Monthly Archives: August 2018

Baseball, Indians, Video

Tribe Game No. 6 of 2018

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Tonight Alan and I made a special Friday night visit to the ballpark to close our school/work week with some baseball and fireworks.  It was a great way to kick off the long Labor Day weekend.

Out on the family deck, Alan dove home safely after a sprint around the bases in Little League Park.

Inside the Clubhouse, Alan got extra turns on the slide with fewer kids in attendance for night games.  He also got his favorite popsicle to eat during fireworks.

  

During the 8th inning of the game (won 3-0 by the Indians over the Rays) we found out the Indians acquired Josh Donaldson!  Alan was concerned for who we had to send to Toronto, but for now at least it is a player to be named later.  The Indians win clinched another winning season at Progressive Field for Alan.  He’s 4-2 with one game left to attend.

2nd Grade, Blue House

Open House

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Tonight at parent orientation I learned what’s ahead for Alan in Mrs. Harris’ second grade class this school year!  Alan came tonight and played on the playground with his grandparents while his parents were in class.  Afterwards he met us in the classroom and showed off his desk (I had to hide the personal note written for him).

Alan sits at the table group that named themselves the “Number One Stars.”  In the picture below of the group’s sign, Alan drew the green helicopter and red airplane in the lower right corner. 🙂

Alan also showed me his “friendship pie” hanging in the hallway.

Lastly, he showed me the picture he drew on his personal book holder by his cubby!

One theme of the evening was the introduction of the new “House” system.  Alan is in the blue-colored “House of Responsibility.”  I’m sure there will be more to come on that throughout the year!

Activities & Interests

Weekend with Brady

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Alan and Brady, best friends in Mrs. Harris class during the week, got together twice this weekend too.  On Friday they swam together at the Mayfield High School pool.  Then on Sunday Brady came by to see Alan’s Hot Wheels Super Ultimate Garage.  Alan had been waiting a long time to show it to Brady!  But they didn’t stop there.  The boys played together on the Highland Heights playground, then played at Brady’s house for a couple more hours!

2nd Grade

Ice Cream Social

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The school year is officially underway now that we’ve had the ice cream social!  Tonight Alan and I went to Millridge for the event, where Alan played with De’Onta and Collin on the swings and Grady on the monkey bars.

Rain throughout the day threatened the event, but the evening ended up being clear and comfortable.  As a back-up plan, the school set up music and dancing in the gym too.

Baseball, Cousins, Indians, Video

Tribe Game No. 5 of 2018

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The trip to the ballpark today was a special one, as Tyler accompanied Alan for his very first Indians game!  Alan was very happy to show him around the ballpark.

The first stop was inside the Kids Clubhouse.  Alan showed Tyler the slide, the train table, the model Indians lockers, and the oversized bat and glove.  Tyler liked the slide the most.

Tyler also got a taste of being a major league hitter.  Alan, of course, opted to be a catcher!

  

Outside on the family deck balcony, the boys enjoyed popsicles and watched the Indians take an early 1-0 lead on the Orioles in the 1st inning.

After they were finished in the Kids Clubhouse, the boys tried out the outdoor activities on the family deck.  In Alan’s debut sprint of 2018, he recorded a career-best time of 6.19 seconds.  But that record only lasted until his second run of the day, when he finished with a time of 6 seconds flat!  Tyler also enjoyed the race, challenging himself to run against the pace of Lindor (designated fastest Indian) each time.

At Little League Park, Alan and Tyler shared a baseball field together for the first time!  Both boys circled the bases in their first at-bats; Tyler got a hit on the first pitch he saw and Alan clocked the pitcher.  In their second at-bats, Tyler stopped at second on his hit and Alan drove him in!

Meanwhile the Indians were busy posting a 6-run 4th inning capped by a Melky Cabrera Grand Slam.  To celebrate, we next moved to the team shop for souvenirs.  Tyler bought a Progressive Field baseball, a foam Chief Wahoo, an Indians bottle opener, and a pack of baseball cards.  Alan bought some Indians Legos and a baseball bat pen.  I opted for a 2019 All-Star game ball and pin.

