A-Mac Tourney - April 2009 - Boardman, Ohio

A-Mac's team played in the Ohio Magic Tournament in Boardman at the Field of Dreams Complex (obviously, I like the name). Their first game was on Saturday morning.
A-Mac made the trip to Boardman with a friend and her dad on Friday morning. I had been sick Thursday and Friday. I also had to wait until MacDaddy's hockey try outs were complete Friday night before we could leave. We got to the hotel after midnight.

During the tournament, A-Mac played third base and left field. She batted last every game and got up about 10 times. She only struck out twice? (maybe once) and hit mostly to the right side. She scored an important run in a tie-breaker game. She made a few nice catches in left and plays at third.








Between games on Saturday, A-mac enjoys the social aspect of hanging out with her teammates.
You can only imagine the conversation of 12 girls between the ages of 12-14. A-mac also uses this down time between games to break out her camera and take some "artsy" photos of her teammates.

I cooked chicken between games for players, coaches and family. I am also proud to say that I spent over an hour cleaning the grill. I repeatedly let Mac Mom know this as she and Lil' Lefty and MacDaddy were not present to see this event. They left Saturday AM for Cleveland to spend the day with Nana & Papa and drop Coco off for the summer.

Off To CAMP...

A-mac after putting her suitcase on the bus

A-mac and the rest of St. Joan of Arc 7th grade students boarded 2 school buses this morning and are off to Tim Horton Onondaga Farms Camp for two days. Camp Onondaga is located in St. George, Ontario (near Brantford) and is a year-round outdoor residential education center. Its five program streams--environmental education, creative arts, agriculture, adventure, and recreation and all have direct links to Ontario's curriculum expectations.

As I said goodbye to A-mac, I told her to have fun and behave. She replied, " Don't worry mom. There will be no shenanigans! Mrs. L (the principal) is coming along as a chaperone". Mrs. A (Lil' Lefty's teacher) is also a chaperone.

A-mac's 7th grade class with Ms. S and Mrs. A before getting on the bus

A-Mac Swing -- Boardman, April 2009

Last year A-mac hit line drives to left field. This year she has been hitting weak ground balls to second base. Last year she used a 33"24 ounce bat and this year she is struggling with a 31"21ounce. Two things have happened that we can work on. First, she needs to work on accelerating her hand speed. Second, and most important, she has gotten her timing screwed-up. Last year all we did was talk about getting the butt of the bat to the ball. Loading and stepping just happened naturally as confidence built. This year she is working on loading and stepping. In the video she steps too early and then again when she swings. She steps twice and sometimes the second is backwards. Of the 20+ videos I took this last weekend every one had this "studder-step". Easy to fix...

Hockey Try Outs - Third Stage

MacDaddy went to the final Oakville Rep hockey try out on Friday night. He did well, but unfortunately, he did not make the team. MacDaddy skates cautiously. Each try out had a set of kids who were quicker, more confident with their skills and skated with some component of reckless abandon. I think it may be in Canadian blood. If MacDaddy wants to play at this level we will need to get him into power skating class.

April Showers bring May flowers.

“April showers bring May flowers.” We’ve all heard this rhyme at some point, usually having been taught it at an early age by our parents or teachers. The saying can be traced back to the mid 1500s.

In 1557, a gentleman by the name of Thomas Tusser compiled a collection of writings he called A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry. In the April Husbandry section he wrote:

Sweet April showers

Do spring May flowers

The rhyme was originally a short poem. “April showers bring May flowers” is a reminder that even the most unpleasant of things, in this case the heavy rains of April, can bring about very enjoyable things indeed – an abundance of flowers in May. “April showers bring May flowers” is a lesson in patience.

Many of life’s greatest things come only to those who wait.

Hockey Try Outs - Second Stage

MacDaddy went to the AA try out today and unfortunately did not make the first cut for this team. The skill level decreased from the AAA try out, but MacDaddy was up against some hardened hockey players.

As a parent, I am so proud of MacDaddy that he continues to want to try out. The kid has heart. Now he just needs some power skating classes.

Jump Rope for Heart

MacDaddy participated in Jump Rope for Heart to benefit the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Yes, he really knows how to jump rope. He can probably give credit to his 2 sisters for his jump roping ability. His personal goal was to raise $125 in pledges. He surpassed his goal and raised a whopping $207!

MacDaddy would like to say Thank You to family, friends and neighbors who sponsored him.

Hockey Try Outs - First Stage

I suspect if you woke up tomorrow with a new born son (or daughter) and decided you wanted to give them the Best Hockey Training in the world you would move to Oakville, Ontario, assuming you preferred staying in North America (you don't like Borsch). OK, I can agree that at least you would move to Canada.

The Oakville Rangers "ice" four Rep hockey teams. AAA is the best, then AA, A and AE. MacDaddy has played two years in the Oakville House League program. At 8 years old, MacDaddy has skated for 3 years. From his first time on skates where he fell 50+ times at practice to NOW has been an amazing improvement... and he has done it with the support of his parents, but without the help... we know very little about hockey. We are learning but do not have the frame of reference.

It is probably that lack of experience with the sport that allowed me to let MacDaddy try out for the AAA Rep Oakville Rangers hockey team. I suspect the team was mostly picked before the practice. Last night MacDaddy was one of the 75 kids that tried out for the team. 17 make the team. As I told MacDaddy, I guarantee he was the only kid at try outs born in Texas. I actually asked him after if the coach asked "anyone here born in Texas?"... MacDaddy said "no, he didn't ask". I was surprised.

