End of Summer Wrap Up

ScW — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:06:00 +0000

So we’ve managed to go entirely too long without an update on our site. Post mid-year / start of school resolution is to start blogging again. It’s insane that I’ve not done a better job posting stuff on here. Why bother having a web-site if you don’t post? Rhetorical question… Grayson finished out the regular baseball season a little after school let out. It was my third season to coach but I’m still feeling a little new at it all… especially since this is the third set of rules to play under. This season was machine pitch. Basically, we finished at right around .500, which was pretty respectable. Obviously, everyone would like to win it all, get the big championship trophy, but we had some amazing games nonetheless and it was great to see kids really begin to “get it”. After Grayson managed to secure his spot on the 2nd all-star team from our town, we left for a quick vacation before we joined in with the all-star practices and tournaments. First, we headed to Dauphin Island, where Becky’s parents totally hooked us up for a week at a great condo that was large enough for our neighbor’s, the Fox’s, to join us. A week at the beach and out on the boat was seriously much needed to shake off the final hints of pneumonia that I was still struggling with. I think the kids and the adults all had a great time as we really got to kick back and deal with only a few simple questions like which movie we would watch that night or how many packages of peanut M&M’s the adults would eat or how long we’d stay out in the sun that day. Grayson’s blood sugar’s were amazingly good considering the chaotic conditions (swimming and salt water and strange eating schedules) and we only had one difficult high Bg episode to deal with. Once we left the beach we headed over to Gainesville to see my parents for a few days. While we were there, we took the trek down to St. Pete to see a Tampa Bay Rays game. This was Grayson’s first MLB game plus his first time to see the inside of a domed baseball stadium. At the end of the game, all the kids were able to run the bases so again, he’s done something I’ve never done… run the bases on a MLB field. At the end of the visit, Becky and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. Once we were all back, it was time for all-star team baseball (or travel baseball). Fortunately, our first tournament (for Grayson at least) was in Bethesda (just a few miles from here). Our basic schedule was the same throughout the summer — 2 – 3 hours of practice every night of the week with a few days off here and there and then essentially one tournament a month. The July and August tournaments for us were both in Kentucky. Unfortunately, our team never won a tournament game, but there certainly some nice highlights. And as a whole, Grayson did well. He really wanted to play and he tried extremely hard. He was one of the youngest on the team (and smallest) so it was just hard because he had plenty of work to do to try to play at the higher level of travel baseball. And while I’d say his hitting somewhat declined over the summer, his throwing and catching have continued to improve. And the best part is that he’s still excited about playing more baseball coming up in a few weeks when we start our Fall rec league season. For that, he’s going to be one of the older, more experienced players and I think he’s anxious to get to step up and help lead the team. Mixed in with all this baseball stuff, Grayson’s managed to make trips to at least 3 different water parks in the area where he managed to prove just how daring he was willing to be on some of the slides that in past years he’d have never been able to do both because of swimming skill and also height. This only partly makes up for the lack of the “slide pool” back in Georgia that he so dearly loved. Fortunately, his memory of that is fading. But speaking of memories, we managed a quick trip to Georgia as well where we were able to meet up with the Maxwell’s, or almost all of them. I think we were all shocked to see how much Julia and Lauren had grown up. It had been too long since we’d last seen them. We’re sure hoping it won’t be that long again before seeing them next. Also while in the ATL, we went to a Brave’s game where I managed to get us some seriously vertigo inducing seats. We were so high up that I couldn’t judge a homer from an infield popup and worse was that I did experience about 5 minutes where I was completely dizzy and couldn’t have left the place unless someone had carried me out. Fortunately, that passed and we had a good enough time that Grayson asked if we could go to a Brave’s game again someday. I said “yes” but also reminded him that there were 28 other MLB parks left to go to. At a rate of 2 per year, we’re only(wink) 14 years away from seeing them all. After our last tournament in Kentucky, Becky’s parents and our nephew, Nick, came to visit and to celebrate Becky’s birthday. We all had a nice time and it really was a great way to cap off the summer or at least the end of the summer-break. I say that because the severe heat will likely come back for a few more weeks this year. Fortunately, this has been rather mild compared to last summer. Whew! That was a mini-newletter. From now on, I’ve got to do better about posting regularly!

New Stuff on the Site

ScW — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 04:34:47 +0000

Okay, I’ve now got the site a bit more updated. There are pictures in the pictures section and the docs section now has every Christmas newsletter (except 1997′s until I manage to find it). Eventually, I’ll get the official picture(s) that went with each year’s letter on there as well. And of course the other news is the seriously updated theme/style that is nearing the point of being complete. I still have the “about” stuff to get filled back in but that will come in the next week or so.

WilcoxZone » updates

End of Summer Wrap Up

New Stuff on the Site