Basketball!!

Today was the boys' first basketball game ever. They've just started playing basketball, so they're basically clueless except for the few things they've learned from their coaches in the last two weeks' practices. I wasn't sure how they would do, but I was very excited to watch them play!

As it turns out, Levi's team tied with the other team. Funny enough, in the first 10 seconds of hte game, Levi scored for his team! They flipped the coin, the winning team tossed the ball into play and when the guy got the ball, just as he started to dribble it, Levi came from nowhere and stole the ball then dribbled down the court for a basket! No one could believe it!! So cool! But, it was so fun watching those little guys. They are soooo cute!! And, they were all so happy just to be playing! His team in Kindergarten and first graders, so they're all new at this. So fun.

Like the blue mustache? Ashton bought Levi a blue gatorade to drink during half-time, which he did, then got the mustache! lol

Dribbling the ball down the court.

Indy's game was right after Levi's game. He played really well, though their team lost. I think they all had fun. They all seemed happy afterwards, but I think now that they've played an actual game, they'll begin getting the hang of it all. So, I'm sure the games will only get better. Here, Indy is shooting for a basket. He's the blurry one in black.

Since they can only have five players at a time, some of the team must sit out on a rotating basis. They play three 6-minute periods during the first half, have a 5-minute halftime, and then do three more 6-minute periods. Here, Indy is resting during his time out rotation, watching the game.

Dribbling the ball, going toward a basket.

Overall, it was a very exciting game day and we all had a lot of fun! We have 9 more games to go and I know they will get better as the time goes by and the games will only get more exciting! So, stay tuned!! :-)

Baseball...Orioles!

These are some misc. pictures of Indy's baseball season for Fall, 09. He was on the Orioles in the 6 and under league. Even though he was already 7, they let him slip in because of how his birthday falls. It's good because he was one of the older players (read: Top Dog).

This was at the end of the season party at a nearby park. They just love the sand, don't they??

Levi at the party.

Indy and his Coach Kevin. Great coach, great season!

The Orioles with coaches.

As of November 20, we're still in the playoffs. We play on the 21st, so we'll see what happens. It's getting tougher.

Golf Tournament #2 (Doral)

Levi played in his second golf tournament on Sunday, November 1 at Doral Resort and Golf Club. He was again in the 6 and under age group and this time came in 11th out of 11. He was only a little bit behind the others, but I must say that he's by far, the youngest in this group. All the other kids are either almost 6 or already 6, some even almost 7....and he's just barely 5. So, I think he did pretty darn good. Plus, even some of the other parents commented that they felt it was a difficult course. But, Levi sure had a good time!! :-)

Here he is teeing off for the first hole. It was a beautiful South Florida day, though it was pretty warm. Ugh. Thankfully, I had the good sense to rent a golf cart...which saved me, while making it a much more enjoyable day. Whew!

He aims, just as his Coach Derrick taught him.

Oops, the ball fell off the tee. Let's try this again. (This was another hole.)

The swing.....

Here we had to stop and observe a squirrel (to the right of the tree dead ahead of him). He was very tempted to chase it, but I managed to stop him in time. lol (Trying to keep Levi focused and on task is quite the chore!)

Goofing off on the golf cart. Silly boy!

Levi shows off the ball he got, alongside Coach Derrick. He loves his coach! :-) Coach Derrick was able to be there to cheer on 8 of his students who were competing, including Levi. Levi was thrilled to have Coach see him play.

The final score tally. Levi had 68, with the nearest competitors tied with 65. Not too shabby, eh?

"Yeah, I'm the man! Uh-huh, uh-huh! I won a medal!" Levi shows off his "Never Give Up" medal. He's so proud! :-)

Levi has so much fun at these tournaments that I'm not all together sure he knows he's actually competing. He gets distracted easily by the new environment and all the things to see. He really does love to play and has so much fun when it's actually his turn, but sure hates the waiting. The coach says it's really good that he started so young because now he won't ever really have to deal with nervousness, because he'll be so used to the competing. The other boys we played with seemed more nervous and not as relaxed or comfortable. I think their nervous dads didn't help too much either.

Once he actually hit a ball off the tee and into a sand trap. I sighed and just then he made a fist and said, "Yeah!" I asked him, "Did you do that on purpose??" He said yes. I asked why and he said, "So I can use my sand wedge to get it out." (As if it was the most natural thing in the world.) Apparently, he was bored with hitting it straight onto the green, and since one of the other boys seemed to be living in the sand traps, he thought he'd try it too. He got it right out on the first try and onto the green. I guess he wanted a little more challenge.

