A great week in Michigan!

The 13 U Thunder travel baseball team and their families just spent 6 days  in St Clair, MI. for The CABA National Tournament. What an oportunity for these young boys. We had an absolute blast! We are very fortunate to have a great group of boys and an even greater group of parents. We didn't know how our team would compare on a National level. Our 1st game was against Ohio and they are a fulltime team coming in with a record of 56-11 (this season alone) our record was 10-3...notice a game amt difference? They chuckled when they heard our record "oh God, they are a part-time team" scoffed a parent.. Well this part-time team won 7-5...take that back to freakin Ohio. They were stunned and didn't know what hit them.

 The 2and 3rd game was a back to back double header

Our 2 nd game we slaughtered a poor Michigan team...no thrill in that. Our 3rd game was against the Michigan State Champs that just returned from Puerto Rico....our boys were tired (100 degrees) and totally intimidated then fell apart...we lost. I don't know if we could of beat them, but boy I would like a second chance as I think we are capable of giving them a run.

We went into the single elimination playoff 2-2 and guess who we played? Ohio...yep. They were out for blood. We were winning 1-0 until the 6th inning (play 7) when they scored 3 runs we couldn't recover.

Our coach and boys at the Detroit Tiger game

TJ was entered in the Home run derby and around the horn skill competition.

Each boy had 1 event except for TJ and a couple other players .Only 4 per team could be in home run derby (quite the complimant to TJ) TJ hit 3 homeruns, 5 won the trophy. You get 10 hits and there are markers           that  you have to cross to earn 2 pt...5 pts if you go over the fence. TJ earned 6 pts.

My TJ up to bat in the 1st game against Ohio..Oh yeah, my baby hit a 2 run homer...when it counted, in the game! Big freaking deal at this age because the fences are 320-345 ft...up from 220ft last year.

Coach giving TJ the Home run talk.."don't get excited as you have 3 more at bats....but good hit"

Yes, my baby pitched in a National game

He mainly plays short

Hot, hot, hot...boy was it HOT!

All the parents

A well earned swim after long days on the field...our boys practice an hr before each game. That is my little Karrick on the other side of the pool face down by the left railing

My little Karrick...I thought for sure he would get malled by the team playing keep away. Thank you Emily and Isabel for protecting him

Tiger's Game...we made the board

        Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

Look at poor Callahan's face as he pulls his cap down...my mere presence mortifies him. He doesn't see the humor in my loud fun loving personality. TJ totally gets it and nothing I do embarrasses him

Hey look we're on TV

I love that the boys were fascinated with the bullpen...watching professional pitcher warm up is amazing. The new Detroit statium is incredible...something to see everywhere. Here the boys are watching the Texas Ranger relief pitcher...over the wall down about 10 ft

We had a ball and did so many things together in addition to the Tiger's game. e.g....many wonderful team dinners, swimming, go-carting, bumper boats, mini-golf. We had a private room at Hockey Town before the game.There were many a late night gatherings in the lobby where all the adults could relax and have their beverage of choice. A shout out to Mrs Howard who had the guts to host a team sleepover in her room. God Bless You...you are mom of the year!

The boys had smiles on their faces the entire week...even when we lost. They were all well behaved...maybe 1 or 2 complaints as they played capture the flag in the hotel after hours.

The siblings all had fun too and got to swim whenever they wanted! Players rule: No swimming on game day until game is over. Hard to do when it is 100 degrees.

Can't wait to do it again next year in St Loius

The big kids

the medium kids (siblings)

the little kids

He is just so dang cute I could eat him up!

The boys were very well behaved at Texas Road House...the parents not so much. There were buckets of peanuts on all the tables...it just took 1 person to toss 1 peanut and it was all over

I have a great video of myself and Missy (pink shirt) in a war. We did stay after to help clean up the mess and left the waitress a giant 30% tip

My Tim...the adult, spun Callahan out under a bridge where Cal remained until a bystander alerted the worker...It was against the rules so my husband the adult in the group did it in hiding. Cal was a good sport and laughed once he was rescued

Karrick lapped Callahan 3 times on the mini carts. Well, the "oh yeah, oh yeah" dance from Karrick was priceless. No one had the heart to tell him that Cal was too heavy so his car chugged along.

