mamajoan

Tonight was full of the things I love about Little League: drama, friendly camaraderie, excitement, laughter, suspense. Oh, and some torrential rain. ;)

It's the final championship round of playoffs, so there was much excitement already. To make things more interesting, we were under a tornado watch(!) and just at the moment the game was supposed to start, it started to rain. But it only rained for a minute and then the game began, with MUCH discussion of the rules about how many outs have to be recorded before the game counts, what happens if it starts to rain in the x inning, etc....

So it came to the 4th inning and Isaac's team was ahead by one run. We knew that the game would be official after 4 innings, so as soon as the 4th was done, we parents started jokingly doing a rain dance. Seconds later, the downpour began. I am not making this up. It rained heavily for several minutes and the umpires cleared the field, but then the rain let up and the game resumed. Then Isaac's team scored 7 more runs so they were ahead 10-2. The rain held off, and we finished the game (6 innings). The other team had beaten us soundly the previous night, so it was good to give them back a bit. ;)

Quite a few other kids from the teams that have already been eliminated, plus their parents, were there to watch the championship games. It was a pretty big crowd and a lot of enthusiasm. After the game was over, Isaac and a bunch of his friends from various other teams started playing pickle (a kid game that is kind of like tag, but with two "its" and a ball). It was a nice friendly atmosphere with parents sitting around chatting, kids playing, the concession stand doing a brisk business, and the gathering clouds turning an ominous yellow color. I ended up driving an extra kid home, and then a very quick stop at the grocery store, and it didn't rain any more, nor did I observe any tornado action, which is fine with me, thanks.

The sky was very dramatic, though. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't think it would be possible to convey the colors, the enormous shapes of the clouds, the way the sunlight was lighting the western clouds in one color palette and the eastern clouds in another...it was really amazing. I see that a lot of my friends did take pictures and have been posting them on FB all evening, so thanks for that. :) Now if only we could have a little bit of rain and thunderstorming, just to break the humidity, that would be great. Phew.

Final championship game tomorrow night!!

After I wrote my previous post about Little League, our final round of playoffs got delayed and delayed because of rain. Stupid rain! :P

Anyway, we finally got underway on Monday; it was to be a best-of-three series, and Isaac's team won the first two games, so the third game wasn't needed and we are the league champions! woohoo! :)

We played against the team of one of Isaac's good friends, so that part was a little awkward, but they played two very good games. In the second game, they were actually in the lead for a couple of innings, which was a bit of a new experience for our team ;) but the boys battled back.

During the second game, the league officials gave us the whole professional-baseball experience: a sound system with an announcer to announce the name of each kid as he came up to bat, and snippets of music in between innings, the whole bit. That was kind of fun. :)

Here's a picture of Isaac holding the trophy:



My mom also uploaded to YouTube a couple of videos that she took during the game.

Before the game, the coach's older son sprayed all the kids with green hair-dye to 'match' their uniforms.

Here's part of the pre-game ceremony where all the players and coaches were introduced. Just like at a "real" professional playoff game! :)

Here are the boys singing along to "Sweet Caroline" (a song that is traditionally played at Fenway Park during the 8th inning)

Post-game victory lap with the trophy!

All in all, it was a very fun experience and I think Isaac got a lot out of it. He's already bugging me to sign him up for fall baseball.... :)

One of the moms in Isaac's class has started this new thing of calling for all-class playdates at local playgrounds now that the weather is improving. Yesterday we went to the second of these and it was great. It's so nice that the kids are big enough now that we can go to the playground and they pretty much play while we parents sit around chatting.

Also, they've been at this playground near our house, which was just completely renovated. I hadn't been there since the renovations; I went there once or twice when Isaac was a toddler, and honestly, the place was kind of skeezy. The playground equipment was ancient and rickety, the sand was full of cigarette butts, the paved parts were cracked and pitted, and well, you just got a bad feeling about it. But now it's all new and REALLY nice. The kids are loving it. And did I mention it's in walking distance from our house? :)

Anyway, so that was fun. I really appreciate any opportunity to socialize with the other parents, since I don't get to do that at morning dropoff any more.

We finally found out which Little League team Isaac is on. He has been assigned to the "Royal White Laundry" team. Apparently all teams are just named for their corporate sponsors now. This kind of makes me LOL. ;) Isaac was a bit disappointed that none of his friends are on his team, but I think it will probably be better off that way actually. We can't WAIT until practices get started. Now that the professional baseball season has begun, Isaac's obsession is picking up steam very quickly. ;)

Over the weekend we also went to the mall to look at refrigerators. Did I mention this already? I think I did. Anyway, it was very confusing. There are way too many options ;) and way too few of the models on display at Sears were certified for the rebate program. (You can get up to $200 back if you buy an Energy Star fridge between April 22 and May 5.) Then I saw that Sears had some used/refurb fridges that still have the Energy Star label, so I thought, well if I buy a refurb and it's discounted, that's just as good, right? So I said that to the Sears salesman who was helping me, and he said that in fact he believes they'll be putting ALL Energy Star fridges on 30% discount starting on April 22nd (Earth Day). So if that's the case, I might just buy it that way and give up on the rebate. I mean, I like the idea of saving another $200, but not if I'm that severely limited in my choice of model, right?

( Some ramblings on the pros and cons of various refrigerator models )

Anyway, hopefully that will all work itself out somehow. And then, having bought a new stove a couple years ago and now (maybe) a fridge, I think that means I'm officially a grownup! Drat! ;)

Isaac and I were watching a bit of a baseball game from last October that I had saved on the TiVo. It was the one where the Red Sox beat the Angels to clinch the AL divisional series.

I was explaining to Isaac that this meant we had won the first round of playoffs, and we could go on to the next round of playoffs. But, in this particular case, the next round was against the Tampa Bay Rays, and they beat us, so they went on to the World Series and we didn't.

