It wasn't exactly center field, but actually somewhere around left center. The point is, I hit my first ever home run tonight in softball! I'm really not trying to be boastful, but because it might be the only one I ever hit, I want to make sure I remember when and where it happened! I don't have a memory for sporting events like my husband does!
The entire game was really just quite amazing. This was a team we lost to multiple times last year in our women's league! Granted, we've swapped out a few players since that season, but tonight we hit like champs, scoring 20 runs in one inning! My friend Robyn hit two home runs in the game and our friend Hope hit another. The other team's pitcher kind of struggled, and their infield wasn't so strong, but mostly we just hit a lot of line drives. My home run was actually a line drive that went over the left center fielder's head and rolled almost to the fence!
It felt so great to hit well after being 0-4 in our co-ed game yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I wasn't such a happy camper after getting the 3rd out of the last inning, especially since we only lost by two runs. It was a total bummer, so please indulge me as I celebrate this win a little more than I normally would! :)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Hound Dog
On Saturday, before picking up the nephews for a visit, I spent much of the day at the KC Pet Expo at the American Royal Center (the former Kemper Arena). Our shelter had a booth at the event, so some other volunteers and I took adoptable dogs over to meet the public. It was a huge event with tons of people and what seemed like hundreds of different vendors and organizations! There were rescue groups and shelters from all over the KC metro area, along with businesses selling all sorts of animal related products and services. There were groups demonstrating agility courses and frisbee catching, as well as displays with miniature horses, goats and llamas. It was pretty cool!
The best part about my day was the wonderful dog that I took along to the event! His name is Fresco, and he's a hound/boxer mix who has been at the shelter since late November. He came in as a 10-12 week old puppy, and then moved into the adoption area when he was 4-5 months old. He was one of those dogs who was so adorable when he was first available that I thought he would be snatched up immediately. For whatever reason, he hasn't had many potential adopters look at him, and I just can't figure out why! He is very unique looking and so amazingly cute, I don't know how anyone can resist that face!
Fresco was such a good boy all day and charmed just about every person he met at the event. People were immediately drawn to him, and when they would come over to visit he would sit at their feet and just soak up the attention. He would often put his paw up to shake hands or lean against their legs to snuggle. If they squatted down low enough, he would actually try and crawl into the laps of complete strangers. It was so adorable! I already liked Fresco a lot, but he was so endearing all day it just made me want to take him home. I'm almost hoping he doesn't get adopted so that we'll have an excuse to foster him! Don't tell Chad! :)
The best part about my day was the wonderful dog that I took along to the event! His name is Fresco, and he's a hound/boxer mix who has been at the shelter since late November. He came in as a 10-12 week old puppy, and then moved into the adoption area when he was 4-5 months old. He was one of those dogs who was so adorable when he was first available that I thought he would be snatched up immediately. For whatever reason, he hasn't had many potential adopters look at him, and I just can't figure out why! He is very unique looking and so amazingly cute, I don't know how anyone can resist that face!
Fresco was such a good boy all day and charmed just about every person he met at the event. People were immediately drawn to him, and when they would come over to visit he would sit at their feet and just soak up the attention. He would often put his paw up to shake hands or lean against their legs to snuggle. If they squatted down low enough, he would actually try and crawl into the laps of complete strangers. It was so adorable! I already liked Fresco a lot, but he was so endearing all day it just made me want to take him home. I'm almost hoping he doesn't get adopted so that we'll have an excuse to foster him! Don't tell Chad! :)
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Munchkin Land
This weekend we had another fun visit with the munchkins from KC--our nephews Miles and Quinn. Chad's brother Mark and his wife had to chaperon the prom at Mark's school (Barstow), and since I was already going to be in KC on Saturday, I just went by and picked them up and brought them back to Lawrence with me.The boys' visit consisted of many of the same activities of their last stay in Lawrence: playgrounds, bubbles, toys, drawing (you can see what a serious artist Miles is), piano playing, and reading stories. We actually went to a real "sit-down" restaurant for dinner and
managed to make it through bath night without too much trauma. Since it was such a beautiful morning, we tossed the frisbee around before going to the playground, and best of all, we managed to make it through another stay without turning on the television or video games!Each time the boys stay, they get a little more used to the routine and rules at Uncle Chad and Aunt Kim's, so maybe next visit we'll actually get up and around in time to take them to church!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
We're Off To See The Wizard
Well actually, last night we were off to see Dorothy! Chad and I experienced something completely new and different as we went to see our first ever grade school theatrical production. Our friend Quillen starred as Dorothy (at least in the first half) in the annual Raintree Upper Elementary production of The Wizard of Oz. After a rainy day, the weather
was lovely, which was very lucky since the play was in Raintree's outdoor amphitheater. There were some really cute performances, and Quillen had tons of lines to memorize, and she didn't forget a single one! We were very impressed at all the hard work she put into it!