Next we showed Tyler around the ballpark.  First we sat in the upper deck in right-center and watched Andrew Miller throw in the bullpen directly below us.  From there, we also watched the hot dog race – won by Ketchup in come-from-behind fashion.  As Alan put it, while drawing some laughs, Ketchup had to catch-up. 🙂  Then we walked the upper deck from right field to behind home plate, showing Tyler the vantage points of the field along the way.  While we were in the right field corner, Andrew Miller entered and the customary flames appeared on the scoreboard.

We also noted Jim Thome’s recently retired #25 (as of just yesterday).  The #25 will never be worn again by a Cleveland athlete at the Gateway Plaza, as Mark Price’s #25 is also retired by the Cavaliers.

For our next vantage point, we stood on the lower concourse near the season ticket holder lounge area behind home plate.  Tyler heard the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame for the first time while Slider and some of his mascot friends in town for his 28th birthday party danced on the top of the dugout.  After the song, Slider, the Hot Dogs, Dinger (Rockies), Raymond (Rays) and the Oriole Bird walked past us.

With the Indians up 8-0 (which would be the final score), the rest of the game went by quickly.   The boys only had enough time to swing by the Kids Clubhouse for some snacks and a quick trip down the slide before it was time to line up to run the bases.  Alan got a popsicle to enjoy while waiting in line under the stadium (it gets hot down there), while Tyler opted for peanuts.

When it was time to run, Alan turned on the jets, but Tyler stayed within range.  They passed Rajai Davis on the way to the plate.  Tyler said he never thought he’d be on a big field like this one.

After the run, Tyler got a close up view of the Indians dugout and the camera bay.  On the way out of the ballpark, Tyler said he was sad to leave and wanted to know how many days before we could come back.

The boys had a sleepover together at Grandma Debbie’s house last night, so it was a full weekend of fun together.  Last night they made forts with blankets in the living room and read a funny book called Goodnight Underwear.

After the Indians game tonight, they played even more at Tyler’s house, this time along with Carleigh.  The cousins wanted to play all night, but alas it was a school night — and for Tyler, the night before the first day of 1st grade!

8/20/18 Update:  Tyler wore his new Tribe Town MVP shirt for the first day of school.

Activities & Interests, Swimming

Swimming Lessons

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Although Alan’s been in swimming pools since he was a baby, today he attended the first session of his very first swim class.  He’s signed up at Hawken Lower School, and the Saturday morning sessions run through October.  He was nervous when he arrived at the pool today, but it didn’t take long for him to start having fun.  He loved it and can’t wait for next week!

Activities & Interests, Baseball, Little League

2018 MBBL Banquet

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Tonight Alan, Xavier, and the rest of the 2018 Mighty Mites Yankees attended the annual Mayfield Boys Baseball League banquet at La Vera Party Center.  Champions from all MBBL age groups were honored and prizes were raffled off.

Alan and Xavier didn’t win a prize, but they entertained themselves all evening by following the Indians-Orioles play-by-play on ESPN Gamecast (Indians won 2-1).  We didn’t know about this event last year, but we’re glad we found out this year and got to be together as a team one more time!

2nd Grade, First Day of School

First Day of 2nd Grade

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Alan kicked off his 2nd grade year at Millridge today, sporting his new Mayfield Wildcats shirt for the occasion!  In addition to showing district spirit, Alan loves the color green!

At school he had a great day, highlighted by playing the ice breaker game “Find Someone Who…”  Fortunately Mrs. Harris, like Mrs. Russo, is on Twitter, so I’ll be able to follow along with Alan all year long.

Out of the 21 other kids in the class, Alan knows five kids from his 1st Grade class (Luke, Logan H, De’Onta, Nikki, Giuliana) and three kids from his Kindergarten class (Brady, Noah, and Paige).  That certainly helps the transition into the new year.  It also represents a sharp contrast from last year, when Alan only knew two girls from his Kindergarten class (though he quickly made new friends).

The only bad news of the day was that Alan found out 2nd Grade only has one recess.  But on the bright side, he learned that some weeks will feature “double specials,” meaning he’ll have weeks with two gym classes!

8/28/18 Update: At parent orientation, I found this photo of Mrs. Harris’ class taken on the first day of school.

