Fun and Awards

Every year, the county schools here offer trophies for the kids that played in little league. The last two years, our elementary school has raised enough money through concession sales and picture sales to have the basketball teams "party" at a local athletic club. For two hours, they reserve this club so that the kids from eleven teams can swim, play basketball and racquetball, and take advantage of the batting cages and rock climbing walls. So this evening, I drove 25 miles so that the kids could partake in the festivities and receive their trophies. My crew spent the first solid hour in the pool. I saw cannon balls, beach balls, squish footballs, kick boards and heard so much noise that if you called for your child you could forget about them hearing you. Words could not describe the panic that filled my heart as Brady "walked" from the shallow 3 ft end and bounced with his facing the roof to prove that he could make it to the 4 ft end like his siblings. Relief took place when he finally decided to stay in the shallow end for the rest of the time he was in only to feel the panic rise again as he stepped into a batting cage. I can't tell you how many times I told him to step back before he got hit by a fast flying rubber baseball. Finally after a few balls, the machine subsided and Bryce instructed him where to stand. Brady never hit the ball but was impressed that he got to try. Brady hit the ball a few times on his but was still disappointed that he was not a baseball pro. Belle also tried the batting cages and found the ball once. She didn't seem to be upset that she didn't do better. They had a blast, didn't give me any problems (except for a small tiff about wanting to swim again for the last 20 minutes of the party) and no one got hurt. They can't wait for another opportunity like this!