Three Weeks. Part 2

If you're joining us late, please refer to the post on our trip beginnings and Part 1 of our three-week adventure. Or skip that, and just start here. It doesn't matter that much... I'm pretty relaxed that way.

So a week of Softball Camp at BYU for the girls -- and a week of let's-just-keep-busy for Todd and I and Emma. It sounds benign, right?

Well, it was benign for the most part. I had some interesting moments on Day 1, when I was trying to do laundry for the girls. Todd was crashed after driving all night long, and the girls' needed their softball pants cleaned so they could wear them at camp. I had an interesting time as I ran around Provo, Utah that afternoon.

We also had an incident with hotel security that week ... let's just say it was not my favorite memory while we were there. I did get to have a bit of fun shopping at stores that are not our local shops. I could have had even more fun if there had been room in the Suburban to bring it all back!

Each afternoon, we would go up to the campus, and watch the scrimmage games that the "big girls" would play. Imagine our surprise one afternoon to find Alyssa playing totally out-of-position:  at shortstop:

She hasn't really played shortstop since, I don't know -- EVER??? And the girls told me that she did a pretty good job in that position, too! Who knew??? Here she is making a tag at second base to catch the girl stealing:

Darcie and Alys were on different "teams", so instead of playing together, they actually played against each other. Here's Darce hanging on the dugout fence (in the HEAT), cheering on her team members:

But being on different teams didn't keep the girls from having a high-5 moment at First Base, after Darcie's hit got her on base with a single. They have a whole routine they do together when Alyssa's pitching and Darcie's catching, so they repeated it on base. (That's a coach standing in front of them)

Back to business, with Alys on defense at First, and Darcie ready to lead off the base:

Alyssa also had a chance to work with BYU's pitching coach. He fitted her up with a bungee to help show her how he wanted her to move forward in her pitching movement:

Then he had her go through her pitching motion without a ball, as he pulled on the bungee:

It was a great experience for her to get pitching instruction right from BYU's pitching coach. Both the girls had a fun time at camp, made more new friends, and got a lot of softball that week. (Plus two dances and a trip to the water park!) And as luck would have it, each time we came to watch, we never actually got to see the girls playing in their positions -- bad timing!

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Miss Emma got a little spoiled with some new toys ... one night she lined them all up on the headboard of her bed:

We spent an afternoon-evening with some family friends for a barbeque and a great visit. It's good to meet with good friends when you're far from home. We miss them!

We also went shopping, went to parks, visited with Aunt Cheryl, went to a GREAT Italian restaurant, and also went to Emma's favorite restaurant, which happened to have their spokesman resting comfortably on a bench. Emma thought that was pretty cool:

But Em loved going to see her sisters at the softball field. When they were finished for the afternoon, Emma would slip through the seats to go see Darcie:

... and share a popsicle....

(Emma still has a preoccupation with hair)

We ended up having an extra day after softball camp and before our next stop in the Great Softball Trek. So where did we go??

Ummm.... I'm not telling. You'll have to see the next post.

Three Weeks. Part 1

It seemed like such a good idea. On paper.

Months ago, when we were looking at our summer softball schedule, we made the decision to turn 2 tournaments and 3 camps into one really long trip. And boy, what a trip it was! It all turned out great in the end, but there was this one moment....

Well, starting at the beginning, we had a couple of team practices in Spokane. The girls and I went up, and stayed overnight between the two practices.... although the second practice got rained out. So we came home and packed for our trip to the Portland area. (Photos from traveling there are in the previous post. I really should have taken photos of the back of the Suburban, packed. Because, wow. Eight suitcases, two bat bags, two coolers, two food boxes, 1 child-entertainment bag, 1 computer(s) bag, two sets of hang-ups, three pillows, two large blankets, two small blankets, three folding chairs, 19 DVD's (what-the-WHAT???)..... and assorted small loose stuff... it became a complicated puzzle to fit everything in! And that was BEFORE we did any shopping in the "big cities".

Yeah.Todd excels at packing talents, too.

Our first full day in Hillsboro, Oregon brought the college exposure camp for Alyssa. Darcie could have done it too, but she is still just an incoming sophomore, so we'll wait another year for her.  Alyssa did well at the camp and did a super job during her all-star game that evening. She pitched ....

Played third base ....

(This next one is her crashing in to field a bunt. The batter missed the bunt, so there was no play, but Alys sure got some distance in towards home plate!)

She played first base ...

And since the light was dying, I didn't get any shots of her batting. But trust me when I tell you that her to-the-fence 2-RBI-double, was awesome! The pink shirt she wore was a color-coding thing for the college coaches.... colors of shirts indicated what year they were graduating.