2nd Grade

Popsicles with the Principal

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Today Alan prepared for 2nd grade at the 2nd annual “Popsicles with the Principal.”  Alan played on the playground and had two [orange] popsicles.  He also met Mrs. Harris and dropped off his school supplies at his desk.  He’s ready for 2nd grade, which starts tomorrow!

Alan also visited with Mrs. Russo.  According to Mrs. Russo, she said Alan and Brady were put in the same class this year because they’re best friends and behave well when together.  That was the second time she gave inside information about teacher assignments.  During Alan’s parent-teacher conference last October, she said she specifically wanted Alan in her class based on his reputation from Kindergarten.

Activities & Interests, Alan's First, Fun 'N' Stuff, Playing, Video

Fun ‘N’ Stuff Round 2

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On the final weekend of summer break, Alan and I wanted to have one last fun outing together.  So following Grady’s birthday party at Sky Zone, we drove out to one of our favorite spots – Fun ‘N’ Stuff!

Now that we’re regular visitors, we have a set plan.  We made sure to play two rounds of mini-golf on course 1, two rounds of air hockey, one turn in the bounce house, and $20 worth of tokens in the arcade.

We had a blast all afternoon, highlighted by two big moments.  The first one was Alan’s first hole-in-one at Fun ‘N’ Stuff (third overall)!  I did not capture his live reaction, but Alan was kind enough to reenact it for me afterwards (pictured above). 🙂

The second big moment was when Alan won a 1,000-ticket jackpot on one arcade game!  At first we didn’t even realize he won a jackpot — instead we thought the machine was broken!  In any event, we used these tickets, along with tickets earned during our previous visit this summer, to walk away with a variety of prizes.  Alan used 2,000 tickets on a set of five Mickey Mouse and the Roadster Racers cars and approximately 450 more on a mini globe, hacky sack, toy car, suction cup ball, lollipops, and Tootsie Rolls for Daddy.  Alan is always generous to Daddy!

  

2nd Grade, National Night Out

National Night Out 2018

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Tonight the lead-up to 2nd grade continued with Alan hanging out with Xavier, Cassidy, and Brady at the Mayfield Community Park for National Night Out 2018.

The kids got to go inside police cars/vans, fire trucks, and construction equipment, as well as turn on the sirens and beep the horns.  They also got to watch officers ride their motorcycles through an obstacle course and watch a police dog demonstration on how to corral a bad guy.  Alan had a great time!

Afterwards, the kids watched fireworks from the back of Brady’s van.  After having missed Mayfield’s fireworks at Unity Days and on the 4th of July, it was nice for Alan to get to see a fireworks display in Mayfield before the end of summer.  We had a great view of the show, almost looking directly up at the fireworks from a vantage point located just across from the baseball fields.

Note: Just yesterday Alan found out that his 2nd grade teacher will be Mrs. Harris and Brady will be in his class!

1st Grade, Activities & Interests, Cousins, Games, Golden Gate Gardens, Indians, Playing, The National

Summer Fun

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Alan’s second-to-last week of summer break was jam-packed with fun activities.  It was a true representation of what a great summer weekend should be like.

On Friday night we returned to the baseball field to hit balls for the first time since before Alan’s surgery.  Alan was hitting mostly everything I pitched to him and ran the bases several times.  He was thrilled to get back on the field.  Afterwards, as we were packing up, Alan happened to see Ella from Mrs. Russo’s class at the park with her Mom and sister.  Alan stopped to play with them for a while on the playground, and then they chased fire flies together.  Ella also gave Alan an orange wristband to go with the friendship rock from earlier in the year.  After going home, we played chess and also continued to work on a car that Alan, an engineer in training, started to build out of a box. 🙂

On Saturday we began the day at The National Sports Collectors Convention (The NSCC).  After lunch, Alan and I stopped by the annual summer carnival at Golden Gate Gardens and participated in a cake walk and played a ball toss game together.

Afterwards, I took Alan to his friend Josh’s house to play for a couple hours.  Somehow the day was still just beginning though, as the highlight of Alan’s day was going to see Tyler and Carleigh.  First they played in a bounce house at Katie’s graduation party (where a photo was snapped of all the cousins), and then they played at Grandma Debbie’s house.  They ended up having a good four hours together in the two locations.  Alan let his cousins drive his “box car.” 🙂

On Sunday morning we headed back to The NSCC, before spending the rest of the day at the Indians game.  Lastly, we closed the weekend with one final game of chess!

