Hey Now You're an All Star

Ok, I'm so lame! Both my boys made the All Star teams for baseball - IN JUNE! I'm just now getting to telling you all about it and I think my bragging rights are good for a few more months anyway, right?

For any of you who don't have kids playing baseball let me just sum up All Stars in a few words - YOU LOSE YOUR SUMMER! And, as you all know the summers in Vermont are so short, it's quite a lot to put on a family. I thought this would be the year with no All Stars. The teams for for 11/12 year olds (mostly 12 year olds I thought) and 9/10 year olds (mostly 10 year olds I thought) so with a 9yo and an 11yo I thought we would be safe. Oh no!

We are in Maine in June for a soccer tournament. I get a phone call from a friend. It went something like this:
"They posted All Stars."
"Really?"
"Yup. Jack made it."
"Oh....great?"

Ok, so Jack made All Stars. I give him the news and he is psyched! Then my friend told me that they received a call about her younger sons from the 9/10 coach that morning. So I call to check my messages. AJ made All Stars. I start to cry. LITERALLY! AJ says, "Mom are you crying cause you are so happy?" "Yes AJ, I am."
NOT!!
I was so exhausted after our 7 day a week soccer and baseball schedule from the spring I could not imagine it extending into my summer!

However, it's not all about me, right? (Is it ever about me???)

Suffice it to say both boys were excited. Mike helped out a lot with both teams and they played really well. AJ's team made it to the second round but lost fairly quickly and Jack's team didn't make it out of the first round. I think both boys learned a lot about baseball and also about humility as they didn't see a lot of playing time but they were both happy to see it end and get their summer started. As always, Mike and I are so proud of both of them.

Emma, not to be left out, was the MOST AMAZING TROOPER YOU EVER HAVE MET! She went to every game (driving here and there) and giving up a lot of afternoon pool time as Jack had to be available for 3:00 practice time. I was so proud of her willingness to be dragged around and support her "chubbies." She actually made out well finanacially for the 11/12 year old games were held at our home field (oh yeah, did I tell you I was responsible for staffing the snack bar during all of these home games?) and she went around passing the hat for donations (with an adult of course) and was able to keep the change every time! One night she made $3! They actually were bummed when she was not there as they made more when she was around!

Here are some pictures of the All Stars (all three of them!)







AJ played second base. This guy was out at first!! Nice play AJ!


Safe!!


Jackie at first:

Road Rash 2008

Thank God for Helmet Laws!!




Where did the summer go? I promise to send more updates regarding baseball and our summer, but I had to get this one on here first.

I can't believe some of you did not know about Jack's bike accident in mid July. He was coming home from the baseball fields, about 8:00 at night and somehow ended up sliding down a hill on his right side with his bike on top of him. He has no idea even how it happened. We visited the site later and other than his blood on the sidewalk, we could not see anything obvious that caused him to fall. It was unbelievable.

He picked himself up and rode his broken bike with a bent wheel and messed up gears the 400 yards or so back to our house. Thankfully, Mike had the stomach to really take a look at his injuries. His right elbow was a mess of blood and skin and we think even some bone. There was some white stuff sticking out that I could not even really look at. Mike took him to the hospital and he ended up with 8 stitches!

After the stitches came out - thanks Uncle John - there was still a HUGE crater of puss and gore on his elbow but it has healed now. The elbow is a scarred mess, but the area where the stitches are is beautiful!

Here are some pics to keep you interested!!

Here are Jack's stitches - taken from Mike's cell phone at the hospital - as they were bandaged up for a time afterwards!





Here is a look at the knee...




More injuries - note the bruise on his left thigh from the bike landing on him!