Then I said something like, "and I think they won the World Series..." to which Isaac replied, "Last year? No, they played the Phillies, and the Phillies won."

ZOMG PWNED!

I had no idea that he knew all of that. rotfl.

I've been almost completely absent from LJ lately (maybe you've noticed) - just so busy with everything going on in life, not to mention my newfound PackRat obsession. ;P Anything momentous going on with you? (I'm always kind of amused when people post that, like, "if you posted anything recently that you think I should see, let me know." Are people really going to be like "oh yes, Joan, it's absolutely crucial that you read my LJ entry wherein I described my trip to Target the other day!"? lol)

Also, ragweed season has begun with a vengeance, plus Ruthie has had a bit of a cold and has been sleeping poorly. So I've been tireder than usual, not to mention all the sneezing, sniffling, and hideous sinus headaches. Ugh!

Anyway....

* Isaac's preschool graduation was on Friday. I can't muster up a huge amount of excitement about this because, basically, I hear the phrase "preschool graduation" and my eyes just start rolling. I mean come on. ;) Also it was anticlimactic for me because he's still going to preschool for one more week -- I arranged for him to go there for this week because kindergarten doesn't start till Monday and I didn't have any other solution for childcare for him. So a lot of the other parents at graduation were all like saying their big goodbyes, and I just couldn't get into it emotionally. Still, it was a fun event so whatever.

* Saturday we went to the Aquarium to see the Sharks and Rays exhibit. That was neat. We got to touch some rays, which was cool for the adults at least -- most of the kids wanted no part of it. ;) Then in the evening we had a celebratory dinner in honor of sandykidd's birthday, which was a few weeks ago but we hadn't been able to get together for it until now.

* Sunday, I took Isaac to Fenway for his "first" Red Sox game. I say first in quotes because he went to a few games with me when he was a baby, but those don't really count. He was SOOOO super excited as you perhaps saw in my Twitter post about it. As we were walking toward the park he kept saying "My first game! My first game!" And he had an absolute blast at the game, even though the Sox lost. He was riveted to the action most of the time, followed the whole game very well and only got a little bit bored a few times. He did great. It was pretty awesome. :)

* Yesterday, being the Labo(u)r Day holiday, we were supposed to meet some of Isaac's friends at the playground near our house, but by the time we got there, they had had to leave due to some misbehavior or something like that. But my mom was there with Bastian, so we played for a while, and then we decided to walk over the bridge and go to a diner for brunch. That was ... interesting. It was me, mom, and the three kids. It was a nice diner, in an old train car from like the 50s, which was cool, and it was the kind of place where the waitress is 60+ and calls everyone "sweetie" and tells, rather than asks, you what you'll have. ;) The kids got pretty antsy, but once the food arrived, they were fine. Afterward there was some juggling involved because we couldn't all fit into mom's car but it was too far to walk. But we made it home eventually.

* Then Isaac didn't nap and Ruthie only napped briefly and then I thought I could get Ruthie back down except that I was nervous to lie down with her because I had just put bread in the oven. So I forced myself to stay awake even though I was beat. And when the oven timer went off, I leapt out of bed, sure it would wake her up, but it didn't and she kept sleeping in my bed. Then I popped a Benadryl and zonked out on the couch. So Isaac had to entertain himself for like a whole hour and a half while we slept. But he did fine. But I was groggy all evening. Note to self, don't take Benadryl except right before bed. Sigh.

* The mouse problem is not solved. I don't want to talk about it. Also we now have a fruit-fly problem in addition. Ugh!!!! It's almost (ALMOST) enough to make me wish for winter. But not really. ugh. winter. :P

OK, now I'm at work where I can't do much about the mouse, so I'll distract myself (and you?) with a post about the kids.

( what Isaac is up to these days )

( What Ruthie is up to lately )

I have more, of course, but that's enough for now....

omg! How did I manage to get to 2:30 the next day without posting RED SOX WIN! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS WOOHOO OMG ETC.!!!???

Well, here's the thing. I did stay awake for the game last night. Unfortunately, so did Ruthie...Well, she dozed on and off, but by the time the game ended I was worn out from trying to get her down. So I just fell into bed with her, without even scraping up the energy to post here.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited! WOOHOO! etc.!! But well, I'm also exhausted. ;) And of course, one has to admit that it doesn't have quite the emotional resonance of a 2004. Heck, I barely even heard any cars honking on my street! There were one or two, but nothing like what it was three years ago.

Still, it's a thrill and I sure hope they'll schedule the parade for this weekend so we can all go. Also this morning I had to forcibly restrain myself from dropping $200 on World Series Champions shirts/sweatshirts for the three of us. (It helps that all the sweats they have are hoodies. I'm not a big hoodie fan. Still....)

Anyway, so yeah, that was awesome. I'm glad the Rockies did put up a fight in the second two games and at least made it interesting -- certainly in last night's game it started to look a lot like they might even win it. Of course, they were ultimately powerless against the juggernaut that is the Sox. But they put up a good fight and I hope they are very proud of themselves. Maybe next year, eh guys?

I'm also on the tail end of a big project at work that's due Wednesday, so no slacking off for me, alas. Gotta get back to it.

Umm, did I just see someone in the stands with a sign that said "Big Papi Eats Big Boogers"?? Srsly, Colorado, is that the best you can do? That's just sad.

With apologies to meglett and all the other denizens of my ancestral homeland (my mom grew up in Cleveland)...

RED SOX WIN!!!!! GO SOX!!

Look out Colorado!

I can has bed now?

With apologies to cynthia1960 and any other Oakland A's fans, but that was made of awesome. Detroit rules!

also...wtf is that on Scott Spiezio's face??