Exhaustion

45.

After a very long, very hot day of three 3-on-3 basketball games and 2 1/2 hrs of swimming, the Little Prince fell asleep watching the Ironpigs. He was hoping to play Mario Kart on the Wii, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Nonstop fun

44.

So much fun today that I have two pictures. First, a visit from the Little Prince's cousins. What could be more fun than eating grilled cheese sandwiches in swim trunks, blowing up noisy balloons, playing kazoos and getting sprayed with the hose? Maybe Wii Sports in the air conditioning. It was hot outside!!

After the family left, we had a visit from school friends. This is the third year they've come over and we had another great time, even though we had to pack up early and move the party inside because of a thunderstorm. But we need the rain, so no one complained.

Locust shell

43.
In the palm of my hand
I hold
A locust shell
Brown, hollow, and empty
As an abandoned cave.
Hard yet crumbly,
It is curled up just like the real locust.
The shell where its eyes had been
Is translucent
And shiny like brown glass.
A reminder that life is passing.

Note: I have since been informed that this is a cicada rather than a locust. What can I say? I was in the moment, having seen this and found the above poem that I wrote as a high school freshman.

Halfway there

42.

The Little Prince and I went school shopping today, seeing as our summer is more than half over. It made me a bit sad, although I will not mind a break from finding something for him to do all day, every day. Also made me wonder - why does a 3rd grader need post-it notes, red pens, yellow highlighter and black erasable pens? What happened to the good old #2 pencils? Oh wait, he needs those, too.

Bounce pass

41.

Same guys, different sport. The Little Prince had three of his teammates over for some 2-on-2 to get ready for Saturday's 3-on-3 competition. They will be playing in the 3rd-5th grade bracket. Should be interesting.

Pearly whites

40.

And a new almost-grownup toothbrush.

Chop, chop

39.

The Little Prince is ready for his close-up. Haircut, that is.

Can't get enough

38.

Even at a friend's birthday swim party, there was baseball. The kids had a game going in the pool, in the yard next to the pool and here the Little Prince throws a pitch with a water-logged ball as part of some baseball-related game. After a week of scattered rain (for which we are VERY thankful), the Little Prince is excited about the playoff game tomorrow, which was scheduled to be played last Monday. He knows the man in the press box who "does the balls and strikes" and is hopeful that he can join him there.

Spur of the moment

37.

At the last minute, we got tickets for a Senator's game in Harrisburg. I know they have many more of these decorative cows throughout the city, but we were focused on getting to the game rather than sightseeing. Maybe another day.

Tri-Ominos

36.

The Little Prince introduced Tri-Ominos to Pappy today while I was at work. I'm thinking they played by the Little Prince's rules. Which are subject to change from play to play.

Working again

35.

Another day at work with mom. The Little Prince stationed himself with his feet under the table and played his DS. Most of the time. He also got to use the "Media Mail" stamper on some envelopes and add up the deposit slip. He definately gets his love of numbers from his dad. What does he get from me? He made a couple trips to the break room for drinks and to the closet for snacks.

Keeping busy

34.

I had to take the Little Prince to work with me today. He created this masterpiece to keep himself busy. Click on photo to enlarge.

Ending on a high note

33.

The Little Prince placed 3rd in the Golden Arm Skills Contest, which was held after the last Sunday game. It was fun to watch. There were three categories to the Skills Contest: Golden Arm, Roadrunner and Homerun Derby. Each of the 8 teams had 3 participants in each category. The Golden Arm: participants had 3 chances to throw a ball from 2nd base through a square hole in a sheet of plywood over homeplate. 1 point for hitting the wood at the top or bottom of the hole, 3 points for hitting the wood on either side of the hole, 5 points for getting the ball through the hole on a bounce, 10 points for getting it through the hole in the air. Roadrunner: fastest time around the bases. Two girls from our team placed 2nd and 3rd. Homerun Derby: points for hitting the ball the farthest. One of the boys on our team placed 2nd.

The madness ends

32.

One out was needed to win the game. They put in the Little Prince. And he did it! He won the game for us. So exciting! That left one game to win. We couldn't quite pull it off, but everyone did their best and had fun. Medals for all!!

Scouting

31.

After our game today, the Little Prince hung out for a couple innings to scout the competition: tomorrow we play the loser of that game.

Homework

30.

Today we did boring stuff like grocery shopping, worksheets left over from last school year and catching up on the Little Prince's Summer Vacation Journal. I think pizza and a movie will be a good way to end a day of work at home.

PC gets a win!

29.

The Little Prince waits on 2nd base during a pitching change. PC beat SC 14-2 in 5 innings. The Little Prince had 3 hits and 1 walk. He pitched 1 inning and was catcher for 2 innings. It was 102 degrees at 4:30 when the game started, but they survived.

Braving the heat

28.
Since we've had these tickets to see the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs for over a month, I was very glad to be wrong about the heat. Our seats were in the shade, so that helped. However, it was still hot! 92 degrees at 10:30 pm.

Too hot Tuesday

27.

What more can I say? It was too hot to take any other pictures. Tomorrow's not looking much better.

Multi-tasking

26.

Blowing bubbles while driving in circles on the basketball court. Don't know if I could do that.

Happy 4th of July

25.

Making patriotic planes to fly on the 4th of July.

Buzzin Cousins

24.

Another visit "back home" today. The Little Prince had a great time playing with his cousins. This summer, they all are sporting buzz cuts. Never thot I'd see the Little Prince with such a do, but there he is....He rocks it!