Next weekend — the final one of summer break — figures to be another fun one too!

Baseball, Indians, The National

Tribe Game No. 4 of 2018

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It was jersey day for our trip to the ballpark today, with Alan wearing Lindor’s #12 and me wearing Miller’s #24.

To make it to the game on time, we had to hurry over to the ballpark from The National Sports Collectors Convention (The NSCC).  When we got to the gates, Alan was handed Indians trading cards in honor of the upcoming National Trading Card Day (8/11/18).  They complemented Alan’s haul of trading cards for the day quite nicely!

Up in the Kids Clubhouse, Alan practiced his leadership skills by managing the train table for the afternoon.  In recent weeks the table had been put in a storage closet due to all the trains having been taken home by kids.  However, Alan decided to bring 3 trains from home (Thomas, Percy and a caboose) so that the table could be set up again.  He took responsibility for accounting for the trains and rotating them among the kids.  He did a great job managing the table!  (Note: The Thomas and Percy trains were the same ones that came with him to his very first ballpark visit in 2013).

After the game, Alan continued his Sunday tradition by rounding the bases and touching home.  Then we met Robbie and Jill in the stands before heading out.  Hopefully it’s not the last time we’ll have a chance to go to a game with them this season!

Activities & Interests, Alan's First, Cavaliers, Cleveland, Indians, The National

2018 National Sports Collectors Convention

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This weekend Alan and I made a two separate visits to the 2018 National Sports Collectors Convention at the I-X Center.  The event was held in Cleveland (Wednesday-Sunday) for the first time since 2014.  I attended that year and have been looking forward to bringing Alan to his first card show ever since.

Saturday

After checking out the opening night preview on Wednesday, I set a game plan and brought Alan with me on Saturday morning.  Our first stop was to the PSA table, where I dropped off my Rose Bowl tickets and an autographed Jim Tressel business card for grading.  There Alan and I also had personal trading cards made!  I was excited to wear the greatest Indians jersey of all time – the late 80s/early 90s Municipal Stadium era version with the red, white, and blue-striped border.  Alan had a more modern look, sporting his blue practice jersey with the block C.  🙂

The next stop was Alan’s favorite activity – the indoor Ferris wheel.  Alan loved how it peaked through the roof and allowed for a view of the neighboring airport.  We looked out for planes at the top of each rotation!

After the ride, we browsed the booths on the convention floor and picked up a 1948 World Series highlight DVD, a 1958 Rose Bowl game film DVD, and a 1975 OSU-Michigan radio broadcast CD.  When we came across some vintage baseball equipment, Alan felt relieved that the catcher’s gear he wore this year has improved since the early 1900s model!  On the way out we took a photo by the entrance/exit (LeBron is shown top left).

Sunday

Alan and I decided that one day at the convention was not enough, so we returned again on Sunday morning.  When we arrived, we bought two commemorative items – a convention pin and poster.  While waiting in line, a Panini representative passed out a redemption card to Alan to turn in at the Panini booth.  We found it was for a 10-card VIP set that included Baker Mayfield, along with 9 other top rookies in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Being a kid at the convention definitely had its perks, as Alan also received free cards from two other booths.  For the first time Alan got to experience the thrill of opening a pack of cards and getting a player from his team, as one of the packs contained a sharp Duke Johnson Donruss card.  The only cards that we ended up having to purchase were the latest 3-card installment from the Topps Living Set that included Francisco Lindor! (along with Andrew Benintendi and Austin Meadows).  When buying the set the Topps booth we came across some great fortune, as the 3-card set we purchased included a redemption card for a 11×14 print of Lindor signed by the artist, Mayumi Seto.

Of course we had to ride the Ferris wheel again too, after having so much fun with it the day before.  Alan also got a kick out of the fun house mirrors right around the corner from the Ferris wheel.

Before leaving, we viewed some more memorabilia, included some LeBron Cavaliers gear and a Satchel Paige game-worn Indians jersey!

   

My hope is that this convention will spark Alan’s interest in the same hobby that I have enjoyed since I was his age.  I think he definitely started to understand what I see in trading cards and sports memorabilia at least.  I think the odds are good that we’ll go to another show again someday!