He seems to have no problem at all getting the ball from the tee to the green, but then he loses the hole because his putting leaves much to be desired. He'll make it to the green in 2 or 3 shots and then ends up with a score of 8 or 9 because he goes back and forth across the hole. Argh. That is sooo frustrating to me, but not in the least to him. He's having a ball. I'm glad he loves it so much, but I can see that we're going to have to get someone to caddy for him who can coach him along the way....and that's NOT me. I'll be in the golf cart riding on the path beside him, just watching. :-) Anyway, he did have fun and it was a really nice day. :-)

Busy Days....

Today was a fun and busy day. First, I took both boys to the dr. for a check up. It's actually their birthday check ups, but since their birthdays fall in late summer, the doctor's office is always packed with kids getting ready for school. That means, I skip that time and try to go in September sometime. Unfortunately, this time, I forgot all about it and ended up finally going today. Sadly, Levi had a get a booster on one of his shots and then he had to get the TB test. Yucky. He screamed, of course, but survived it all. I think the doctor survived, too! lol But, man, what a way to start his week, eh?

After that, I took the boys over to Babies R Us to have Levi's 5th birthday pictures made. Yes, I am late on those, too, but hey, better late than never, right?? lol The pictures came out really cute. It was funny because I had taken a spare shirt for Levi to wear for the pictures and after we signed in, they said we only had about a 5-10 minute wait. So, we went to the bathroom and I had Indy hold Levi's shirt for me. Unfortunately, he was playing in the sink water while I was in the restroom and got the shirt all wet, and with only 10 minutes til picture time and no dryers in the bathroom, the shirt was a no-go. Ugh. I had actually planned to try to find Levi some shorts while I was waiting (expecting a 20-30 minute wait), but now I also had to find a shirt for him to wear too! Argh. So, I started looking and seriously, there were ONLY winter clothes! For heaven's sake! We live in South Florida! But, that's how it is. So, I checked the clearance racks. And, besides winter clothes, there were no size 4 anythings. It was all smaller. Thankfully, on the clearance rack there was one shirt and one pair of shorts, size 4.....and they MATCHED! I was sooo excited! AND, they were on clearance for $3 and $5!! Whoo hoo! Just as I found them, they called our names. Whew! We changed quickly and had the pictures taken and they came out really cute!

After that, Indy had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, so we dropped him off there. Then, I picked up one of Levi's friends, Caleb, and we went to Burger King for lunch, then over to the golf course. They were such little gentlemen...and so well-behaved....at lunch. It was so nice. At the golf course, it was so cute! Levi was trying to teach Caleb how to play golf. Unfortunately, Caleb is left-handed and all Levi's clubs are right-handed. lol It was hilarious! First we went to the driving range where both boys hit 30 or so balls, with Levi coaching Caleb the whole time. He even placed Caleb's feet, just like his Coach Derrick does! lol Too funny. But, to Caleb's credit, he never got discouraged nor gave up. Then we went over to the putting green where both boys putted at misc. holes for about 20 minutes. Then, it got too hot, so we left.

After that, I had to have the oil in my car changed, so we went over to the Jiffy Lube and while they worked on my car, I showed the boys the "basement" where the workers are. Levi had seen it before, but I don't think Caleb had. He thought that was really cool! After it was done, while I was paying, Caleb said, "Thanks for letting me come over." It was so sweet. I guess he was having fun, even at the Jiffy Lube! lol

After that, we stopped at Publix to get a couple things and then finally made it home, where the boys played for about an hour before Caleb's mom came to get him. It was a fun day for Levi, who usually gets dragged around to all the other kids' things.

After all that, and after Nicky had gotten up and headed off to work, I went and got Indy from his friend's house, and then he had to get ready for his baseball game. Tonight was his second playoff game. It's a double elimination system, so if he won he would play his next game on a certain day and if he lost, he'd play on a different day. Well, after a very tight and exciting (nail-biting) game, his team lost...ugh. The final score was 17-20. So close yet so far away. And, still the team all had fun and were happy when it was over because they thought they'd played a good game....and they did. Next game on Wednesday. Let's see what happens next!

We won!

