We decided kind of on a whim last night to take Matthew to go see his first baseball game - the Frisco Roughriders were taking on the Midland Rockhounds at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in the final game of the AA season (before the majors expand their rosters to 40 players for September and all the "good" minor leaguers are gone). Our friends Seth, Jess, Ethan and Aiden joined us on San Juan Hill - the outfield grass seats. Matt Matt watched for about 2.3 seconds then told Daddy he wanted to go "far away" and walked off to have a wander around the stadium (yes, James went with him.)
Of course, because Jess brought Aiden's stroller, we spent 90% of the time doing this:
I wanted to get a shot of the two of us, for posterity:
The fireworks they set off when Frisco hit their only homerun surprised Matt Matt and he kept looking around wondering if it was going to happen again, so we quit while we were ahead and called it a night. On the drive home, Matthew kept saying it was dark out and he couldn't see the trees - we figured out he'd never seen a night sky that he would be able to remember since he goes to bed so early. :-)
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Play ball!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Trapped by an oak tree
The day before we leave, I'm packing my suitcase in the bedroom while Matthew naps in his Pack N Play in the bunkroom, and James is watching TV or playing videogames. I'm looking out this window, when I hear a loud groaning sound and see an oak tree very slowly and gracefully fall over and block the driveway.
Thankfully, the neighbors were out on their porch at the time and heard it too. I heard someone say, "What the hell was THAT?" and a few moments later I hear footsteps in the woods. I tell James what happened and he goes out to investigate. Good thing the neighbors have a chainsaw.
We called the rental agency to let them know and the neighbor said he was good friends with the owner and would call him directly. It was kind of touch and go as to whether the small tree that the oak had collapsed on would actually hold it up through the night.
Thankfully, it did, and we were able to leave without further incident.
Bye, Lazy Bear Lodge! It was fun. We may be back...
We made a friend while hiking Whiteside Mountain
Matthew really wanted to pet this dog but every time she got up close, he chickened out. He did find it funny when Mommy got kisses from her, though.
Sliding Rock
We found out about a local swimming hole, Sliding Rock, that was supposed to be little-one friendly. Boy was it ever! You could slide down the rock and pop into these two holes halfway down. Kind of like a hot tub, only with icy mountain water in them.
We thought we were just going to take a quick look and head home, but Matthew had different plans for the day. (None of us had bathing suits and I didn't even have a towel in the car, just a tea towel from the diaper bag to dry him off with!)
Since he was already wet and didn't want to come out, we just said what the heck (or something like that) and stripped him down to his diaper and stayed a while.
He was screaming, "More hopping! More hopping!" and James was happy to oblige.
Finally, though, we had to get out and get our shoes back on and head home, but Matthew was having second thoughts. We meant to go back but the weather didn't cooperate on the days we didn't already have plans.... shame about that.
Picnic on Lake Glenville
Lake Glenville was five minutes down the road, so we decided to have a picnic lunch there one day. The only other people around took all the best picnic tables, started their campfire going and then hopped on their pontoon boat, beer cans in hand, for a tour around the lake, leaving the fire burning unattended. Nice!
James in action
This house had pretty much everything for fun and games. James and my mom gave horseshoes a whirl until it got too hot out there in the sun. We never had enough people for volleyball and were too lazy to try badminton, but James got pretty good at the Bimini Ring Game we had on the porch. Matt Matt liked to watch James play Car Game on one of the games machines they left for us. (I was downstairs reading and drinking wine, so I never found out what game or which games console.)
Home Away From Home
It took a while to find it... down a few unmarked gravel roads and past a group of threatening signs:
Apparently, this sign was supposed to let us know we were on the right track:
but we didn't find it until we'd already been there a week. Never mind, we found the place (after much to-ing and fro-ing) and it was great. Big open meadow, view of some mountain from the front door, huge screened porch out front where we ate all our meals. Yeah, baby!
and yes, the rental car agency gave us a Chrysler 300 to drive for two weeks. Next time, we upgrade to an SUV - we managed to bottom it out once or twice on the huge rocks in the middle of the gravel road.
Matthew makes friends with some of the animals
Despite the puppy poopy incident, Matt Matt and Wilson play nice. Matt Matt was very iffy on Wilson, though, due to the yipping and the nipping.
Mat Matt was much more enamored of Murray, my parents' Manx cat. After we got home, the orange Build A Bear cat he and Daddy made a few weeks ago was rechristened Murray Cat. When you ask him about Murray, he shouts out, "No tail!" which always makes me think of League of Gentlemen's Edward and Tubbs' ad for a bride for their son: "local notail wanted..."