The next day began the tournament with the entire team.  It was pretty hot for Oregon, but the girls worked hard through it. The team did really well, overall. Their win-loss record for the two-day tournament was 6-2. Here's a quick run-through of just a few of my shots....

Darcie hit well. During an earlier tournament, she hurt her arm on a throw. Took her into the doctor, and found she has tendonitis in her right elbow. So now she wears a brace on that arm during softball -- that's the black band around her arm -- and needs to ice it often.

Darce also played catcher a lot. Throwing down to 2nd base...

This next one is hard to see, but it's Darcie fielding a bunt. Look hard to see both Darcie and Alyssa (who was playing 1st base) behind the hair of the 3rd base player.

Alys making an easy catch from the pitcher:

Alyssa batting:

Despite being such a tall girl, Alyssa can also bunt really well. The opposing team often sees her height and expects big deep hits. It's great when she surprises them by bunting herself on base and advancing the other runners:

When we made our travel plans, we had kind of expected to be done by mid-afternoon on Day 2 of this tournament. (I'll tell you why in a minute.) The team surprised us by playing FIVE games in one day, --talk about exhausting!-- and though they lost the first game, they won every game after that ..... and went on to win their bracket of their division in this tournament!!

Love to see my girls wearing their medals:

And Emma Jo was a real trooper who actually stayed awake all day long, and played well behind the dugouts!

Wow, that is SOME hair. She rebelled during this trip, and didn't want to wear pretties in her hair. So she looked pretty wild!

So, instead of finishing by mid-afternoon, our final game didn't even start until 7:00 pm. Done at 9:00 pm, and we were on the road by 9:30. Which was way later than we had intended.... because now we had to drive from Portland, Oregon to Provo, Utah .... OVERNIGHT.

Yes, really.

This was the point when we looked at each other and said, "What were we thinking???" Todd did most of the driving himself, only taking a couple of hours' break from it. Can I just say how interesting it is to try to find SOME place that's open in a tiny eastern Oregon town at about 3:00 in the morning? And how it's a bit strange to drive through some familiar southern Idaho towns when they still have everything closed up in the early-morning hours? And it's pretty cool to see how slowly dawn actually arrives -- with the glow on the horizon happening a long time before the sun finally peeks over the edge of the hills.

It's over 800 miles from Portland to Provo. In case you were wondering. 13 hours - ish. I'm not sure what we were thinking when we planned this out, but we did it! I can't believe Todd drove almost all of it himself. I'm so glad he stayed alert and driving while the rest of us dozed!

And the reason to be in Provo by that morning???

BYU Softball Camp. And more on that in Part Two.

Father's Day Weekend

Softball has a habit of sending us out of town on Father's Day weekend. 2012 is (was?) no exception. Before I tell you where we went, I want to show you the magical thing that happened at our house on the morning of our departure:

I know you're thinking that this couldn't possibly be happening, but it's true. THAT is two teenage girls, preparing breakfast for their father. (I seem to recall that scrambled eggs and homemade orange julius was on the menu...!) Knowing we'd be gone, they gave him their gifts a little early, too.

Yes, these are the faces that greet me each morning: (smiles are usually optional)

So, Dad opened his gifts at breakfast ....

... and then we got on the road!

So, let's see how good you are.

Can you name this mountain:

If  you guessed, Mount Hood -- you would be correct! Let's try another. How about this waterfall?

(That's my girls in the peach-colored tops at the bottom.) If you guessed, Multnomah Falls, you would be correct again. Wow, you're very good! Yes, we were heading to Portland for a softball college exposure camp and tournament. Here's my girls standing on that bridge you just saw:

And another shot. Just for good measure:

So if Mom climbs up to the bridge, and the girls go back down to the lower observation area, we might get a photo like this one:

And then there's the requisite photo-by-the-sign-to-prove-that-we-were-really-there:

But the sun was bright, and Emma wouldn't look at the camera. So Darcie helped her shade her eyes:

Incidentally, you don't see Todd in any of these pics, because he was catching a snooze in the Suburban while we did the sight-seeing thing. That way, when we're on the road, I can sleep while he drives. I hope there are a lot of people, besides me, that are lulled to sleep by riding in a vehicle. It's getting to be quite a habit for me!

Anyway. There were a couple of other things that caught my eye while we were there at Multnomah Falls. One, was the cool wooden railroad distance sign on the train bridge. Visitors have to walk under this to get from the parking lot to the entrance and visitor's center/gift shop/restaurant.

 I also liked the pay phone that was inside:

Darcie and Emma sat down by the side of the stream. The huge waterfall feeds this deceptively small stream.

And if I ask, sometimes Darcie will shoot me a nice smile for a picture:

And sometimes, she just sticks out her tongue at me:

Kids! What would I do without them??

