Time has flown by since my last post.

First, the track team ended its season last week at the district track meet. We did not have anyone advance. We didn't think anyone would advance, but it would have been nice to sneak one into this week's regional meet.

Second. Kent's team played a good solid game last Thursday. They won by 3 runs. Kent played well in the field as well as at bat. He is getting better each week. They lost last night, and I was not there, but I heard he did well again.

Third. We finally made it to the camper. The weekend was beautiful, except for the 30 minutes of rain on Sunday. Saturday, Christy and her family come down to pick up Taylor. Taylor went camping with her grandparents and uncle. So, I gave boat rides to anyone that wanted one. Sunday, the Tolins came down, so more boat rides, swimming and fishing. Plus, good food was prepared by Jeff. Monday, T and B headed to Canton for the parade. My mom came down as well. We tried to cook off the boat, but it was too windy. So, we ended up cooking at our dock. All in all, it was a great weekend. We are looking forward to this weekend already.

Update time.

Friday. K's team won a thriller 18-17. K batted really well, but fielded, not so well. EE scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th for the win.
Saturday. Today was the PTC finals. We did not fair well as a team. I am really embarrassed by some of the times we turned in. A couple of guys did step up and ran their best times of the year. Afterwards, I meet T and the family at Christy and Mike's. We had an awesome dinner of chicken and ribs. We went for a walk in the local park, then it was in to the hot tub for the kids. We let them 'swim' for about 30 minutes or so. Then, it was time for 'adult' swim! We ended up drinking and hot tubbing for 3 hours. I am sure that was way too long to do either, but it was fun. We are planning do have another party next month.
Sunday. We went over to my sister's for a dinner with Aunt Helen. She was in town to visit family. We had a fun time with everyone.
Today. K's team lost 21-11. They looked bad in the field and at bat. K had his best total game of the year. 4-4 at bat and made 2 good plays in the field.

We moved the dock from one side of Atwood to the other side last night. Dad and I have a pretty good system and we work well together to install and remove the dock. I thought the most eventful part of the evening was when dad cut his hand on a metal pole, but I was wrong. After we installed the dock at the new location, we wanted to go for a boat ride. Teresa was being nice and offered to put the boat sticker on the back pontoon. I was making sure all the kids had their life jacket on, I heard 'Oh sh*t !' followed by a big splash sound. As she was leaning down to apply the sticker to the pontoon, she grab the back sun deck for support. The sun deck is in three sections and all three sections open out towards the back of the boat. So, as she grab the sun deck, it started to open and she lost her balance and fell in. She went in with her cell phone in her pocket and her watch on. She was wear a nice big sweatshirt and jeans. She looked like a drowned rat. I did not take any pictures, or let B's friend take one on her cell phone. Oh, the water was a chilly 58 degrees. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, I just wanted her out of the water. Thankfully, we always bring down a change of clothes just in case. Well, last night, was just in case.

Prom 2009

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. The kids made gifts for T this year. K found flamingo socks at the zoo and gave them to her as well. We had lunch to T's parents. They watched the kids for us, while we attended prom last night. Then we had cake here for K's birthday. My mom and dad came over, but no one else.


The school year is slowly winding down. There is only a few more weeks left. I am ready for the school year to be over. Actually, I am ready for track season to be over. It has been a tough season. It is just time for it too be over.

A couple of pics from the Akron Zoo.

Update from the last week.

Monday. It was golf night. I did better than last week. But, still not were I think I should be. I will miss the next 3 weeks of golf due to K's baseball games.

Tuesday. We ran against Woodridge and Streetsboro. We lost both meets. It is frustrating when kids back out of events they should run, because they know they will lose. But, isn't about improving your times? Doing better than last week? I was in a bad mood Tuesday night.

Thursday. We ran at Dalton. It is the fun meet of the year. Of course the fresh 1/2 BBQ chicken was great. The guys seems to run with more of a propose than on Tuesday.

I also chaperoned K's field trip to the Akron Zoo. We had a fun time together. You only need about two hours to see the whole thing. The jellyfish were the best. I managed to great some great pictures.

Friday. I was back in school after my personal day. K had his second baseball game tonight. His team won 7-5. He played good in the field and went 2-4 at the plate. He helped turn a double play. He caught a line drive and threw to first for the double play. He was awarded the game ball. Oh, by the way, it is his 8th birthday today. I still remember being at the hospital that day. He was not an easy delivery. But, in the end, he was delivered c section and he is a healthy 8 year old.

