Ryder Wrong?: Meanwhile...a smattering

I need to do a better job of keeping up with my own life here. I figure the moment I slip too far from the current time, the ol' blog may be doomed. Sadly, the lack of blog-keeping mostly has to do with the fact that we've been crazy busy...and that means we've done all sorts of blog-worthy things.

Take this for instance:

Smunch's school has a special night with the local High-A league baseball team. They do this every year and we usually go because it's really a lot of fun. I didn't know until this year that before the game, some of the players hold a clinic for any kid 10 or under for free. All you have to do is be there at 4:30.

I'm all about exposing Smunch to real baseball players. He had a great time running around and catching the ball with them. Too bad Daddy forgot to pack him a mitt, huh? I was at a PTA convention (er, um) all day and just met them there, so I'll take no blame on that one. Not one to be left out, Mam was out there too, having a blast with the baseball players. They played way out in the field where I couldn't get any photos, but here they are, all running back in before the beginning of the game.

This was Mam's first baseball game experience. I've never dared take her to an entire baseball game before, but she loved it. Don't get me wrong. She was bored. She fidgeted a lot and repeatedly asked when it would be time to go home. But when it was all over, she announced that she wanted to go with us again next time. Too bad I only had 3 tickets for our next major league game. Still, it's a little expensive to take her to a major league ballpark anyway. She may love it, but I still have to put up with her.

If you haven't noticed before, take a minute to appreciate her new purple horn-rimmed glasses with heart cutouts in the corners.

And then there's this:

These are pictures from a birthday party Mam went to for one of her preschool friends. Yes. It's a bunch of 4- and 5-year-old girls bowling in fairy wings and tiaras.

It must have been one of the most hysterical things I'd ever seen. They were so funny! I didn't stay for the whole shindig because I had errands to run and Smunch had a baseball game, but it was worth the drive to the bowling alley to see this.

Face painting was not included, but was a side-effect of our morning trip to the Klutz Benefit Day that morning to assemble a new stash of birthday presents. We donated a bunch of money to Smunch's school that day. That's how I like to think of it anyway.

After attending her fairy party, Mam was forced out into the sweltering heat to endure one of Smunch's last games of the season. With temperatures in the 90s and plenty of blacktop to go around, we were all suffering out there. In fact, at the end of the 4th inning the coaches turned the field hose on all the kids just to cool them off.

Way back when my dad and I first started doing a little bit of field preparation before games, someone warned us about this particular hose. Nothing wrong with the hose itself, but the metal pipe of the hose attaches to PVC pipes underground and if you leave it all connected and you're not very careful, the PVC will get broken and you'll have a geyser. Then you have to call the city out to turn off the water and get the pipe repaired. Guess what?