Tommy had a baseball game on Monday and Wednesday. He got on base every time and had a couple doubles. He also pitched a couple innings, caught a couple innings and also played first base and outfield.
Jake had his third game on Saturday. He got on base for the first time this year. It was a hit by pitch. But he seemed excited about it anyway as it was also his first RBI. He also got on by a walk and then went on to score a run. And his team had their first win of the year. We are still waiting for him to swing and make some contact. He is such a picky batter. But we'll get there.
Week 2 of Baseball. We had some rainouts earlier in the week. But today both boys got a game in. Jake is still waiting for his first hit. He is a very patient kid at the plate, but needs to make some contact.
Tommy had lots of contact at the plate today. He probably needs to be a little more patient at the plate and swing at better pitches. He did get on base twice though. And he also caught a fly ball in right. They were glad to have a break in the rain to get games in today.
What do you do when your pyro is out of town for work and you need to start a fire. You try and try and try again. Finally got there, but it was hard to keep it going in the pouring rain.
Baseball season is in full swing now. Jake had his first game today. A lot of the kids in the league are just moving up to kid pitch and there was a lot of figuring out what they were doing in their first game with kids pitching, having to actually play catcher and catch it. And their most exciting new thing which is stealing. He did not have any hits today. I think he was feeling out what was going on with the kid pitchers. The video is kind of long, but Jake's reactions cracked me up so much. He was counting each strike and celebrating them. And I am not sure what conversation he was having at third with the base runner. But he seemed to be enjoying himself. His team lost by one. But they were excited that the rain held off and that they got to play.
We have been spoiled this year at Mariners games. We got invited to batting practice again today through the kids club. The boys got a Jarred Kelenic autograph. Tommy told him he had some nice homeruns and he said thanks. We then met up with the other 500 people from Vashon attending the game today. The kids had such a great time again this year. The were so loud. And they got on the big screen again.
It was a quiet and rainy Easter. We search for our real eggs in the morning out in our forest path. Then Tommy pealed them so we could make deviled eggs and also put some in the potato salad. Then we went to grandma and grandpa's. Jake helped make the rolls and the pie. Then we did another egg hunt. The boys came away with a lot of coins.
The boys helped me make potato salad for Easter. Tommy cooked and chopped the bacon. Jake chopped the potatoes. They are becoming such big boys. It is so nice to have helpers.
Pouring down rain but I still need to get stuff done. It's still spring break right. So you gotta have some luxurious vacation time. Clearing out some blackberries to the east of where the house will be so we can transplant ferns there. Me and the boys got all the blackberries out and 6 ferns in. We have won the battle! Now it's time for a fire.
I wasn't sure if the boys still wanted to do an egg hunt this year. They are getting a bit old. Eric let us know at 9:45 that the egg hunt was at 10:00 AM at the Eagles. I have never seen the boys get dressed so fast. We made it there at exactly 10:00. And the hunt was already underway. They got a couple eggs. People were nice enough to share some though. And Tommy managed to find the last egg which was taped under a chair and also a golden egg. So he won a giant bunny.
Another few big days of cleanup around the place. Eric has been hustling to clean out the shed now that he got a job in Blaine that starts tomorrow and he won't be home for a while. I have been raking and cleaning up more dead stuff. The boys have been transplanting some wild roses further back into the woods out of the clearing area. And they also moved the last bits of a nurse log that we are moving to a different location so it can do its thing. And right before Eric had to leave for work he cut down the tree that cracked in the wind storm and was clinging there. The boys and I did the cleanup work on the branches and sorting some piles. And then I did a bunch of chipping. We were all pretty beat by the end of the day. But, we got to get what we can done while we can before we are in full swing of baseball season.
When Tommy found out that he was going to be part of the Opening Day ceremonies Jake was pretty upset. He cried for about 30 minutes and told me the little brother never gets anything cool. Well, I had signed the boys up for the Mariners Kids Club. And they sent an email about a drawing for kids to watch the Mariners do batting practice. So I entered it. And I got an email back saying that Jake would get to go to batting practice for Julio Rodriguez bobblehead night. I had already gotten him tickets and let him know that we would get to enter early for season ticket holder day to watch batting practice. But this was even better. So we got down to the stadium early again. There were already so many people there by 3:00 for a 6:00 game that it was hard to walk on the sidewalk. There was a will call window for media passes and a handful of people there waiting to get passes for the kids club. I was chatting with the people in the line. And one guy in the line said he was not with the kids club, he just knew people to ask for passes. So I asked if he was in the business. I am so stupid. He was a former player. His name is Craig Grebeck and played for the White Sox in the 90s. He was taking his kid and his kids friend around to some ballparks for spring break. So I chatted with him and his kid who was about 11 and loved to talk baseball. So we finally get our passes and rush over to the door they direct us to. It is the 3rd base entrance into the Diamond Club. It was tricky and the door was locked. You had to knock and have someone let you in. So we go in and we get our bobblehead and then get escorted onto the field. Unfortunately the Mariners batting practice was already over. But then we see Craig and his son talking to JP Crawford. I guess he used to coach JP. So we rush up there and he autographs our sign and a ball. I tell him that he is Tommy's favorite player. Then we kind of waited around for a while as there wasn't much happening on the field. But then we saw Tommy's teacher Mr. Lance working out in front of the Diamond Club. So we went over and said hi. And then I saw a guy walk out into the Diamond Club area I could have sworn was Tino Martinez. Turns out it was. He threw out the first pitch to the game. We waited around a bit more and chatted with Craig's son about baseball. And then the Guardians came out for batting practice. We got to see all of that. And Craig had a whole line of people come over and say hi to him. It was then I started trying to look up who this guy was. I asked one of the other kids club players what his name was and was able to find him as a 1990 Whitesox. I guess he knows a lot of people. Pretty cool. And it was fun talking to his kid who said the Mariners and Julio Rodriguez are his favorite even though he doesn't live here. Jake was complaining he wanted to leave because batting practice was wrapping up. I told him that you never knew who you might see. Well, and Guardians coach rolled him a ball. And then sure enough, just seconds before we had to leave, Copper Hummel, our new DH came out and gave us some autographs. It was a pretty cool experience. It would have been cooler if we saw the Mariners batting practice, but still pretty cool. We then headed up to the 300 level to watch the game. Jake got his chowder bread bowl and cotton candy. I think he was pretty happy with that. Even if it was really cold. The Mariners didn't win tonight, but talk about 2 really great experiences at the Mariners for opening weekend. Can't wait for the rest of the season.
