Softball 2009

Ashley has officially completed another season of softball. This year, her team was the "Cougars" and even after a shaky start, they ended up over .500.

Ashley plays in a recreation league so it is more about having fun than winning. The girls rotate around and play all positions, there are no official scores or standings, and there are time limits to the games (from a parent's perspective this is a blessing!)

Ashley probably had her best season this year. She played very well in the field, no pitches got by her as catcher, she caught a fly ball, and had some great defensive plays at 3rd base. Towards the end of the season she also started pitching, which by far is the toughest skill for girls this age. We learned that Ashley was actually quite good. She never walked anyone which is pretty amazing considering that it happens so often there is rule that after four walks the coach pitches---a rule which is invoked often because the girls throw so many balls. (This is a big reason that there has to be time limits to these games!) Of course, by throwing pitches over the plate, she gave the other team opportunities for hits, which led to a lot of fielding errors by her team, but that is part of learning and Ashley loved pitching.

the wind-up

and the release

Ashley also improved her batting and learned that when it comes to batting it is as much mental as physical. The more confident she was, the better her at-bat; if she started worrying about striking out, there went her form and the at-bat.



Ashley was also involved in one of the most dramatic moments of the season. Dave was with her and I missed it which I think was probably a good thing. After a hit, Ashley was running to first base and had a huge collision with the first baseman. Ashley was pretty much up-ended, flipped and went flying. I guess it was bad enough that all the coaches and parents went running out to check on her. She stood up and said she was okay, but the first baseman was so scared that she hurt Ashley she started crying and apologizing. Kind of similar to Paige's t-ball injury, she ended up consoling the other little girl, Ashley told her, "don't worry, I'm okay." Ashley was pretty sore the next day, but I am glad she was alright and I didn't have to see it happen.

This last picture is what little sisters to do when they go to their big sisters' softball games--find a friend, sit on the grass, and dig a hole in the dirt---so much fun!

Remnants

Here are the remnants of our visit with my little sister Katey. It has taken me a few days to post because seriously after all those days of play, I needed some time to recover and catch up on laundry!

We had a lot of fun with Katey and were so happy that she came to stay with us. We can't wait until next time. The girls loved having her. She went swimming, played dancing, hide-and-seek and even dress up with them:

Katey also gave Ashley the moral support she needed to go and get her ears pierced. Ashley has been wanting to pierce her ears for a little while. I told her she could when she was ready, but Ashley has been pretty nervous about the "pain." The day before Katey left, Ashley finally decided to go for it. And as her cousin Megan and her friend Malinda told her, she learned it really doesn't hurt. All turned out well and Ashley is super excited about the whole thing. She also got a haircut that day and Katey curled her hair for an all-around "new look."

As our time with Katey waned we squeezed a few more "Chicago" traditions in which included deep dish pizza and a last minute stop at White Castle. Katey had always wanted to try White Castle as they don't have any in Utah. For this one she was on her own, because our family "hates" White Castle. Of course, we stopped to buy a slider on our way home after our huge pizza dinner so we were all sick full, the smell of the burger was nauseating, and the girls tales about how gross White Castle is pretty much psyched Katey out. We took a cute picture but she couldn't eat the burger! Oh well, maybe next time on an empty stomach.

Six Flags Great America

I may have recently turned a year older, but I'm still young enough to spend about 10 hours riding roller coasters and playing on waterslides! On Monday, Ashley, Paige, Katey and I went to Six Flags Great America. We not only rode rides but also spent about 3 hours at the water park which is called Hurricane Harbor. We had a great time, even though we were exhausted by the time we left. (To be honest, I had to spend the next day recovering!)


Our group of four worked out well for pairing up and riding. Katey and Ashley rode all the big roller coasters, while Paige and I hit all the other rides. Some of the roller coasters Ashley and Katey rode where Superman, the Raging Bull, American Eagle (traditional woooden roller coaster) and the Iron Wolf (ride in a standing position!) I don't have any pictures because carrying a camera is too much of a pain when you are riding roller coasters and going down water slides!

BUT...
here are a few general pictures of a couple of the rides:

This is the Superman. You ride facing forward laying on your stomach---very fun!

This is probably the biggest roller coaster called the Raging Bull. Katey couldn't believe how high up you go.

This is a little thumbnail of the family raft ride at the water park. We waited in line a while for this one, but it was lots of fun.

