Baseball: Rockies win!

Baseball, baseball and more baseball…
It seems like I was doomed from Day 1 of our marriage.
My life is so entwined with the sport of baseball I’m not sure I’d know how to act if there were no baseball games to go to any more.
And so here we go again… After a disastrous year last year, Michael has had an incredible season this year. He plays for the Peru Little League Rockies. His team only won one game last year. They started the season slow and we were ready for a repeat but did they ever surprise us!!! They only lost 4 games total. They finished ranked #2 and won the City Tournament!
Michael who had not had a single hit all year last year (practices don’t count), really came out of his shell this year! He blew us away when he hit a 3 run homer followed in the same game by a grand slam! It was inevitably followed by a strike-out streak but he snapped out of it and started hitting the ball again…
Where he really surprised a lot of people was with his pitching.
He threw 2 no-nos (no hitters – someone asked how that could be called no hitters as he did hit a batter in both of those games putting them on base)…
Say that I am a terrible mother but the thought of him having to learn that life quickly turns the tables on people, I wasn’t thrilled at the news he would be pitching in the championship game… “What a time to eat humble pie?”, I shamelessly thought…
Well… I am eating the crow… and happily so… Michael did great. His pitch count pulled him out for the last batter but another great little player relieved him and got the job done: Eamon Borse. Final score: Rockies 11 – Cubs 6
It was not a no hitter… In fact Michael gave up a homerun to his friend Larry… but they made brilliant plays! They played like a team should, together… Nobody more important than the other…
Much can be learned from sports, when we relax and let ourselves enjoy the moment and remember that these are games. The parents were great this year too. For the first time in a long time I enjoyed going to the Little League Park… And for us, our time is done…
We will be doing All-Stars soon, where and when we still have no clue but Michael is sre excited.

June already!

Can’t believe it’s June already!
Where have these past months gone to?!

I had really hoped to devote more time to learning the ropes of a blog but here we are again in the middle of baseball season… This is our last year of Little League.
We never thought we would see the day, but we are.
Michael has had some success this year and this has made things somewhat more pleasant. He got to pitch the last game they played and only threw 46 pitches in 5 innings to win the game 8-2. He pitched a no hitter! Even had a ‘perfect’ game into the 3rd or 4th inning when he hit a batter and caused he walked.
Oh well…

Our little town of Peru, IN had a fire that burned down a furniture store located next to the Circus building that is a big tourist attraction every summer. This has put a real damper on things although it is nice watching the acrobats practice on the river front. It’s almost like stepping back in time.
They say they’ll not be using the building this year so they have to improvise and his will no doubt mean lost revenues and extra bills.

This reminded me so much of those times when my father took Hélène and me to the Jean Richard Circus. It was always in a tent. I can’t remember if we went to see this one but the Bouglione Circus is quite important in Belgium.

This year marks an anniversary in Belgium… that of the 1958 Brussels World Fair, the one that saw the birth of the Atomium.
http://www.bluebrussels.com/pictures/atomium/flickr.php

For the occasion the monument was spruced up and is more beautiful than ever.
I found some beautiful pictures on Flickr but I’m pretty sure they’re copyrighted.
There was an article published online a couple of days ago about the often overlooked beauty of Belgium, but they also pointed out how expensive things are for the American tourist right now with the exchange rate being so disadvantageous.

I am content working with the Archives and FamilySearch to get the records online – when that happens – as traveling to Belgium is becoming less and less likely every year.

This year the animals the kids brought us had babies: 8 puppies in January and 7 kittens 3 weeks later!!! It was a zoo here… We are now down to 4 cats and 4 dogs… better than 10 of each!!!

Next time I write I’m try to compose something special about Belgium or Liege.