Monday, July 7, 2014

Life is Good!

Man.  What a weekend.  Got to spend some quality time with my family.  Sometimes people don't relate until you family lives out of town.  My mom lives the closest and is still 4 hours away.  My brother lives in Michigan which is 12 hours away and I don't even really know where my dad lives.  When you go from being in the same county as all of them for 28 years to having them all far away is tough.  But I am fortunate that we can all travel and visit.  I am also lucky I have great in laws.

Back to the weekend........My brother, girl friend, and niece were in town.  My was also in town.  Not often she gets to see her boys together since she lives in the middle.  It was nice just catching up with my brother.  We are so different but we are very much the same.  We took them to the Virginia Aquarium, tried to take them to Sandbridge (Red Flags up all weekend), and hung out having a great time.  Had a bonfire one night (even though my brother played board games the whole time).  But overall, it was just great having a weekend with our families.  It's crazy to think we both have our own houses, careers, and families.  I remember a time when we were debating on which Star Wars movie was better, or how he got me stitches from stabbing me with a broken broom stick.  Instead, I played with my niece a bunch while my brother held Avery intently and played baseball and board games with Tim.  Tim loved it.  He's always looking for someone to throw around with, especially the least athletically gifted people I have ever met (My brother).  We had a ton of laughs, stories to tell Lori, and just caught up with each other like we seen each other yesterday.  I don't think I could of moved so fa away from my family if it wasn't for Facebook or cell phones.

But it was great having my big brother in town.  I know he probably doesn't see it but I appreciate him more than he will ever know.  Through him I learned a lot about life, how to be a father, how to overcome mistakes, and without his thirst for knowledge I probably wouldn't of ever went to college.  I loved having Allison here too.  She is a spitfire, just like my brother was.  Shes full speed all day.  it was great having Melissa here too.  She keeps both my brother  and niece in check.  But three days is never enough.  not with family.  Before I knew it, we had to say our goodbyes.  Always tough.  But it only means we got to see each other.

Besides family this weekend, it was also a great weekend for my running and Weight Watchers.  I lost 3.6 pounds over two weeks.  Which is pretty good since I went out of town last weekend and I had family in town this weekend.  I also ran my longest distance ever too.  I ran 6.6 miles yesterday and it felt great.  I earn 30 activity points yesterday.  I am about to start bumping up the mileage here so I am really nervous and excited.  Less than 3 months until my half.

Tim also had his last baseball games with his first travel baseball team.  He started with the Virginia Wildcats three years ago as a 11u team.  He's grown a ton over those three summers.  it's amazing how much he grew from a kid to a young teenager.  He has grown as an individual and player.  It has been a great time with all our friends.  Even when the team split into two age groups, it was still a great time.  Kids came and kids left but Tim was always a fixture as a leader on the team.  He has been lucky to play with his buddies for so long and coaches he admired.  But time does change things and we look forward to the next chapter.  During those 3 years, we took the boys to Myrtle Beach for the Ripken Tournament, to Cooperstown.  They went from not winning a game in tournaments to finally going undefeated and winning a tournament this summer.  It's been a long, sweaty, hot adventure but it has been spectacular.  During that time we got married, had Avery and enjoyed so many great moments on the ball field.  My personal favorite was Cooperstown.  That's where Tim really came into his own.  He was third place in the Golden Arm Contest.  He was the only kid to make it in the hole of the target.  He also had the best batting average for his team.  he went 5-6 the last day and was just spraying balls across the field.  Before that weekend, he was always a bottom of the lineup guy and wasn't confident at the plate.  Since then, he ended the season batting cleaning.  He's much more mature, calm and doesn't swing at bad pitches.  It's amazing watching him develop.  It's also awesome watching him play doing what he loves.  To the next adventure.

Besides all this, I am happy I finally got my RunKeeper widget going on my website.  Very happy about that.  Anyways, back to the grind at work.



No comments:

Post a Comment