4th of July Weekend

After a some fun, but busy and tiring days, we took the 4th of July weekend a little slower. We started out on Friday by sleeping in!! This meant getting up about 9ish for our family but noon for Katey! The girls couldn't believe that someone could sleep that late--I told them it was a teenager thing :)

That afternoon, Katey and I ran some errands to get some supplies for our 4th of July activities then we all headed over to the Robert Smith Family's home for pizza, slip and slide, and visiting. Dave's cousin Rob and Rob's wife Mary along with their 5 kids live in St. Charles which is about 45 minutes away from us. They have lived here for 2 years and the only time we see them is when we happen to cross paths in Utah. Considering neither of us have any other family in the Midwest, it's pretty shameful that this is the first time our families got together. Anyways, we had a lovely time and can't wait until we see them again--hopefully at our house next time.

Later that evening, I showed Katey how to make these cute flower hair clips. She made some blue ones for the girls to wear on Independence Day.

The next day on Saturday, we all went to our ward's annual 4th of July Breakfast. It is a big breakfast potluck--yum, who doesn't love a big spread of breakfast foods? It was raining on this day so some activities were modified or cut short, but the girls did decorate their bikes and ride in the bike parade.

After the parade we played water balloon toss games. Dave partnered with another guy from our ward and they did pretty well. Paige and Ashley had a few catches before their balloon popped. Katey and I only had two catches; we weren't so good but for the record Katey dropped the balloon! After the toss, Ashley blindsided me with a waterballoon right in the torso, lucky for me with all my fat, it just bounced off, better luck next year Ashley.

That evening we made star-shaped sugar cookies and lit sparklers, then watched our neighbors shoot-off tons of illegal fireworks, no need to go anywhere with neighbors like ours!

My Birthday, Ribfest, and Heart!

July 2nd was quite a day around here. It included the birthday traditions of presents and cake. The girls gave me a big, warm and soft beach towel for taking to the pool along with some new summer shorts. We also had a decadent never-ending, four-layer chocolate cake from Costco. When we bought it, a lady commented that, "no matter how much of the cake you eat, it just keeps growing back," which is so true. We told Katey it was up to her to help us finish the cake and that we weren't letting her go back to Utah until it was gone. Unfortunately, she leaves tomorrow and there is still cake left---I think I'll throw it in the garbage and let her off the hook!

In what has become a family/birthday tradition we headed over to Naperville's Ribfest in the afternoon. This year was different from previous years for three great reasons: 1)my sister Katey was with us, 2)the weather was perfect, 75 degrees instead of 100 degrees, and 3)we stayed for the evening concert.

We started out by letting the girls ride the carnival rides. My kids love rides, no fear for them. After the rides, the girls got in line for the Eurobungee. It is basically a contraption that allows you to jump on a trampoline while hanging from bungee cords. The line is long and slow but the girls really wanted to do it and patiently waited in line. While they were lined-up and under Dave's supervision, Katey and I scoped out all the rib vendors and their trophies. After the girls finished jumping we found a nice place to sit to watch the concert that evening and ate some ribs from a team called Pigfoot which was accompanied with a platter of fried delights including a blooming onion, battered mushrooms, broccoli, and cauliflower---at least we had veggies!

After dinner, we just hung out under the blue sky waiting for the concert to start. The girls played on a few kid attractions and had snowcones. Then as evening descended, the headlining band appeared on stage, singing Barracuda! That's right we saw HEART in concert! They were awesome and performed songs like Alone, Never, and Crazy on You. Ann Wilson's voice is amazing, she is a powerhouse.

HEART ROCKS!

Everyone enjoyed themselves, the girls were so cute and even sang along to some of the songs they knew. Yes, they knew some of the songs, courtesy of their dad and Guitar Hero. I think Dave was pretty happy that the girls' first concert was a real rock band instead of something like Miley Cyrus. Paige rocked out by dancing along with the music. Dave took video with his phone, but the quality is not that good and it is sideways. I have been working on it for a while but I can't edit the video so here is the rough cut if you are interested.

75th Birthday

On July 1st, Ashley, Paige, Katey and I rode the train to the Brookfield Zoo which happened to be celebrating it's 75th Birthday. Part of the celebration included free admission for kids, 75 cent drinks, hot dogs, and ice cream and a few other commemorating events.

We had a great time. The best part of the day had to be the brown bear doing a back float. Here is the video that Katey took:

We also got to see the only living animal that was at the zoo when it opened 75 years ago. Cookie, is a Mitchell Cockatoo. He is the oldest animal at the zoo, likely over 80 years old. He is retired but came out on this day to celebrate the zoo's anniversary. What a unique bird, the feathers on it's body are pinkish and the frill on it's head is red and orange and looks like flames.

Katey Baby!

My little sister Katey has come to visit us this week. Katey is 17 years old, cute as can be, and the baby of the family, so she will always be "Katey Baby" to me!

The last time Katey was here was for Paige's baby blessing! It has been a while so we have lots of things to do.