Summer Sports: T-Ball

About as soon as we said goodbye to soccer, we said hello to T-ball. Hunter had his first game of the season last week, and like most baseball games, it was an action-packed, rip-roaring good time. Here we see Hunter getting a pre-game pep talk from Daddy-O. Once up to bat, Slugger did a great job hitting the ball...

...but it was apparent that he missed the practice where it was explained that you have to stick to a base once the ball is caught as opposed to running all the bases.

When it was time to switch to the outfield, Hunter suited up and became the catcher.

Oops! Looks like we also missed the practice where we learn that the catcher stays behind homeplate instead of running with the batter. Meanwhile, Guess Who got clever hiding behind trees...

...and joining her big brother on the bench. Let's hope that's not a wad of Skoal in her mouth.

Proud of Big Bro

Kids In A Candy Store

One of the favorite spots last week was The Candy Barrel, where Hunter's & Leigh's dreams of running wild through huge buckets of gummy bears and candy necklaces come to life. They had the entire store to themselves for most of the pillaging, and it was a sight to behold.

In Leigh's world, it just doesn't get any better than make-up and candy in the same vehicle.

...and here Hunter performs some sort of stealth maneuver in the gummy worm bin.

"Hooray for Candy!!""

Crazy for Cousins

The kids love most everything about being at the beach, but I think what they love most of all is being with their cousins.  Whether it's swimming or silly string or basketball or being buried in the sand, spending time with the cousins rocks.

You might be a redneck if...you arm-wrestle for fun on a Saturday night at Myrtle Beach. 

"Play Cinderella!" Leigh begs Michael.

Poo Poo on Putt Putt

Putt Putt is usually great fun for us, but not last week.

Everything started off just fine, with everyone all smiles and eager to play.

After a few bad shots, however, Nanny realized Hunter needed a little help.

Despite her expert putting tips, Hunter quickly became disheartened that he was not making any Hole-In-One's.

Frustration eventually disintegrated into despair, and he broke down on the 12th hole.

Meanwhile, Leigh clearly was not invested in the game...
...and, realizing that she wasn't at all interested in this, paraded around the greens with her hands on her hips.
The loud noise from the canons on the fake ship were most offensive to Sassy, ...who finally opted to rest on a fake rock rather than continue participating in this bore of a game.

I don't know if it was the extreme heat, or fatigue, or just bad attitudes, but we decided to forego Putt Putt for the rest of the week.

Myrtle Beach Days

Last week was our annual summer sabbatical with our family in Myrtle Beach. As usual, we had a blast. The kids absolutely LOVED swimming, having a free pass to unlimited popsicles and ice cream, daily hot dogs, parties at Uncle Billy's and Aunt Susie's beach house, boat rides, visits to the candy store, and most of all, nonstop attention from their cousins. Likewise, Mommy & Daddy LOVED the nonstop attention the kids got from the cousins, as well as their free pass to pretty frozen drinks made by Billy & Susie's rockin' slurpee machine. Here are some of the highlights.