what's on tap

Doug headed to Chicago tomorrow to see old college friends on the 20th anniversary of their graduation. We were all hoping to go, but turns out Emma's softball team has league tournament this weekend. 

The North Area girls ended their regular season with a big, come-from-behind win on Weds night. Emma had a big drive up the middle in one of the rally innings, and did her usual solid role as catcher. Their first round game is tomorrow night in North St. Paul and games all weekend as long as they keep winning. 

Ben's team has won 4 or 5 in a row now, and he's been hitting lights out, with a double and a single in each of the last two games from the cleanup slot. (He's also drawn a lot of walks, and hasn't made an out in over 3 games.) He's been busy with tennis and weight lifting, and he and his boys are working on an 8 song "concept" album every afternoon in the basement.

Terri sent out her tenure file this week, so now its just sit back and wait for the reviews. In the meantime, she is starting to do a bit of blogging for this "care work" group of scholars she is affiliated with. Her first post is on parents watching kids sports. It is called "Support from the Sidelines and you can find it at: http://careworklive.wordpress.com.

father's day dinner

appetizer: sharp cheddar and other fancy farm coop cheeses with crackers

main course

--two racks of st. louis style ribs on the grill with terri and emma's dry rub

--potatoes and onions with olive oil and seasonings (also on grill)

--corn on the cob (first of the year)

--swiss chard from the garden with bacon

 

dessert: blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream

full swing

monday afternoon youth golf starts for emma today, as does tennis and weightlifting (over at the high school!) for ben.  then, our now familiar complement of baseball and softball practices and games. (emma has double headers mondays and wednesdays with practices on thursday; ben's games on our tuesday and thursday with practice on monday). in between is the usual range of reading, badminton, work, and such. the new screen porch is getting some good use--last night we had a bbq and bday party where it was a big hit--and this, even without bugs or rain. with bright sun and mild temps predicted, should be another nice week.

summer's here

no school. sleeping late. warming up. garden growing. softball and/or baseball most evenings.no mosquitos (and if/when they do come we've got our new screen porch).  what else is there to say? these are the days we live for the rest of the year here in minnesota.

from marvelous to miserable

well, not exactly...but our week of great guests, awesome weather, and end-of-the-school year festivities did come to an abrupt end on saturday. in their place, we were treated to 40-degree temps, wet-windy days and a sloppy, soggy softball over at rookies tournament Como Park. 

actually the weekend wasn't all bad--we fun with the softball families at an indoor bbq on saturday night, and it dried up a bit on sunday, allowing ben and doug to do some fund raising work for the youth group as well as giving emma's softball team a couple of exciting games. (emma caught both of the final playoff games--they won one and lost one--and had her best games of the year. we heard coaches from other teams telling their catchers to watch her for an example of how to block balls. She also now sports about a half a dozen new bruises.) 

So begins the first real week of summer. Hanging out, having friends over, rehearsing the band, doug and terri trying to get work done, ball games, etc, all to follow.  oh yeah, and looking ahead to this week's games: one of the big questions is whether ben will be able to get a triple in his third game in a row on tuesday. Yup, that right: Fingers crossed for another big bomb. 

what's been going on...

--perfect weather.

--great guests (nana and papa; den and nate).

--regular life: softball, baseball, school for Emma, bonfire and smores.

--memorable events: Phantom of the Opera at the Ordway; Ben's 8th grade graduation; tour of new TCF Gopher's Stadium; the building of a deck and screen porch.

--still to come: Ben's first summer ball game; the departure of the guests; catching up on work; Emma's traditional last day of school celebration with classmates; Ben's graduation party; weekend softball tourney. Summertime in full swing.