Professional pictures of Mason batting

I wish I could take credit for taking these pictures, but I can't. On Wednesday night Mark and Mason were at Forest Park. They go there sometimes and either watch the baseball games or play on the field if there are no games.

On this particular night a game of teenage boys had just ended and Mark was pitching to Mason. A little crowd had gathered around watching, amazed that such a little kid could hit the ball so well. Mark knows just how to pitch to him so that he hits it. With me, on the other hand, he doesn't hit so well because I can't pitch to him, especially overhand.

So...a professional photographer who had just finished photographing the game walked by and started taking pictures of Mason. After he had finished, he gave Mark his card with his personal e-mail on the back, and told Mark to e-mail him and he would send him the pictures.

These are the pictures that he sent. I can't believe how wonderful they are. I wish I could take pictures like that. Mason said "He had a BIG camera." How lucky for us that this photographer just happened to walk by at that time, and how nice of him to send them to Mark!

Throwback Thursday - Little boys and baseball

I babysat for Mason this afternoon. It was a hot afternoon and I couldn't believe he didn't want to go under the sprinkler or in the little pool. I'm used to Marley. Even at her age, she still gets in that little pool. At Mason's age, she would stay in there for hours. Mason, on the other hand, wants to play sports.

This afternoon we played frisbee, badmitton, corn hole, and baseball. I think, at the present time, baseball is his favorite. He insists that I pitch overhand, which I really stink at. He doesn't care. He will play for as long as you will.

As I was thinking about what to post for this week's Throwback Thursday, I came across the picture above of Paul and his Uncle George. Paul was about 3 or 4.

Then I went searching for a picture of Mark.



The back of the picture says June 1981 so he was almost 7. Mark definitely loved sports, which is why, I'm sure at this point, Mason loves sports so much.



So.....as Dot would say, "It's in the family." Kristen told Marley a little while ago, "We're going to be going to a lot of sports games."

This boy loves sports!

This boy LOVES sports. Tonight it was too wet and buggy to play in the yard, so he played basketball under the carport. We have a kids basketball hoop, and tonight Mason wanted us to put the hoop up higher. This kid really has good aim.





Mason has also been loving baseball this Spring. Of course, Mark loves to play baseball with him. But really, he has a good eye. He also has the lingo down. I was pitching to him a few nights ago and when he missed the ball, he asked me what I was supposed to say. When I said "what", he said, "keep your eye on the ball." He also says, "I got a piece of it" plus, numerous other baseball sayings.

Mark (and I) were playing with him in the yard the other night, and here are a few cute pictures....











Minnie was watching from her perch in the cellar. LOL!



On May 12th Mark had a tennis match at the Enfield Tennis Club. Paul and I went to watch Mason while he was playing. Big Baba went too. The club has a second floor where you can watch the games going on, and also it has a room for "little tennis players." Mason and I played "tennis/baseball" (playing with a racquet and tennis ball, but hitting the ball like a baseball, LOL) for almost the whole two hour match. He just can't get enough of it. Here are some cute pictures.....

Saturday.....

Paul wanted to try a new restaurant today. When he was telling one of our neighbors about Lenny & Joe's, he told Paul about the Maine Fish Market Restaurant in E. Windsor, CT. We tried it for lunch today. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful! We both had fried scallops again, but this was more of a whole meal; salad, bread, potato or rice, vegetable. REALLY, really good!

After that we were going to go to Mark's tennis match but we had some time to kill so we drove by Paul's old work, Combustion Engineering, aka ABB, aka Alstom. The main building was completely gone, torn down.



By the sounds of it they are still doing environmental cleanup there (they used to build nuclear boilers).



After that we met Mark, Janelle, and Mason at the Enfield Tennis Club. Mark belongs to a league and this is their home court. He had a 2-hour tennis match (that he won by the way).





