Today's Pic

This was actually from a few days ago. Our weeds never look this pretty.

Shark!

We were tasked with bringing fruit to our end of the year softball party tonight, so we brought this.

I'm sure it's on pinterest, but that's not where we found it. Danielle attended a birthday party a few weeks ago and the mom made one of these. I figured if she could do it, we could do it...and I was right. (Danielle said ours looked better.) It was a big hit among her teammates.

Summer Fun

We had a fun outing with Grandma & Grandpa C today. It's been difficult to find activities the three of us will all enjoy this summer, so this was an especially nice day.

Mining for gems to pass the time. It was actually pretty fun!

Feeding the wild parakeets. They were pigs.

Watching the giant catfish.

He will probably be taller than me by next summer.

Selfie on the tram

Selfie on the tram

Tyler took this picture with my phone. I like the perspective.

The ostrich wanted to eat the tram, or Tyler's arm, whichever she could reach better.

 

 

 

Today's Pic

All Done

Today was Danielle's last softball game of the season and her final game in this age division. She went out on a high note. Her team took 2nd place in the tournament they played in. Danielle was the closer in both games yesterday. She pitched the entire game in our semifinal game today, and she did a great job! We won by a good margin. She got a lot of great game experience pitching over the past couple weeks, and I'm thankful her coach gave her the chance. She played catcher and 2nd in the championship game, which we ended up losing.

Playing with this all-star team was a great experience for her. She was a great leader on the field, and the other girls looked up to her. She always tried her hardest, cheered the loudest, and looked for ways to compliment the other girls. Her coach was quick to give praise and slow to criticize. Although she played over fifty games this season and hasn't gone a week without practices since Christmas, she was fighting back the tears when today's game was over. I couldn't be more proud of her hard work and attitude.

My Favorite Part of the Game...

...watching Danielle steal home by sliding across the plate and then hopping back up, in one fluid motion. She makes it look easy...and somehow graceful. 

I was too slow on the shutter to catch the whole slide this time. Caught her mid hop...and clearly safe.

Another Backyard Visitor

This female blue dasher paused in our yard for a few minutes the other day. It looks like she may have had a rough day!

 

Milkweed Visitor

Today I watched a monarch deposit her eggs on our milkweed plants. I heard last year was an especially low year for monarch counts. We didn't have any eggs at all, so we were excited to see this one visiting our flowers! After she left, Danielle and I went outside and counted at least 10 eggs between the 3 plants that were the easiest to reach. We didn't want to disturb the other plants, but I know there are more eggs than that. Hopefully a good majority will survive the mosquito fogging and other elements and be well on their way to becoming big fat caterpillars by the time we get home from vacation.

 

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

Ron's gone this week = easy (& smiley) dinners!

Another Winning Weekend

Danielle's team lost both games today but came in 2nd place in this weekend's double elimination tournament. Danielle pitched all 6 innings in the first game and was catcher for the entire second game. She did a great job today.

The ump made a couple really bad calls, and honestly it cost us the win in the second game, where we lost by 1 run. Softball is so full of life lessons, though, and this was just another chance to learn and refine character. Too bad some of the angry dads (not Ron) didn't do a better job of learning those life lessons when they were younger!

I really appreciated Danielle's coach this weekend. I feel like Danielle often gets overlooked on her travel team because she's a good team player and doesn't complain or have an attitude about where she plays. She's playing for a different coach on this team, and he went out of his way several times to compliment & praise her. He was great during the games and even called and texted afterward to tell Danielle what a great job she did. It was very encouraging. It was a great weekend of softball.

Pitching & Catching

Danielle got to pitch in our first game today. She pitched the first 4 innings and was responsible for 10 or 11 out of 12 outs. (She fielded one of those for the out, the rest were strike outs.) She played catcher for the last inning in the first game and tagged a runner out at home for a double play. She was catcher all 6 innings in the last game and did an excellent job! Her team won both games today, and she got the game ball for the first game for her great pitching. Today was a lot of fun! The championship game is tomorrow. Hoping it's as much fun as today!!

Today's Pic

Homemade pasta salad...YUM!

Pitching Practice

Practicing for the All-Star tournament this weekend.

 

 

 

Hummingbird Progress

I can't get the hummingbird to make the switch from the feeder to a bowl of sugar water, so I've decided to go another route. He doesn't mind if I hold the feeder, and I can hold it right up next to me, so I decided to see if I could get him to perch on my hand while I hold it. I didn't get a picture of it, but tonight it worked! He first put one little foot on my finger. The next time he came back, he landed on my hand and drank from the feeder from there. Now to get a decent video of it.

This is a picture I grabbed from a cell phone video I took earlier tonight. 

A Winning Weekend

Danielle's travel team played in their final tournament this past weekend and came in first place. Danielle played great this weekend. Her fielding was spot on, and her fast base running was pivotal, especially in the final championship game. It was a great way to end the season. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Tent City. :) This is part of the fun for us, hanging out with parents who become good friends. (And some we just tolerate. ;) ) 



Could not get over the size differences of some of the girls on the teams we played this weekend. These girls are supposed to be Danielle's age. #8 is not a coach!

I wish pictures could capture the speed. So fun to watch!



She didn't quite outrun the throw to 1st this time, but she was safe because the 1st baseman didn't have her foot on the bag.

Waiting to steal home.

 

Cell phone pic with the trophy.

Danielle's team.
We had a rain delay earlier in the day, so all the games were late and there weren't any lights on the fields.  It got dark very quickly!

Thankfully Tyler's friend had him over to hang out and spend the night, so he enjoyed his weekend, too. We stopped for a late dinner on the way home Sunday night, and Danielle found $10 on the floor in the restaurant. No one claimed it, so she got to keep it. Definitely a winning weekend!