August 2022

Started the month out donating blood. I try to get in every 2 months when I am due up. You never know when you will be able to help save a life. 

Brinley's Rampage team had the first day of tryouts. Brinley did well, especially hitting. The next day her coach quit on her team, saying that his heart wasn't in it anymore. Come to find out one of the better players on the team decided to abandon the team and join the rival squad. Instead of finding a replacement for that one girl he decided that the other girls weren't worth it and folded the team. This came out of nowhere so we were completely in shock. It left us without a team and a lot of other teams in the area had already had tryouts. I immediately started searching for any local team that had open spots and started trying to get a tryout for Brinley. This was the only sport that she has actually enjoyed so I wanted her to keep playing.  

The garden was in full production mode and we had tons of tomatoes. So, time to get out the canning supplies and make some salsa and chili base. 

August brings the beginning of the school year. The past couple of years I have always taken off the first day of school. It really didn't make sense because I just spend the day at the house. This year I figured it out, take off work for the last day of summer. I asked the kids what all they wanted to do and this was all the stuff they picked. Breakfast at Josie's, lunch at Goodfellas, and then we got some shakes at this burger joint to finish off the day. 

Some of our Slam teammates and dad's showed up to play a little kickball on the last night of summer. We had a lot of fun but the dad's showed these kids that we still have some left in the tank. 

With our offer on the new house going through we got much more motivated in packing up the house. Jennifer would pack it in boxes and then I would play a real life version of 3-D tetris in the garage. 

Happy first day of school!

We have a 5th grader who is super excited about this year. She still insists on wanting to be a vet, if nothing else she is consistent. She has said this for the last 6 years.

Landon is ready for 4th grade. This year he said he wanted to be a MLB pitcher. This guy has changed it up every year. 

One of Landon's friends invited him over to an overnight birthday party. So, we took Brinley out for a rare only kid day. We tried out a pretty cool ice cream shop and took our first trip to local taco.

Cleaning up the old house meant a lot of things. One was giving the house a little bit of touch up paint. It also meant getting rid of all these extra puzzles that we have been storing in the basement for about 10 years. 

Random but we saw this uniquely decorated vehicle one day while driving around town. You could look at it for hours and still find all kinds of different things. It really was distracting trying to drive and look at it too!

With Brinley's coach quitting on her we had to find a new team. She tried out for three different teams and one of them wanted her to play that weekend with them. While Brinley was trying out for different teams, her former teammates were trying to get the old Rampage squad back together with a new coach. We had a couple options for Brinley, but I let her choose and she wanted to go back and play with her friends. 

Landon's Slam team had an end of year party. I was too busy jumping and playing at Skyzone that I didn't even get a picture of the boys, just the cake. This group had a lot of playing baseball together over the summer. 

I was too busy throwing fastballs at the boys in the dodgeball area. The next day my entire body was sore from getting out there and playing at SkyZone.

Landon loves to run so I signed him up for the Garrett Morgan cross country team again. His first race of the season was in Frankfort. He came in 3rd place overall right behind his friend on the team, Kash. 

Landon tried out for next years all-star team Southeastern Crush. He only had 2 errors on the day, but they were big ones. He missed two fly balls and it was his own fault because he didn't have his sun glasses on. He fielded grounders great and was amazing hitting at the plate including laying down some nice bunts. Of course this was all for show because the coaches that pick the team knew who they were going to pick before it even happens. It is so frustrating to see your son put his heart into something and not get what he deserves. 

After the tryouts we headed to Mt. Sterling for Landon to play with a pick up team called the Surge. It was a collection of summer players from Crush, Slam, and the Bombers which are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams for Southeastern. We struggled in the pool games just trying to figure out where people should play. Then the tournament started and we started to gel. We won the first tournament game and made it to the championship. In the championship game we got runner up by default when then had to cancel the game due to lightning. After 2 innings played we were losing 1-0 and were wanting to wait it out to finish, but the tournament director called it. Landon was named the overall MVP of the tournament. He was perfect at bat for the day before the championship game. In the championship game he struck out to one of my former patients. It was a really weird position for me because I was upset for my son clearly, but also happy for the young man out their pitching on the mound. If the Crush coaches could have seen him play in this game there is no way that they wouldn't have chosen him to play for them. 

The very next day was a huge day for myself and my co-workers. It is a day that we have been planning for almost 3 years. Covid had cancelled the past two Pediatric Cancer Survivor Picnics so we were so excited to have this one in person. We had about 60 families come celebrate with us at Keeneland and it was so much fun seeing all of their smiles. 

Landon came out to the picnic to meet my patient friends from work and of course he played a little bit too. 

Brinley testing out the virtual reality coaster at the picnic too. 

Another race day for Landon. This time we saw a couple friends from other sports. We saw Hayes that we played baseball with all summer and also spotted Casey who we have played soccer with the last 3 years. 

Mimi and Pap came to watch Landon play again with the Surge. This one was a local tournament over at Western Little League fields. 

Brinley has enjoyed hanging out with the Green girls when she didn't have tournaments of her own to play in. 