On the second floor there is a long room with windows on both sides where you can watch the games going on. There is a smaller room with a kids' tennis court set up, another room with toddler toys in it. In the main room there are lots of tables and chairs, a ping pong table, crayons, games, etc. Mason really liked the little tennis court. After some members of Mark's league finished on their court there was some time left and they said that Mason could play on it. He looked so tiny out there.







P.S. Some more post offices -

E. Windsor, CT


Conway, MA (from a previous ride)

Mason the hockey player

Mason loves sports already. Part of it, I'm sure, is because Mark plays sports with him, a lot. He recently bought him these little hockey sticks and little hockey "ball." They were playing in my kitchen this afternoon.

Note the hockey "gloves" that Mason has on (Mark's gloves from work).





I have a feeling that our family is going to be going to a lot of sports games!!

Today was quite a busy day!

First, a bridal shower for my co-worker's son's fiancee. It was at Westwood Restaurant in Westfield. Bridal showers are always a fun time.



Then, Janelle, Kris and I had our yearly Mother's Day pedicure. We now have summer ready toes (if we ever get any warm weather to actually let our toes show!).



But, the best part of the day was that Marley FINALLY learned to ride her bike. Just a little FYI, Marley has had almost no interest in riding a bike. Every summer we get her bike out, she tries a few times and then gives up, seemingly not really caring. We all figured when she really wanted to ride it, she would. And that is what happened today. I'm not sure what triggered it, except for the fact that Mason is absolutely enthralled with Paul's bike and tonight I let him sit on it. Marley asked Paul to get her bike out and then for the next couple of hours she tried to ride it. She was determined! My neighbors must have thought that Paul and I had lost our minds. I was babysitting for both Marley and Mason, so there we were out in front of my house, Mason and Paul eating pizza at the end of the driveway and me taking pictures and videos and cheering Marley on.





She took some good falls, skinning her knees, elbows, hands, but she kept getting back on. By the end of the night she and Paul were riding their bikes around the circle. She was so proud of herself and couldn't wait to call her parents.

As I said, quite a busy day!

254/365 - Tennis and 1st Annual Mason and Marley zoo picture

Today Mark played in a tennis tournament at Forest Park; the Robert Freedman Memorial Tennis Tournament. He played two matches; won the first one, lost the second one. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately I had to work but Paul watched both matches. Kristen and Marley babysat for Mason while he took his nap as Janelle had to work also. We all met up there before the last match was over.


On a different note....

I have been thinking about how to do the "annual zoo picture" with Mason that I have been doing with Paul and Marley. I decided to have him walking with Marley. Since we were all at Forest Park today and there was a nice little wooded lane nearby, it was the perfect day to do it. I think the picture came out really cute.

Champions

Marley's basketball team, Picture Awards, Girls Midgets in West Springfield won the championship game today. It was a close game with lots of tense moments. They had a little award ceremony after the game. Would you believe my camera battery ran out right before the picture for the awards? Luckily Kristen's phone camera came to the rescue. After the game we went out for pizza to celebrate!



(Marley is #10)

360/365 - Marley at basketball

Marley had a basketball game today. She has moved up an age group. She now plays on Girls Under 10. These girls are much more serious (Marley not so much...), scores are kept, and more calls are made for rule infractions. She informed her mother today that this is her last year for sports! She really has gotten a lot better and she likes it once she gets to the games. I hope she stays with it... We'll see.

She is the one (with the red arrow pointing to her) fixing her knee pads. The last game she took a couple of nasty falls and scraped up her knees pretty bad!

290/365 - Marley playing soccer

Action shot with Marley making contact with the ball (always a good thing). She's the one in green and pink. She has really improved in the second half of this season. It's as if something finally clicked (until she gets tired!) :)

262/365 - Marley the soccer goalie

This picture cracks me up. Marley seems to like playing goalie. Kristen says it's because there is not a lot of running involved. Actually, she did pretty well today. Last week was her first game (and I forgot my camera believe it or not) but she was sick and probably shouldn't have even been there. I guess we shouldn't have been surprised when she did a lot better today!