Disney Pictures

I managed to put together a slide show tonight, so I have it up now! I haven't written anything yet, but will post more details soon.

We are home!

Jamie, Elise, and I just had a wonderful week in Orlando visiting Disney World! We are home now, but since I have to jump right back into work tomorrow, I don't have all the details of the trip summarized yet. I will work on giving details about each day and what we did throughout this next week or so. I want to be sure to get it all written down before we forget. I think it will be fun to come back and read about it several years from now when we are hopefully returning for another Disney vacation. For now, I have suitcases to unpack & laundry to do. More on the trip later...

Happy Father's Day

I am a day late with my Father's Day post, and that seems to be the norm around here lately! However, better late than never. We had a pretty nice Father's Day yesterday. We spent the morning at home, which was really nice. We've barely been home at all since the baseball post-season began - it seems like one thing after another. So, we really enjoyed just being around the house for most of Jamie's special day. I got donuts for breakfast (by request), and later in the afternoon Jamie decided to get out the slip'n'slide. The boys and Elise seemed to really enjoy it, and of course, Jamie had to demonstrate. After our water fun, we all got cleaned up and went out to Kemah for a nice dinner.

I've been so busy that I feel like I didn't get to adequately plan for Jamie's day. I've been feeling guilty all day that I didn't do more to make it extra special for him. I know he had a nice time, but I just can't seem to find a way to express to him how much I appreciate his role in Elise's life. Nothing really seems good enough. Not a day passes that I don't look at him and just think to myself how lucky we are to have him. I hope he knows that.

What a ride

Our baseball season concluded yesterday with a state semi-final loss to the eventual state champion, Corpus Christi Calallen High School. While we do feel a pang of disappointment, it is simply impossible to look at this season as anything but a total success. We had a great group of kids who loved to play together and achieved above and beyond what anyone would have guessed possible at the start of the season. It was a privilege to watch from the stands and cheer them on all the way to Round Rock. We faced a very seasoned Calallen program (this was their 11th trip to the state tournament), and our nerves got the best of us in the first inning. We dug ourselves a 0-5 hole, and played from behind for the remainder of the game. Had we been able to erase that first inning, I feel like it could have been a very different game. Still, I am very proud of our team.

Congratulations to the state semi-finalist 2008 Friendswood Mustang Baseball team.

News coverage of our exciting win

We get really great coverage from The Galveston Daily News. You can read 2 great articles about our win here and here.

We were also covered by Channel 13 here in Houston last night. We all went out to Chili's for margaritas to celebrate, and they turned the TV to the news for us. We could see the story, but there wasn't any sound turned on in the restaurant. I've been trying all day to find it online somewhere, but no luck so far. We were cheering like crazy at the bar as the story ran, and apparently another restaurant patron heard us. Our waiter came by later and told us that someone else had picked up our entire tab!!! He left us a business card - he's a sports photographer. How cool is that??

There was also an article in today's Houston Chronicle. It can be read here.

STATE BOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a game that lasted nearly 5 hours and 13 innings, the Friendswood Mustang baseball team made school history last night, advancing to the state baseball tournament for the first time ever! To say that the game was thrilling is an understatement. I heard our defensive coordinator approach Jamie after the game and say, "Crock, if you missed that game, then you missed something in life." There were so many ups and downs that I lost track! We started strong with an 8-1 lead, but Lamar Consolidated slowly chipped away at our lead until they tied the game in the 6th inning at 8-8. A scoreless 7th inning led us into extra innings. Each time an inning would go by without a run scored, it became more and more tense. The heat was unbelievable. In the stands we were exhausted, and we couldn't even begin to imagine how the kids were feeling down on the field where they were in direct sunlight.

Our kids were so incredibly tough. They really dug deep and showed character to remain composed and focused. I'm so proud of everyone. I'm thrilled for Charlie, Scott, and Jamie - and all of the players too of course. I am also feeling incredibly blessed right now. In 1994 I had the privilege of being a player on a state championship volleyball team. Now 14 years later, my husband is going to the state tournament as a coach. Most athletes never even get to win a District title, much less go to a state tournament. For our family to be twice blessed is amazing, and we are not taking that for granted. We know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we are enjoying every moment.

A few words about the earlier games in the series with Lamar Consolidated: We won game one in a close game by a score of 4-3. But we knew this incredibly talented LC team would not go down without a fight. They came back very strong on Friday night and defeated us by a score of 1-8. That set the stage for the long battle yesterday. The coaches have all said that LC's team is the best they've ever played against. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we have to admit that at any moment this series could have gone either way. I'm so glad that we persevered!!!

Of course, I took about a million pictures this weekend. I've done another new slideshow to show them off, and I will have it up at the top of the page shortly. There is also tons of media on the game, and I'm working on putting that all together in a post as well.

GO MUSTANGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!