Enjoy the little things,

for one day you may look back

and realize they were the big things.

- Robert Brault

Labels: baseball

This is what I saw yesterday afternoon as I was looking out my kitchen window.

Yes, that's right... he's measuring out the bases and his wife is spray-painting a baseball diamond.

Right in his own back yard.

We do have a tournament this weekend so I'm guessing we all need to "be ready."

Then this is what happened tonight when I asked Phil to take Perry to get his haircut tonight.

Remember in this post, his hair looked soooo good.

I asked Phil (when Perry wasn't around) what he was thinking? He looks like my brother-in-law right before he reported to duty.

And he replies... "this is a great haircut for baseball season. He won't be all sweaty when he's wearing his catcher's helmet." (Um yeah, his head may not be sweaty, but he still wears a uniform and the catcher's gear.)

He's totally drinking the kool-aid here in the cul-de-sac...

All baseball, all the time.

Labels: baseball

Yep, that's right - another baseball tournament!

The Comets advanced to the Championship game on Sunday afternoon!!

And.... they lost.

But the boys learned a great life lesson... losing. It will happen.

They got a great 2nd place trophy that all the boys will take turns sharing.

They have another tournament in three weeks so we get try it all over again.

Labels: baseball

SlugFest was Perry's first venture into baseball competition. He has played baseball for the past 3 years on a parks and rec league. The past 3 summers playing baseball has been about building skills, learning the game and most of all - having fun.

(And of course, let's not forget how cute they look in their baseball uniforms.)

But this weekend Perry learned another skill that can't be taught taking hitting practice. It is a skill that he wasn't even used to... losing. And for twelve 8-year old boys, losing can be tougher than learning the game.

On Perry's parks and rec league the past 3 summers, scores were never kept. It's all about giving kids a glimpse into the game of baseball. Without the losing. That all begins with kid pitch when they are 9 years old. But from the time he has played t-ball, coach pitch, and now machine pitch, it's all about learning the fundamentals and "fun" of the game.

The first game we played in our first-ever tournament was at 8:00am Saturday morning. Perry woke up at 5:45am that morning, calling out for us. He wanted to make sure we were up. His first words that morning... "Dad, it's time to play ball."

The Comets won their first game. And it was a nail-biter too. The score was tied in the 6th and we had to play 3 more innings to win the game!

Go Comets!

But, the Comets lost their second game at 11:50am which meant we had to play at 9:30pm. That night. After we had played at 8:00am in the morning.

They played tough. They played hard. But the Comets lost their 3rd game and our time in the tournament was over.

"If only we had made one more catch. If only we had one more inning."

"If only" was the saying yesterday evening at dark o'thirty. We would have loved nothing more than to get up early again and watch them play another game the next day. I think as parents we may have even been more disappointed than they were.

But the boys got their taste of competition. And they had a taste of winning and losing. They liked winning a whole lot better. We'll play more two more tournaments this summer, as well as our weekly parks and rec games.

Competition will be in their blood now.

And the camaraderie they built as a team this weekend will be their best team-building skill yet.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson

Labels: baseball