I just really enjoy seeing Landon up on the mound pitching. It was something that I was never confident enough to do when I was little. Landon doesn't have much power, but he is able to consistently throw strikes. So much of kid pitch games is getting walked or hit by pitches and base running. Landon doesn't get many strikeouts, but he doesn't walk many either. I believe he has lots of potential and I am excited to see him continue to grow.

Well the Surge came up one short again. We lost in the championship to a really tough team out of London, Ky. In fact their first basemen was almost twice as tall as Landon. Landon looks really upset in these pictures because he says that he lost the game for his team. We were losing the game by about 10 runs and Landon thinks this because he was the very last out of the game. I like his winning desire, but sometimes you have to realize when the game is a team sport that you don't win or lose by yourself.

Brinley has become increasingly less helpful and playful with her bunnies. We didn't really have space for them at our new house, so I sent messages out to friends to see if anyone wanted them. Free of charge. I wasn't really getting any takers. Finally I mentioned it to Brinley's new coach. They practice at the coaches house out on their farm. He said sure so we dropped the bunnies off one night and said our goodbyes. It was a scary drop off because one of the dogs tried to eat both of them and the bunnies were freaking out. We finally put them up in the coaches garage and just prayed the dogs wouldn't get in there. For a few days I was nervous for the next practice that they wouldn't be there. 

Mom and Dad came by to visit one day and it was the last time they were going to be staying at our house on Hibernia Pass. Clearly Mom was not taking it very well. She said that she had a lot of great memories in that house. 

Kentucky Children's Hospital was celebrating their 25th anniversary. A few of my co-workers and I went down to pick up some cake. 

I park at McKinley and Taylor's house everyday for work so I will occasionally bring a few treats for the newlyweds. This morning I dropped some of my bread and butter pickles off for them. Well, actually I think only Taylor likes them so they were for her. 

This is the only puzzle that I have never been able to complete. Jennifer got me this for Christmas years ago and I got over half of the 2,000 piece puzzle put together but then couldn't get the tops of the trees finished. With the move coming up I decided to just take out the part of us and throw the rest away. This puzzle has haunted me for a couple years and it was hard for me to throw the rest away, but I just didn't know when I was ever going to finish it.

The last day of the month McKinley and Taylor came and helped us pack up the U-haul. We close on the new house on September 1st. Getting the U-haul was an adventure in itself. I had reserved one and when I went to pick it up they didn't leave the key in the overnight pick up box. I had to go to another location to pick up a U-haul which was all the way downtown. Then on the drive the check engine light came on and I had flashbacks to my car breaking down on the trip back from Nashville earlier this year. It made it to the house and we got the first load all ready for the move tomorrow. 

August was a very busy month for us in between sports, school starting, and packing the house up. We were sad to see summer end, but the kids were excited about school starting back. Thanks for reading and God bless!

July 2022

Brinley is starting to get much more skilled playing in the field at softball. She is still struggling at the plate, but she is making lots of progress. The 4th of July weekend we spent in Georgetown looking for some more hardware. Both kids were playing, but they were unfortunately at different parks. Brinley's team played tough in pool play and ended up the top seed of the silver bracket. They laid an absolute dud in the tournament game and lost to a team that had no business beating them. It was a very frustrating game to watch and I thought the coach made some horrible in game decisions. After the game he talked so down to the girls. I had to bite my tongue because I was ready to give him a piece of my mind. I didn't want to do anything to give him reason to take it out on Brinley so I just left the field.

Landon's Rampage team played tough in pool play as well. On Sunday they showed up to play and looked really good too. Everyone was making great plays. The only problem was that they drew the Ambush to play in the tournament. They were another Georgetown team and it was someone that the Rampage had never been able to beat. Well, that changed on this day because the Rampage boys came to play. We used all our energy to beat the Ambush and fell in the tournament to another team. The boys were ecstatic to be the runners up and get some more hardware. 

On the 4th of July we headed downtown to the parade. The kids were really excited to see the Pikachu inflatable. The kids were not really dressed up patriotic. 

Landon's Slam summer ball team. This was a great group of kids and a lot of good families. 

The garden was starting to give us some great produce. Jennifer made some really awesome blueberry zucchini muffins. 

Landon had a tournament in Ashland for a Cal Ripkin tournament. He was supposed to play on Friday, but it rained too much they cancelled the games. The next day it rained off and on. They decided to play the games, but it was a complete disaster. Home plate was a puddle. I could barely step and throw pitches to the kids without slipping and sliding all over the place. They really wanted to finish the game we started. We were the home team and they rallied in the last inning and took the lead. Thankfully we had last bat. Landon was due up in the line up and he got a double to get us going. The next batter got a hit and Landon was able to score from second to tie it up. Then on errors the kid that got a hit was able to score the walk off run. It made playing in the rain a lot more fun. 

The Sunday of the tournament had much better weather. We finished out the pool play undefeated, but our draw in the tournament made us have to sit for two games before playing again. When it was our turn to play we came out flat and let the other team get a 6-0 lead on us. We battled back, but ran out of time. A lot of fun was had this weekend because we spent a lot of time hanging out together. 

