20170630 - 2 Foot Long Chilli Dogs

20170630 - Up in the am and in to work. Went to the shop floor with the guys first thing this morning to inspect some product, then over to an offsite storage warehouse to inspect some more.  Had a pretty good day.  Home and L ran to Dairy Queen to get us dinner.  We hung out on the back porch and back yard all evening.  Nice relaxing night before a weekend full of driving and baseball.

20170629 - Caught the Whole Game

20170629 - Up in the am and in to work. Got a bunch done today and wrapped up a bit early to take the last call of the day in the car. L&G came to the office, where Justin walked out to meet them, and we headed to Waverly OH to watch D play a 5pm game. It was POURING as we drove into the little town but stopped shortly after so we didn't miss any of the game. The game started and D was catching... and he caught the whole game :-o and he had 3 at bats, cracked a single to rigght and walked the other 2 times. He scored 3 of the 6-2 win for the GC Bombers. what a great game he had and so happy we went down to watch him. After the game we headed to a Chinese place that was horrible for dinner and then headed home. We had to drop D off in Grove City to get his car, then back to my work so L could get her car. G&I rode home together and stopped to get gas before going home. All home and Chris Pettit stopped by to talk to J about his rights and duties as a US citizen for a Scout rank advancement. All boys to bed after a long good day.

20170628 + Serious Words

20170628 + Up in the morning, D home from his friends, I headed in to work.  I got some things done at the desk and then headed into the warehouse for the rest of the day.  I worked all day in the warehouse and was filthy and exhausted at the end of the day.  Went home and L&G at his game in Newark, D headed out the door to meet with the college planning guy, J&I trying to figure out what to do for dinner.  We decided to go to Burger King so I could get a mushroom swiss burger.  Well I got a burger, but it didn't look anything like the commercials or the ads.  It had about 1 teaspoon for mushroom pieces on it.  SO I went and had a talk with the manager (J was completely embarrassed). Shortly after the manager brought me out a real mushroom and swiss that looked like the ads.  Home, we took dinner to Doc.  D home and we moved a fridge out of Docs garage.  To the back porch and D&I had a talk about baseball and what I had learned talking to D's coach.  J distraught this evening, waiting on his scooter to arrive. The ball is in D's court now.  L&G home, G told me all about his game and L gave G a hair cut. All boys to bed.  L&I texted some family for some updates.

Aunt Martha had a major surgery today to have her uterus removed due to cancer and when they got in there found it had spread and ended up taking out her appendix and some of her stomach lining and removed 6 liters of fluid.  She is ICU for the night.

Cousin Darma had emergency surgery to remove a bowl obstruction and repair his small intestine that had ruptured.

20170627 - Little Slugger

20170627 - Up in the am and in to work. D had to work at the restaurant this morning. I had a pretty good and productive day. Home and ate with the fam + DGF7. We then all piled into my car and headed across town to see Amaya play softball. It was super cute and sheet did really good. We headed home to drop off D&DGF7, D headed to a friends house for the night and LJG&I headed to the McClain's to relax and have some fun. We got home about midnight.

20170626 - Tougher

20170626 - Up and in to work.  Not feeling 100%.  Made it through the day and headed home for dinner.  We ate and then DJ&I headed to Scouts.  I had a conversation with D's baseball coach.  It was a 25 minute conversation with some really good dialogue.  D has some work to do to to keep playing baseball as the age goes up and the competition gets tougher.  We hung around after the meeting and D closed some more things for his Eagle. Home, got Doc and headed to Bible Bangers.  Everyone there tonight, good to catch up.  home and talked with L about sports and how crazy this all is...

20170625 + A Sacred Purpose

20170625 + Up in the am and we all headed down to get some bfast at the hotel. We packed up and headed out. We made a quick stop at the Hopewell Indian mounds before we left Chilicothe, they are pretty amazing. Home and got unpacked. We had a serious discussion with D about baseball, college and work to try to come up with some plans. L&I spent most of the day outside on the porch reading and doing research online and I talked to some dads about baseball. D went to some of DGF7's softball games. L&G hung out playing the Xbox and doing stuff around the house. LJG&I walked downtown to have dinner and then around Creekside so the boys could do some Pokemon hunting. home and watched some more TV on the back porch. D home, all boys to bed, G had 2 big teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy.

