Summer 2023 ball

105

That's the number of ball games we sat through this summer, over a span of 2.5 months. 

We averaged 10 games/week. 

It's no wonder the rock beds could use some weeding, we rarely sat around the kitchen table as a family of 5, and there was a pile of never-ending dirt at the back door. As though they brought half the field home with them every day.

But there is not one place we would rather be, than sitting near a field watching our kids play sports they love. 

Breaking this down a little, we'll start with the youngest. This year, Lincoln had a choice to play in the local 'travel' association, or stay with the city rec team. He chose the latter, signing up with a hockey buddy and a great family friend. We lucked out with an ah-mazing! coach, who found the importance of not only teaching the boys baseball skills, but also teaching them to keep their chins up, and reminding fans that this was about the boys. And man alive was it an incredible season. What started out a little like "Bad News Bears", ended with them catching pop flies, understanding rules and taking 3rd place in the championship tournament. Lincoln spent the majority of the season behind the plate, never afraid to catch....except when his buddy started throwing some heat! Remind us to get a lefty catchers glove before next year :) 

The girls, on the other hand, continue to play high level competitive softball. Sidney traded in her former team for an entirely new club this season. And it was literally the best decision she could have made. 

The story goes a little like this: in 2022, she played in a tournament game against a really really incredible team, whose coach looked like a literal jerk to his team during the game. Seriously, most of us wondered "why on earth would anyone want to play for him!".

 Sidney got the only hit in that game, walked off the field that night and said "I want to play for him next year". We all thought she had lost her marbles, Regan joked she wouldn't make it one single practice without crying. We were all wrong. During tryouts for the 2023 season, that coach remembered Sidney's hit in that game and offered her a spot on his team. 

She went on to be coached by one heck of a coach, who taught her more than she could have dreamed of learning, and who cared deeply about his team both on and off the field. Don't get me wrong, he was HARD on the team. And she did shed a few tears. But boy did we all have the most amazing year, and like to think when one door closes, another opens. And we are all so thankful for her opportunity to be coached by the infamous Jake, in his final year in MN. 

At the end of the year, the team gifted him heartfelt letters from each of the girls, along with a book of all the things he would holler to them in the middle of a game, that would make us all giggle, and make opponents cringe wondering "why on earth would anyone want to play for him!". 

Things like: Swing like a big girl
Are you mad, or is your hair just red?
Y'all better pick it up
Be a good teammate (knowing you were about to lay down a sacrifice bunt)
Don't make excuses, I'm in the solution business

We will miss his sarcasm, his passion for the game, and his deep desire to develop strong and confident teenage girls. Truly one of the best!

 With a core team of only 9 girls (we'd pick up players for a tournament here/there), Sidney got opportunities to play every single position except pitcher or catcher. Heck, she even caught bull-pen! And according to Regan "no one is above catching bull-pen". 

Sid was the definition of a utility player this year, though if she has her preference, would spend most of her time at first base. 

And last but not least, Regan's incredible season! This girl caught 110 innings over the course of the season. This may not seem like a lot, but if you average 4 innings/game (softball is stupid this way because games are time-limited in most cases), she caught nearly 75% of her teams' games. 

She was sore, and exhausted, but would never ever complain. She was thrilled to be behind the plate and quickly gained the confidence of her coaches to be calling her own game. It was incredible to watch her dominate the dish. Regan's team had a lot of success and growth this year, peeking just at the end of the season. 

She even had an opportunity to travel out of state with the 18's team at the end of the summer where she had a 2 run single to score the winning run(s) in extra innings! They promptly awarded her with the horse-shoe for her hit. 

Between both girls, we spent 26 nights in hotels, almost all of them in the month of July. It's a wonder we have time to work. We traveled to 5 different states in a matter of 5 weeks and became experts at playing Tetris with luggage and softball gear in the truck.

The map below of a two week road trip was a doozy! Just under 24 hours of driving, and it took a table top exercise to plan. Between the girls, there were six tournaments over a span of 4 states (plus one in MN at the end). 

We've done laundry in hotel sinks at 10pm because the washing machine is in use, using hairdryers to help the drying process. We spent more money on Panera (and Starbucks) than I care to admit this summer. I was constantly asking "what food should we pack for the field?". We are a well-oiled machine when it comes to navigating this routine. 

And do you see that scooter in the background?, Lincoln was a professional at dodging players, fans, foul balls....and sometimes Tournament Directors as he raced around each complex. 

Parents would giggle when they heard that we added an air tag to him so we could keep track of his whereabouts; it was a life-saver! 

Regan's team played in the Colorado Sparkler this summer. The backdrops on those fields were beyond incredible. And the downtime between games meant some amazing team bonding! I'll have to do another post on its own with more about that trip. 

