Play Ball!

I thought it was a great idea to sign the kids -- all four -- up for baseball when they asked to play. Somehow, over the last two years (when Will last played), I had forgotten what the six-week YMCA baseball season did to our family dynamics. Everyone was excited until the coaches called and told me that practice for Will was at 5:30, and the triplets would practice at a different field but same night at 6:30. Then, everyone was excited... except for Mama. Getting everyone fed, dinner cleaned up, then travelling to the fields all by 5:30 is tough! The first time, we made it with time to spare. Everything was perfectly peachy till someone had to go potty ... and there wasn't one ... and in the time it took us to figure that out, there was a potty-accident like I haven't seen in the last two years. I took that child home, and after a quick, cold hosing off, we headed back to the field. Thankfully, the triplets practiced at the Y where there were restrooms.

The first week of games, I was actually out of town, and Allen indicated things went pretty well for the four-plus hours they were at the ball fields... with no restrooms. The last two weeks, I've been at the games and discovered the library had clean restrooms and was only about two blocks away. This past week, I can't explain how thrilled I was to see porta-potties -- and I don't think I have ever been happy about those. We will be missing the next two weekends of games because of some pre-planned activities that we couldn't change, and I am okay with that. For the most part, all the kids have had fun playing. All of them have learned more about the rules and good sportsmanship, so I'm counting it a success. Two hours of playing has definitely proved too much for Ben, but he starts pouting if he isn't the one to catch the ball. Put him in a line and ask him to run as fast as he can, and you will never see him smile bigger. Here are some of the moments I caught at their last games for the season. See? They really did have fun (mostly.)

Maddie - Athletics #5 (it is tough getting helmets to fit right on such small heads.)

 Jon - Athletics #4

Ben - Athletics #3

Will - Rangers #7 (just like two years ago!)

And another photo that I just like :) - the trio was climbing the fence to watch Will play.