20170624 - 1 out of 3

20170624 - Up in the am and we dropped D off at the baseball field. We headed to Kroger and got food for lunch before heading back to the field. D played the whole first game in the outfield, got walked and had a nice hit to the outfield that was caught :-( The boys lost that first game and we rushed to the next field. Once there LJG&I made our subs and had lunch. We then watched the game, D on the bench for the whole thing, and the boys lost in a Texas Shootout ending. After the game we dropped D off at Roosters with the team and we went to an antique place where L got a picture and G got a boat. We tried to stop at a bike place for J to look at scooters, but they were closed. We then drove all over looking for ice cream. We ended up at a Dairy Queen. Back tot he hotel for just a minute, D joined us and we headed to the Minor League Paint stadium for the last game of the day. D sat the entire game... The boys won. We headed to Sumburger for a really good dinner. D was DEVASTATED that he did not get a chance to play in that stadium... G&I headed to the pool for a late night swim and fun. We got hot chocolate on the way back to the room.

20170623 - Jack in a Cupboard

20170623 - Up in the am and in to work. Justin and I working in his office all morning. I could hear the rain pouring down all day. The games for tonight in Chilicothe were first pushed back and then cancelled. I headed home and we decided to go to the hotel anyway so we were there for the games in the morning. We drove down through the rain and got checked in. We all headed to the pool to play around a bit and ran into some BIG boys from some other teams. Back up to the room with some hot chocolate to watch a scary show before bed.

20170622 - Transformers

20170622 - Up and rolled in a bit late to work.  Got all of the morning stuff done and smoothing out as the day went along.  Headed home and L went out to dinner with the girls.  I got DJ&G and we headed to the new Transformer movie.  It was a good action flick and we enjoyed it.  We swung through Burger King on the way home to get some dinner.  We ate and everyone to bed.

20170621 - Too Buggy

20170621 - Up in the morning and in to work. Justin & I in his office getting things lined up.  Had a pretty stressful morning.  Spent the rest of the day getting caught up on email.  Home and LDJ&I had some dinner, G was at practice and then spending the night with a friend.  D&I headed out and ran some errands.  Home and J made milkshakes and we all hung out on the back porch for until it got too buggy.  In and D watching baseball, J&I Nat Geo (until I fell asleep) and L her housewives show.  All boys to bed and up late on the PC trying to make arrangements for the weekend and buying jeans.

20170620 - Fire Hose

20170620 - Up in the am and in to work.  Had a morning full of stressful meetings.  D&G went to batting practice in Pickerington.  L said the day was pleasant as the boys had a no electronics today :-)  We had a yummy leftover dinner night and then LD&I headed to college planner from 7-9.  It was a long meeting and a fire hose of all the things we have to get done and by when :-o  Home and got everyone settled and to bed.

20170619 - J the Picker

20170619 - Up in the am and in to work. It was a crazy day trying to get caught up from being out on Friday. I sat back in our secondary office in back most of day trying to get caught up. Home and ate quick, L reported a bad day with all the boys... J&G headed to Scouts, and I headed to an Athletic Boosters meeting. It was a short meeting and then headed to Scouts to see if there were any advancements. J&I swung by the bank on the way home. Home and DJG&I headed to Bible Bangers, no Doc tonight, and we had a snack and hung out. Dropped J&G off on the way home to pick a neat rolling tray thing and bring it home. Home and stayed up way to late worked on setting up a new program on the boys phones that will limit their usage as that is a huge source of the discontent.

20170618 + Champs and Steaks

20170618 + Up and LD&G had already left, D dropped off L&G at G's batting practice and went on to see DGF7 play softball. J&I got ourselves together and headed to the field. We met our friends the McClains that came to watch the games too. G's first game was a good one and they were facing the team that G had the last out on in KY that crushed him. They won and he felt a bit redeemed. Game 2 for the championship was pretty windy, dusty and exciting. The boys played their butts off and pulled out a run rule victory and G scored the winning run! 10U STATE CHAMPS!!!


After the game we headed home, everyone got cleaned up and rested a bit. G&I headed to the grocery and got some food dinner and then came home and LJ&G prepared a fantastic salad, steak, mashed potato and gravy dinner, topped off with grilled pineapple and brownies and ice cream! We all hung out and relaxed the rest of the evening. What a long, fast and fun weekend.

