Batting cage is up for the year

Last year we had an invasion of poison ivy so we didnt use the batting cage past the first week of April.  This year, we are on top of things so I ended up putting up the cage and off we went for batting practice.  Jack has gotten much better at hitting since last year so I have to be much quicker in my reaction.....We need to get some new pitching machine balls so i was pitching by hand....oh the shoulder....no, i'm actually holding up quite well seeing i'm an old buck

A school vacation day...guess where we went today !!

Another glorious time spent with our old friend black Gordon.  We all played wall ball around the station cutouts...the tennis ball only went through a couple of times but never made it to the street this time.

Racing down alongside the trains...a

Perfect example of youthful exuberance..

The Championship swim meet begins in Florida...

Well Bernie and Lauren came from a long distance away and shared our Saturday meet.  It was great to see both of them and the kids really appreciate that they came all this way to watch.

This is my favorite moment of my weekend.  Laura came right up to me on the deck and i was in the stands and came rushing down.  She was told that no only had she won the 100 Free but her time was an Age Group qualifying time...which had meant that she would qualify for Zones if she got one more AGE group time.  Its a super elite tourney in August, this year its in New York.  The sound of her voice, the excitement and overall exuberance I didn't care if she were telling me she won jelly bean eating championship, I was all in it.  I wanted to reach right through those bars and give her a great big hug.....Such a moment and i'm so glad Lauren was there and took a photo of it....I didnt know she had until later that night i was talking to Aunt Jo and she told me that she liked that picutre...its awesome

Tampa swim meet

Now, I thought this hat was quite stlylish.  It was a Panama Jack hat and I thought for sure all those Floridians would accept me as one of their own when they saw me wearing it.

Laura and Emily having no problem on the plane

In the hotel pool these two goofballs kept trying to make hearts but just couldnt succeed....they were so cute

     Well, where else would you go when youre in Tampa?   The Tampa Bay Downs it was....you go to a horse track of course......we had several hours to waste.  We were going to go to Busch gardens but they scheduled a swim practice during the time we had planned to go....so it was off to the race track. See this horse, yes, the number 6 horse...DUKE OF LUKE was his name...he couldnt win...it was so cute that the girls liked him because they liked his name.  I scoured the sheets and it was cute that they sat there and would cheer him on.....I held my nose as I placed the bet for him as well as my stud...Well, of course he won and my horse came in a bit behind...OK, he came in last.  After the race Laura had the racebook to look at the names and she says "here daddy, you take the book so you can look at your ?statistics'." emphasis added to the word statistics...... Yes, there was a bit of sarcasm in her voice....

     Our breakfast fish....

     Here is the ump at the finish line...he's a natural