The week of June 9th-15th was declared baseball week pretty much by default. The boys had baseball camp Monday-Thursday in the morning and three games in the evening so why not take a deep dive into some baseball trivia, eat baseball food, and do some baseball crafts as well. Zane and I started the week off with a trip to the library to find some books on famous baseball players. We got quite the haul and ended up reading about Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and Oklahoma's own Mickey Mantel. We watched videos about Albert Pujols and Stan the man just make sure they knew their Cardinals history too, don't worry. We read a book about some guy who use to be a clown at minor league games before there were mascots. We learned about which teams have won the most world series (Yankies have 27 Cardinals have 11). Zane read a whole book about the history of the world series including the scandalous Shoeless Joe Jackson series. We also checked out the two baseball cookbooks which we have gotten before. Of course our first baseball meal had to be St. Louis toasted ravioli. We also had Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwiches later in the week.
While we did read a lot of books about baseball players and the game in general. This week was mainly baseball week because of camp and because both boys were going to have their last games of the season this week. Zane's last game was Wednesday evening. It was a great game, against a team that one of his former coaches/teammates is on. Zane had three great defensive plays, getting outs each time. However, he did not have a great hitting day. He struck out the first time and then had a pop out that the other team caught for his second at bat. He spent the whole game moping about, looking to be on the verge of tears. I think he was sad that it was his last game. I know that he was frustrated that he didn't get hits, but that was only his second strike out of the entire season. I also think he wanted to have big hits and play really well since one of his old coaches was watching.
After the game the team went to celebrate with ice cream and we had to have a come to Jesus moment on the way there about not getting down on yourself when you don't get a hit. Next year he will move up to kid pitch where he is bound to strike out a lot or get walked a lot because the pitchers don't know how to pitch. Also, once again, I found myself preaching to my children about focusing on the positive things in life, not the negative things. Zane had an amazing season. He played a great third base and got better each week. He had huge hits every game, except the last one, and only struck out twice. His team went from winning one game last year to going nine and four this season. The team we were playing Wednesday night was first in the league and our game ended in a tie. There is a lot to be proud of and happy about. After ice cream and this pep talk he was back to his happy self and excited to start learning how to pitch for next season.
I, once again, really want to do crafts for each of our themes. Zane was on board this week, but Rowan couldn't decide on what he wanted to do. Zane came up with the pennant idea himself and I loved it. I let them use my baseball scrapbooking stickers since I don't see myself having time to scrapbook in the next decade. Rowan ended on the idea of making a baseball field once he found this green felt. We also discussed the parts of a baseball and how it's made. I tried to get them make a model of the different parts, they were not having it. Did you know that there are 108 red stitches in each baseball??? Last night Zach cut on old baseball in half so they could see the inside of one, which was pretty cool.
Yes, number five (Pujols) is playing first base and Jackie Robinson is batting.
Rowan had a game Tuesday night and his last game was Thursday. Tuesday night the team we were playing only had five players show up, which was very entertaining. There were little brothers and coaches playing in their outfield and as soon as kid scored he was back up to bat. We got the win because technically you forfeit if you don't have enough players. But in reality it ended as a tied game. Rowan has gotten pretty cocky about his baseball ability after last weekends three game day where he got like fourteen outs. He can catch fly balls, make throws to first, catch throws when he's playing first, and he even got an out while playing catcher that Saturday. I missed those games so was very excited to watch him play this week. Mom even stayed home with Thatcher during both of his games this week so I could actually watch the game. Thanks mom!
As for baseball camp I got mixed reviews from the boys. This was Rowan's first year and I think he learned a lot and had a fabulous time. Zane on the other hand I couldn't really get him to tell me what he learned or did and on most days he seemed pretty indifferent to it. He went to camp the year before last so I don't know if he had already done all the things or if it's because he's farther along in baseball so he was bored. I do think he had fun with his teammates who were also at camp last week.
Here is Rowan with his baseball cards he won for winning best hustle of the day on Tuesday. He also managed to buy an Albert Pujols rookie card for like a dollar that Zach immediately confiscated.
Camp being on the complete other end of Edmond meant Thatcher and I spent two hours a day (30 minutes each way) in the car taking them to and from camp. I have now listened to the Moana soundtrack one million times.
Thursday morning there was an awards ceremony at camp. Zane won second in hitting speed off the tee, third place in hitting from the machine, and first place and a plaque in hitting exit speed. There was a plaque for each age group, Zane won his age and was only one mph behind the big kids speed hitting the ball at 52mph.
Rowan got third place in hitting off the tee, third place in wall ball (which I'm not sure what that means), and he got a medal for the over all hustle award which the coaches voted on.
Going into the awards I was nervous one of them would get a ton of things and the other one wouldn't get any. Turns out it worked out perfectly, each getting three awards, all in the things that I would have guessed that they were going to win them in. Lots of Zane's teammates got more awards than him, lots in speed related categories, but he didn't seem to mind. Yes, Thatcher joined in on the team photo!
Zane with his hitting exit speed plaque that just so happens to have Mark McGuire on it, just a little added bonus.
Thursday night was Rowan's last t-ball game ever. I can't believe he's done already. Zane's t-ball experience felt like it lasted forever, probably because it was so brutal to watch. Zane did not have Rowan's natural athletic ability and more importantly had not been practicing with his big brother's team for years. Rowan had another great game, diving for balls, making throws, catching balls, getting outs, and I did get to see him adorably play catcher. He would throw his helmet off every single time and cover his base. No one ever threw it to him, obviously, but he did exactly what he was supposed to do. He even was the last batter up and got the final hit of the game.
After his game we went and had lemonade with his team. His coach gave him the Golden Glove award. Every kid got an award of some kind and the coach said nice things about each one. It was really sweet and Rowan was ecstatic to get his award. Rowan is slightly nervous to move to kid pitch, mainly because he's scared of daddy hitting him with a ball during batting practice. We went ahead and got that out of the way Friday night. He took a softly thrown ball to his back, cried, but live to tell about it, and got back up to take some more hits. I feel like Rowan isn't going to handle having to learn a new skill well. He's always just been good at everything and it's all been easy. Learning coach pitch will quite literally be a whole new ballgame and he is going to have to work on taking some criticism without getting his sweet little feelings hurt.
Of course we watched lots of Cardinals baseball on TV, spent our evening playing catch and hitting in the backyard, and the boys wore some sort of baseball apparel everyday. Turns out every week at our house might be baseball week. Next up: Camping week, aka Cub Scout camp.
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