Saturday, July 14, 2012

End of Season Party

Like I said, most teams use the AAYBA as the end point of the Summer Season.  So, what do you do when a season comes to an end?  Have a party of course.  We hosted the end of season party at our house, the boys swam, ate pizza, I think had a great time.  It was nice to have some "down time" with the team, even Coach Cameron came out!


There was even a dance party of sorts in the living room, but we shouldn't talk about that....

Deb

AAYBA

For those of you in the baseball world you know what AAYBA is... for those of you who don't, it's a National World Series that's held in Texas, Missouri and Colorado every year.  Just happens to be nice that the town that hosts it in Texas is Flower Mound.  So, for two weeks every year there are baseball teams from everywhere converging on Flower Mound to play ball.  The great thing about this tournament is it's a guaranteed 6-8 games for the week, a LOT of baseball which is great experience for the teams.  Most teams use it as their "end point" for the summer season, the Tigers are no exception to that.

So, to give you an idea how big the tournament is - there were 76 teams in the 10U division....  yep, 76 teams.  They come from all over, from the Valley (of Texas) to Kansas...  LOTS of teams.

How it works is during the 1st two or this year three days of the tournament each team plays 3 games.  Your record during those three games determines your ranking among the teams.  The Tigers went 1-2 in those games and ended up 56 out of 76.  Not bad but not great.

The fourth game determines which of two possible divisions you go to.  The top two divisions are Platinum and Diamond, then Gold and Silver, then Copper and Bronze.  If you lose game 4 you go to the lower division, if you win you go to the upper division.  The Tigers won game 4 so they played in the Gold Division.  From there you work your way up to a North/South Division title.  The Tigers played for the Gold South Division title but lost, so they played for 3rd or 4th place of the Gold Division.

They WON!!!!!!!  The boys played so hard, M pitched and did a GREAT job!!  We are all so proud of how well they played.  If you look at total team rankings they improved their position from 56 to 35 out of 76 teams, quite an improvement.

The Tigers has been such a great experience for M and he has learned so much.  Select baseball can be quite stressful at times but it certainly helps to have a solid team who play well together.   Here is a picture of the team and coaches with their medals:



Oh, and look closely in the background of the 2nd picture - know who that is?  M's old coach...  he was handing out trophies when M's team finished - very special.

Go Tigers!!!!

Deb

July 4th

We made the trip to Douglass for the 4th of July, my Aunt and Uncle's annual cook-out.  I got creative thanks to a suggestion on Pinterest in my offering for the cook out.  Take a look...



The one on the left is a jello creation, the one on the right is banana pudding or, as we call it - BYB Pie.  Both were delicious if I do say so myself.

Had a great time at the cook out and enjoyed the break before Edd headed off to London for the Olympics.  And... the little baseball tournament that the Tigers played in all week.

More on that in a bit.

Deb

Friday, July 13, 2012

I want to say now, I am so proud

So, so proud of M and the whole Dallas Tigers 10u team So we are in our big week long tournament, here is where we are so far Pool play Game 1. Lost, big time, ugggg Game 2. Win, played hard, looked good, great game! Game 3. Lost, close game, could not pull it out? M pitched, did a great job Tournament play Game 4. Win. (same team as we played in game 3) Game 5. Win. (same team as we played game 2). M pitched and got some MONSTER hits! Game 6. Win. So as of right now, they have a game tonight for the Gold South championship. If they win that they play tomorrow for the overall Gold division. If they loose tonight, they play tomorrow for 3rd in he Gold division Let me say right now, no matter what, I am so proud of this whole team and how well they have played in this tournament. DEB

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Thank God He's a Country Boy

Have a lot of things to worry about, raising a child in this day and age.  One thing I can say, M is naturally a country boy

We were down at the farm for the 4th,  Helped my aunt and uncle get things setup for the annual July the 4th meal  (over 24 hours of cooking on the pit, LOTs of dead animals being smoked, and cooked, and eaten)  While he was there, M spent a lot of time visiting the Donkeys, Feeding the Cows, playing with the dogs (Remi and Ruger) and driving the mule, and shooting his gun, and driving the mule, and feeding the fish and driving the mule, and checking the hog trap, and etc.  Did I mention he drove the mule?



M shooting his Rifle  (at a feed bag stapled to a tree)

M Feeding the fish


Remi decided he was going to be a lap dog.



M driving the Mule...


Deb

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

End of Spring/Summer Baseball

We are drawing close to the end of Spring/Summer Baseball.  One more tourney to go and then we're "off" (until try-outs for Fall and the Fall season).  We've spent a lot of time at the ballpark this season and it was usually at o'dark thirty in the morning.  I wanted to share a picture of one of those ballparks at o'dark thirty...


Notice how peaceful, how quiet, how crisp the chalk lines are....  and have some peace in your life this 4th of July.


Deb

Monday, July 02, 2012

Tip of the day

Here is my tip for this week.

Have some frozen meat you need to de-thaw?

Well, lets use that 100+ degree weather we have been having lately.  Just put it outside on the patio table for a few minutes and voila!  de-frosted meat!

one side note, keep an eye on the dog during this process or you will be ordering take out!


Deb