we dropped the ball

Did you know that in order for your kids to play t-ball or baseball in the late spring you have to register in the fall?  Well, if you did... why the hell didn't you tell me?

So, here we are in early March and the kids have new baseball mitts.  They are loving it!  And, Gretchen is good.  I mean, this might be "her thing".  She is already better at throwing than I am.  I played softball for years because my mother loves softball.  She was the coach.  I don't like playing softball.  I was one of the kids chosen last to be on teams in PE class.  Always.  I wasn't fat like I am now.  Actually, just the opposite.  I was a pretty skinny kid.  A skinny, not at all athletic kid.  I think I was the only one in high school who enjoyed the swimming session of PE class.  I did enjoy swimming.  Still do.  But, anyway....   Gretchen is really enjoying catching, throwing and hitting.

Carl wants to "do the bat".  He hits about 2% of what you pitch to him.  He is my child.  For example, the other night, Lew accidentally hit his glass cup with a spoon.  Carl spun around and asked, "What was that noise that sparkles?"  He is hearing music in all things.  And possibly seeing it.  OK.  That might be weird.  or maybe, we are missing out on seeing sparkles every time something chimes.  "Teacher says every time a bell rings....." 


So, I quickly went online to find the local t-ball sign-ups.  I found several of them.  And ALL are closed for registration.  You register in the spring for the fall sports and in the fall for spring/summer ones.  Maybe this is typical, but how was I supposed to know?  I tried driving by one place that said they (registration was closed but...) had 200 spots for t-ball and only 156 registered so far.  The place had no driveway.  You couldn't get off the street to drive up to the building.  I drove by a couple times to double check.  So, I looked up their phone number.  They advertised they do not answer the phone - all done by email or answering machine.  No one returned my attempts to contact them for a hopeful late registration.

Now I was getting curious....  was this normal?  So, I looked up my hometown, as well as my cousin's area in VA and Ithaca NY.  Couldn't find anything online for Ithaca, but the VA town was still registering for t-ball.  My hometown one was still registering.  Oh - and I learned that my hometown one costs $20 for your kid to play for the spring season.  Here, if I could get them a spot... $75.

I wish school would send home notes about some town events.  They keep sending home things about educational summer camps.  One was $2400!  For an academic summer camp so you child won't regress over the summer!   pfft.

So, we'll be having fun playing as a team of 4 here at home.  I did play, too.  I wasn't just taking pictures.

He hit it!

So did she.

Awesome ball boy! 

*for some reason, the pictures are not crisp looking.  If you click on them, they get bigger... and a lot clearer.