(blah blah blah, skip ahead if you know this already: LOAD is a layout challenge hosted by Lain Ehmann in which participants create a LayOut A Day for every day in a designated month. Since we're all busy, this is part challenge, part exercise in insanity. But the sense of accomplishment at the end of the month is amazing.)
So one would think that after creating 31 layouts in the month of May that I would have that particular bug worked out of my system and I wouldn't want to touch a photograph for months. Apparently there's something wrong with me. When I was young people would say "Oh, I'll bet you get so sick of McDonald's food, working there all the time." Uh, hello? No. Give me a plain double cheeseburger and watch me smile while I chew. Nope, it never happened. And while I find the need to move on to move onto other activities post-LOAD, I do so because I have to, not because I'm sick of scrapbooking.
Here is the abridged version of my weekend: Laundry. Baseball. (beer!) Baseball. Baseball. (pizza!) (scrapbook!) Baseball. Softball. Laundry. Items in parentheses represent treats along the way, as opposed to the obligatory nature of the other items. I don't know if you noticed, but that's A SHIT TON of baseball! And for someone who's not - by any means - a sports fan, that's a full on metric shit ton.
Today Ted had two games in a tournament. The first game was painful. We had lost by the end of the second inning. First, the other team was enormous - 75% of the team was bigger than Ted, and Ted is by far the biggest kid on our team. But they weren't just big, they were good. They hit well, they pitched well, and, on the rare occasion we made contact, they fielded well. Add to that: we just didn't play well. We were run-ruled in the 5th inning. I didn't even pick up my camera.
The kids took a break for lunch and I had a nice chat with the coach. Every time I go to one of Ted's games (which isn't often enough unfortunately) people tell me how great Ted is. Today it was the coach. He told me that the team unanimously voted for Ted for team captain. He said he loved having Ted on the team. And then he said "You did a really great job with him." Wow. Typically I don't run around taking credit for Ted. I am pleasantly surprised by him nearly every day. But I suppose that wasn't entirely an accident. Maybe his father and I have helped fine tune his already good character. At any rate, what an awesome compliment.
Game two was a better match up, so it seemed worth while to pick up my camera. Ted was pitching (38 throws with 31 strikes) for the first couple of innings, but my favorite shots came from an exchange on first base. Ted is not small. He's 5'8" and probably 160 pounds. He looks like he can hit. (He can) He doesn't look like he can sprint. So he was walked. Once there he was immediately taking the lead, looking to steal second. I don't know if they really thought that they'd get him out or if the goal was to wear him out because he was the pitcher. Considering the first inning was three up three down, it wasn't a bad strategy.
So here's how the exchange went:
Ted takes a couple big steps towards second.
Pitcher whips the ball to the first baseman.
Ted dives back to safety at first.
Ted gets up, first baseman throws the ball back to the pitcher.
Ted takes a couple big steps towards second.
Pitcher whips the ball to the first baseman.
Ted dives back to safety at first.
Ted gets up, first baseman throws the ball back to the pitcher.
Ted takes a couple big steps towards second.
Pitcher whips the ball to the first baseman.
Ted dives back to safety at first.
Ted gets up, first baseman throws the ball back to the pitcher.
Ted takes a couple big steps towards second.
Pitcher whips the ball to the first baseman.
Ted dives back to safety at first.
Ted gets up, first baseman throws the ball back to the pitcher.
No lie. FOUR times that pitcher forced Ted back to first. But the fifth time Ted made it, sliding into second. By the end of the exchange Ted was covered in dirt - face, arms, hands and both sides of his uniform.
I have about 20 pictures from the exchange, and I wish that I could use them all to tell the story, but there isn't space, so it gets boiled down to this:
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