Catch Up #2

Another thing keeping us busy throughout May and into June was little league baseball.  Both Harrison and John David played this year so we were down at the ball park at least three days a week, more frequently four.

This was Harrison's first year to play so he was on the Astro league.  They play on a small, astro-turf field.  Each game is only two innings.  Each inning, every player bats and gets to advance one base.  The last batter gets to run all four bases.  There are no outs and no score.  Perfect for a four year old.  It's also awesome that since they are only two innings, the games are short and sweet.  No long drawn out games in the sweltering summer heat.

Harrison was assigned to the Red Sox team.  He played with a great group of little boys and had a wonderful coach, Coach Lee.  Harrison adored Coach Lee.  He talked about him constantly.
Here are a few pics from his last game and the team party.

Warming Up!

Swing batter batter!

Standing on second.  I love the way his batting helmet is so big he can barely see out from under it.

Playing second base

Team huddle

All smiles

The trophy presentation from Coach Lee

Someone was really excited about his very own trophy

This was John David's third year for baseball and he moved up to the Rookie-6 division.  That means this year was the first year where there were actual outs and the boys had to hit off the pitching machine.  It was a big change, and at first he was pretty hard on himself because he wasn't hitting much off the machine, but as the season went on he improved.  We had to reassure him that hitting off the pitching machine was MUCH harder than hitting off the tee and that even professional baseball players, like his idol Big Papi (David Ortiz) struck out sometimes.  He has played with basically the same group of boys and the same coaches for three years and has had a blast.  Next summer he will move up to the next age division and the teams get shuffled (I think).  He even has to go through a draft.  

Here are a couple of shots form John David's last game and team party.

Playing short stop.  You can see the dreaded blue pitching machine in this photo.

Standing on third base.

A trophy.......whooo hooo

A ball game, dinner out with the team, cake, and a trophy makes for one happy ball player.

Another great season is in the books.

GO RED SOX!

GO PHILLIES!