A beautiful day with Cal and Karrick

I am only working 3 days a week until Labor Day. I need a

break and want to enjoy what is left of summer.

Today Callahan had a fitting downtown for the

Sears Christmas Wishbook he will be shooting

next week. We decided to make a day of it.

Me, Cal and Karrick headed to Lincoln Park Zoo.

The weather was perfect!

Cal is great to go places with because he really "gets into it"

He reads every bit of info that is provided about every

animal/exhibit then elaborates with all the facts

that are filed in his head. He is pretty much a

walking encyclopedia

lightening in the weather booth

So cute, the brothers checking out the croc

long long monkey arms

creepy but cool beehive

Just love his expression

my new toy

After farting around with crap phones I bit the bullet

and bought the new "myTouch 3G" from t-Mobile

fun fun fun fun fun

Karrick in pictures

We are in the middle of the Midwest National tournament

held in Lisle;

the boys are doing well 2-1 with 4 games remaining.

Karrick has been dragged around since birth to

baseball games, so he just makes his own fun

He loves to run the bases even if it is the wrong way

always careful not to step on the freshly painted foul lines

maybe there is a track star in our future

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!