There is no 'I' in Coach

Last week, Hunter's coach went out of town, so that left me holding the reigns to coach his team. We had a game Thursday night and we got killed 16-6. Our team got three hits and we just could not play defense - the kids did not know where to throw the ball or what base to cover. So, on Friday night I held a practice in which we broke the team into two groups - one group went in the outfield and one of dads throw pitches at them all night - the other group came to the infield and I hit balls at them all night and worked with them on who covers what bases, etc. After practice, I knew that I would need a pitcher for the game on Saturday, and two of our pitchers were out of town, and the other pitcher pitched on Thursday. So, I had all the kids go to the pitcher's mound to see who could pitch. One kid, Cameron, didn't throw very hard but he was accurate, so I decided to have him pitch on Saturday. After practice, I had several parents come up to me and tell me that was the best practice we had all year. Saturday's game came and sure enough, I had Cameron pitch. We had a rough first inning were the kids were making great plays on defense, but then they would throw the ball around like a circus and the other team would score. The other team ended up scoring 5 runs that inning. I pulled the kids aside and told them to quit doing that, but to just make one play. We went out the next inning and held the team scoreless. The following inning the other team scored one run. Cameron pitched threw innings and threw more strikes then any of our other pitchers did for the whole season! He was great! Our team also belted out 16 hits, which is by far the most we have had in any other game - our previous high was 7 hits. We scored 8 runs in one inning which is the max that you can score before the inning is considered over. Then, I brought our 'best' pitcher in to close the game and he gave up 4 runs before we got three outs. But we won the game 14 - 10!! Our first win of the season (record 1 - 7) ! I was not sure who was more excited to win - the parents or the kids. In the last inning, the parents were on their feet screaming and yelling with each out - holding thier breath with each hit ball. Man, it was a great feeling to win and quite a few parents congratulated me after the game. But the kids really came together and put on a good game. We beat a team that had 5 wins for the season, so they were a good team. It feels even better to wind since the head coach thinks he is such a fantastic coach and the reason we aren't winning is because of the kids on the team. I DON'T THINK SO...

Hunter went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and played catcher the whole game. He loves being catcher!!

Who Dresses You?

This morning I got to work and went about my day. Soon, two attorneys come stumbling into my office laughing. One attorney, Reed Allen, says "Do you notice anything different about me?" I look at him and said "Other than the fact your shirt is extremely wrinkled?" He looked at me funny and said "Umm...no." So, I looked down at his shoes and he was wearing two different shoes to work. Apparently, he just grabbed two shoes from his closet and put them on without really looking. What an idiot! The other attorney, Emily White, and I proceeded to make fun of him for the next couple of minutes, saying things like "Do we need to call your wife to make sure she dresses you in the morning?" and "How the heck does that happen?" By the end of the conversation we were laughing so hard. Honestly, what kind of guy does not notice he is wearing two different shoes? Obviously, the color and style would give it away, but what about the feel of the shoes? Well, it wasn't two hours later that looked down at my own shoes and notice that I was wearing one black shoe and one maroon shoe! True story. I had to go face my shame and show Reed. I was laughing so hard and crying by the time I got into his office, that he wasn't sure what was going on. But once he found out we had to go show Emily - pretty soon the whole firm was laughing and calling us "clowns" and saying "What kind of guy does not notice he is wearing two different shoes?" I also believe that someone called Stacey telling her to start dressing me in the morning.

Baseball Infusion

So, Dad just spent the last week with us. He flew out last Monday, July 6th and that night Hunter, Ryan, Dad, and I went to a Rockies game. The Rockies won the game 1 - 0 behind Jason Marquis's pitching. It was an exciting game! Plus, the game didn't last very long so the boys weren't hard to deal with. On Thursday night, Dad and I went to another Rockies game and watched the Rockies play the Braves. The Rockies ended up winning the game 7 -6 after coming from behind to win. Dad and I decided to splurge and we bought some sweet tickets 3 rows behind the Rockies dugout. What a view of the game we had!! We are definitely going to have to try those seats again sometime! Saturday night, Dad and I hit another Rockies game, but this time the Rockies went down in defeat 4 -3. It was a very close game. It was so much fun to attend the baseball games with Dad and to just visit. Cari will be happy to know that he only said "The pitcher just balked" one time in the three games. Man, does he love baseball...

The family also had a wonderful time visiting with Dad throughout the whole week. Of course, we had to hit Ci Ci's and Lamar's Doughnuts, but we did not mind that at all. On Wednesday night I had to go to scouts and so Dad took Hunter and Ryan to the park to practice baseball. They loved that! Then, on Saturday both Hunter and Ryan had baseball games, and they loved having Grandpa there to watch their games. The week went by way too fast, but it was great that Dad (Grandpa) could visit us for a week of fun-filled baseball games!

