Let's Go, Braves!

 Friday we went to our last Braves game for this season.  We had tickets to 4 games this year and these were the last of our tickets.  We took all 4 of the kids this time.  This was Landon's first baseball game and he did really good being still and somehow managed to stay awake through the whole thing, which is remarkable since it wasn't over until 10:30 or so.   We ate at The Varsity before the game so we missed the first 2 innings but we didn't miss any of the action.  Score was 0 - 0 until a single homerun in the 7th inning.  

Braves won 1  - 0.

 I wish this pic was in better focus but hey I'm not deleting this memory.

 Such a nut!

 Oh my gosh I'm a lucky girl!

 

 

 This is Cameron's favorite part of the game.  When the Home Depot tools race around the track.  Drill got knocked over and isn't even in the picture.  Usually Hammer is quite the bully but this time it didn't pay off because Paintbrush won the race!

7th Inning Stretch

 It rained through the last few innings but our seats were in the nosebleed section and under the awning!  

We didn't get a drop on us and the rain stopped just before it was time to go home.

 One of my favorite parts of the game is when they bring out closer Billy Wagner to finish the other team off.

Complete with fire on the screens and Metallica's Enter Sandman!  It's a great way to end the game.

 

Soccer Outtakes

I've been gone a couple days longer from this here blog than I usually am.  I couldn't get an internet connection on the desktop and I can't do anything with pictures on the laptop sooo... 

Oh! and I haven't had the motivation to edit any photos; so these you see are rather pitiful.

*******

I'm a bit tired of soccer this year.   It has nothing to do with the games or practices, either, because that aspect of this season has been relatively easy.  It has more to do with the amount of pictures I've taken.  I've taken something like 700 soccer pictures this year.  (Not exaggerating)

I'm tired of looking at soccer pictures.   But these are funny.

Cameron and Parker are on different teams this year because there was too big a gap grade-wise between them this year.  Parker was going to get plowed over if he played on Cameron's team and Cameron would have been too big to play on Parker's team.  You can really tell a difference in the way each age plays the game:

Cameron's team (for the most part) plays with intensity and are competitve and give it their all.

Parker's team?...Not so much with the competition or intensity or ummm....enthusiasm?  

There are exceptions on both teams but for the most part these are generally what each set of team pictures look like each week. It's been a lot of fun watching them both as each team has gotten better over the  course of the season.  They're learning a lot about the game, they're learning scripture and, just as important, they're having fun. 

The two teams competing against each other have to pass by in a line and give each other high-fives after the game.  Parker's team and the team they played against were having so much fun hugging and high-fiving and chest-bumping each other that they ended up in a pile on the field.   Very cute.

I love Atlanta!

Last year, we had some friends ask us to help them with their second chiropractic office in Blacksburg, Virginia.  Greg has a thriving, reputable practice and wanted Brian to come and be a part of what's going on up there.  We love this couple.  We like Virginia.  The allure of financial stability is tempting.  Very tempting.

We told them we'd pray about it.  We would consider it.

At the end of summer, they came to visit her family here in Georgia and met us for ice cream one night.  They talked about how much they love it in Blacksburg.  They told us, "There's no traffic.  It's so quiet and laid back.  It's a wonderful place to raise a family."

That sounded nice.  Relaxing. 

But on our way home I realized something.

We would be bored out of our minds!

We lived in Knoxville, Tennessee for a minute and a half after we were married and couldn't believe that ,once football season is over, there is nothing to do there.   We were thankful to be back home just a few short months later.

I love this city!

Is there anything Atlanta doesn't have?

This city of mine has:

1. Great food
2. Rich history
3. Fabulous music
4. Art museums
5. Science museums
6. A world-class aquarium
7. A beautiful river
8. Two gorgeous lakes nearby
9. The mountains
10. NFL Falcons
11. NHL Thrashers
12. MLB Braves
13. NBA Hawks
14. WNBA Dream
15. Six Flags over Georgia
16. White Water
17. Zoo Atlanta
18. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens
19. Fantastic schools
20. The Atlanta Opera
21. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
22. Comedy clubs
23. The ocean is not far away.
24. The Gulf of Mexico is not far away.
25. And, if you want to go further than that, it has Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

I know this looks like you've landed on the site for The Chamber of Commerce.  But I just have to say that I love it here!  

It took us an hour and a half to get to the game last night because I wanted to park in the Blue Lot.  But that just means that the boys got in an hour's nap before we kept them up late.

We gave up on the Blue Lot and ended up parking in a Mom 'n Pop auto repair place that uses their property as an impromptu parking lot on game nights.  But we still just paid ten bucks and only had an extra block to walk.

We got in an enormous line for tickets because we were with everyone else that got stuck in traffic.  But a Turner Field employee told us all about a $20 dollar/ 4 game deal that got us out of the line!  And now we have tickets for 4 to 3 more games this season!

So,...there's a trade off.  Traffic and crowds for a Chipper Jones game-winning homerun!  I think that's a trade I'm willing to make to live in a city that offers so much.

Jones headed into home.

  Our view from our 5 dollar seats!

Come on down!  The weather's fine!

Cats and Coffee and Bracketology

The cat has found me again.  She's clearly missing the laptop more than I am.  Did I tell you I accidentally let the laptop slide off my lap onto the floor and that the fall broke the part of the power cord that you stick into the laptop and so now the whole thing won't work 'cause you kind of need power to run the thing and it has a battery life of approximately 33 seconds which is only long enough to walk with it from one room to another and quickly plug it in again before it goes to sleep?    

Raise your hand if you think that's the longest run-on sentence ever written.  Do you think I could get in the Guinness Book of World Records with that one?

Back to my point: The cat.

So, she's sitting here trying not to fall off my lap.  Her enormous backside is barely hanging on.   She used to be so comfortable hiding underneath the laptop and supported by the arm of the overstuffed chair.  But now that I have to do all things computer-related up here in the office, while sitting in this office chair, my lap has disappeared. Well, it hasn't disappeared but it is too small to support a cat her size.  Do you have any idea how happy that last sentence makes me?

While she sits here, though, it is hard not to pet her.  But it's spring-time and petting her only adds to the gobs of hair floating in the air.  I keep having to hold my coffee cup way up high so the cat hair doesn't float into my mug.  I mean, really!  I really don't want a mocha and caramel flavored hairball snack for breakfast.  ACK!

And I have been at this desk, off and on, nearly all day.   I tried filling out my bracket on espn.com but either my computer is malfunctioning or their site is INCREDIBLY  SLOW because of all the ding dang traffic there today.   It took me over an hour... AN  HOUR!... just to make my first round picks because it kept freezing up and I would have to walk away from it or throw it out the window.  I would go and do something else and come back and, occasionally, it would be ready for me to make another pick.  Sometimes I would have to leave again and come back... AGAIN. 

THEN!   THEN!!  The whole dad-blame thing shut down Firefox completely!   AND  when I got it back up?!  Guess what was missing?!

ALL my first round picks!

%#((_+&$%$%#&&%#&()^^)_!!!!!!

Soooo,....(*taking deep cleansing breaths*).... I am thinking that this whole thing isn't worth it.  Even IF I won the whole shebang, I'm believing that 10,000 dollars would not be adequate compensation for the amount of frustration I feel at this moment.

Here's to March Madness and...

LET'S  GO,   DUKE!