The newest resident at our house. I found her while doing yard work this weekend. I am surprised the nest survived the rain on Friday.
The 2009 Wildcat Invitational went well Friday night. The rains held off until later in the night. Here is a link for the results http://baumspage.com/track/mogadore/res09.htm
The track team has 2 meets this week. Tuesday at Mogadore and Thursday at Dalton. Thursday is our fun meet of the year.
Saturday was the first parade for B. Also, it was T's first parade as marching mom. It was a beautiful weather, not to hot and not to cold. After the parade, we went to the lake for a boat ride. We took one of B's friend with us. It was a much better day on the lake. We might not make it down there again for a week or so due to our schedules. We ended the night next door sitting around their fire. We stayed up til almost midnight.
Today was a work day around the house. I replaced the garbage disposal. It ended up being easier than I thought. Then, I went out and mowed the grass. Jason from next door trimmed both sides of the fence line. T and I did some cleaning/straighten of the shed. We are thinking about having a garage sale. We have so much stuff we need to get rid of in both the shed and garage. We made pie irons for dinner and followed it up with s'mores. I can't complain about the weekend.

If it is Tuesday, then it must be track and it must be raining. Well, the rain stopped before the meet started. It was just us and Waterloo. The meet was over in just 2.5 hours. We got beat, but time are going down even in this bad weather. It will be cold again tomorrow for junior high track.
Golf yesterday was good. I hit the ball well, but putted really really bad. I could have cut 4 strokes off my score with any amount of decent putting. Anyways, it was good to play golf in 80 degree weather in April.

Today will be the fourth straight day of above 80 degree temperature. The sun is out and there is not a cloud in site.
Yesterday was busy. I had to go to Atwood and move the boat to my dad's dock. We took a small rise as well. The waves were not a big as Saturday, but still no like normal. We left Atwood and went to baseball practice. I got to see T for a brief minute as she was home getting B ready for marching practice, while K got his baseball stuff. After practice, K and I went to hear the Ohio State University Men's Glee Club sing in Fairlawn. G met us there. He took me to hear them years ago in Columbus. I still love listening to an all-male choir. The concert was great. A Mogadore grad is in the choir, so it is good to see a former student perform.
So, today I was kind of glad to be back at school. It is almost relaxing.

Til next time,

Bayou

I tried to center this picture, but the waves were making sure the picture would be out of wack. We were out on the lake on a very windy and choppy day. This boat flagged us down. Their motor quit working, so we towed them back to the marina. It was a slow go with the waves and heading directly into the wind. But, we did our good dead for the day. I am so glad my dad was on board to help out as well.
It was just me and J here at the house last night. T and B were spending the night at girl scout camp. J went to AT's house for an overnighter. The real bonus of the night was J staying in his own bed all night.

Our boat

T and I on the maiden voyage.
Papa and the kids.

Our family on our first boat ride.

We finally got the boat on the water today. We were able to take a nice evening time cruise. We are looking forward to many days cruising around Atwood Lake.

Ok, recapping the the week so far...

Tuesday was track at E. Canton. The weather was ok. I was windy and cold, but no rain! Our times are coming down and distances are going up.
Also on Tuesday, T's grandma went home. According to T, she is looking and feeling much better. She went back to her apartment. She will have a visiting nurse check on her.
Yesterday was junior high track. The weather was hit or miss. It would rain for 10 minutes, then be sunny for 20.
We are going to try to go on the boat tonight. T and B will be gone this weekend, so I want the whole family to be on the boat for the first ride. It will be a quick ride tonight. We will need to get B back home and in bed. She has OAT testing tomorrow.

T sits in the new boat...You may notice it is still on the trailer. Well, there is a very good reason for that. It never made it to the water. The maiden voyage was put on hold due to a dead battery. Hopefully, we can put on the water next weekend.
We had a good evening at the Neckos last night, Mike cooked up some great steaks. The kids took a dip in the hot tub. The adults, minus Mike, also took turn in the hot tub. It is always fun to visit with them. I have know Christy since junior year in high school. We both went to KSU, so we have been friends for a long time.

We ran in the rain Tuesday night. We lost to both schools, but the guys improved their times/distances. Someday, I would love to have a nice day for a track meet. Then, Wednesday night, the junior high school track team had a meet. Guess what? It rained for them as well.

The weather looks good for a boat launch on Saturday. Keep posted for pictures.

Bayou out.

Here is a quick Grandma update. She is still in the hospital. I am not sure how long they are planning on her staying. It looks like her medications were causing most of her problems. They are going to readjust the doses and see how she reacts. She will most likely head to a rehab facility for a month before heading home. However, it looks like she will need to be in assisted living.
In track news, we are going to run in the rain tonight. It was chilly at Manchester last week, but it will be cold and rain tonight.