The boys met every morning in the lobby before the games

CABA 13U National Tournament

The dedicated Lombard Thunder 13U 2010 baseball team has qualified for the CABA National Championship held in St.Clair Shores Michigan.

The boys have practiced non-stop, played good tough baseball and raised money to fulfill their baseball dreams. We are all driving there tomorrow....about a 5-6 hr drive to settle in before our 1st game Friday evening. Wish us luck and hopefully we will not be back until next Thursday. The Championship game is Wed July 21 st at 5pm...but we have big mountain to climb before we can reach the summit

GO 13U LOMBARD THUNDER!

Oak Lawn Champs!!

This past week, the Thunder played in the Oak Lawn tournament. We went 5-0 and walked away with another 1 st place trophy. Our overall record for our first 3 tournament is 10-2 with 2 first place wins.

Thursday we all leave for St Clair MI (I think we can see the Canadian border) for the CABA National Tournament. How fun to spend an entire week together

Reflections

After a hot hot hot baseball win today (4-0 in Oak Lawn tourney and play for 1st place trophy tomorrow)

we headed to grandma's pool. Yesterday Karrick couldn't swim~let alone put his face in the water. Today, I had him put on a mask to peak underwater.Well...within 45 minutes he was swimming, floating and diving for coins...YES...freaking swimming, freestyle. He even went down the slide w/o and floatation device and swam across the pool w/o help. It's like 8 or 9 ft deep.

Anyway, I snapped pics of him under water from the deck. How cool are the reflections and distortions of his body...again, No photo manipulation at all 

James Taylor and Carole King!

pssst...I am down 20 lbs!

Tim and I had the pleasure of seeing James Taylor and Carole King in concert tonight. I have LOVED Carole King since I was a little girl. WOW!! is all I can say. After 30+ years of rockin they still have it. Carole Kings voice at age 68 is so strong...amazing. I want to be Carole King

The chemistry between these two is so strong

By the way...our seats didn't suck... I had a fabulous time

Thanks Tim!!!!

Baseball pics...the better choice

My TJ at Short "doing what he does"

I'm going to post some pictures of my boy TJ from last night game in Oak Lawn. We won the game 11-4...not so exciting but a wins a win. Soon I will tell a story that people will swear I made up. The old me would have wasted no time in sharing this story of a complete delusional whack job and her dysfunctional off-spring

I will say that to every person "we" have shared this ditty with has a comparible story. I need to lose the anger and find the humor before I cleanse my body. I will say this "The Anti-Christ" lives here in Lombard

So how bout my pictures of TJ? A kind, honest and well respected teenager

Tim and I will take credit for that

Pretty darn cute and pretty darn athletic(can't take credit for those)

All my monies

Two things little karrick is obsessed with 1) Lego's  2) money. Karrick's incredible math skills come in handy when he has a pile of change...he is saving up for a $100 Lego set. See his eyes...those are his thinking eyes as he sorts the change into $1 piles using quarters, dimes, nickles and pennies. The kid has an amazing mind for numbers. Everytime he gets more change he recounts the entire bowl

Some family time

Monday was one of those rare days...you know those days where no one has to be anywhere...complete freedom. We pack up the van and the Miata, grabbed the kids (+1) and the dog, then headed to Long Grove. Tim cooked beef and chicken fajitas, dogs and brats. We had salads and snacks. I love just hanging out in the sun with everyone. I kicked TJ's butt in water volleyball (I'm writing the story, so I get to say whatever I want) Cal, TJ and Griffin had an air-soft gun war..they are illegal in Lombard...sorry grandma. The kids had fun riding "Rosie" (golf cart) and the dirt bike playing "Mad Max"

these guns wern't loaded during this shot and they always wear a face mask.

I cherish these days of freedom with my family

they are few and far between

My cool pictures of fireworks

My 4th of July shots...no photo enhancing at all. Click on each one to see cool details. I turned off auto-focus. Shot in sport mode 15M 4752x3168

We are the Champions

The Thunder boys played the home team in the championship game. It was close and at times a nail-biter. The umps were not on our side.