FOR THE LADIES

I took Hunter, Ryan, and Samantha to the park last night to practice baseball and to throw a few pitches to them. Actually, I didn't throw any pitches to Samantha as that would just be silly - as she always seems to hit my curve ball so well. Anyway, I threw a couple of buckets of balls to Ryan and he did a pretty good job of hitting the ball. I had him hit from the left side and the right side of the plate to see which side he preferred - he hit equally well from both sides. So, I will just let him decide at his next game which way feels better for him. After Ryan, I threw a bucket of balls to Hunter. He missed every single ball. He has been such a great hitter the past couple of years that I could not figure out why he could not hit this year. So, I told him that he wasn't waiting for the ball and that he was lunging. I ran a couple of drills with him, but he would not listen to me and just wanted me to pitch. I told him that we could spend all night out here and I would throw him ball after ball and he would miss them all, or else we could spend 15 minutes learning how to hit. He was frustrated but finally agreed and he even listened to every word that I said. We did some drills together and then I had him hit another bucket of balls - but this time I told him that I did not want him to swing hard but that his focus was to hit every ball. He did that and made contact with most of the balls. I threw him another bucket of balls and told him to do the same thing. The next bucket of balls, I told him to swing harder - which he did but he made contact with 9 of the 13 balls. I threw another bucket at him and the first few he had some really good hits, then I saw him glance over to the playground, and all of the sudden he hit this shot that would have been over any right fielder's head. I couldn't beleive it as I have never seen him hit a ball that far. I asked him "Why are you hitting the ball so hard?" He said something to me but I couldn't hear, so I asked him to repeat it. He said he would tell me later. Anyway, the next 5 or 6 balls he just absolutely cranked into the outfield. As we were, picking up the balls I asked him what he said and he replied "I said I was doing if for the Ladies." I look over and there were two girls about his age over at the playground watching him hit. I couldn't stop laughing, but for the next few buckets of balls Hunter was hitting the ball hard and hitting 11-12 of the 13 balls from the bucket. I don't really care what his motivation is for hitting, but if he keeps on hitting like he did last night, then he can keep doing it 'for the Ladies.'

Fortune

So, I was reading a blog today that talked about how men don't really pay attention to details when reading. The blog went on and started talking about Chinese fortunes or something, I am not quite sure I wasn't really really paying attention. Anyway, there was a list of like 10 fortunes and the blog post gave some kind of calculation as to what my fortune was. I do not really believe in that stuff and I do not hold any stock in fortune tellers, fortune cookies, etc. But I read the fortune anyway and it said something like:

It is still cold out - put on some pants...

Turns out, that fortune was for me...

Baseball Season

Hunter and Ryan had their first baseball games of the summer today. Unfortunately, both games were at noon at different parks. So, Stacey went to Ryan's game and me being the assistant coach of Hunter's team, I had to attend his game. Ryan is playing modified tee-ball, which is where the batter gets 4 pitches and if they don't hit the ball then they hit off a tee. Ryan did not play baseball last year, but has really picked it up strong. Apparently, he got a great hit his first time at bat and had to use a tee his second time at-bat. Ryan has been practicing with me all spring batting left-handed, but in the game today he hit right-handed. Either he is going to be a switch-hitter or he is a little confused at how he bats right now. Ryan got to play first base as well today. Stacey said it was a fun game and Ryan did great! Hunter played his first game of kid-pitch (the equivalent of The Minors in Idaho Falls). He begged the coach to let him be catcher, and the coach reluctantly agreed. Hunter actually did a fantastic job as catcher, but has a lot to learn - the coach let him take the gear home this week so he could practice the catcher position. Hunter only got one at-bat today, as the team we played was very good and they had some excellent pitchers. With the 1 hr 30 minute time-limit, and our team's inability to pitch, that made it so each kid on the team was only able to bat once. In the last inning (3rd inning), the coach let Hunter pitch. He did a pretty good job, but had a little trouble getting the ball to 45 feet each time. Many balls bounced in front of the plate, but he was throwing them in the right direction. Hunter wants to work hard at being a catcher and pitcher - though it could be tough for him to do them both at the same time!! Stacey will be taking pictures soon and we will post them on the family blog as well as this one. By the way, Hunter's team lost - they got killed actually...

A day in the Park...

One Saturday, the family decided to go for a little bike ride to the park. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the park...

....and then the rains came!

COLORADO RAIN STORM

This is a video clip from the rain storm we had in Colorado this afternoon. The storm lasted about 30 minutes and we had lightning strikes so close to our house. One might have hit our neighbors house two houses down. The fire department was called and police showed up. The third lightning strike on the video was so close to us, you can hear the thunder roaring in the sky - but the video does no justice to how close it felt, how loud it was, and how it shook our house!