20170617 - Baseball and Driving

20170617 - Up in the am and J&I hit Tudor's Biscuit World for bfast. It was pretty good. We headed back to the hotel and ran into D and the boys waiting for their ride to the fields. J&I got packed up and headed to the field. We sat in the press box again and kept score on the big scoreboard. D didn't play at all in the first game... We grabbed him and took him to lunch with us at T&L Hot Dogs, a cool little place the local guys suggested. After lunch we dropped D off at the hotel and J&I headed to the putt-putt place in Clarksburg. It was hot but we had a fun round of putt-putt. We headed back to the hotel where we just hung out, J did some swimming and we rested before heading back to the field. We headed up to the press box again to keep score. There was a local news team videoing the game that made it a bit more interesting for J. D played the entire game. The boys faced the team that was made up of mostly the high school team that just won the WV division 2 state championship. Their pitcher was crazy good and shut us out. This meant we were out of the brackets for Sunday, so DJ&I headed back to the hotel, packed up and headed home. We got home at 1am, got unpacked and to bed.

20170616 - Early Up and Lots o' Fun

20170616 - Up at 5 and J&I hit the road for Bridgeport WV to meet up with D at his morning baseball game. When we got into town we stopped at Kroger and got our food for the day. We had some trouble finding the field but got there just as the game started. We volunteered to help keep score so we headed up to the air conditioned press box and learned how to run the big scoreboard. They had a couch and Xbox in there too that kept J busy. We watched both of D's games and we made our sandwiches between games in there. D didn't play but the last 2 innings in the 1st game and he played all but the last 2 innings of the second game. He had a really good hit that got him to 2nd on one of his at bats, and a sac bunt. It was a good baseball day, wining the 1st and lost the second. After the game J&I headed to the hotel and got checked in and unpacked. We then headed out to explore a bit. J found a soccer simulator in the gym next door and then we went hunting for a putt-putt place. We found it, and a feather, played a round of putt-putt and J won a free game. We then went looking for the other one. We found it but got rained out. So we headed to King's New York Restaurant, a local Italian and Mexican place where we filled ourselves with fantastic Pizza and Mexican dishes. Back to the hotel where J&I hit the pool to cool down before heading back to the room to call it a night.

20170615 + OH and WV

20170615 + Up in the morning and 1 exit down 270 before realizing I left my phone at home... home and got my phone, should have stayed home with how busy the day turned out... D headed to WV with his team. LJ&G headed to his games in Pataskala. I finished an unnecessarily stressful day at work and headed to G's 2nd game of the day. G got moved up to the 6 hole in the order and his team easily won the game. We went to the Pizza Cottage for dinner with the Kaufman's and had a good time. Headed home with J and we stopped for gas and car wash. Home and packed for an early start tomorrow.

20170614 + Learnin how to Mow

20170614 + Up in the am and in to work. A long typical day. Home and D rushed out to ump a game and LJG&I got some dinner. After dinner J&I taught G how mow. He did pretty good but still a little small to man handle the mower. After G mowed G&I headed down to the ballfields to see D umping. He was doing good and it is super cool to see all the kids using the bat racks he put up and other improvements from his Eagle Project. All home and we hung out on the back porch until bed time.

20170613 - Fireflies

20170613 - Up in the am and in to work. the place is full of people today, shooting video and having meetings. Justin and retreated to the back to get things done. Very busy, hectic, and stressful day. After the last escalation for the day I packed up and headed south to Ashville OH to watch D sit the bench for an entire game... I did stop at a local gas station/subway and get to listen to a local guy rant about the 9/11 conspiracy to the subway employee that should have been making my sub... Got subs, went to the field and joined L & DGF7 where we watched G be the bat boy and D be the comedian. G&I rode home together, he was pretty quiet. We got home and G&I caught 20 fireflies. We went in when it got to buggy and watched some TV. I was up late getting an update out to D's team about the upcoming trip to WV.

20160612 + Cross Eyed

20160612 + Up in the am, D&J still asleep and headed into work. It was for sure a Monday... Headed home a bit late. Checked in with Doc. Headed in to see L&G and catch up on their weekend. Had some dinner quick. D&I dropped J off at Scouts for the annual hike to Wendy's and then headed to a GJLS board meeting, but the meeting wasn't until 8:30 so we headed home. I got some emails done on the back porch and chatted with L, D shipped some ebay stuff and G was on the xbox. D&I headed to the GJLS board meeting, where D gave the guys an update of his eagle project. It was well received, they applauded him, mentioned how much they like the things he did and presented him with a real nice pull over. Home and L went to get J. L&I hung out on the back porch and watched the CAVs game and doing email. Took a break with G to try and catch lightning bugs. All boys to bed.

