Kanin's 1st Baseball Game

Ever since I laid eyes on my firstborn son, I wanted him to be a baseball player.  I love baseball (couldn't you tell??) and I just knew that he would love it, too.  Up until this year, though, Kanin just never got in to baseball.  Somehow over the past year he caught the bug and finally, finally I got to see my boy play baseball.

It actually worked out great this year.  Since Kanin has never played baseball before, Scott and I were worried that he would be far behind the other kids when it came to skill and understanding of the game.  I know most of the kids on his hockey team, including him, have been ice skating and playing hockey since 3 or 4 years old so I just figured baseball was the same way.  We got lucky, though, because a lot of kids on his hockey team also play on the same baseball team.  They needed extra boys this year and they were happy to have Kanin join them.  It was great because he already knew some of the players and coaches and we knew that he would fit right in.

Thursday night was Kanin's first baseball game with the "Orange Crush" team, Juice.

The boys each got to pick their own numbers and he picked #42 because of Jackie Robinson.  He's old school like that.

Here he is at his first at-bat.  Momma was nervous but . . .

 

his first EVER at-bat and the very first pitch and Kanin hit a double!

Here he is after being driven in by a teammate right after his double.  Look at that smile.  He told me later, 

"I just couldn't stop smiling."

It was a great first game.  Kanin had a huge cheering section.  I now see my summers being taken up by baseball and my winters by hockey.  Guess I can't complain about either one of those.

Opening Day 2012

Friday was the day that every Cardinal fan lives for . . .

Opening Day.

Last week it was in the '90's here in St. Louis.  Wouldn't you know it?  Opening Day comes around and it is barely 50 and pouring down rain.  Did that stop us?  No way!

I got down to Busch around 9:15am (game was supposed to start at 2:30pm) and all of the parking lots around the stadium were already packed.  I ended up finding a spot but it was nowhere near where I was supposed to be.  Oh well, I just had to go with the flow and get all of the stuff out and start setting up.  Luckily, my neighbor had this tent that I thought to throw in or it would have been one miserable day.

At one point, we had close to 20 people underneath this little tent.

Once it was time for the opening ceremonies to start, Flat Stanley and I made our way up to the ballpark.

The Cardinals have a great tradition of having a player parade before Opening Day.  Normally, the Budweiser Clydesdales lead off the parade but since it had been raining for 4 hours, they didn't make it.  Fredbird comes by and then out come the Hall of Famers.

Lou Brock

Bob Gibson

Red Schoendist

Ozzie Smith

Bruce Sutter

Whitey Herzog

And, of course, Stan "The Man" Musial

We were still celebrating last year's World Series win.  It was so foggy and rainy on Opening Day but if you look to the far right, you will see the 2011 Championship Flag flying.

Participating in his first Opening Day as the Cardinals' manager, Mike Matheney.

The Secret Weapon, Jose Oquendo

Mark McGwire

"Puma" Lance Berkman

Chris Carpenter

Kanin's favorite player, closer Jason Motte

Matt Holliday

New Addition, Carlos Beltran

After sitting out in the rain for an extra 2 hours because of a rain delay, I really wasn't in my normal Opening Day euphoric mood.  Scott cleaned up the tailgate and met me inside.  We saw the first Cubs player bat and then it started raining . . . AGAIN!  I just couldn't do it.  My socks were soaked, I was freezing, my pants legs were wet up to my knees.  I looked at Scott and said,

"There are going to be 80 more games after this one.  I can't sit out in the rain anymore." 

So, yes, we left . . . in the top of the 1st inning.

We couldn't head out, though, before grabbing one quick pic from us.

Blues Playoffs, Game 1

Thursday night was the first night of playoffs.  Scott wasn't able to go so it was a perfect chance for a little Mommy-Kanin time. 

His class read Flat Stanley and each student got their own Flat Stanley.  We have him for a whole month and then we have to create a poster board of his travels.  This was Stanley's first trip.  Not too bad, huh?

We stopped outside at the Al MacInnis statue to take a quick pic.

Unfortunately, we lost that first game but came back and beat the Sharks last night to tie the series 1-1. 

Playoff Hockey is Back in the Lou!

Can I get a "Let's Go Blues"?

Tonight is Game 1 in the St. Louis Blues' quest for Lord Stanley.

On the eve of what should be a Missouri state holiday (St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day), the St. Louis Blues are back in the playoffs.  What a fantastic two days of sports for our town.  I'm taking Kanin to the game tonight since Gaga has to DJ.  He is so exicted and so am I!

Let's Go Blues!

Easter, Part 2

After the sickness and Easter outfit debacle, we headed out to Debbie's house for a fantastic dinner.  I thought it was great because there was a lot of Pinterest inspiration and extra creativity going on (sorry I don't have links):

After stuffing ourselves, it was time for the kids to hunt for Easter eggs.

The kids had fun hunting eggs but they missed Ali, Aidan, and Kenzie.

After hunting eggs, it was time for dyeing some.

Later, the kids had fun just playing outside and then a very unexpected visitor showed up.

Hope you all had as Blessed, and hopefully less stressful, as Easter as we did!