The Perfect Space

Big T started school today, grade number two. He did great, no tears, no crazy nervous behavior. All went well. It was great. We also went to the Ports game for Scout night this past Friday and it was also great. Great being the word that I shall continue to use to describe how things were. Great.

Big T getting ready to spend the night at Banner Island Ballpark with his ever present Black Puppy. Black Puppy is the name of the dog. It's a great name, don't you think?

Our tent in the outfield. Big T picked the spot so he could watch the movie that was shown on the big screen while lying in his sleeping bag in the tent. It was a pretty great spot.

The shantytown the morning after. You'll notice some of the scouts just laid their bags on a tarp and slept under the stars. It was a beautiful night and didn't get too cold, which was great, so it probably wouldn't have been that bad without the tent.

It was a great night and the Ports destroyed the Jethawks 13-1. Unfortunately the high score and post-game fireworks meant that I didn't get the tent set up and Big T in there until almost midnight. So I didn't fall asleep until around 1am, then woke up at 6 and started driving home at 7. I've been tired since then. While we were at the game we took a little stroll around the park and Big T wanted to hit in the cages they have there. So while we were waiting in line, a foul ball landed almost exactly where our seats were. Big T's den leader, who was sitting in the row in front of us, was able to get his hand on it, but couldn't haul it in.

So all in all, if you ever get a chance to sleep out on a ball field, I'd highly recommend it. It's a great time.

Holiday Road

So that idea to have weekly blog posts has turned into a month since the last one. Pretty close, I say. The kids finished their swim lessons, and Big T has turned into quite a little fish. He's doing much better than I thought he would. Little E can also swim enough to get herself to the side of the pool if she falls in, which is the goal that I had set for them, but she doesn't have the form that her big brother does. She looks more like a poodle going along, all you can see is the top of her head and her face and it sort of bobs as she creates a typhoon just under the surface to keep herself going.

They were able to finish their lessons with enough skill that they got to swim around in Lake Tahoe and Donner a lot more than they would have otherwise. They also got to go on their first boat ride, which was a thrill for them, as that's the best part of our trips to Bass Pro Shops. Pretending to ride in the boats. Unfortunately, the hours that my brother had reserved the boat for were from 12-2 on Donner. You wouldn't think that it would rain in the end of July, but then, you haven't been on vacation with me either. I have this uncanny ability to pick days during the summer when it will rain, usually the only days during the summer when it rains. This particular trip, we picked the only 30 minutes it rained. It started just after 12 and the kids were in the boat and we had to cover them with their towels and put their goggles on, so they could see, and for 15 minutes we drove them around in the freezing, pelting rain until they'd had enough. We turned the boat back in and went back to the cabin my brothers girlfriends grandparents have, and 5 minutes after we got back there the sun came out and it was beautiful. So they missed their boat trip, but still had a good time.


We went to a Stockton Ports game not that long ago and Big T had the honor of receiving two baseballs. The first one, he just got for being adorable and a little boy with a glove at the game, as the pitching coach for the Modesto Nuts was walking his pitcher back to the dugout before the game, he took a ball out his back pocket and handed it to my son. So awesome, game hasn't started and he's already thrilled beyond words because he got a ball. Then later on in the game, while my wife was taking Little E on a walk around the park, The third baseman came over near us and caught a foul pop for the third out of the inning, looked over at Big T and gave him the ball. It's amazing really, I've been going to games for as long as I can remember and I've never got a ball. My 7-year-old son has now got 3. And 2 at one game. It's just crazy. We're heading back again next Friday for the Scout sleepover. He now attends games expecting to get a ball, I don't know what he'll do if he doesn't get one.

And last for this little post, I finished filming my starring role in the upcoming Brad Pitt film, "Moneyball". Well, more accurately, I finished filming my overnight role in the film. Okay, so really me and my cousin were unpaid extras in the stands during one of the sessions of filming the movie. But Brad Pitt was there with some of his kids, I don't know which ones. Jonah Hill was there and did a mini-routine that was pretty funny. The night we were there, 10:30 pm to 5:30 am, they were filming the scene where Scott Hatteberg hit a walk-off homer to win the 20th straight game from 2002. It was a lot of fun to see it re-enacted since I remember watching that game on TV. So now I can say I was there. According to the director, we will be CGIed so we fill the stadium. There were around 300 of us there, so in the movie I should show up 40-50 times. So make sure to go see the movie and watch for me. I'm the one in the white hat with a green bill. And the A's jacket. The other bonus for doing that is that I got free tickets to attend the A's game on my birthday, and got to see Cahill pitch his first career complete game shutout. It was a good one.