On Mondays, we stay after school and they participate in the Running Club. They are logging in one mile per week for the next 25 weeks. Then, in March, the whole school holds a race day with a 5K and a 10K for older kids and adults and the completion of the marathon that the kids will have been running all year long. No photos... yet.
On Saturday mornings, they have joined a bowling league. Two adults are helping 10 kids over 4 alleys. It's instructional, but Ronnie did tell us the first day, "We aren't going to make your kids pro bowlers. We are here to have fun!" They have been teamed up with another little boy who is 7 and in second grade. He is really cute and pretty serious about bowling. Carl can get a little goofy at times, but if you slow him down, he does really well. They are playing a '7 and up no-tap' which means, if on the first ball, they knock down 7 or more pins.... it counts as a strike. Pair that with the bumpers and the kids have been doing really well. So far, Gretchen has a 113 average and Carl has a 115. There are 2 little girls who are maybe 3 years old. They are so tiny! "A" picks the ball up and it almost knocks her over. I think I have a picture of her bowling next to one of the kids. I'll put it up if I do.
The league is only 7 weeks long, but I am hoping they will want to continue. They are both having fun and doing well following directions. *note* The 2 cutest pictures of Carl happen to be incorrect. He bowls properly 90% of the time, it just happened that the 2 best shots I grabbed have him with his right leg forward. So, fear not - he knows to put his left foot forward to bowl.
Here are Carl and little Miss "A". She hit a 179 on Saturday!
The other workout they are getting is out on the baseball field. They are playing Fall Ball in the same organization that they played tee ball last spring. They don't play tee ball in the fall, so we are on a machine pitch team for kids 8 and under. They have kids on the team who have been playing baseball for a couple years. Carl and Gretchen don't have the skills these other kids have. But, we are making progress... or the coaches are making progress. Practice #1: Coach hit Carl in the head with a baseball. Practice #2: a kid hit Carl in the chest from about 10' away with a baseball. Knocked him over and he cried. Practice #3: different coach hit Carl in the back with a baseball. He didn't cry, but he rubbed it for a few minutes. Practice #4: Carl does not get hit with a baseball!!!! See??? Progress!!!
I don't think we will be playing in the spring. They will be too old for tee ball and another father told us that the spring baseball is highly competitive. He said "all the good athletes are playing football right now, too"... so, apparently, these are even considered the "good athletes". Pretty funny for an 8 and under league, huh? Oh, our practices are Weds pm from 7:30 - 8:30 pm, Sat at 5 pm and Sunday at 11 am. Mostly an hour. We learned that in the spring they are 2 hour practices, too. Ugh. We live about 20 minutes away, so for a practice to end at 8:30 (or 8:40 or whenever the coach ends it) home, bath, bed... it's way too late for school nights. Luckily, this only goes until the beginning of November. Games are 2 nights per week. I think practices will slow down now, but games start at 6 or at 8 pm. Yippy.
But, they are cute and claim they are having fun. Carl complains 75% of the time about being tired, hot and thirsty. I don't have any uniform pictures yet. (They are using the tee to help practice. the machine pitches at 43mph. Very few of the kids ever hit anything. We've been going to the batting cages a couple times per week to practice, too.)
So, that's what we've been up to most of our days. Add in Girl Scouts, upcoming Cub Scouts and homework are you can see why we are very busy. I will be happy when our schedule lightens up in November.
**update** last night they had their first game. I couldn't go because I had the first meeting of the season for my camera club to attend. Lew kept me updated with texts throughout the game. Gretchen got the very first hit of the game for both teams when she was up in the 2nd inning. She got to 1st, but they got her out when it was time for her to run to 2nd. The score was 0-0 in the bottom of the 4th. 1-1 in the 5th. Carl was playing left field and he actually fielded a ball! The coach had told him to run it in if he got it and he did just what he was told to do! He clearly gets his mad baseball skillz from his mother. Guess he doesn't have any Livingston genes in him. You oughta see him throw that ball! Glad the coach told him to run. I asked Lew if we won and he said, "I don't think so. I think it was 1-2." I asked how long the game was and he said "Maybe 6 innings. I think they just played until we hit 90 minutes and then it is over." Either he was too busy with his phone and sending texts or the game was vague. Our next game is not until Wednesday. I'll get to see that one and let you know how our team does.
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