two weeks. With a brand new house Mr. B nor myself wanted to stay away for more than a week. The pic below is one that I took last year one evening while we were out walking the beach with the kids. I have this pic as the wallpaper on my desktop right now to remind me that beach time is almost upon us and that means that I will have seven days of nothing but rest, relaxation, and fun!














When you are out of state and you think of home what is the first thing you think of? Here is what I think of! The next 6 pics were taken by me this past Saturday, if you have never saw the Great Smoky Mountains you can now say that you have. It has been very hot and humid here lately reaching temps in the 90's where as normally we don't hit the real high temps until late July and August and with the higher temps and humidity it was very hazy.














You can see exactly why they are called the Great SMOKY Mountains. They are beautiful if you ask me and when I am traveling I love re-entering the state and seeing those beautiful mountains, that is how I know I am home.





























This pic is overlooking my hometown, what you can see of it. It was so hazy you couldn't hardly see anything off in the distance.














This pic I took to capture the fire burning near the red tin roof house. I don't know what they were burning but it looked like the house when we first started looking but once we examined it a bit we realized it was like a brush pile or a bonfire.














Here is just another view that was taken a couple of miles down the road.














Saturday was a very eventful day and by the time we arrived home later that evening I had the beginnings of a bad headache. I woke up around two o'clock Sunday morning with a headache that I thought would turn migraine and of course I had nothing in the house to take but Children's chewable Tylenol and I promised myself I wasn't taking those. At three thirty I was up in the master bath chewing slowly on the Children's Tylenol. I am sure I could have won a prize for that if someone had got it on film because I couldn't open my eyes because they light made my head feel like it would explode. I barely peeked to see where the Tylenol was in the medicine cabinet when I went in there. I didn't get to go back to sleep because I was hurting so bad and the Tylenol didn't touch me. Mr. B got up around 7 and I sent him straight to Wal-Mart for some Advil Migraine. When he arrived back home I took three Advil Migraine and went back to bed with the pillow over my head and finally at last, thank God, I slept. All day Sunday I ate Advil Migraine like it was M&M's because that was the only way to keep the worst of the headache off. Yesterday morning I awoke to know exactly what the problem had been the entire time, a sinus infection and a mean one at that. I probably would have known that had my head not been aching so badly that I couldn't think. Just to let you all know, if any of you are concerned (like my eldest child) about the amount of Advil Migraine I took, please know that I rarely take medications. I hate taking medicine of any kind so things have to get bad before I take anything and I was very desperate Sunday.

Yesterday was much better because my head was only a dull ache, nothing to slow me down. Hopefully with my antibiotics that I now have from my doctor, the infection will be gone in a couple of days.

Oh yeah, Friday I went over to visit a friend. I have been friends with this girl since third grade which means that we have been friends for around 22 to 23 years, I even named my second daughter after her because she is named after a town in the Bible and I have always loved the name (Bethany). We had so much fun and all we did was sit around talking and reminiscing about the good ol' days. I have to say that I got into more trouble with this girl than with any of my other friends. When I say trouble I am not talking about the drinking, smoking kind, I am talking about getting chewed out by parents for doing silly things that we knew we weren't supposed to do, like pulling pranks on neighbors, or keeping our parents awake at night when one of us would sleep over at the others house. Throughout school we kept in touch and also for a few years after school then she married and moved two counties north of here. Once that happened we didn't get to see each other for almost five years. We would call one another here and there but it isn't the same as seeing one another.

I also have another friend that I have had since I was three, meaning I have known her for 29 years. We went to school together all the way through. I see her sometimes but not as much as I would like.

So does anyone have any big plans for Independence Day?