As we hang up the cleats for a week before the next season's tryouts, I'm scrambling to weed the rock-beds, eat dinner as a family, and enjoy a dirt-free back door. I know darn well, this season of chaos will end for us too quickly, so for now, we are going to enjoy every second of it. 

Hawaii family vacation-Island #1: Maui (part 1)

After planning for 18 months, it finally arrived: our family vacation to the Hawaiian Islands. Let's back up a quick second to explain why it took 18 months. I had a burning desire in 2018 to take the family to Hawaii and had saved up a ton of money by selling things here/there for a few years. Ryan didn't want to know or see an account, so we kept it completely separate; side note, he was later shocked to see how much I had saved :)  Ryan also wasn't keen on such a big vacation with Lincoln being only 4 years old in 2018 (we'll call that strike one against my plans). Then the giant volcano on the Big Island decided to blow: strike two. And then a hurricane was headed dangerously close: strike three. I gave up on 2018 and shifted my plans to 2019. It's probably a good thing we waited for all of the reasons above, but mostly having Lincoln be so close to 6 years old (he turned 6 the day after we got back). He was a BREEZE to travel with!

So here we go.....Due to number of pictures, I've divided up our vacation by islands. Warning! this is a very long post, with lots of pictures.

We started the vacation in Maui, the most sunny, consistently gorgeous weather I have ever seen. It seriously was beautiful all of the time. I found an Airbnb with 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and 2 amazing lanais. The condo was outdated, but it was spacious and had everything we needed. We fell asleep to the waves crashing against the sand and woke up to the same. Our view looked out to Lanai Island, which seemed to not have the same weather we did daily as we saw a cloud hanging over the island every day. Talk about dreary!

This beach was literally steps from our lanai. See the cloud over Lanai Island in the distance? 

We saw a rainbow everyday in Maui. While we stopped to admire, we giggled wondering if those who lived on the island admired them in the same fashion. 

I took in advice from many friends and coworkers on island Must-Do's before we left. One of my doctor friends at work commented that I "Danny Tannered" our vacation with my "clipboard of fun" :) I had itineraries and options of fun for each day.  I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this vacation, and I wanted us to have a lot of fun. Each day we had adventures or excursions planned and downtime for beach or swimming. It was the perfect balance for our busy family.

Nakalele Blowole 

Lincoln insisted we climb down to the blowhole. We parked wayyyyy up there! 

It was quite the hike in the heat but the memories we made will last forever. 

Maui beaches had beautiful golden sand and crystal clear water. I took more panoramic shots than I ever dreamed. I couldn't resist!  

Smoothies from food trucks on the side of the road, only the freshest fruit and ingredients.  

Prior to leaving for Hawaii, we had purchased tickets to Old Lahaina Luau. Although crazy expensive, I'm so glad we bought these. This luau tops our list of fun things we did in Maui. We arrived early and were able to participate in some of the fun activities prior to dinner: photo ops, luau lessons, crazy fun drinks for the whole family and coconut tasting. We watched as they unearthed the pig and then sat down to feast, watch the sunset, and enjoy the show. Sadly, Lincoln couldn't make it to dinner and zonked out at the table as we sat down (something he ended up doing at almost every meal for the entire vacation). He missed the whole luau show.

So many folks wore Hawaiian attire, even this fella who reminded me of Baylor. 

Ziplining in Hawaii was also our on list of "to-do"s but I wanted to be sure we found a place that we could all enjoy; most places didn't allow 5 year olds, and some even had a minimum weight which excluded Sidney as well. I managed to find North Shore Zip in Maui which could accommodate the whole family. It certainly wasn't the most thrilling zipline we have ever done, but it was perfect for us because we could go together. We climbed and zipped through a former WWII camp with views of the ocean behind us.

The location of this zipline happened to be just onto the Road to Hana, so while we didn't actually go all the way to Hana, we can say we were on it. The last town before Hana is the tiny town of Paie, which turned out to be the most quaint adorable little town, with what we have decided is THE best pizza imaginable! Plus the shops are adorable and we found the most amazing shave ice shop, WINNING!

Although black sand beaches are not very prevalent on Maui, I had learned about this beach and wanted to see it myself (we later saw a real black sand beach, but this was pretty amazing for now).

South Maui was beautiful, much different than West Maui where we were staying. Definitely upscale and more honeymooners than families. We spent the evening on one of the most popular beaches of South Maui with golden sand, where sadly, Regan then Ryan then I were stung by a jellyfish. Darnit. Top it off that Lincoln tossed Regan's phone onto the parking lot and the charging port broke; it was quite the evening. (not to fret, the resourceful social worker that I am got to work and found a phone store nearby with wireless chargers for sale).

We saw, we ate and we loved up on Maui. I may call it my favorite because the size is perfect and the weather is AMAZING. But then again, I may call every island my favorite :)

Up next...Part 2 The Big Island.