Another exciting part of the evening was seeing Quillen's cousin Gibson, who we've only seen a couple of times since his brain surgery last fall. The last time we saw him he still needed some assistance walking, but last night, he was running around like a normal boy who's almost five! We took a trip to Sheridan's for some custard after the show, and Gibson was chasing his uncle Grant all over the place! It was so good to see him doing so well!
For more information about Gibson's surgery, you can check my blog on the subject from last September, or you can check out Gibson's Caring Bridge site, where his mom keeps his family and friends updated on his progress!
was lovely, which was very lucky since the play was in Raintree's outdoor amphitheater. There were some really cute performances, and Quillen had tons of lines to memorize, and she didn't forget a single one! We were very impressed at all the hard work she put into it!Another exciting part of the evening was seeing Quillen's cousin Gibson, who we've only seen a couple of times since his brain surgery last fall. The last time we saw him he still needed some assistance walking, but last night, he was running around like a normal boy who's almost five! We took a trip to Sheridan's for some custard after the show, and Gibson was chasing his uncle Grant all over the place! It was so good to see him doing so well!
For more information about Gibson's surgery, you can check my blog on the subject from last September, or you can check out Gibson's Caring Bridge site, where his mom keeps his family and friends updated on his progress!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
From Black Dog to Dancing Queen
Last weekend while I was taking pictures at the Lawrence Humane Society, I was also enjoying the company of a great assistant volunteer photographer who came along to help me! Our friends Heather and Grant had a wedding to go to on Saturday, so we made plans to spent part of the weekend with their daughter Quillen, who decided she wanted to come to the shelter with me. Quillen has always been very good with animals, but she is especially soft-hearted and caring when it comes to dogs. We took many puppies out to play and met some wonderful new furry faces at the shelter. My favorite was Ace, a Coonhound who was a little sheepish but very sweet. Quillen's favorite was a little black Lab puppy named Emily, who was extremely calm for a puppy her age!
After Quillen's first LHS volunteer experience, she and Chad played some cards, and then we headed out to Village West for a little shopping! Quillen and I each got a new Life is Good t-shirt, while Chad got some cool new walkie-talkies, and Quillen picked out a very funny stuffed animal frog!
We decided to eat at The Legends in Village West, but as usual, the wait at every restaurant was super long. After checking out the T-Rex Cafe and deciding we didn't have that much patience, we settled on the Saddle Ranch Chop House right across the way. While it was mildly entertaining to watch people fall off of the mechanical bull, the wait was too long, the food was marginal and the atmosphere was annoyingly LOUD! We certainly wouldn't recommend the place!
Upon our arrival back in Lawrence, Quillen quickly changed into her new t-shirt and modeled some of our purchases before we headed to the basement for a few rounds of Dance Dance Revolution on the Xbox. After getting pooped out from dancing, we watched a few funny animal videos on YouTube, one of our favorites being Zoe the dancing parrot. By the time we headed off to bed, we'd had a very full and fun day!
Quillen is always great to have as a houseguest, and one of the many amazing qualities about her is that in her entire life, she's hardly ever complained about her bedtime! In fact, she's always the first to tell you when she's tired and ready for bed. Even when she was a tiny little preschooler, she would often tell her parents when she was ready to call it a night, which always amazed me!
Quillen is a very mature and well-behaved kid who is always great fun to be around! We keep telling her parents we're going to keep taking advantage of these years that she still wants to hang out with us, because after she heads off to junior high next year, we're guessing it's not going to be so cool to hang out with Kim and Chad!
After Quillen's first LHS volunteer experience, she and Chad played some cards, and then we headed out to Village West for a little shopping! Quillen and I each got a new Life is Good t-shirt, while Chad got some cool new walkie-talkies, and Quillen picked out a very funny stuffed animal frog!
We decided to eat at The Legends in Village West, but as usual, the wait at every restaurant was super long. After checking out the T-Rex Cafe and deciding we didn't have that much patience, we settled on the Saddle Ranch Chop House right across the way. While it was mildly entertaining to watch people fall off of the mechanical bull, the wait was too long, the food was marginal and the atmosphere was annoyingly LOUD! We certainly wouldn't recommend the place!
Upon our arrival back in Lawrence, Quillen quickly changed into her new t-shirt and modeled some of our purchases before we headed to the basement for a few rounds of Dance Dance Revolution on the Xbox. After getting pooped out from dancing, we watched a few funny animal videos on YouTube, one of our favorites being Zoe the dancing parrot. By the time we headed off to bed, we'd had a very full and fun day!
Quillen is always great to have as a houseguest, and one of the many amazing qualities about her is that in her entire life, she's hardly ever complained about her bedtime! In fact, she's always the first to tell you when she's tired and ready for bed. Even when she was a tiny little preschooler, she would often tell her parents when she was ready to call it a night, which always amazed me!
Quillen is a very mature and well-behaved kid who is always great fun to be around! We keep telling her parents we're going to keep taking advantage of these years that she still wants to hang out with us, because after she heads off to junior high next year, we're guessing it's not going to be so cool to hang out with Kim and Chad!
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