Most of the try outs were skating drills with a 4-on-4 game at the end. I am not sure I had ever seen MacDaddy do some of the skating drills in his house league practices, like skating backwards with a puck.

It was pretty obvious to me that MacDaddy was not going to make the team. He said he had "fun" and we will be more prepared to the AA, A and AE try outs, and even knowing what to prepare/expect for next year. I am a big fan of going to as many try outs as you can because you learn how to try out. I am REALLY PROUD of MacDaddy. What a great kid.

“Too often we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the journey.”

Last year (actually for the last year+) I kept personal notes in my email program about each of my kids and their softball/baseball progress. I am a natural note-taker, it was fun to write and has been fun to look back at. My notes are in my own "script". They are short, to the point and try to be factual. I document things I see and hear, and my thoughts.

I have decided to post some of the note-taking in this forum and, also continue with my personal notes. In the 90's, I read a newspaper article about Albert (friends call him "Joey") Belle of the Cleveland Indians. The article talked about the meticulous note cards that Albert kept on each at-bat against each pitcher. One note card for each at-bat. He documented each pitch that was thrown to him and ,his reaction, his actions.

I do the "note-taking-thing" for a different reason. I enjoy the journey. I enjoy being a part of the journey. I looked back on a note in the A-mac file from June 12, 2008. Part of my note says, "Needs to work out keeping front knee strong... ". At that time A-mac was bending her front knee and loosing some of her power. It has since been fixed because we worked on it. A softball swing has 1,000's of moving parts and is always requiring improvement.

I enjoy watching my kids learn that they can learn, and the value of setting goals. The notes may be about softball/baseball but the lessons are about life.

Last night was the first exhibition game for A-mac. She batted last. She got up to bat twice and walked twice. It is the beginning of our journey for this season.

"When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there."

Happy Easter!

A Note from The Easter Bunny....

Happy Easter 2009!

I was going to hide the Easter eggs outside, but I heard lots of coughing while I was delivering your baskets. I decided it would be best if I hid them inside the house. There are a lot of eggs. I lost count when I was hiding them. There has to be at least 60 of them. I hid the Easter eggs in the kitchen, family room and dining room only.
If there are 60 plus eggs and 3 kids , how many eggs should each of you find so that each of you will have an equal number?

Happy Hunting!
Love,

The Easter Bunny

Easter Eggs

Sauturday morning we boiled eggs and the kids sat down to color the eggs. I then realized we did not have vinegar. You can't die eggs without vinegar. I remembered in Family Fun Magazine that you could color eggs using crayons. Before the eggs cool down, you just draw on them with crayon. The heat from the egg makes the crayon wax melt. The kids thought it was pretty cool. They got creative and rolled the eggs in foil and plastic wrap to give it a tie dye effect. Lil' Lefty and Mac Daddy both agreed it was more fun to color eggs with the crayon rather than with Paas egg tablets.

Best Practice - Off a Tee

We spent some time in the "close confines" of our backyard hitting off a Tee. A-mac needs to make sure her hips don't open before her hands get through the strikezone. Lil Lefty also hit off the Tee and threw for a few minutes. First spring "exhibition" game is tomorrow night.

Just a Saturday

Just a normal late winter - early spring Saturday. A-mac went to hitting practice at the Brampton Fair Grounds. A-mac is going into the softball building.

Lil Lefty had Speed Factory with her team in Mississauga. Then, we looked at a possible new house (not right for us).

Later in the afternoon, I threw a couple buckets of tennis balls to A-mac and MacDaddy (to hit into a screen). MacDaddy and I went to a park after dinner and I pitched 100 balls to him. His swing looks good.

Buffalo Bison Baseball

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound in several words in a phrase. Aside for the opportunity to use alliteration, we attended a Buffalo Bison baseball game yesterday.

Many people would ask why we would go to a AAA baseball game in 50 degree weather. Many of the people who would ask that question did not attend the game as you can see from the picture.

Living in Canada for the past three years, I have grown fonder of the USA National Anthem. After the singing there was a fly over. The church steeple was never in harms way.

After three innings in the cold we moved back against the wall. It was still cold.

I caught a T Shirt thrown from the Bison mascot (or was it a Buffalo). Lil Lefty wore it for the fashion statement and more importantly because of the cold.

The warmest part of the stadium was in the bathroom.

Every time we go to Cleveland we pass the stadium. It was nice to finally go to a game at the stadium. Next time we hope it will be warmer.

Play Ball - MLB Season Opener

I enjoy the beginning of baseball season. Every team, except for the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays, oh wait they were in the World Series last year, make that every team has a chance to win. There is something nice about that.


About a week before the beginning of the season all the TV channels begin showing baseball related movies. I saw The Rookie, A league of Their Own and The Pride of the Yankees. I am watching a show called Curveball: W.P. Kinsella about the author of the novel Shoeless Joe that was eventually turned into the movie Field of Dreams. The documentary shows you don't have to agree with the person to be passionate about their works. In a nutshell, I was disappointed with W.P. and somewhat surprised he could write such a touching story.

I remember my Dad saw the movie Field of Dreams on a Friday night and told me I had to go see it with him on a Saturday. (lots of similarities in this statement) At the time, when I was in my early 20's I am not sure I appreciated all of the themes throughout the movie. I suspect it takes time to understand. I do always remember that my Dad would play catch with me whenever I asked. I hope my kids will continue to learn about the magical themes in this movie as they grow up.