But there are some differences. Because I know have an iPhone 4, I can take decent photos and actual video. Video which is, first, obscured by the Frisco School of Rock disassembling its setup and, second, interrupted nearly twice by Madysen who had I can only assume an emergency since she needed an immediate answer. She wanted to go see a drive-in movie, which actually might qualify as a teenage emergency. (Layla in the back row, fourth from the right.)

While the girls hung out in the right field pool zone, I watched the game. We left in the 8th inning with the ‘Riders down 5-3, which ended up as the final. We did pause out in left field to watch a half-inning from the home run deck, which reminded me of the same at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field.

Pre-game; Layla's out there somewhere

She's on the back row towards the right end--I think

In the minors, players have to wait for dancers to get out of their way

I could post more unrecognizable pictures of Layla dancing, but I think three is enough. As for the game, the Frisco Rough Riders got shellacked by the visiting Springfield Cardinals.

Layla, Ali, and Rachel with Deuce

Amazingly, shy Emma went over to see Deuce too, which would have made a great picture except for this kid in my way

Speed: After getting home from camp at noon on Saturday, he took a long nap–neglected to mow the grass–and then boarded a plane to Kansas City to spend the week with Holly’s brother and cousin Noah. Word is he’s had a lot of fun, e.g., seeing a Royals game (a stranger gave them great seats 8 rows up from third base and everything cost $1), riding go-karts (rumor is he fell out of one at top speed; I believe the rumor), and heading to Branson and Silver Dollar City for this weekend. He’ll be back on Monday night.

Madysen: A couple of scrimmages with her new soccer team proves that she’ll do fine moving up to the 93 age group. She does wish she would grow a little bit though. She’s become obsessed with playing Monopoly. At first she played Emma and Layla at least once a day and trounced them both. Emma figured this out and quit playing. Layla continues to play. I have a feeling that Madysen is using Monopoly to avoid read The Hobbit, which is her required reading the summer.

Layla and Emma: Other than playing Monopoly every day, the two of them have spent four hours a day in the pool. Another couple of hours is spent doing cartwheels, roundoffs, and handstands in the living room. The balance of every 24-hour period seems to be spent watching the Disney Channel or various movies (including Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, which was pretty good and Arthur and the Invisibles, which wasn’t). Not being an avid Disney Channel watcher myself, I first saw a commercial for High School Musical 2 this week and asked the girls if they knew about it. Big mistake. First, they were agog that I was unaware that the greatest sequel ever was coming down the pipe. Second, they recounted the entire plot of the sequel over the next half hour. I have no idea how they know all the plot details for a movie yet to be released, but they definitely do. (Emma and Layla loved/love High School Muscial and karaoked the soundtrack continuously for a solid five months.)

Holly: She continues with physical therapy sessions on her wrist, and it is looking better and better every week. She took Madysen clothes shopping last Sunday, which went better than I expected–but not great. Those two are too alike. Of course, neither of them see it.

Me: Nothing too exciting. I did make a couple of trips to Austin for work matters. I have an uneasy feeling about Austin. On the one hand, it is a great college town. On the other, that college is Texas, which I despise. Further, it has terrible traffic, and the constant bombardment of “Keep Austin Weird” looks to have become corporatized to the extent that it borders on boboism. I did eat a Chuy’s twice–the first time because I wanted to eat there; the second because I had a New Yorker with me who wanted some good Tex-Mex (not that I was complaining).

Madysen has gone off to Cedar Creek Lake for the weekend with friends, so it’s just Holly and me with the two little girls. Weird.

When I gently ribbed him about why he didn’t win, he had excuses–a la Sergio–as he always does. First, he claimed that the winner was 16. I doubt that considering he was in the 7-12 age group. Second, he claimed that his second place throw landed only inches short of the winning throw. Third and finally, he claimed that his ball hit a volleyball net in mid-air; otherwise it would have gone much further. Sounds suspicious but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Regardless, he did well enough to make the paper.

On Thursday, everyone (though not me) and Holly’s sister and her daughter Carli took a trip to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center and Dinosaur Valley State Park, both of which are a couple hours south of Dallas. Fossil Rim is a drive through wildlife preserve. Emma, who got a camera for her birthday, actually took some decent photos.

Dinosaur Valley “contains some of the best preserved dinosaur tracks in the world.” But due to all the recent rain we’ve received, the kids didn’t get to see too many tracks.

On Friday–again without me–Holly, the kids, Shawn, Noah, and cousins Brendon and Ashton went go-kart racing and played putt-putt. Speed claims to have beaten up the putt-putt course with a number of holes in one. I do believe that he beat up the go-kart track. The little ones started out on the kiddie track. Emma complained about how slow Carli drove.