As Landon and I were finishing up in Ashland with his tournament I was keeping track of Brinley's team who was playing great. They ended up playing in the championship game so Landon and I headed straight to Nicholasville to see her play in the championship. Brinley even got the MVP chain for how well she played in one of the games. They didn't play well in the championship and just ran into a team that was playing good. Brinley got to add some more hardware, just not the one we were hoping for. It makes me so happy to see that big smile of hers. 

I just love seeing these jerseys. They have been consistent with their number choices here lately. I hope to watch number 23 and 25 for many more years.

One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to go to camp with all my oncology patients and their siblings. It is a blast and so much fun to see all the kids running around and playing. This year's theme was holidays. Everyday when the campers woke up they celebrated a different holiday. I was there for the 4th of July and Halloween. The sandwich was a recommendation from a patient friend. It is a double cheeseburger with a McChicken in the middle of it. It was pretty good. Not sure something I would ever get it again, but I can say that I had it.

I can't believe our little boy is now nine years old.  He wanted some pancakes for breakfast to start his day.

What has become a little bit of a tradition is that Landon always goes to Goodfellas on his birthday. We stuck to the routine this year too!

An afternoon 9K bike ride with my little guy to celebrate his birthday. This kid usually has too much energy, so anything I can do to burn off some of it I do it. 

Since our entire summer had been filled with baseball it was only appropriate that his cookie cake had a baseball on it. 

Landon and his slam team mates got to play in the Ohio Valley Regional Cal Ripkin Tournament. Thankfully this was a tournament that was hosted by Southeastern, so we got to play all home games. We had a really good showing, but we got beat out in the semi-finals to our cross town rivals South Lex Red.

Landon had quite a group come to watch him play in the tournament. This was the official last coach pitch tournament for his team. After July they have to move up to kid pitch, which is going to be a whole new ball game. 

Brinley and her Rampage teammates playing on a playground in between games. 

Well, through a random series of events Jennifer and I decided to start looking around for a new house. Jennifer got a little excited and decided to pack up most of our house. She told me that my puzzle wall had to come down. So, I decided to take one last picture of them before taking them down. 

I got a nice phone call that asked me to come over to the football practice facility. It was so that I could pick up my Citrus Bowl ring from last season. I took a picture with the trophy in the background. 

Landon wanted to have a friend come over to play. We invited his friend Dalton. They had a blast, as you can tell Brinley was not amused with having two boys in the house. 

I talked Brinley into taking a bike ride with me. Sometimes I have to push her beyond what she thinks that she can do. She doesn't like it at the time, but hopefully one day she is thankful for some of her dad's motivational talks.

The kids and I went over to Uncle McKinley and Aunt Tay Tay's house to play some games. Landon is super competitive (I know it's my fault) and you can tell by his face that he most definitely lost here at Junk Art.

I had told the kids that I would take them to get shaved ice one afternoon. I jokingly asked if anyone wanted to ride their bike to it. Landon was excited about it so we took off and the girls drove the car. It was about a 3-4 mile ride there. Well, in the first mile I was riding behind Landon and I just got too close and my front tire hit his back tire. I flew off the bike and landed on my stomach. The only injuries suffered were on my chin and a couple of scratches on my hand, but I was extremely sore. Landon thankfully was able to keep his balance, but he was terrified for the next three miles on our way to the shaved ice stand. I put his bike in the back of Jennifer's car and then I started the ride back home. 

Landon and Brinley had been asking about going to SkyZone for some time. We were able to finally make it out there for some bounce time. Brinley was super excited because she was finally able to make it up the warped wall.

When you fall off your bike you just need to get back up and get on again. With McKinley and Taylor living so close to campus I have started parking at their house and riding my bike to work. It just so happened that this happened to be on Miracle Treat Day and Dairy Queen brought blizzards for all of the children's hospital.

Landon's first kid pitch tournament. The Slam came to play and went undefeated during this one day tournament. We actually played the Rampage team that we had played pick up ball with over the summer. Landon played a little bit of everywhere. He played center field, second, shortstop, and even got to pitch for the first time. During the semi final game I had my realtor calling to tell me that a house we had put an offer in on had submitted a counter offer. I told Jennifer to talk with him because I was busy coaching first base. So, during this game is when we signed a contract on a new house.

Nice way to end the summer ball season. This was our first time playing summer ball and it was a lot of fun seeing these boys grow into a really good team. Also nice to get that first kid pitch action under our belts. 

Our cousins Abby and Sarah were in Lexington playing in the Bluegrass games. We all went to cheer them on after church. Our Need Help? shirts were the perfect color to cheer on the Trinity volleyball team. I had a good time catching back up with my cousin Gretchen. The girls got robbed in the championship game, but what can you expect when you play four back to back games. It was a lot of fun watching them play.

July was a lot of fun as we spent a lot of time at the ball fields for either games or practice. We came home with quite a few rings this year between both the kids. The summer seemed to fly by, but we were ready for school to get back into session. Well, at least Jennifer and I were ready. Thanks for reading and God bless!