Quick Trip

So, I had a quick trip to Birmingham to do a favor for Kid2. Her grandparents decided to give her their older vehicle as they just got a newer one, so I flew one-way and drove it back yesterday. Of course, she won't be able to drive it for a while, but this'll give us a chance to get the title transferred and all the paperwork in order at a leisurely pace.

Anyway, I planned the trip in-part so I could see the Outlaw/Partner-In-Crime niece Katelyn play in a t-ball game. I spent the earlier part of the day with my nephew at a movie where cars drove really fast, attracted pretty girls, and stuff blew up. Of course, there aren't really any pictures of that, although I wish I'd had my camera ready for the disclaimer at the end that "all the stunts performed in this movie are dangerous and were executed by professional drivers in controlled situations. Please do not attempt to recreate these stunts." I guess it's fair enough to put the disclaimer on the film just in case you might be tempted to drive 90 M.P.H. through underground tunnels constructed for drug trafficking or try to infiltrate a drug cartel's driving team by competing in a 6 mile race through the streets of Los Angeles simply following the directions of a GPS that has a hard time keeping up with you.

Then, after three highly-competitive games of Chutes and Ladders (Dora the Explorer edition--which I came in last place each game. Stupid blue chute took me from the lead to out of contention a couple of times) we were off to the game. I can't believe how much fun watching 5-year-olds learning to play baseball can be:

Before the game, I put on her pink batting helmet, which I think both annoyed an amused her...



Then we took one for real, which, hopefully will grace the family refrigerator. See, they have tons of photos of family and friends on their fridge and let's just say Uncle Brent is conspicuously missing from it. Hmmm. This should clear that up the alleged "oversight":



I love it that parks have fields designed with dimension expressly for this age group!



On deck. She hit lead-off.



Gripping it and ripping it!



Now, keep in mind that outs are somewhat rare and every kid gets to hit and those that don't get out (if they get one or two batters out in an inning, well, that's stellar defense. And sometimes those outs involve a kid running with the ball from the outfield and chasing the runner around two bases before the tag) are highly likely to score, but Katelyn scored every time up...and eventually would score the game-winning run as the Yankees prevailed over the Mariners...



In addition to the game-winning run, she actually threw a batter out at first from her third-base position! Fielded it cleanly, made a strong throw to third and the first baseman caught it and stepped on the bag! I was pretty impressed, as was the opposing team's coach who came out of his dugout for a high-five. There was much rejoicing from the parents and the coaches awarded her with one of the game balls for the 23-22 4-inning game:



And, as it should've, the day ended with a trip for ice-cream. Sure, my nephew had some explaining to do to his friends who joined us for the post-game celebration about his tattooed & ponytailed Uncle Brent...but Katelyn ordered some deal with sprinkles and a dinosaur cookie in it and, well, all was right with the world. This has to be one of the best possible ways to spend an entire Friday.