Midwest Nationals Day 1

The Thunder is participating in the

Midwest Nationals this week/weekend

in Lisle. Tonight the team was invited

to walk in the opening ceremonies at the

Flyer's game. Everyone had a blast

and I can only imagine the feelings running through

the boys as they walked the field. This is the boys

first elite tournament and they are excited.

In addition to multiple games there are many

activities scheduled for the boys.

Thunder plays their first game tomorrow at 9am

at Benedictine College

(which means practice at 7 am)

The parade to the field

Karrick had the time of his life...didn't know

minor league ball fields have parks

and jumping jacks

Happiness is...

A ten year old boy flying through the air

This was one busy weekend. 6 baseball games in Glen Ellyn,

swimming at grandma's, sleep over at grandma's for Tim, Cal and Karrick.

My friend Carol had a party and we had our furnace, Cental A/C

and water heater removed (piece by piece) and replaced

Happiness is...

dad watching his son hit another homerun

hanging with friends while watching our boys

kick the crap out of everyone they played

A brand new rocket park complete with spray park

built smack dab in the center of 8 baseball fields

in Glen Ellyn

(did someone read Thunder sibs?)

Jolie Grace spelling Karricks name with pretzels

(karricks favorite girl)

swimming in grandma's pool after a long day

of baseball

grandma seeing TJ make an amazing double play

from left field

(catching a hard line drive and whipping it to first base

perfectly to beat the runner that was trying to tag up on first

no one should of caught that ball)

For you non baseball fans...you don't throw

a ball from left field to 1st base, it's to far

Mom(me) missed the amazing play because she went to the washroom

TJ and team winning 1 st place trophies after

defeating 6 out of 6 teams!

going to bed Sunday night with new furnace, air and hot water.

More importantly waking up Monday freezing!

A day with dad at Fermilab

Tim took the day off from work to take Callahan to

Fermilab

a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics.

while it all escapes me, they had a great time

just father and son scientists bonding together

Tevatron Ring in which protons speed around

at almost the speed of light then collide into each

other to create new theoretical fundamental

particles

(as explained by Callahan)

(Higgs Boson)

is a massive scalar elementary particle predicted to exist

by the Standard Model in particle physics

. At present there are no known fundamental scalar particles in nature.

A model of the super magnet that the protons flow through

inside the super magnets

Playing in the mud

Cal went with his friend Josh to the annual mud bowl in Villa Park.

Trucks dump mounds of dirt that are sprayed with hoses

to create mud. Kids are then let loose to play all kinds of games

from 1-3pm. At 3 pm the lucky parents get to bring them home

Thanks Gayle, how does your truck look?

A weekend in lomabrd

Lombard hosted the "2009 Summer classic 12u Tournament"

It was a great weekend with lots of fun

Oak Park Eagles won, Congratulations!

TJ learned to play baseball in Oak Park

and it was wonderful to see

his old team, coaches and parents.

Lombard Thunder placed 3rd after a

devastating loss to the Lightening.

TJ

played a good tournament; batting in the 600's

with 1 home run

the orange pop boys

As the old saying goes

"It takes a village..."

I may have had a couple of kid mishaps...

Thank you Cindi M. for saving Karrick after you found him

in a tree crying his little eyes out because

he was stuck and mommy was focused on the game

Thank You Missy C and Lisa K for taking care of

Callahan when I left him behind at the field.

Missy, had you not called I would have figured it out

once I got home :)

Nice to know all you girls have my back!

Sibs having fun

When a child plays a sport that monopolizes

the families time what do the siblings do?

They band together and have fun!

TJ travel baseball team plays anywhere

from 5-8, 2 hour games a weekend (Fri-Mon)

Add in 1 hour of hitting practice prior to each game

at their home field, travel time, 1 hour warm up before

each game at the park hosting the tournament and

down time in between games at far away fields =

A lot of time spent at ball parks.

There is a whole group of siblings that are dragged from

tournament to tournament all summer long

The Thunder sibs are a great group of kids

that are often overlooked

They climb trees

they make forts out of equipment bags

They play games

freeze tag

We put them to work in the concession stand

(so us parents don't have to)

There is a whole group of kids between

the ages of 2-11 that have become quite

close

Thunder Sibs, You Rock!

Fun at the pool

The Thunder team had a day off from baseball
so they all headed to the pool

Karrick and a friend

Mom, I'm hungry...money pleaseeeeee

Thunder Sweeps Hickory Hills Tourney

The 12u Lombard Thunder wins the Hickory Hills

tournament by defeating Midway 12-2. We went 4-0 with 4 slaughters!

TJ received the MVP medal for game 3 after a

spectacular home run that went over 2 fences

Today TJ was in left field for 1 inning, he made this

catch that was unbelievable. He ran 20 ft towards

the left foul line arm outstretched jumps in the air

and catches this fly ball. Total major

league play

Tj and his grandpa (my dad)

Those Midway boys were big!

TJ's travel baseball team is off to a fabulous start

After 2 tournaments we are 8-1 with 7 slaughters

Tomorrow begins a new tournament in Oak Lawn

Just a little hit...

Just a hit gets you...

the MVP medal...

The women...

The respect of fans...

But best of all,

it gives you pride of a job well done.

TJ has been in a little hitting slump this last week,

but today he got up there with the look of determination.

WHACK, he hits the ball and it flew over not

1, but 2 fences and hit a pick up truck. The crowd went wild

Not only was it a home run it was a perfect hit.

We went on to slaughter Hickory Hills 14-0

and will play for the first place trophy on Wednesday.

Dinner as a team