Preschool Graduation

One of the best things for our Emma is going to preschool. Because one of the down sides to being a caboose baby is that she doesn't have any siblings her age. So getting to go to preschool with kids her age gives her a great opportunity to learn how to interact with others.

Shocking. She is NOT the only child in the world!

And the world does NOT revolve around her!

So at the end of the school year, there was a little graduation program. We did a small home-based preschool, with each of the mothers taking turns teaching. One family purchased the curriculum materials, but did not join in the day-to-day preschool; so their two girls "graduated" with the rest, too.

The kids practiced singing and doing the motions to their songs. (I think this one was, "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain" -- Toot-Toot!)

I can't remember which one that was. I forgot the real camera, so I only have the pictures from my phone. :-(

(The cutie-pie little boy on the left was the only boy in an all-girl preschool, but he was a real trooper. But when it came time to sing songs, he wouldn't stand or sing anything, he just sat there and smiled his biggest smile!)

Then came the Chicken Dance....

Each child was asked some questions individually, and during the program, their answers were read out loud. According to Miss Em, she thinks her mom does dishes all day, her favorite thing to do with her family is to watch her sisters play softball, and her favorite song is, "How Does She Know" -- which no else was quite sure what she meant, but as her family, WE knew!

Then she was given her mortarboard and "diploma", which she had to check out while she sat on her carpet square:

There was a family picnic afterwards, which gave me an excuse to bake (Yum!), and since it's summer and it had been a long time since I'd done it -- I baked a couple lemon meringue pies. (Double-Yum!!) I have decided it's better to bake things when they're meant to be shared. That way, I still get my baking fix in, we get to eat a little, and the rest is eaten by other people, so we don't have an entire pie (or cake, or batch of cookies) sitting around the house wanting to be eaten. This way, everybody wins!

Even though it's a phone photo, I love this picture of Emma and her daddy!

I'm glad we took this picture when we did, because despite being under a covered picnic area, the whole party wrapped up in a big hurry when a torrential downpour hit right as we finished eating.

Party's over!

Swing, Batter Batter, Swing!

Things happen for a reason. That's one of Todd's favorite sayings. We've found that applies to many things... softball, included.  The girls really enjoyed their summer team last year, learned a lot, made new friends, and had some great experiences. We thought we were set for this summer too, but then our coach's job took him away from the area, and we were once again searching for a team. It's a little more complicated when you consider that we want our girls to play together. So we need a team that is both competetive, and also needs both of their skills.

As we started pursuing our options, we had a workout with a Spokane team, who were interested in both girls, but had a nearly full roster. We kept looking, and had another workout with a different team who were also interested in both girls. We felt it was a better fit, and chose Team 2.

So this weekend was our first tournament with the new team, and as we drove home, we looked at each other and said, "Yeah, we made the right choice."

Compare these first two photos..... see the difference? Scroll down, scroll up, scroll down, scroll u---.... Yep. Red shirt vs. Blue shirt. I must say, this new team comes with plenty of laundry.... more than any other previous team. But I like the look, and I like the extra uniform pieces that can eliminate away-from-home laundry trips. When you have enough to wear, you don't need to wash stuff!! (Until you get back home, and the softball clothing makes a full load by itself!!)

Those were both pics of Alyssa playing first base. She got a lot of play time in that position this weekend. It's kind of a third position for her. Pitcher is her primary position, and 3rd base is her secondary position. But since 1st and 3rd are similar positions -- sometimes called the "hot corners" because of the closeness to the ball -- it's not that much of a stretch to play there for her. Plus, her height is an advantage for 1st base.

She got to pitch some, although not as much as she (or we) would have liked. We're thinking that will improve in our coming tournaments. She did a great job during her innings, and also did pretty well batting...

Darcie had a GREAT weekend. This team needed a catcher in particular, and she benefited from that, getting a lot of play time in her position. I know that her high school experience this spring, as well as last summer's travel season, were both good preparation for this year's summer team. She has to learn all new signs and signals, but I think she's up for it.

That last picture shows why she wears through her cleats so quickly, too.

Yeah.
 I didn't get to take as many photos as I would have liked, since I'm having issues with my camera. We picked up a new memory card for it, and Todd has taken it apart twice now, but the shutter keeps getting stuck at random inconvenient times. (Is there ever a convenient time for a malfunction?) Plus, with Emma at playground-age, I divide my time between the bleachers and the slides, so I'm not always at field-side.

And so, I didn't get a photo of her at the highlight of her weekend. But I'm tickled pink (do people still say that?) that Darcie HIT HER FIRST HOME RUN!!!! I was actually at the playground when it happened, but I was watching as best I could from there. So I knew when she was up, and I saw the pitches coming in for her, and I saw the hit .... which is good, because I would have been really disappointed if I'd missed it.

Maybe I'll have the camera going strong for the NEXT home run......