20160611 - First Pitch

20160611 - Up, packed and back to Sikorski's Home Plate for the yummy bfast buffet.  On to Athens where J&I dropped off D at the field and then went to a couple of yard sales and check out the town.  We got to D's game as it started.  D didn't play the whole first game except in as a designated hitter the last inning.  The boys won the first game and we all took a break for lunch.  The 2nd game started and D was in left field for the 1st 2 innings and then was pulled up to pitch :-o  he did great!  His first inning pitching he threw 7 pitches and the inning was over.  The second and third innings for him became a struggle as the umpire was not calling things well (confirmed by the catcher...)  D also had the best hit of his life;  The ball hit the fence in center field at the 370 mark, WOW!!!  In the end we lost the second game in much argument with the umps...  We headed home.  Stopped at a Chinese place in Lancaster on the way for a bite to eat.  We got home, got Lilly fed, laundry started and D got cleaned up and we headed to see the new 'Mummy' movie.  Home and everyone to bed from a long but fun day.  L&G went to stay with Gma&paB after G's team got knocked out of the tournament.

 

20160610 - Cabin in the Woods

20160610 - Up in the morning and DJ&I headed to Logan for D's double header. We dropped D off at the field and J&I to Walmart for food and $6 tarp. J&I got set up and had watched a couple of good games. Between games we ate our Walmart lunches. D's team won both and he got to play part of one game and part of the other. We got updates from L as the day went on and G won both of his games. After the games we headed to Smoke Rise Resort for our rustic cabin. It was WAY back at the end of a long twisty up and down road that ended with horses roaming around and a cute little campground. We asked around and found a local place to eat, Sikorski's Home plate family restaurant in Glouster OH. J&I had the steak dinner special and it was YUMMY! After dinner we stopped at the local dollar store to get some towels. We headed back to camp, got cleaned up, had a fire and stayed up talking a bit. It was a fun day!



20170609 - Baseball Moms

20170609 - Up in the am, moved cars around and took the white car in to work today so L&G would have the new car to take to G's tournament. Headed into to work for a pretty quiet day. Headed home and D&J there. We went out to dinner and watched G's games on game changer. L sent updates and hung out with our friends and moms from the Gahanna team we were on last year.

20170608 + Wonder Woman

20170608 + Up in the am and in to work.  Much better start today.  Have my head down getting things in order. D headed to Huron with his team for a game, I finished the day and headed home. Home and L was working in the yard and J&G hanging out.  We had pizza for dinner and then jumped in the car to see the new Wonder Woman movie.  IT was really good!  So good that L stayed awake for the whole thing.  Home and checked in with D, they won and he got to play a little bit. Up late watching videos online.

20170607 - Swing Away

20170607 - Up in the am and dropped car off at Ricart for service. Justin picked me up and took me to work for a pretty brutal day. At the end of the day Joni took me to get my car. I headed the Grove City the back way to get to D's baseball game. I got there and gave D my phone so he could get the boys set up on TeamSnap and take all their pictures. Hung out on the cold bleachers with L&J while G and his buddy Brady ran all over the place. D played a little bit but they got smoked. Got a hat and talked to the coach about the trip this weekend and how to use TeamSnap. Headed home with G & Brady and played songs for them until they got the name of it right. Home and headed over to Docs to make sure his furnace was working. Back home and made some food, D home and we got caught up. Brady spent the night. I stayed up and watched the Cavs lose and worked on the final steps of setting up TeamSnap.

20170606 - Not the Plan!

20170606 - Up and in to work and took a pretty good beating this am. D&J had batting practice in Pickerington. J&G rode to Wendy's for lunch. I struggled to get things done the rest of the day. Justin and I took a trip looking for some scales, no luck so swung through the DQ on the way back to the plant. Finished the day getting only a couple things done, not near what I had planned... Headed home and called L, she had DJ&G with her on the way to G's game. That was not the plan! D had a meeting with his merit badge counselor to finish up the badges. I had her drop him off at the next exit so he could wait for me. I battled down Broad St through rush hour traffic for 45 minutes to get to Newark and pick him up. J was with him and we headed home. Home and watching G on GameChanger, D&I headed to Panera to meet the counselor. I got a bite to eat and caught up on some stuff.

