Monday, March 23, 2009

Third place finish in Pigeon Forge softball tournament

We had beautiful weather again this weekend for the tournament in Pigeon Forge. Nicholas and I missed the first day, as we were attending my niece's birthday party, but we made it for all of the Sunday games. The most satisfying win was beating Knoxville AFC in an elimination game. They had beaten us on Saturday in a squeaker of a game which ended on the very last play. Megan had great success at the plate all weekend, but again, the AFC game was the best. We had played them earlier in the tournament as well as in a previous tournament in Knoxville. So they knew when she came up to bat, that she is a slap hitter. A slapper is a fast runner who bats from the left side of the plate, starts running during her swing, and depends upon her speed to get on base. The AFC coach immediately moved his entire infield in to try to make a play as quickly as possible. She laid down a beautiful soft slap down the third base line, the third baseman made a nice play, but Megan easily beat out the throw. The second time she was up, he moved the infield up even further, so she hard slapped it right over their heads, resulting in an RBI and her standing on second base. They just couldn't stop her!









Don't you love the little brothers perched on the fence watching warmups? We are lucky to have a group of about 5 or 6 little brothers on our team, so Nicholas is just about guaranteed to have someone to play with at any given game or practice. It truly is a blessing!




Here is the team with their 3rd place trophy. There were nine teams in the tournament, so this was a good finish. I really think they just ran out of gas in the last game. It immediately followed the win over AFC, so I think they had given their all and just had nothing left. But overall, a very good weekend.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Happy birthday, Riley!

My niece, Riley's birthday dinner, Friday night, at Macaroni Grill:
























Opening her present from Megan and Nicholas (playsilks):









Riley's party, Saturday afternoon:
What a cute outfit, Grandma made it!











Nicholas was happy to help open her gifts...




....and to push her around at breakneck speed in her new car!



And finally, the obligatory first birthday cake-eating scene:
Doesn't she look happy? (Not!)


Isn't it pretty?














Ooo, the icing is good!




I think I'll try some more.





I think I'll eat the whole thing!!!




Hey, what do you think you're doing?




I think I'll just finish this up. Yum yum, good!!



































Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Spring break 2009, Beech Mountain, NC














On Tuesday, the sun finally came out, so we headed to Beech Mountain to take a short hike before heading back to Knoxville. The trail we chose, Upper Pond Creek Trail,

turned out to wind through several neighborhoods, so it was a little more urban than we had imagined, but the trail was nice, the weather was beautiful, and there were plenty of rocks for Nicholas to leap over and onto.























Even Megan couldn't help getting in on the act.












It was St. Patrick's Day, notice our green! Even David was wearing green, although we did make him prove it for the camera.













"Do you think I should try to jump over, Megan?"
"Nicholas, that would NOT be a good idea."












"C'mon, Dad!!"






















Monday, March 16, 2009

Spring break 2009, Blowing Rock, NC

On Monday, the weather was still rainy and foggy, but we decided to visit the nearby town of Blowing Rock, NC. It has a cute little downtown area with a lot of shops and a fudge shop! Each child had earned $20 doing chores around the house to spend on our trip. Megan had a little more she had saved up and brought as well. I think she spent a total of about $15. Nicholas, on the other hand, was down to 11¢ in less than 45 minutes. After we convinced him NOT to buy the first thing he saw ("We'll remember where we saw it, and come back if you don't find anything else." As if.), he purchased a webkinz, a pig catapult, and enough candy to use up nearly the rest of his money.

I did NOT buy the gorgeous Lladro nativity (over $4000, in case you were wondering), but I did suggest to David that he start saving for it. He reminded me that I have a 6-year-old boy, and I pointed out that Nicholas would likely be 18 before he had accumulated the money!










After we finished our shopping, we had dinner at the Six Pence Pub. We ate a delicious chicken pot pie, shepherd's pie, and fish and chips. Everything was very tasty.



Following dinner, we all had ice cream at the fudge shop. Do you think Nicholas is enjoying himself?