Last week flew by. It was busy, but relaxing as well.
I took Monday and Tuesday off as personal days. My kids were on Spring Break. I had hoped to put the boat into the water, but the weather prevented that from happening. We ended up staying home and finding way to entertain us. (Wii, DVD, games, etc...)
Monday, I watched the Indians lose their first game of the season to the Texas Rangers. For that matter they lost all three in Texas. Then in the evening I watched N. Carolina defeat Michigan State for the NCAA Championship.
Wednesday was my birthday. I went back to school today. A couple of students, who are on Facebook, knew it was my birthday. T and the kids had a great dinner and cake for me when I got home from track practice. At some point during the evening, J put a 3 oz plastic cup down the toilet. T tried and tried to get it out. But, she could not get it out. It was until Friday, when T and I removed the toilet, where we able to get the cup out. Thankfully, I was at school and a track meet.
Good Friday. T and I spent an hour dismantling the toilet and re-mantling the toilet. (Is re-mantling a word?) But, the cup was removed from the pipe.
T worked on Saturday morning. B went to Nana and Papa's to help get ready for the Easter Egg Hunt. K had baseball practice in the morning. The team needs plenty of work, but we are getting better. When we got home, T called and said she was on her way home. So, she was able to get to the egg hunt on time. There was 10 of the 11 grandchildren there. The dad were in charge of hiding the eggs for their children. The kids had a fun time running all over the backyard looking for eggs. I will post pictures later.
Today. We got up and saw the Easter Bunny left gifts for the kids. J was not sounding well. He had a barky cough and stayed home with T while I took B and K to church. By the time we got home, J was feeling and sounding better. We had Easter dinner at T's parent's house. They also had an egg hunt for the kids. Grandma Rowen was there as well. She is not feeling well and ended up going to the ER for dehydration. She looked weak and could not even walk without help. We are waiting to hear an update.
School for everyone tomorrow.

K and I went up to Ann Arbor for the weekend. My buddy Jared and I went to Windsor to watch Final Four semi-finals on Saturday. We thought about trying to get tickets to the games, but with Michigan State playing, tickets were not cheap. So, we watched the game in the Sport Book in Caesar's.
We were going to stay until today, but the Detroit area was scheduled to get 6-12 inches of snow. So, we left Sunday afternoon. K is starting to like Nascar, so we listened to the race from Texas on the way home. K was happy Jeff Gordon won. He likes him, Jimmy Johnson and Kyle Bush.
I took today and tomorrow off as personal days. My kids are on spring break this week, so I wanted to spend some time with them. Hopefully, the weather will break soon and we can get the boat into the water.

Happy April! I was trying to think of something funny to post yesterday, but I was too late to post.
Last night, the family went to Pfeiffer MS and signed B up for band. She wants to play the saxophone in the band. Actually, she wants to be a majorette in high school, so she needs to play an instrument. I will need to get my sax out of storage and get it cleaned up. I let my cousin use it years ago, and it has be unused since. I generally play the tenor sax for alumni events and I get one from Mogadore, so my alto is just collecting dust. I want her to take a few lessons before school starts, just to have a basic understanding of the instrument and how to play it.
Tuesday night, K had his first official baseball practice. However, the pitching machine was locked up and our manager did not have the right key. Someone changed the locks and did not pass out new keys. We did station work. The hitting needs some improvement, but we really can't work on that until we can use the machine.
The weather looks like we will not be able to get the boat out of storage anytime soon. Today is the last "good" day for the next week. Oh well, we will be able to enjoy it soon enough.

Spring break is almost over. I did not complete as much as I would have liked, but it was relaxing. The weather was 50-50, 50% sunny and 50% rainy. I guess that is not too bad for March.
T managed to work 4 of the 5 days last week. So, J and I had plenty of time together. One thing the family started doing this week, are family walks. Monday T, J and I walked at Sippo Lake. It was a chilly, but sunny day. Sippo is part of Stark Parks. Stark Parks had plenty of trails to explore all over Stark County. I think we will walk several trail this summer. Tuesday afternoon, I took B, K, and J to Petro Park for the walking trail there. It is a 1.2 mile trail. It is a nice way to spend time with the kids. We could have walked more, but J's legs were "getting sleepy". Wednesday and Thursday were rainy, so no walking. However, dad and I went to Atwood and moved the deck and dock to the lot. I wanted to get the boat, but with the rain, it just wasn't worth it. I hope things are better this weekend. Friday, T, J and I ended up at Stadium Park in Canton. There is a 1.5 mile walking trail in the park. As we were walking past the gardens, a young lady spotted a man using a tree as a restroom. The park maintenance workers told him to stop and move along. A few minutes later, I spotted him taking off his pants, and underwear. He was in full view of the kids' area. I stopped the park guys again. This time they escorted him out of the woods. If I hadn't seen the park guys, I would have called the police. He just creeped me out. Then Friday night we went to see B in her school's talent show. She did a baton routine. We ended the day with a trip to Tasti Creme.
That wraps up spring break. 9 weeks until summer vacation. :)

Oh, one other thing, the San Angelo Colts will be playing baseball this summer. I don't know the details, but they will start playing ball in June.

The first weekend of March madness is over. Everyone is talking about their brackets. I still have my Final Four alive, like you really care. I just worry about my money bracket. Hopefully, I can win the cash!
The weather was beautiful this weekend. K's ball team had an informal practice on Saturday. We did hitting stations. I think that is going to be our biggest hurdle early in the season. The pitching machine will be set at 40mph at the beginning of the season. It will be a big adjustment for the team from coach pitch last year.
Today was the first day of spring break. T worked a half day. After lunch we went walking at the local park. It was a sunny day, but chilly. We walked about a mile. If the weather holds up, I will hit the trail again tomorrow.

Til next time,

Bayou