baseball season

Sebastian has been mostly skipping this baseball season -- the games conflict with his new team's soccer practices, and he's decided to focus on soccer and not baseball. He was always pretty sure that this was his last season of baseball, because he doesn't want to play in high school, but it's a little sad that even this season has been truncated. However, when games fall on Tuesdays or Fridays, he is able to make it, and his coach has been really supportive of his choices and enthusiastic when he can make it. He played last week and pitched a fantastic game. His curveball was on, and he was making the other team's batters look almost foolish with their swings.

Sebastian came in to pitch during the first inning, after his team's starting pitcher had a total meltdown on the mound. There had been one or two errors, but also just a lot of walks and wild pitches. Score was 9-4 when Seb came in, with two outs and loaded bases. He struck out the first batter he faced to close out that long inning. 

 

Second inning: three up, three down, with two strikeouts and an easy pop fly. Third inning: more strikeouts and easy outs. Fourth inning: same. Sadly, his team wasn't producing any hits either, so it was still 9-4. Fifth inning: Seb's team magically comes alive in the top of the 5th and takes the lead, 10-9. Bottom of the 5th, the other team scores a run; bit of drama when Seb loads the bases with two walks and an error, but he strikes out the next guy and gets out of there. Cason helps with an absolutely amazing leaping catch at shortstop. Sixth inning: his team scores one run to retake the lead. Seb is still pitching, because he's struck out so many batters that his pitch count remains under the game limit (80); he comes in and gets three easy outs, and they win 11-10!! Whoo-hoo!!!

I'll miss baseball when it's gone. This has been a fun season to watch, as the boys are more competent at fielding and there are fewer errors (and the occasional terrific catch or double play or tagout of a steal). And Seb has been pitching really well.

softball pitching

Liesl diligently practiced her pitching and then got to pitch in a game -- she was a little nervous to begin, but did really well. Some walks, some strikes, some hits -- two innings, a totally reasonable first outing. She pitched again a few days later and did even better. Softball has been terrific this season; the girls have improved so much in both skills and game awareness, and they've started to bond as a team and have a lot of fun. It's a different group of girls than she normally sees at school or soccer practice and that's also excellent.

It was a beautiful evening for softball - blue sky and puffy clouds, a break from this spring's incessant rain.

Softball benches are very loud -- the girls chant and cheer and sing constantly. Here's Liesl with Ana Lu, Fiona, and Jane, chanting and stomping.

Back to the field, here at first base.

On 3rd base. Liesl usually gets a hit, or she gets walked, and then steals all the bases. The fielding isn't up to throwing out kids at bases most of the time.

Practicing pitching again.

May photos

An assortment of May photos, starting with my faithful forest and running companion. May continues to be soggy, wet, muddy, and cold, perfect running weather as far as Jasper is concerned.

 

 

A taco (mis)adventure in three photos.

 

Post-practice Pie Spot (mini pies)

Softball pitching practice at the field, with our ever-hopeful fielder.

Stromboli and pancakes. It's hard to find days to eat dinner together right now, but I'm still cooking a lot -- just things that hold up over hours and days, like stews and chili and black beans. And pancakes and waffles for weekends, of course. :)

Covid

Covid finally came for our family, after 2+ years of successfully dodging the virus. I'm glad we were able to get vaccinated and boosted before falling ill, and that the timing did not disrupt any big plans (like Hawaii). But Steve felt sick first, and he was hit the hardest -- chills, fatigue, sore lungs, a cough and sore throat. He was quite sick for five days and is still recovering, finding himself often tired and still coughing. Liesl tested positive but has remained entirely asymptomatic, and we hope she remains so. Seb has tested negative all along and has never had any symptoms, although his middle school is currently rife with Covid cases. I felt fine for over a week and thought I'd dodged infection once again, but on Friday afternoon I felt just terrible. Sore throat, chills and fever, and so so tired. I napped for two hours and still went to bed early. But Saturday was okay, and today was even better, and I feel hopeful that I'm on the road to recovery after a very mild case.

teenage boys

Seb and his friends have met up the last three days straight at the FPE field to play -- they've played wiffle ball baseball (we have balls, bats, and portable bases), basketball, kickball, and Slammo. Our garage is really the supply depot for the entire crew, which I love. The boys also all ended up here on Friday night after playing kickball in the pouring rain and darkness, which was pretty funny.

