Poetry Reading

Drew had a poetry reading and "Scientist Hall of Fame" presentation last week. He did a great job: better than I did with the video camera (I'm afraid I missed the first couple of words of his poem: "Cocker Spaniels"). His project devoted to Johannes Kepler was very interesting. Kepler helped people understand the orbits of the planet around the sun. It's amazing what a great job all of his classmates did with their poems and projects. Some poems were funny, some were sad, some were informative: but you could tell that they were heartfelt.

So Drew had a better week than Jordan: she's been a little under the weather with a cough. But today she's better and is looking forward to a friend's birthday party and softball practice.

Softball Practice

Eleven 5-6 year old girls, most of whom have never played softball before, at their 1st practice. A field so muddy that one of the girl's younger brothers got stuck and lost his shoe. Yes, there were some funny moments at Jordan's first practice. But overall, everything went much better than you would think. Jordan has laid claim to the team clown already, which I know doesn't surprise anyone. Jen is one of the coaches, and Drew helped the girls learn the bases and the base paths. Should be a fun year!

Chilly Royals Game

We learned a valuable lesson last Saturday - Don't buy advance tickets to April Royals games, unless you are certain of the weather conditions. We went to "Powder Blue" day on 4/12, with the intent on getting there early enough to get free Billy Butler powder blue jerseys and then enjoy the first family outing of the baseball season.

The game started at 6:10. The gates were supposed to open at 4:10. We reached the stadium parking lot at 4:00 and encountered a nightmare - a huge traffic jam. Apparently everyone had the same plan as we! (Only the first 20,000 fans received free jerseys.) After finally parking in Lot L, the farthest lot from the stadium, we reached the stadium gates at 4:45. It was a madhouse! People everywhere. And apparently there were 20,000 fans who had already entered because no jerseys were left.

Things kind of went downhill from there. It was bitterly cold, with a very strong wind whipping throughout the stadium. Jordan was freezing before the game ever started! By the 5th inning we had enough. Lesson learned - don't count on the free stuff and watch the weather forecast!

On a positive side, we saw the new scoreboard. It is huge! I've posted a picture taken from my phone on opening day. The completed scoreboard will have the familiar crown look, but the team wanted the board operational for opening day this year. Renovation of the stadium won't be done until opening day 2009, but so far so good.

Welcome

Well, Here we go. We are going to attempt to start a blog and post some pictures, so that friends and family can keep up with our lives. Jen is much better at sharing when she talks with her family than I am. So, Mom & Greg, Dad, and Matt may get a lot more out of this than Donnie & Phyllis, and Steph & Brian.

Who knows how often we'll update this - it is a brand new experience. But I'll try to post pictures of the kids and keep it as current as possible.

Bill