The game would not have gone into extra innings had a few calls been correct. We would have won after 7 innings (we were tied)  had our batter running to 1st been called "safe" (as he was) instead of "out" making the 3rd out...causing TJ's run home not to count.(TJ was on 3rd)

My husband Tim...that has pretty much sat quietly for 3 years went nuts! He stood up and bitch slapped the ump (verbally)...."you're outta here!" yells the crooked ump. My Tim then told the ump what he really thought. (this had been going on all weekend..biased umpiring)

Well, that was all our boys needed...to have someone say what everyone thought...to have someone stick up for our boys.  We now went into extra innings and our boys held their heads up and whomped on the ball.

The boys thought Tim was the greatest...he was the talk of the team

Thunder won by 2 runs.

The other team was good and they knew the ump made bad calls. I don't think they would want to win that way...who would?

All the boys went to coaches house to swim, while we hit the taste of Lombard

Karrick ran into an old pre-school buddy

just love this picture of Tim and Karrick on the swings

(click to get full view)

Karrick wanted to be a Lego Power Miner, but that wasn't one of the options. Karrick, being karrick~a child that knows what he wants, gave the lady step-by-step instructions. 

Must have a matching shirt

it all glowed

Top-seeded Thunder advances to Championship

All week we have been in Joliet for a tournament. We are in 1st place going into the Championship game tomorrow at 10 am. Hopefully our 13U Thunder boys will bring home the 1st place trophy.

My TJ is #82~~3rd from left.

I love taking pictures of TJ....always a cutie (a cutie that desperately needs a haircut)

Karrick was ready to show everyone his missing tooth smile. He finally lost his first tooth yesterday

Team dinner at buffalo Wild Wings back in Lombard. Tj's T-ball coach and kids from Oak Park were there after playing in a tournament in Lombard. Yes, we were the Oak Park T-ball Village champs of 2005

~Go Red Sox~

It's great to see the talented 8 year olds are now talented 13 year olds

The van saga continues

Anyone that has older kids in sports knows that any wrench in the spoke can disrupt the entire well oiled machine. It is travel baseball season in the McGinty house,  every minute of the day is accounted for. After work yesterday, I had time to deposite my paycheck and hit the jewel before dashing home to throw TJ's uniform in the dryer, feed kids and get to practice at 5:30. At  6:15 kids pile in cars to caravan to Joliet for a 8pm game.

I am turning out of Citibank parking lot (onto roosevelt rd at 4 pm) and I hear a loud cracking screaching sound. I swear I hit a car, but noone was around me. I get out to see my front passenger wheel kinda dangling. My tie rod had snapped causing the axel to snap. All bad! Thank God Tim worked from home due to an intestinal bug. While waiting for him to come to my rescue, cars are pulling up to my hazard light blinking, hood up, wheel hanging off van in the middle of the street and honking.. HONKING. I'm standing alone on the side of the road...not for the scenery. Are you fucking kidding me? The van is empty and broken dunbass! I did cause a big snarl in traffic....Yes, I was that person.

Tim shows up, nice man stops to help. "Did you know you can't push a vehicle with a broken axel?" Really, I didn't either. Tim called a tow truck  and wisked me home in the interim. I call non-emergency police, explain my situation and she says Yells "you left your vehicle in the middle of Roosevelt?!" ; "No, I folded it up and stuffed it into my backpack?"  Can't imagine why they have this genius working the non-emergency desk...what a waster of talent!

 " Yes, it doesn't move", I tell her

 "it's going to tie up traffic" she says

 "it already has" I reply...hence the call to you

Tow truck comes and tows it across the street for $85...hmmmm. Shop fixes it for $500 and I am going to ride my bike to the shop when TJ gets home from football practice. Yes, my TJ decided we weren't busy enough so he is going out for the high school football team...of course he is. It's June, isn't school like 2 months away? Whatever...

We made it to practice in Lombard and our game in joliet via the assisstant baseball coach.We won 11-3!!

WooHoo and we get to do it all over again tonight..and tomorrow and the next day and the next day