Auburn family pics

Here's the happy family of our league champion Auburn Tiger:

Austin Parkway Elementary Walkathon

Thanks again to everyone that contributed to Payton and Macy's school fundraiser, it was a big success as usual. We sponsored the 40 foot tall inflatable slide playthingy. It was popular enough that the parents of children in line when they finally shut it down were very irate. I guess that's a good thing. Anyway, Macy ran into Justin from her class and family friend Carrie Sistrunk.

Rapunzel's castle

Macy and Ed built Rapunzel's castle. Ed bought some wood and brought over some tools and they sawed, hammered and glued a new toy.

Happy Birthday Sophia

Sophia celebrated her 80th birthday with a fun surprise party at Susie's house. Here she is with Susie and Christy.

It's party time - Macy style

Here she is with Annie McLemore showing of some slick dance moves.

Galveston

Nancy took the kids to the beach a few weeks ago. Macy, who wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up, always finds some critters.

Baseball update

The Lightning did win an exciting game 9-8 against the 99ers last night to qualify for the semifinals this afternoon. It was the best game I've ever seen them play. For you Payton fans, he played extremely well, made all the routine plays at 1st base, caught a couple of pop-ups, made a wicked dive for one in front of the other team's dugout, crashed into the fence unfortunately he didn't quite get to it. And his hitting was good including a smash to right center - the farthest I've ever seen him hit one. Unfortunately there he tried to stretch into a triple and they got him at third.

Baseball action

Payton is back in action as the Lightning are playing in the First Colony fall shootout tournament. These pics are from their second game this morning, note the ball in the air above the head of the third base coach John Conlon - click the picture to get it full size. The second pic hows Payton safe on 2nd base after that big hit.

The Lightning were beat in their first game by the Missouri City Power - the team they beat in August to win the Missouri City tournament. They looked very rusty and still didn't get going until about the 4th inning this morning. But the bats came around and they started making the routine plays in the field. They turned an 8-5 deficit into a 17-11 victory over the First Colony Storm. We leave in 5 minutes to take on the Missouri City 99ers. A win gets us to the semifinals, a loss we'll have to wait and see.

Baseball fall champions

Payton's Auburn Tigers won the First Colony Little League Pee-Wee fall championship Sunday defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 18 to 7. This was sweet revenge agains the only team not only to beat them in the regular season but the only team to keep the score within about 10 runs. The Tigers were a powerhouse!

Payton played third base for most of the season and seemed to quite enjoy the change. Not that he's giving up first base on the Lightning by any stretch of the imagination though. As the oldest kid on the team, he was the one best able to make the throws all the way across the diamond. He did a very good job, besides some routine plays in the championship game he made one sparkler - a very sharp hit down the line that he backhanded on one hop and fired across to get the batter at first. His hitting was a bit off on Sunday, swinging over the ball and hitting grounders but I think he still went 3 for 4.

There were a few plays of note by other kids for sure - in particular Kanu came up big. He made a diving catch at shortstop early in the game to save what looked like a double. He also hit a big double in the middle innings that scored a couple of runs and in the bottom of the 5th he made the play of the year. The Tar Heels, trailing 15-7 but still showing lots of life, had the bases loaded with one out and John Noork at the plate. John had already slammed two home runs and was eyeing another. He ripped one to center field and Kanu made another sparkling diving catch. The runners of course had all taken off and so the Tigers scored an easy double play to end the inning and the Tar Heels last threat.

And in the top of the 6th the Tigers needed three runs to put the game out of reach - there's a ten batter limit per inning so an 11 run lead is insurmountable in one inning. Victoria, the team's most improved player throughout the year, slapped a single and later advanced to third on some throwing problems when runners ahead of her stole. Collin Lucas, hitless all season long, finally connected and was safe at first scoring Victoria for the championship clinching final run. That was definitely a terrific finish.

Now, for the truly terrific performance, check out my exquisitely artistic shot of the team posing under the winning scoreboard. This phone of mine is certainly a fine instrument.

Baseball update

They've started keeping score in Payton's baseball league and his team is a very solid 2-0. Today in the first inning he hit the ball farther than I've ever see him hit, way over the center fielder's head. He was halfway to third base by the time the kid even got to the ball. Payton coasted in for an easy inside-the-park home run. He was solid the rest of the game both at the plate and in the field. They won 14-3.

Book Recommendation

I read "The Soul of Baseball" by Joe Posnanski on the flight home - it's awesome. If you liked Buck O'Neil on the Ken Burns Baseball miniseries then you need to read this. I couldn't put it down, literally. I finished the whole thing about 15 minutes before we landed so it won't take a long time to get through it.

Travelog - Greenwich CT

I'm writing from the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich CT this morning. I'm attending the JS Herold Energy Pacesetters conference, but taking the morning session off to catch up on email. I played in the golf tournament yesterday and despite a score of only 4 under my team was low gross on the 4 man scramble - 2 dozen Pro V1x's thank you very much. I came fairly close to winning the Hummer also, I hit to about 8 feet on the tricked up 195 yd par 3. We were the only birdie all day on that hole.

What's really interesting is that I played and then had dinner with Rick Watkins, husband of Enron whistleblower and Time Magazine 2002 person of the year Sherron Watkins. He's quite an interesting guy, very successful in his own right sitting on the board of Canadian Superior Energy currently. He had lots of stories to tell, even visiting Warren Buffet at his house etc. He described Sherron's experience as being similar to the movie Rosemary's Baby where everyone she turns to for help is actually in on it.

The golf course, The Country Club of New Canaan, was beautiful.

