Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Carter's Favorite Pastime

One thing I really enjoy about this time of year is baseball games. I love being outside sitting along the sidelines watching Carter play ball. He has been playing in the Cal Ripken league this Spring, his first year in the competitive league. He is on the NY Mets and it has become his life! He has 2 games a week and they practice twice a week as well. On the off day, he has had scouts. He keeps us going! The older he gets, we are finding that sports are more and more stressful on the parents. He pitched tonight for the first time and we found ourselves saying, "Please don't hit anyone. Please don't walk everyone." Stressful! The league has been doing some machine pitch, and some coach pitch up to this point. But tonight they started the kids pitching. Carter started out the game and actually did really well. In the 1st inning, he had the bases loaded with 2 outs and the batter had a full count and Carter threw a strike to end the inning. I don't think he realized the pressure he was under. He had one play tonight that I didn't get on camera that I wish I would have. He caught a fly ball when he was pitcher and the player on 1st base ran. Carter threw it to 1st and got a double play. He was so excited! It was fun to see him having a great night.

He also likes playing 1st base. He has more hustle in him than he had last year. He's learning more and more each game. He even played catcher one game, and I have to say, it was a learning experience. He stood clear back by the backstop! Who's kid does that? Todd said it was a good thing the backstop was there or he would have been in the bleachers! He has not been put in as catcher since then. Phew!

He got a new bat this season and he's had a hard time adjusting to it. Occassionally he hits a good one. He had one this season that was a line drive to second base and hit the baseman in the arm. In the video, you can see him flailing his arm. It's a little funny.

Hali's New Talent

Hali finished up a 6 week Smart Start Golf class last week. They use oversized clubs, tees and balls and focus on technique. She was eager and quick to learn and loved it! She is so self-motivated and does a great job with everything she tries. We went to Grandma & Grandpa Sanderson's over Memorial Day Weekend and Grandpa took us all to the driving range. Hali has inherited Carter's old clubs and was excited to use them. They were definately different from the clubs they used in class, but she adjusted quickly and did really well. I even did better than I have ever done. I guess the class paid off for both of us! Hopefully we'll have a family foursome one of these days!