Philly Trip Pictures

Finally - some pictures from our Spring Break trip to Philadelphia. 

Sometimes vacations are stressful, especially when they are quick. But this one ended up being so relaxing. We felt like we really had time to just rest, relax, and reconnect with our family. So here are some of the highlights:

 Nothing better than watching the boys hang out with their uncles! 

I love watching my brothers, friends for life and best friends as adults, 

and hope that my boys will have the same bond. 

 The boys loved making "Peeps nests" so much last year when my parents were down with us for Easter that we decided to make them again. 

 One morning we took a walk through mom and dad's neighborhood. 

We played at the park, had a cheese steak, and enjoyed the scenery.

 The church mom and dad are attending. Just a few short blocks from their house. 

 Nathaniel and uncle Ben are kindred spirits! 

They both love to play hard, wrestle, laugh and love intensely. 

 Nathaniel and Uncle Ben compare bumps from broken collar bones (which they both have).

 Two cheeky monkeys! 

 It was nice to be at my parents place in Philadelphia and have various family members come a visit us. 

Nathaniel getting his opa spankings. :-) 

 One of Nathaniel's favorite things to do was to help opa build fires in the fire place. 

It was their daily ritual. 

Ninja moves. 

We spent our last day in Philly at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was a perfect spring day and all the flowering trees and bushes were in full bloom. It was a great day!

 Oma and Jeremiah both love maps, so naturally a route had to mapped out. 

 Nathaniel sad that I told him not to touch the peacock. 

He loves peacocks.

 Who is watching who here?

 We love giraffe's!

 Look close! Aunt Ramona and her nephews.

 One of the cool things about this zoo was that they had sculptures of animals everywhere that were not only beautiful pieces art but obviously perfect for climbing. 

 Oma and the boys took a fun ride in the swan paddle boat.

 The lions were sleeping so Nathaniel decided to roar and wake them up. 

They were pretty intent on their naps though. 

 GI Joe moves in front of the huge cobra. 

Nathaniel ran up to me, "Look mama! It's the sign for Cobra Commander!"

 The one thing Jeremiah wanted to see was a kangaroo with a joey in it's pouch. And look what was one of the last things we saw. Beautiful and amazing!

 That rhinoceros was crazy huge!

 An awesome climbing tree by the zoo exit. 

The boys could have happily climbed there all day.

One of the fun things about our trip was the boys that lived next door to my parents. The younger ones were the same age as Jeremiah and Nathaniel and the older boy was kind and patient. They spent hours each day playing outside together! It was so great for the boys to have built in playmates. It was a real gift for all of us. 

Opening Day

Let's just say that baseball is a big deal in our area. Big. Deal. I knew that, but I honestly had no idea. Apparently the spring baseball and softball season starts off with a parade. And opening ceremonies. With pretty much the whole town there. This is how we spent Thursday night, our introduction to the world of baseball.

 Jeremiah's team float. He and Aaron are on there somewhere. 

 This parade had lots of good candy. And since all the kids were on the floats Nathaniel got quite the stash. Seriously, he filled up my purse and there was still candy laying all over the ground.  

 All the teams from our town lined up for the opening ceremonies. 

 National anthem. Jeremiah is #5. 

 "Go Outlaws!" 

Each team had their name called and ran out to the pitchers mound. 

Running back, ready to play and full of energy.  

 Warm ups before the 1st game. 

 Jeremiah with one of his coaches. 

This coach is very thoughtful and spends a lot of time really teaching Jeremiah what to do. 

All of his coaches are good men, but this guy is exceptionally generous and kind. 

 The ball fields on a spring evening. A pretty sight really.

 On the field for his first game ever.

Nathaniel plays with a friend. There are all kinds of kids running around for him to play with.  

 Jeremiah's first at bat.

(I was so freaking nervous!)

 A hit!

 Running the bases!

 He made it to 3rd base on his first hit in his first game! 

I, who am pretty non-competitive, was actually jumping up and down yelling "Run, Jeremiah, run!"

The next batter hit him in to home. It was so exciting! However, he had to be told by his coach to go back and actually tag home plate. Oops. 

 In the dug out. 

His coach put him in as catcher after the regular catcher had to leave sick. I was so nervous! He did a great job but it was obvious he still wasn't sure about the mechanics of the game. 

The Outlaws lost their first game on Thursday night. But they played well against a team who had already played in a tournament and had some games under their belt. Last night they had another game and it was so much fun to watch! It was a really close game against a really good team and The Outlaws held their own. Even though they lost, it was only by a few points, and they obviously played much better. I could tell that Jeremiah understood more the way the game worked. 

I am still torn about how competitive this sport is. Especially at this young age. I really just want Jeremiah to have a good time. But it is obvious that there are teams, coaches, and parents who are super competitive. The majority of these kids have been playing since they were 3 years old! I am hoping that we will get to enjoy the season, that Jeremiah will learn a lot and have lots of fun. So far he really enjoys it so I think we are off to a good start. 

Baseball Season

When our kids were little we always agreed that we would only let them play 1 sport per year. We have loved being a "soccer family." Soccer down here is pretty laid back, especially in the early years.We have made many new and good friends in the community through our involvement in soccer. I love sitting out in the early fall air, chatting with my friends as we watch our kids play. But the one thing I don't like about soccer season is how busy it makes us. Being out of the house and staying up late 2-3 nights a week plus Saturdays just isn't ideal for us and we all feel it. 

This year Jeremiah begged us to play baseball. We have avoided baseball for a number of reasons; it is a more competitive sport down here, kids start playing at 3 years old, the season is longer than soccer season,   the games are more boring when the kids are younger. But this year we gave in and signed him up. He has been so excited! He has been practicing with his team (all boys who have been playing since they were 3 years old, yikes!) and learning the basics of the game. This week he got his uniform and is so excited to wear it. I think he is more excited about his uniform than he is about actually playing the game. 

Our simple Easter

This Easter was different than our traditional Easter celebrations in years past. We showed up at church in our "normal" clothes. We didn't take the fancy Easter pictures. Ms. Linda was sick and couldn't host the traditional lunch and confetti egg smashing, but we came home and spent a lovely afternoon with friends having our first cookout of the season. We took delicious long naps. We spent the evening around our outdoor fire pit roasting marshmallows and telling silly stories. As dark settled in, the stars came out, our stories got sillier, and we dissolved into laughter Jeremiah snuggled up to me and said, "This is the best night of my life!" Reminding me that good memories come not from the helter-skelter planning of elaborate celebrations but from the simple ways we choose to spend time together.