A long day

23.

The Little Prince is exhausted after a long day of completing Level 3 in swim class, eating too much (mac & cheese and 3 1/2 of the 4 Cheddar Bay Biscuits) at Red Lobster and clothes shopping. He better sleep while he can because tomorrow is going to be an even longer day...

Who let the dogs out

22.

Pappy and Mom-Mom were out of town today, so we got to let Jax and Ruby out.

So what do you wanna do?

21.

My inspiration, of sorts, for things to do during summer vacation.

There's 104 days of summer vacation
And school comes along just to end it
So the annual problem for our generation
Is finding a good way to spend it.

Like maybe...
Building a rocket
Or fighting a mummy
Or climbing up the Eiffel Tower
Discovering something that doesn't exist
Or giving a monkey a shower
Surfing tital waves
Creating nanobots
Or locating Frankenstein's brain
Finding a dodo bird
Painting a continent
Or driving your sister insane

As you can see
There's a whole lot of stuff to do
Before school starts this fall
So stick with us 'cause Phineas and Ferb
Are gonna do it all!

He did it!

20.

Last week, he would not jump off the diving board at swim class. Not sure why, since he did it last year. However, none of that matters since he jumped off today! Way to go!

Human waterfall

19.

Another hot day. It rained overnight and a bit in the early afternoon, but it was still hot enough for the Little Prince to want to get the pool out again.

1 - 2 - 3 PC

18.

PC, as in the initials of the Little Prince's hometown. The team participated in the "Battle of the Bats" Tournament in a neighboring town. After 1 game Friday and 2 games Saturday, they ranked 3rd out of 10. They lost the game today, but got really cool medals.

Say "Cheese"

17.

A 10am game and a 2pm game (which didn't start until 3:30) left a lot of time in between for goofing off with teammates. What a long day!!

Let the games begin

16.

The Little Prince's first at-bat of the All Star season. Know how I can tell? His shirt is still white and his pants are still black.

Summer collection

15.

Perfect night for catching lightning bugs. The Little Prince counted 22 in the cage.

Plan B

14.

Plan A was foiled by an accident on the highway, causing us to sit in traffic for 1/2 hour, therefore missing our lunch date with Dad. We went on to Plan B which was to clean out Mom's truck. Look at the concentration on the Little Prince's face. He did a great job! Dad's truck will have to wait until next week.

Different water

13.

Today after swim class, we visited the Municipal Authority building to pay the water bill. Appropriate landscaping, eh? The Little Prince got a lollipop. I think that's something that never gets old - lollipops.

Welcome to Summer!

12.

And what better way to spend the first day of Summer than at swim class? I can't tell if the Little Prince is laughing because he's having so much fun, or frantically trying to breathe. Hmmm...

Happy Father's Day

11.

Today's post is in memory of my Dad, who has been gone for 26 Father's Days. Your girls miss you very much!

A very merry un-birthday to you!

10.

Since we were not home much yesterday for the Little Prince's birthday, we celebrated with cake and ice cream tonight.

O what a night!

9.

Celebrating the Little Prince's 8th birthday in Baseballtown. He got to throw out a ceremonial first pitch, netting him the new hat, a shirt, signed ball, an awesome photo of the first pitch and a visit from one of the mascots who got everyone in our section to sing "Happy Birthday" to him. As if that wasn't enough, the R-Phills won and there were fireworks after the game. Their fireworks are the best! Like I said: "O what a night!" When we finally got home, the Little Prince was most excited about the fact that if he stayed up another 20 minutes, it would be tomorrow. Happy Birthday, Little Prince! We love you lots!

Stand this way, pitch this way

8.

An early birthday present for the Little Prince - pitching lessons. Coach Z is great and is teaching the Little Prince a lot.

Spider on the playground

7.

The coolest thing about this is that the Little Prince's dad played on these very same playground toys when he was the Little Prince's age.

Bored already

6.

Please tell me it isn't so! OK, it isn't so. I just happened to catch the Little Prince in a rare moment of rest. Another beautiful, beautiful day and he spent the late afternoon in the pool.

The Crown Prince

5.

Who needs to buy pool toys when you can crown yourself with a plastic ring from some long-forgotten yard game? The cups were left over from a Christmas and Halloween party 2 or more years ago. I love it! One (make that 2) less things for me to clean around in the house.

Day of rest

4.

Another scorcher. After our only Sunday game, it was time to relax in the AC with some of Mom's delish peanut butter fudge and a little TV. And some Nerf gun play when TV got boring.

Beatin' the heat

3.

It was 90 today, but felt like 99 with the humidity. The Little Prince inflated the pool himself this year. He had such fun, it was really hard to pick one shot.

And so it begins

2.

We got the news tonight that the Little Prince made the Minor League All-Stars team.

Uniform free

1.
Leaving the house on a Thursday morning, not wearing a school uniform. This, in honor of the first day of summer vacation.

Baseballtown

Summer vacation doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but we snuck in a little trip to the ballfield last night with some friends.

All-you-can-eat buffet for 2 1/2 hrs and the kids requested dippin' dots soon after we got there. Of course dippin' dots were not included on the menu, but they were greatly enjoyed.

Towards the end of the game, the Fan Cam was looking for sweetheart kisses. And, yes, that's the Little Prince trying to steal a kiss. She would have none of it. Yikes! Am I really ready for this....

Wordless Wednesday

The Little Prince's first experience with waffles and ice cream. Yum-o!