End of Season Baseball Update

Alan has wrapped-up his rookie year in the Mayfield Boys’ Baseball League.  Here’s a recap of the second half of the season:

6/9 – Alan goes 3-for-3 and plays 3B and P.  He makes his mark fielding from the pitcher position, and is established as a regular there – a prime fielding position for this league.

6/16 – Alan goes 3-for-3 and plays 2B and P.  After the game, Alan discovers that I’m the one who has been bringing the marker board for the lineup to each game.  He proceeds to borrow it and write notes — including his own version of the team’s batting order. 🙂

6/23 – Game rained out.

6/30 – Alan goes 1-for-1 and plays 2B before the rain comes and postpones the game after one inning played.  Alan finishes the season batting 1.000!

It was a great debut season for Alan in MBBL play.  I loved coaching third, managing the lineup for the kids, and standing in the field with Alan.  Next summer Alan will move up to the league for 7 & 8 year-olds.  He’s ready!

Parade 2017

Alan collected candy for himself, Mom, & Dad at the annual Mayfield Heights Parade this afternoon.  Parade participants traditionally bring lots of candy to distribute to the parade watchers.  By the end of the parade, Alan had a bag full just like Halloween!

Fireworks Night 2017

Alan and I spent the evening and night at Mayfield Heights Unity Days — one of our favorite summer traditions.

We followed a similar path as last year, starting with the playground and inflatable games, until Alan found a balloon artist!  He asked for and got the Donatello pictured above, which came with Alan’s special twist: Michaelangelo’s nunchecks.

After that we went to Alan’s absolute favorite activity of the night:  bubble-chasing.  Alan spent a good hour running to and from bubbles with a sizable group of kids (including Mike and Joe from his baseball team and Grace from Millridge).  He loved it so much, he just kept going back for more and more. 🙂

After some more time on the playground, it was about time to get ready to watch the fireworks from our usual spot across from City Hall / in front of Party Place.  But first we purchased a lightsaber and light-wand at the park and then walked to McDonald’s for some fries.  We watched the first part of the fireworks from our car, before Alan [excitedly] spotted his classmate Sam.  We watched the second part with Sam and her parents.

Fun ‘N’ Stuff

  

Today I took the day off work and went with Alan to Fun ‘N’ Stuff in Macedonia.  It’s a place I enjoyed going to as a kid, so I thought Alan might enjoy it as well.  It was also a great opportunity to get a head start on celebrating Father’s Day weekend together!

Alan loved the arcade.  He hit the jackpot on one of the ticket-gathering games, and racked up about 200 of his 490 tickets overall on that one turn.  His favorite games in the arcade were definitely skee-ball and air hockey.  We must’ve played 5-6 games of air hockey in all.  🙂

  

Alan’s favorite physical activities were the rock climbing wall (a legit wall, with a harness), go-karts (we rode together in one car), bounce house (pictured at the top of this post) and miniature golf.  Alan decided we should play both 18-hole courses — perhaps as a warm-up for our upcoming Chicago trip!

  

Alan is already asking when we can go back!  I enjoyed it too, so I think we’ll certainly be back again before summer is over.

Tribe Game No. 2 of 2017

Today Alan and I kicked off the summer season of Sunday afternoon Indians games.  We came straight from Alan’s baseball practice, so we didn’t arrive until midway through the game.  Alan had only enough time for his favorite activities, which he decided were batting and sprinting.

We did stop inside the Kids Clubhouse for the quick photo opp below (Alan’s idea), two trips down the slide, and popcorn — which seems to have replaced the soft pretzel as Alan’s go-to ballpark food item.

Before long it was time to run the bases!  Alan also took the photo below outside the Indians dugout.

In addition to getting our fill of baseball on this hot, sunny day, we also turned our attention to the Cavaliers.  Both before and after the game we stopped for a few pictures with the NBA Finals signage.  Go Cavaliers!

Note 1: Upon our arrival at the ballpark, we were greeted by a 443-foot foul ball off the bat of Encarnacion that landed about 15 feet from us outside the left field gate.  We watched it sail overhead and land outside the ballpark.

Note 2: The NBA Finals games have been on too late for Alan to watch, but he’s aware the Cavs have reached the championship round once again.  During the Eastern Conference Finals, Alan did watch the Game 2 massacre in Boston with me when the Cavs won 130-86 over the Celtics on May 19th.

Alan’s First Piano Recital

Alan rocked his piano recital today, playing the best version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” I’ve ever heard.  Grandma Debbie & Papa and Tata & Papa were there to see Alan’s debut performance, along with Veronica and I.

Afterwards we stayed for the Music Settlement’s annual picnic.  Alan would later take home a certificate and a music note trophy to commemorate the completion of his first full year at the Music Settlement.  Way to go, Alan!

McDonald’s

This guy loves going to McDonald’s and ordering chicken nuggets and fries.  I love joining him and hanging out.  It’s our special time together.

Today we went prior to his piano recital.  As always, Alan picked the table, carried the tray, and got the ketchup on his own.  We also picked up a “beanie boo” named Freckles!

Mid-Season Baseball Update

We’ve reached the midpoint in Alan’s rookie year in the Mayfield Boys’ Baseball League.  Here’s a recap of the games to date:

5/13 – Alan goes 2-for-2 and plays 2B.  He gets a big kick out of me waving him home for the first time (it was the first time he’s seen the motion of a 3B coach).

5/19 – Alan goes 3-for-3 and plays 2B and 3B.  At 2B, he fields a hot shot grounded on a real nice play.

5/26 – Game rained out.

6/2 – Alan bats leadoff and goes 4-for-4 with his whole family in attendance.  He plays SS and P, where the ball finds him on several occasions.  Alan continues to field the routine grounders.  He’s also commended for helping up players off the ground, including his new buddy and teammate, Tommy.