Tee-Ball ex-Travaganza, Spring 2013

We're more than halfway through the spring tee-ball season, and as challenging as this season has been so far (Tom's coaching, Will's playing, I'm "managing" the bench when the boys are up to bat and "managing" Hallie when the boys are in the field), it's also been just fantastic. You can read a little more about how Tom "ended up" coaching here.

The season kicked off a few weeks ago with Opening Ceremonies, which translated to two hours of Tom and Aaron wrangling 11 five- and six-year old little boys by themselves while the rest of the parents and sibling huddled together in a stand against the bone-chilling and humid wind. (The Opening Ceremonies weren't quite as fun as last year due to a venue change.)

Heading out on the field for pictures.

An HOUR later, they finally took the picture.

Meanwhile, children huddled in the Chariot.

Oh, look! It's Hallie and Kendra!

After the actual "ceremony", the coaches and players were released from the field and we spent an hour waiting in line for and eating hotdogs and playing in the bounce houses.

Logan, waiting patiently.

Will, waiting patiently.

Thinking about whether or not she wanted to go down the huge slide.

She did.

And so did he.

After four L...O...N...G weeks of practices we finally began playing games (the season is set up so that teams practice twice a week for four weeks, and then play games twice a week for seven weeks).  And since this is our family blog and I feel like I can brag a little here, I'm going to give it to you straight: Will is awesome.  He works hard, listens to his coaches, follows instructions, demonstrates good sportsmanship, and is a really, really good six-year-old baseball player.  (Despite the fact that the kids are playing tee-ball, Will and a few of the other boys hit off the coach's pitches instead of off the tee, which makes it more like real baseball.) Watching him play - and watching Tom coach - makes me incredibly proud.

Let's go Mariners!