On this past Saturday, Indy's baseball team finally won a game!! They have a very young team, filled with a bunch of guys who have either come straight up from tee ball or who have never played before, so they have been getting beat at each and every game. I've felt so bad for them. And, it's been very hard on Indy, as the last time he played, his team won the championship. So, to go from that to this, has been very hard. But, it's good for character development, right?? lol

Anyway, this past Saturday, they FINALLY won!! The final score was 27-12, so we really beat the pants off them! The boys were sooo excited! To top that, two boys were having their birthdays so two sets of parents brought cupcakes for after the game! Man, were they sugared up!! lol And, even more exciting than that, Indy got the game ball! He was thrilled! So, it was a very eventful game that day! Yippee! We won!! :-)

Levi's 1st Golf Tournament

Last Saturday, October 3, Levi participated in his very first golf tournament. And, he had a blast! He came in 7th out of 8 in his 6 and under division and was ever so proud. His coach was very happy, too, that he did so well within a group of some very experienced kids. Of course, we were very proud of Levi, too! :-) Here are some pictures of the day. First, let me just say, this tournament was held at a course an hour and a half from our home. So, we drove for 3 hours to play golf for 3 hours. It was a very long day for me. Ugh. And, boy, was it hot! And, I learned a few things; like next time I'll get a golf cart. That way, we'll have some shade, a place to carry a small ice chest with cold water, and a way to get to the next hole a little faster so our playing partners won't have to wait on us. You live and learn, right?

Overall, it was a very successful day, especially since it went great for Levi. After doing the whole 9 holes with 2 playing partners, he wanted to start all over. Of course, I was carrying everything (the clubs, my purse, the camera, our water bottle) and nearly crawling to the clubhouse by the end. Believe me when I say that I was praying that I would actually make it and not pass out from the heat or lack of water. Thankfully, we made it and it ended up being a good experience. I think we're going to try for one or two more tournaments during this fall season.

When we first got there, Levi practiced on the putting green, along with bunches of other little boys. I think he was really fascinated with so many little boys playing golf all at the same time. In his classes, there's usually only 1-4 more kids than him, but there were a lot here. Here he is practicing on the putting green.

This is sometime during the day. I'm not sure which hole this is, but I think it was number 2....I still had enough energy to actually take some pictures! lol (You know, his tee time was at 12:30!!! Ugh!)

Once we finished the 9th hole, we happened to be near the entrance to the club where the sign is, so we walked over there to get a picture.

Once everyone from a division returned to the clubhouse, they scored them and handed out the awards. First and second places got trophies. Third through fifth places got metals that said their place and had different color ribbons. Everyone after 5th place got a "Never Give Up" medal with a green ribbon. That's what Levi got and he was sooo proud! :-) Here's the score sheet that was posted. See? He did pretty good and kept right up with the "big boys". I think he was the youngest. I know he was in our group. The other two boys were both 6. One had been playing golf for 2 years already and one had been playing about a year. Levi's only been taking lessons since January and he didn't go to golf camp over the summer and since Nicky and I don't play, he only gets to really play when Mamo's around. (Thanks, Mamo!) So, knowing all that and that some of those kids' (at least the two in our group) dads are golfers, too, I think he did pretty darn good!

The 4th place Noah was in our group, as well as Davis, with 56. So, Levi kept up pretty well.


Here's Levi showing off his medal.

Finally, after that, we headed home. We were only in the car 10 minutes when.........

Zzzzzzzzzz........... Man, I wish that could've been me!! lol Can't wait til the next tournament! :-)

Baseball again...

Well, we're back in baseball. Whoo hoo! I really like watching baseball and I'm sooo happy Indy likes baseball so much. He tried soccer last season, which was ok, but he wasn't thrilled. I want him to try basketball next year, too, but for right now, he's back in baseball and is really enjoying it. This time around, he's on the Orioles. And, since he's one of the older, more experienced players in his age group, he's been playing a lot of the infield, which is great, because next season, he'll move up to the next division and he'll be at the bottom of the totem pole again...ugh. That means he'll be out in the field mostly, I'm sure. So, I'm happy that he's been playing a lot in the infield this season. It's a good experience for him. And, he's had such a good attitude this season, even when he gets out. He just says, "Oh well, it happens like that sometimes." And, he's encouraging his teammates who get out, too. I'm very proud of him.

Go Orioles!!