Tough Game

The hardest game of the year for Ike is the one against his BFF's from the 'hood, Cooper and Bricker.  We love these guys, and can't imagine our neighborhood without them.  There was a lot of friendly banter before the game, but someone had to lose.

Ike had a couple good hits and some pretty good fielding.  We were behind the whole game, but in the last inning, we pulled ahead.  It was a bittersweet victory that a good night's sleep will heal.

2nd Grade Zoo Day

I called in sick to spend all day at the zoo with the 2nd grade class.  The day started out with a down pour, but finally the sun crept out and the fun began. As you can see from these pictures, my shy son has blossomed into a hambone.  He loves to make the ladies laugh, especially his sisters.

Besides enjoying the zoo, we rode the mini train, which Ike and Ava said was no different than riding the lawn mower.  We ate cones from Frozen Custard.  We pet a ferret, skink, and red-footed tortoise.  Then wrapped it up with some play time on the huge playset.  All in all, the best sick day I've ever had.

Grueling Game(s)

What a day!  Paige and Claire are playing "real" softball now -- no more mamby, pamby, kiddy stuff for my girls.  They are the youngest girls on their Junior team, but the other girls treat them no different.  With the transition to real ball, comes real tournaments.  We woke up Saturday morning early to drive 40 minutes for a 9:00 start game (you have to warm up for 45 minutes prior also).  The funny way the bracket worked -- they played 6 games back to back for 12 hours!  They had approximately 20 minutes to break in between each game.  It was a long day that landed them second in the tourney.  I could not have been more proud.  Not because of the win, but because these ladies stuck it out and supported each other cheerfully and prayerfully through the whole day.  Way to go CLS team! 

Oh yeah -- our sponsor is the largest pawn shop in Lafayette, so we are the CLS Pawn Stars.  Nice, right?