20170605 + Persevered

20170605 + Up to a rainy morning and hard to get out of bed from a fun but exhausting weekend. In to work and getting caught up. Had a missed shipment and a couple of escalations right out of the gate... Full very fast day. Headed out a couple of min early to beat the traffic. Home and ate quick than D&I headed to the Spring Awards Banquet. There was a lot of neat awards given out; Boys Track 4x100 24th fastest in the Nation, Girls Track 4x100 2nd fastest in the Nation, Baseball District Champs, Softball made it to final 4 in the State. After the awards the individual sports broke off to their own presentations. D&I headed across the street and up 3 floors to the ceremony. JVB was introduced, JVA was introduced, D was introduced first and then his teammates. Then the Varsity team and letters were given out to boys that sat the bench the entire year... making D the ONLY JUNIOR to NOT get a Varsity Letter... I had help hand out some awards and we bailed out as soon as the blah blah was over. In the car and I asked him how it was possible they got Varsity Letters for sitting the bench; he couldn't talk about it... I could barely think about it too... D&I headed to a coffee shop and discussed baseball, things around the house and getting a job.   When D went to his room for the night I joined him and told him how proud I am that through all this political BS the has kept his chin up and persevered through this season.

20170604 - Champs and Catching Up

20170604 - Up int he am and G&I headed down for some bfast in the hotel lobby. Then we got all packed up and headed to the field. We got there (on time again) as the team was walking away from batting practice again... We had our first game of the day and it was a bit more challenging than the previous 2 games, but they won. That meant a second game was required. G&I made our sandwiches and had lunch, then on to game 2. Game 2 was even harder and the calls were questionable but consistent, G struck out looking twice :-o, a lot of kids did... But the boys powered through and won the second game. I took the long hike between games to move the car closer. Game 3 for the championship started and it was a super tough game. The score went back and forth and we it was pretty stressful. The boys pulled off the victory and were crowned champions of the tournament!


We got packed up and swung through McD's before heading home and a long 3.5 hour drive. It went pretty fast and everyone was there when we got home. I got things unpacked and then we settled in and everyone told of their weekend. G told all about the tournament and the fun things we did. D told how they lost their first game today so were knocked out and that he and DGF7 had gone to watch her sister play a couple evenings, J told about his 120 mile bike trip in great detail and he had a blast, what a great experience. We got the boys to bed and L&I caught up on all the details of her weekend. A long weekend with everyone in different places, not our favorite times.

20170603 - Huge Snow Cone

20170603 - G&I up in the am and down for bfast at the hotel. L reported that D had a good game and they won! So they get to play for the championship tomorrow! G&I made our way to the field (actually on time), but we got there as the team walked away from the batting cage... On to play baseball and G had another good game and his team won. We were unsure if we were going to play a 2nd game so we hung out to see if a team scored, if they did we didn't have to play. G&I made our sandwiches and hung out waiting. I headed off to a shady spot to get some reading done and no long after the boys came and found me, the other team had scored so we didn't have to play. G&I headed to Sunny's Chicken for an awesome chicken dinner with the Kaufmans. We then split off and stopped at Meijer to get tomorrow lunch and gas. Back to the hotel for a bit and then we went putt-putting with the Kaufman family. G & Brady are so much a like they argue like brothers :-( After putt-putt G&I headed to the hotel where the team was and hung out for a bit. After G played a couple games of cornhole we headed to our hotel and called L on the way, she told us of her day, she went to Kelly's graduation party and helped out. Back to our hotel to get hot chocolate and head to bed.

20160602 - Lots of Baseball

20160602 - Up in the am and J was already gone, headed out for his 100 mile bike ride :-o G&I then headed out, started with a stop at the gas station, grocery store and then McD's. On the road and headed West. D had a game at noon and L picked up DGF7 and they went to watch him. They won, D played 2nd half of game, got a hit and L said they looked good. G&I made it to our hotel and then headed to the field at Grand Park in IN. The complex was HUGE. We finally found his team and got ready to play. G played the whole game at left and 2nd. He struck out and hit a nice single to left. G's team won by run rule after 3 12-0. After the game G&I split off and headed to Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream, home of the Big Ugly 1lb. burger, for an awesome meal! Back to the hotel for a min. and then to Meijer to get a cooler and some deli stuff for us to make our lunches tomorrow. On to the hotel where the rest of the team was so G could do some swimming and I hung out with the dads.  Back to the hotel, got some hot chocolate and headed to bed in good time.

20170601 + Back Catching

20170601 + Up in the am and in to work. Incredibly stressful morning. The rest of the was a bit better, but this won't be remembered as one of my favorite days... After work I headed to Grove City, a 7 mile 42 min trip..., to watch D play. He caught some and got walked. My buddy Kevin swung by to say hi. D's team lost and D headed to dinner with some of the guys. L&G were at hitting practice in Pickerington. I headed home, couldn't find J so had a beer with Doc. J showed up, claimed he was in the hammock in the far back yard... everyone home, cleaned up and to bed. L&I headed out to the bank to get cash for J's bike trip.