Baseball, Baseball, and More Baseball

I don't know about you, but we received a lot of rain in April and May causing a crazy baseball season for us.

With 5 children playing baseball, a lot of rain meant a lot of make-up games for us and even a few doubleheaders. In the month of June we lived at the baseball field. Our calendar was filled with baseball for 22 straight days. The season began without games on Sunday and as we neared the end of the season we were running straight from church to the ball field. It was crazy, but crazy fun too!

Sometimes we even had two games going at the same time, and I'd run back and forth trying to catch everyone bat or field the ball.

The weather did get better and who can complain when you're watching baseball and you have a view of the mountains in the background? It makes you slow down a little and appreciate the beautiful scenery that God has created for us.

Because we love baseball so much one team just wasn't enough for  Thomas. It just so happened that some dear friends of ours were playing in a tournament near our house and they were short a few players. They asked Thomas to join them and he had a blast! With a few more games on the schedule Thomas ended up moving in with them for a few days. These boys are like long lost brothers. They know how to get into a lot of trouble together.

Since Thomas got to go home with his buddies they kidnapped Rachel (and Rebecca) too! It was only slightly quieter in our home for those few days. ;)

Since Little League baseball wasn't enough for us we hit up a Rockies' game with our St. Louis Cardinal loving friends.

The outcome was fabulous considering I went to the game with very low expectations. I mean come on, the Rockies were near the bottom of the barrel in baseball and the Cardinals were probably going to go to the playoffs again.

Guess what? The Rockies won! It was a great game if I do say so myself. 

What made the game even better was that we got to hang out with our sweet friends at the same time. It will definitely be a memorable game for years to come. I'll never let you forget it, Mandy. ;)

Beach, City, and Baseball

Our hotel has a private beach, so when I finally rolled out of bed, (my husband got up and worked out at the gym before I woke up), it was time for brunch. We decided to stroll along the beach over to Mission Beach to see what we could find.

We ended up at this cute little place right on the beach. We sipped coffee while eating breakfast outside, and taking in the view of the ocean waves.

After brunch we decided that some relaxing beach time of tanning and people watching was just what we needed. The weather was perfect!

We lounged around the beach just long enough for my husband to get a little pink coloring on his pale, fair skin. The Rockies were in town playing the Padres, so we started a Craigslist search for tickets and scored some great seats with parking too. With a meet up time downtown to pick up the tickets it was perfect timing for us to do a little exploring around the city. I love walking around bigger cities. It's fun to see the different characters of each city. Someone had to get ice cream at Ghiradelli. Can you guess who?

After we picked up our tickets we realized that we hadn't eaten anything since brunch so we stopped into the Stone Brewery Tap Room right next to the stadium. If you love IPAs you'll LOVE this brewery. IPAs are a little too hoppy for me, but I did love the flatbread pizza that went well with my beer. :)

We're huge baseball fans, so naturally when our favorite team was in town we had to go, right? Okay, so maybe we planned it that way. We've always wanted to travel around and check out other ball parks, so this was the perfect chance.

Not that I've been to many ballparks, but what I think makes Petco Park unique is the sand box they have for the children to play in during the game. How fun is that?

There's also a grassy knoll for a cheap place to sit during the games. While the view of the field isn't great from here, this huge screen makes up for what you can't see from the hill.

We walked around the stadium before making it to our actual seats. That guy in the field is former Rockie, Seth Smith. He was one of my favorite players.

I think their screen is similar to the one at Coors Field.

We finally made it to our seats. Check out that view!

At this point in the game we thought we had a chance to win. Our team was scoring runs. If you don't follow baseball let me fill you in by telling you that the Rockies are pretty much the worst team in baseball right now.

There was a little hope, but then. . .

the Padres began scoring more runs and Charlie Blackmon is all, "C'mon guys! We've got to hold them." Maybe that's not what he's saying, but maybe he's giving them a pep talk?

The Rockies didn't end up winning, but we had fun checking out Petco Park and downtown San Diego.

Skysox Baseball

Living in Colorado we've become big fans of the Colorado Rockies. Baseball is such a fun, family friendly sport for all ages. The Rockies have a AAA team in Colorado Springs, just an hour and a half from us. When I got wind that they have a $2 Tuesday games we decided to jump on the chance to take the whole family. It's an affordable outing for a large family. ;)

The Rockies have been hit with many injuries this year, and while we were hoping for a run to the world series the injuries on the team have been devastating to their season. As the Rockies recover from their injuries they are sent to play for the AAA, Skysox team as part of their rehab. 

One of our newest favorite players for the Rockies, Nolan Arenado, broke his finger earlier in the season. He won the Gold Glove award last year and is so fun to watch at 3rd base. Anyway, we had perfect timing to watch him play for the Skysox as he was easing back into baseball, after being out of the game for several weeks. He was still wearing a brace on his hand to protect his finger.

The Rockies pitching staff has also struggled this year, so players have been sent down or brought up from the Skysox to play for the Rockies. Juan Nicasio has been struggling a little this year, so he was sent down to the Skysox. He just happened to be pitching that evening that we drove down.

For $2 we had fabulous seats behind home plate. The field was quaint, so we felt like we could jump right onto the field. The kids had a great time and can't wait to make it to a Rockies game soon!

We Keep on Truckin'

June came and went just as quickly as this month of July is flying by. We finished up the boys' baseball season, 

made it to Krispy Kreme for free donuts,

celebrated 14 years of marriage,

played in the pool and drank Starbucks with friends,

attended our first Rockies' game of the season,

visited the library and received free book bags,

made  tractors, courtesy of Home Depot, at the foster care picnic,

while the older children attended the catechism retreat in Woodland Park, where they took archery lessons and learned about creation.


Thomas went horseback riding at camp!

As we rounded out the end of the month we said farewell to Hope's vicar.

Now they return to Ft. Wayne for their last year at the seminary.

With baseball finished we needed something else to keep us busy, so the 6 youngest began swimming lessons.
After a crazy month, a little shopping therapy and girl time was quite welcome!

Opening Day

Both of our boys really wanted to play baseball this year. Opening day just happened to be the day before Easter, when there were a million things going on at church, which meant that my husband missed the boys' first games, however, because of today's technology I was able to text a bunch of photos to him, so it was like he was there, kind of. Thomas played in one of the first games of the day and it started off with the national anthem blaring over the loudspeakers.

Thomas played a little third base. As a lefty, I couldn't be more proud.

He made some pretty good plays, but also took a ball in the eye. He's a tough kid and it didn't even phase him.

Hey batter, batter.

Look at the determination on his face. I love it!

He hits the ball out of the infield quite often these days.

David plays t-ball and his game began just after Thomas's game ended. How's that for a morning at the ball field?

David started his career at first base and I must say he did pretty well. 

His first hit off the tee was a solid one.

Go David, go!

He also played a little third base and even got a ball hit to him.

Baseball is in full swing now and we've really enjoyed watching the boys get better and better in each game!