Weekend...

What a great weekend!! The weather was amazing, it was opening day for CYA baseball, and we got together with not one, but two great family friends! Who could ask for more?

Keeper Boy has try-outs tonight and Wednesday night for the spring travel hockey team. So Friday evening, Hubby took Keeper Boy out to the rink for a stick-n-shoot to get in some ice time. He hasn't really been on the ice much in the past month. Hubby, however, forgot his own skates. So instead of being out on the ice working with Keeper Boy, he watched from the other side of the glass and talked to one of his friends who had also brought his kid out. J-Mav and I hung out at home.

Saturday morning was the opening ceremonies for CYA Spring Baseball. It's always fun to see the kids parade onto the baseball field, but then the ceremony part is pretty long and drawn out. 90+ minutes after it started, we got outta there. We ran a few errands (chief among which was getting Justin a BLACK baseball belt, because the other two colors he already has won't work with this year's uniform) and grabbed lunch before heading to the field for J-Mav's 12:00 game... his first ever baseball game!

J-Mav is playing in the Coach Pitch League. That means, the coach pitches to the kids. Each kid gets five pitches and if he or she doesn't make contact with the ball, the T is brought out. Everyone plays in the outfield, and the kids bat in numerical jersey order. They play three innings. It was a challenge to fit those three innings into the 90-minute time allotment. It's largely a teaching situation, and it was fun to watch. J-Mav was up to bat four times, I think. He hit twice on pitches and twice off the tee. He even made it around and scored a run one time! No score is kept in this league. It's all about kicking dirt if you're in the infield, inspecting grass if you're in the outfield, and what's for snack after the game!

Keeper Boy had his first game at 2:30 at a different field, about a mile down the road. He's playing in the AAA League. They DO keep score, they CAN steal bases, they DON'T have snack, and the last inning is unlimited runs (all other innings there's a five run "mercy" rule). Keeper Boy mostly plays first base or catcher, though they have him in the pitching rotation this season, too. He did pitch part of the last inning on Saturday. The coach asked if I could keep the score book. I told him I'd be willing to try but that I hadn't attempted to keep a score book since I was about Keeper Boy's age -- and that was in the program at Phillies games! But I got the hang of it. I told him I'd keep the job if he thought I did okay. Guess I'll find out tomorrow night if Keeper Boy's game isn't rained out. (Right now I'm thinking of scouring the Internet for some ark plans.) Oh, and Keeper Boy's team won. I think the final was 6-4 or 6-3.

Saturday evening we got together with friends -- someone I've been friends with probably since before I even went to Kindergarten (with a too-long falling out at the end of/after high school that remains, to this day, one of the only major regrets in my life)... and her hubby and three kids. They moved to a new house almost two years ago and -- while we talk on the phone and over email and Facebook -- we'd never seen it, even though it's only 20 minutes away from our house! With five active kids between us, scheduling is an issue. Anyway, the house is beautiful, dinner was great, and we had an excellent time catching up and hanging out. The kids all get along great and we promised we wouldn't wait that long to get together again. Now we have to make good on that plan!

Sunday was about house and yard work... and hockey. Hubby mowed the lawn for the first time this year. I took care of the inside stuff. The kids did their chores and finished their homework. Then Hubby took Keeper Boy to the rink for another stick-n-shoot session (and remembered his skates this time) and J-Mav went to play at a friend's house for a few hours. Though what I really wanted to do with all that quiet time was take a nap, I finished the vacuuming and laundry and marinated some chicken for dinner. When everyone got home, we headed to BFF's house for another great evening of hanging out. We supplied chicken and brats for the grill and BFF and BFF's hubby supplied all the sides and dessert. It was a fun evening, as always, and the kids all get along like siblings because they've known each other all of their young lives. During our visit, I discovered that my goddaughter has a sophisticated new hairdo that makes her look older than her six years, and my godson has his first official girlfriend... long distance. Her grandmother lives down the street from their house. She actually lives three hours away. Everyone's growin' up!

On our way home, we saw a large police/fire response presence by J-Mav's school. We didn't know what was going on as we didn't see a fire or anything. I emailed a friend who lives over there and asked what was going on. She freaked out because she and her hubby were on their way home from seeing a movie, and her kids (high school aged) were home. She said she never dialed her home number so fast. They were fine, though they didn't know what was going on. She emailed me back once she got home and got the scoop... a car had been speeding down the road (in our quiet little subdivision) and hit a parked car (which then flipped over and into someone's yard) and then ran into a house. Yikes! I drove by the house in question this morning and it's all boarded up in the front and it looks like most of the shrubbery and front porch posts were taken out by the errant car. Craziness! Apparently there was a person in the house, but he or she wasn't injured. I think there were two people in the car. They had minor injuries and were taken to the hospital. Don't know any details other than those.

So that's about it. A little bit of everything this past weekend... might make the week ahead seem a little boring!

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Extended family update...

Lots of people in my family are doing some cool things recently, now, or soon!

My brother finally secured a new job a few weeks ago and is a Warehouse Manager for a company that is ramping up operations right near his house. His wife is finishing up her certification training and will be working soon as a medical biller/coder.

My cousin, D. is having much success in a Weight Watchers at Work program that is similar to the one Hubby is doing. Way to go!

My aunt and uncle and their three sons (my NJ cousins) and one of their significant others are in Las Vegas this week. And as I type my uncle and the NJ cousins are hiking down into the Grand Canyon (with intentions to be back out this afternoon). How COOL is that?

Another cousin (the one that got married in January) and her husband just got back from what sounds like an excellent trip to Florida via the auto train.

Hubby's brother will be home from Iraq on a two-week R&R in a WEEK! My sister-in-law is so excited. We won't get to see him, but at least we can talk to him on the phone without a multi-second delay!

Our niece is finishing up her junior year of high school and looking into colleges. She wants to go into Forensics. She is one smart cookie and will shine at whatever her chosen field is, but forensics!? That rocks!

I'm sure other members of our family are doing awesome things, too... those are just a few things that I happen to know about. :)