Anyway, we've had the Slammo set in our garage since it was gifted to Seb six-ish years ago. We could never really figure out why it was fun or how to play it, although we did occasionally see teenage boys playing it and laughing uproariously. Well, apparently Seb and his friends are finally at the right age -- they played Slammo Saturday night after dinner and had an amazing time laughing and making fun of each other and diving for the ball. I'm so glad - glad we had it, and glad we didn't throw it away at any time in the past few years as it sat gathering dust!

(Photo taken surreptitiously from the far end of the field, so as not to embarrass said son.)

Escape Room

Liesl had so much fun participating in an escape room for AJ's birthday that she requested a return visit as a family adventure. We are in a brief, shining moment where the weekdays are jam-packed with practices and games, but some weekend days are actually open, so we went today at noon.

The theme we picked was Portlandia, and it was really, really fun. There were maps and puzzles, locks, a giant game of bingo and of connect-4, an ancient tape player, an even more ancient viewfinder, a hidden room with a ball pit, and so much more. The story behind the room was that our annoying roommate, Steve, has hidden the rent money in our apartment, and we need to find it. We had fun working together and unlocking locks and discovering clues.

In the end, we needed 15 extra minutes to find the hidden stash of cash, but we did and were really happy. (Actually, we pressed a button and a giant vacuum sucked the play money up a tube and shot it into the air, which startled me so much that I screamed like a little girl.)

Mother's Day

We had a low-key Mother's Day celebration on Sunday, which was very welcome after a busy week. I met up with Anja for our usual trail run (so muddy!) and then came home to challah French toast, blueberries and ricotta, and a veritable field of flowers. Plus sweet cards and a present from Liesl.

 

We lazed around in the afternoon and then went in search of Chinese dumplings. After a ridiculous and fruitless wait at Dough Zone, we ended up at Bao Bao, very happy with our delicious pork and veggie bao and dumplings.

 

The highlight of the day, however, might have been collaborating with Liesl on a TikTok dance. She found a dance for two and we practiced together, and then Steve filmed us. Liesl did some video editing and posted it to her TikTok account. :) (Still working on how to share the video here.)

end of LYS

In sad and unexpected news, Liesl's LYS soccer team disbanded after the season ended on April 30. The coach decided to move clubs, to Portland City United (PCU), and most of the girls decided to follow him there. There were some girls who still wanted to stay with the local club, but not enough for a team (and there was no coach). Steve coached the last game, which was the second team on our home field, and it was a really fun game (ending in a 3-3 tie).

Love this series of the girls running and celebrating after Arianna scored.

Liesl spent the last week going to multiple tryouts - four intense sessions in two days. (We signed up for one other, but decided not to go.) She received offers to join two teams, and we decided to go with her friends to PCU. 

In equally unexpected news, Sebastian decided that he wanted to have a more intense and competitive soccer experience, and so he too tried out for a new team. He went to two tryouts and was invited to join a PCU team, and we've accepted. I had no idea that his final game in the Founders Cup was the end of his LYS career, but I guess it was a good way to go out. I feel sad about it. I like the LYS club and his team and coaches -- we've made good friends and had a good experience. But I also respect his desire to improve with more focused training. We were most surprised that he decided to leave behind all of his friends to be the new kid on a team. He was pretty lonely out there at tryouts, with no one to talk to during warmups and water breaks, but it didn't affect his decision. We're curious to see what the year will bring.