Congratulations Wild family

Jerry Wild, the best man at Nancy and my wedding recently was happy to announce the birth of his third son, Clark Wild. Here's a pic of Clark with his brothers Austin and Grant. Congratulations Jerry and Kathy!

Payton baseball Fall '07

Here's a link to Payton's baseball schedule this fall: http://fclll3.d4sports.net/LeagueManager/schedule.asp?TeamID=50824&ShowRefs=

We're in the middle of a 8-day 5-game stretch. We'd forgotten how, um, instructional the fall league is after the ultra competitive tournaments he was in this summer. But he's got a very good coach and we've already seen some improvement in both his hitting and throwing mechanics.

They're the Auburn Tigers, I'm not sure why our league has a big fondness for SEC teams.

Star Sighting

Payton & I played golf yesterday afternoon after baseball practice with Russell Price. He's a friend of ours who recently moved here from Mountain View CA and also joined Sweetwater. We teed off at 5:15 so we were hustling to get 9 holes in, as was everyone else on the course around us.

We get to the 6th hole, a par 5 and I drive into the lip of a fairway trap. I basically chipped out and I'm standing at my ball in the middle of the fairway about 320 yards from the tee when a ball lands ten feet from me. Some jerk hitting in to us. I didn't hear anything, Russell says he thought he heard a fore. Anyway, after I hit, I might have run over the ball with my cart.

So on the 8th hole, I'm a little cooled off and we let the two guys play through, another shot bombed over our heads at least 325. Who drives up to play his next shot but Carlos Lee, the Astros power hitting left fielder. I'd have felt a little funny about asking for an autograph or picture after running over his ball, but anyway it was pretty cool. Payton couldn't wait for school this morning to tell all his friends.

I'm wondering how the heck he got from downtown all the way out to Sugar Land after the game ended at 4 and still managed to tee off by 5:30? Must have a fast car and a willingness to pay a big ticket, I guess $100 million contracts afford you that flexibility.

Remembering Barbara

Leon asked us to scan these old photos of Barbara, I figured a lot more might like to have them. Click each picture to get a full size download.

Big excitement

Nancy spied an alligator in our neighborhood lake during her morning trot with Harry. She called and the kids had to come see. Here's the sucky photos I took with my phone.

Champions!

The kids returned to school August 27 the morning after a spectacular finish for the Lightning in the Missouri City "High Heater" classic. The team had easily won on Thursday and Friday to receive a bye into the semifinals on Sunday. They crushed the team from Galveston needing only one quick run in the 4th inning to secure a 10-run rule victory 16-6.

The championship game was a rematch with the Missouri City Power, Friday's victim. The Lightning had a slim 3-0 lead after two innings, a lead that would be erased and turned in to an 8-3 deficit in the middle of the fourth. The team was clearly wilting a little in the heat. Coach Mike Font really rallied them and they played with whatever energy their little bodies could muster the rest of the way. We scored 2 in the bottom of the fourth and then both teams were scoreless in the 5th. After 3 up and 3 down in the top half, the Lightning faced an 8-5 score with only three outs remaining.

Honestly I don't recall the exact sequence, but I know Payton was up with 1 out and men on 2nd and 3rd. He ripped a double up the middle to score both runners and was later plated to tie the game. We had a chance to win it with a man advanced to third with two outs but we couldn't convert and went to extra innings.

Some misplays in the field gave the Power two runs and so the Lightning again faced a score or lose half inning. Two quick outs gave us some worries, but we got to the top of the order and Sammy Kuntz smashed a long double to score the tying and winning runs leaving Payton on deck both elated at the victory and probably a little relieved at not being needed.

I apologize for the craptacular picture. My phone says 2 megapixels, but obviously I have some RTFM to do.

Macy and her critters

Most of you know that little girls love the little animals and Macy is no exception. Of course, our dainty little thing seems to be fascinated with slugs and frogs.

High School Musical 2 party

Macy was so eagerly anticipating the new High School Musical movie that she begged tohave a party to share the experience with some of her friends.

Here's the crew from left, Mallory Font, Hunter Price, Macy, Annie McLemore, Maddy Font and Morgan Ashmore, happily camped out in front of the show. The brothers, Taylor Font, Hayden Price, Carter McLemore and Mason Ashmore, were all invited as well, they don't show up much in the pics, they spent the evening upstairs on the Wii with Payton.

Of course, it's a musical and so the girls had to show their enthusiasm, but the videos aren't uploading right now, hopefully an update to come.

Of course there was lots of food (spaghetti and meatballs courtesy of Ed's kitchen and his mom's amazing recipe) and we finished off the evening with the chocolate fountain.

Posting note

I'm not sure why some of the pictures I've posted don't expand when you click on them. I'll try to correct that because some of the pics are really best viewed full size.

Try it yourself, most of the pictures on the site will blow up to huge sizes that let you really see the detail when you click them.

More fun in the sun

Kids on the beach...

Baby Eddie was born while we were at the beach last year and is now a strapping 1 year old

Macy, Amani and Jordan and Samantha who have moved next door to the Connolly's put on a fashion show.

Second day in Boston

We start with some yummy pizza at our yearly stop at Regina's in the North End...

Some fabulous seats at Fenway Park...

A Manny Ramirez three-run homer...

And some happy fans after a Red Sox victory

Travel to Boston

Macy with her expert packing job making sure Froggy has a good view and showing some real enthusiasm for her new DS. She wasn't half as happy about this as the people sitting within three rows of us on the airplane.



And our first evening on the beach after 50 something straight days of rain in Houston, we are greeted by glorious sunshine in Massachusetts.