Evan's USSSA The Last Stand Baseball Tournament

 Evan's team had one last tournament in Shelby Township to end their season.  I think we were all hoping to end with a win, but no such luck.  There were two pools in the 10U age division and we were lumped with the Downriver Hawks and the 9U Hit Dogs team that is phenomenal.  Our games were on Saturday at 4:15 and 6pm back-to-back.  We arrived at 3:15pm, but because there had been rain all morning the games were running an hour behind.  Thankfully we had picked up Jimmy Johns subs for dinner and we just made the baseball field our home until about 9pm that night.  

We lost 15-4.  The next game was against the Hit Dogs that started around 7pm.  We had another rain shower come through during the game and there was a rainbow behind us.  We lost 10-2.

Because the kids lost their pool play games, their bracket game on Sunday was at 9am.  So, we got home late Saturday night from Shelby Township and set the alarm for 6am to get back to Shelby Township by 8am.  Bracket play had them up against the Downriver Hawks again and we played so much better!  In fact, we were winning most of the game!  We ended up losing 4-3 and that eliminated us from the tournament.  

With the end of the season we had a decision to make about whether Evan would continue on this team or tryout somewhere else.  After a lot of back and forth, we decided to stay with the Patriots for one more year.  We like the organization and the proximity to the indoor facility and outdoor practice field.  The cost is what we're comfortable with and we thought it was a manageable amount of league play and tournaments.  I believe about half the team is going to come back and the coach is holding open tryouts later this week to fill the spots of kids who are leaving so we'll see what next year brings.  But, Evan is a Patriot again.  Here's hoping for more wins next year and some more bling! 

Fourth of July '23

Another year, another trip up north to celebrate the 4th with Scott's family at Lake Lancer.

This year we had the added drama of "air quality alerts" from the forest fires in Canada.  We drove up Thursday afternoon and it was definitely smoky over the water that evening.  The kids played outside for a bit and we had pizza for dinner from the local restaurant.  

Friday the boys went golfing in the morning after breakfast with Scott and his parents.  Matt, Mindy, their two little ones and I stayed behind.  We took a 2.5 mile walk with the dogs around the lake.  Unfortunately, Evan wasn't golfing very well and came home grumpy.  Him and Sean got into it a little bit and chased each other and Evan had a bedroom door shut on him which smushed his glasses into his eyebrow and caused a pretty deep gash.  So, we had the joy of abandoning the lunch we were making and headed into Gladwin for the urgent care.  They did a fabulous job and he was the recipient of 5 stitches! Ouch!  

We came back to the house after stocking up on motrin and ice packs at a Rite Aid in town.  It was a lazy afternoon then on the beach.  Evan couldn't get the stitches wet with lake water for 24 hours so he laid around and rested.  We took a "nature cruise" on the pontoon boat and saw some turtles and a fawn on the island.  It was grilled chicken ceasar salads for dinner, cards for the adults, and an early bedtime for the boys.

Saturday morning Scott, his dad, Matt, and Mindy went golfing 18 holes at Sugar Springs.  Nana and I held down the fort with 5 kids and 3 dogs.  Whew!  Once everyone was back, Jackie, Josh, and Sydney had arrived.  We enjoyed being on the lake and playing on the beach all afternoon.  We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner with a few side dishes.  The lake was supposed to do their fireworks this night, but a big rainstorm blew through during what would have been their set-up time so they postponed them until Sunday night.  It changed our plans, but we were still able to do some sparklers, a few small fireworks, and made s'mores by the fire.

Sunday was our last full day.  We celebrated AJ's birthday with a taco dinner and an ice cream cake and the lake did their fireworks in the evening.  During the day everyone just enjoyed more time on the lake.

Monday we spent the morning at "horsey park" playing on the playground and letting the kids swim in that part of the beach.  It was a beautiful morning!  We did a big lunch with Matt and Mindy's Serbian food they always cook and then packed up and headed home.  It was a great decision as there was no traffic!  I got all the unpacking and laundry done so that we could enjoy the 4th at home for a change.

The 4th we woke up and got ready to head to the pool when it opened.  It got packed at the pool as it was a really hot day!  We made beef shishkabobs for dinner and had neighbors over for fireworks that Scott, Tim, and Jay put off in the street.  It was a really fun day at home and it was nice to do something different for a change!