Playing Baseball

I have not blogged for about a month now. Mainly, this is due to the fact of my boys - why have kids if you can't blame them for everything? All Hunter and Ryan want to do is go to the park and hit baseballs all night long, leaving me no time to blog. I really don't mind - as I am investing in my future. I expect at least one of them to make millions of dollars playing Major League Baseball, thus, securing my future and retirement. However, playing baseball in the park does not come without incident. The other night, I was throwing some pitches to Hunter (the old man's arm still has it as he could not hit my curve ball nor my 89 mph fastball which has now dipped into the low 60's with age) and Ryan was chasing the hit balls. Ryan then decide he wanted to play catcher. I told him that he needed to get far behind Hunter so he wouldn't get hurt. He told me several times that he wouldn't get hurt. I said that there was a chance that Hunter could hit a foul ball into your face and he said that he would just catch it. We argued back and forth and he kept telling me he would not get hurt. Ryan was right - for a while. About 30 pitches later Hunter missed a fastball (probably 64 or 65 mph as I reached back for some heat) and the ball hit the ground and then bounced up and hit Ryan square in the nose. His nose began to bleed immediately and there was a lot of blood. Hunter ran to an outhouse and found toilet paper to stop the bleeding. Ryan was crying and I told him to stop or else the blood would come out faster (yes I lied) and immediately he stopped crying. He actually was a trooper through the whole thing and Hunter was a big help to his little brother. We got the bleeding to stop and headed home into the comforting arms of his mommy. Had Ryan just listened to me then everything would have been fine - however, Stacey gave him a bloody nose the next day which may or may not have been a result of this incident. I LOVE IT WHEN I AM RIGHT! LISTEN TO YOUR DAD!

Pinewood Derby - Behind the Scenes

A lot of movie directors and book writers have been contacting Huner and I concerning our 2nd place finish in last week's pinewood derby. So far we have held out looking for the big paycheck, but until that happens I thought I would post my memoirs on the blog. We began working on the pinewood derby over a month ago - Stacey went to Utah, so she took the block of wood to have her dad cut out the design for Hunter's car. Hunter had spent countless hours looking for exactly the right design he wanted. So, Grandpa McClanahan cut out the car. Hunter and I then sanded the car to get it ready for painting. For a couple of weeks, Hunter and I took 1200 grade sandpaper and we were smoothing out the axles, so the tires could have less friction. Then, we painted the car cherry red. Stacey proceeded to try and paint some flames on the car, but for some reason the paint didn't work and the red base paint became ruined. Stacey tried to repaint, but things got worse. In the end, I had to sand off all the paint and repaint about two days before the race. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday leading up to the Wednesday night race, I would constantly graphite the wheels and spin them on the axles to help create the almost frictionless wheels we needed to compete. I took the car to my work and weighed it on the postage meter and added weights until we got to exactly 5 oz. I put the wheels on and ran a few practice races in my office. That was when I realized that the car kept going hard to the right. I didn't want to mess with the wheels any more, but was concerned about having a good outing that night. I left work early and took the car home for Stacey to put some flame stickers on the car - no more painting! Finally, the car was complete and we headed over to the church for the big race. Our first race was exciting and intense, and I held my breath in hopes that the car would have a decent race. Hunter ended up winning his first race! I was able to breath easier knowing that we won at least one race. The next race Hunter took first place again, but a car car jumped the track and he ended up re-racing that race. He then took second. The next race he took third, then 2nd, then his car jumped off the track, and then he posted 3 straight wins. When he took third place, he became very sad and came over and sat on my lap. He figured there was no way he would place now. But thanks to the 3 wins in the end, he started getting excited again. Then, the Scout Master announced the winners and handed out trophies. He started with the last place race and then posted racers from 20th to 10th on the big screen. I was happy to not see Hunter's name on that list because we then knew he made the top 10. Then, the scout master listed from 9th through 4th. Again, we did not see Hunter's name on the list. Hunter became very excited. When he saw his name at the 2nd spot he was beside himself with giddiness! He was so happy. I couldn't believe that we had done so well either, but I am not going to argue. Hunter had a ball and I was excited to see my son so excited. Of course, now we have set the bar extremely high - how can we possibly top that?? I hope that once the movie and book deals come in then Hunter will forget about trying to achieve first place next year...

Jungle Gym

I am not sure if Dads were designed to be jungle gyms, but I definitely feel like one! Stacey and I always joke that if I get on the ground then I become a magnet to my kids. We always run little tests and I will get on the ground, and sure enough, the kids start hanging on me and jumping on me. It is starting to get to the point that it is no longer a laughing matter! I enjoy laying on the ground and stretching out my back...without my kids jumping on me, but I rarely get that opportunity. Today, I was talking to Ryan while he was sitting on the couch, so I slowly got to the ground and laid on my back to start stretching out. Ryan was telling me a story, and no sooner had I got on the ground, then Ryan came over to me and sat on my chest and finished telling his story. Moments later, Sami came running over to me and fell down on my chest and started "reading" a book while using me as a pillow. I left things that way for a few minutes and then I heard Hunter coming down the stairs, so I threw Ryan off me and picked up Sami. I am sure the instinct kicked in on Hunter and he knew I was in the position for him to climb all over me....but I squashed it before that could happen. I really am convinced that Dads are jungle gyms...or else their children look at them as jungle gyms. Sometimes I will stay up late at night after the kids go to bed, just so I can get a good stretch on the floor...