Cousin Carli

Cousin Noah

Emma

The big kids (with Layla in a sidecar) took to the big track.

Cousin Brendon, Cousin Logan and Layla, and Speed

Cousin Logan and Layla with Shawn behind

Cousin Ashton

Logan blocking Speed

That evening, Layla, Speed, Shawn, Noah, Brendon, Ashton, and I went to the Rangers games against the Cleveland Indians. Speed wore his Indians t-shirt even though he couldn’t name a player on the roster and only really follows the Yankees. We sat in section 44, directly in the right field corner. Unless you can get in the first couple of rows, I would suggest a different section.

McCarthy pitched pretty well for the Rangers, holding the Indians to just a couple of hits over the first five innings (and scoreless). In the top of the 6th, he finally gave up a run, which was promptly followed by a Travis Hafner two-run homer hit just a few rows over and a few rows in front of us. While only giving up 3 runs, the Rangers managed nothing except hitting into a number of double plays. In the 9th, they finally showed some life. In the top of the inning, they got the final out on a great catch by Brad Wilkerson. In the bottom half, the Rangers mounted a rally with a couple hits and a couple of helpful errors by the Indians. With two out, the bases loaded, and down 3-2, Wilkerson struck out swinging. Rangers lost.

I thought we were done with softball. But I had forgotten about the obligatory post-season celebration. Layla’s celebration was at Extreme Pizza (apparently the post-season celebration place-to-be). Layla and Emma had a great time in their arcade–and they always love pizza. Finally, Layla was very excited to get a medal and a trophy, though I’m not sure why they handed out both.

Speed’s baseball team shed obligation and tradition (yeah!) with the coach hand-delivering Speed’s medal (what? no trophy?). Works for me.

• On Monday afternoon, Layla got her game in against the White Huskies (to whom, they’d already lost twice). The game went to form. Layla put the ball in play during both at bats but was out at first both times.

• Layla had her last game scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, but the other team forfeited because they couldn’t rustle up enough players. Kind of a downer to end on–but it counts as a win! Layla had so much fun playing this season.

• Speed also had a game Wednesday afternoon against his best friend’s team, Red Devils. Speed’s team won handily (12-1 I think). Speed’s one at-bat that I saw was a walk. He played well as catcher. The female umpire (pictured below) was so funny. She was very encouraging to everyone: telling the pitchers how they’d barely missed the strike zone high, inside, etc., but it was great effort; to batters making any sort of contact; and explaining almost every call to the coaches in great detail. She was good and entertaining.

• Wednesday’s win meant that Thursday’s final game against the Cistercian Hawks was for first place in the league. Speed’s team had just one loss, while Hawks had none. Speed was excited about the prospect of taking the league title (I wasn’t so sure). Well, the stars were aligned as Speed won 17-1. They had three home runs (a grand slam and two three-run homers). Speed had one of the three-run jobs and was a bit irritated that it wasn’t a grand slam because the bases had been loaded until one player scored on a wild pitch just before Speed’s big hit. Speed played SS and 3B but had no chances. They went to Braum’s afterwards to celebrate. Speed had a grin ear to ear even two hours after the game ended.

On Tuesday evening, Layla played her first softball game in two weeks. As I was in D.C., and Holly was with Madysen practicing with a prospective new soccer team details are sketchy. They lost 28-6, so I’m sure we are better off without more information.

Speed played the Scots on Wednesday night and won 8-3. He pitched the final inning. He struck out two and go the game ending out when a runner tried to steal home on a passed ball.

On Friday night, he played the ORLS Wildcats. The Knights came from behind to take the lead 7-4 in the top half of the final inning. The Wildcats scored two runs and had a runner on third with 2 outs. Speed was playing catcher, and on a wild pitch, when the runner tried to steal home, Speed tracked down the ball, flipped it to the pitcher covering home who tagged out the runner just in time. Knights win! Knights win! A very exciting ending.

Speed lines out the SS

On Saturday morning, Speed had another game, this time against the Sox. He pitched the first two innings, struggling in the second and getting little help from his defense. He did have three hits, but they lost (8-3) for the first time this season.

Double down the line

Pitching

Catching

Layla nearly helped squelch a potential rally in the 1st inning. While playing pitcher and with two outs, she cleanly fielded a grounder and had plenty of time to through the runner out. Unfortunately, her throw sailed about 10 feet over the first baseman’s head. The next batter hit a three run homer.

Ready, aim, fire--into the tenth row (if we had stands)

In her two at-bats, she hit a single and scored a run. During her second at-bat, she had a little pop fly that was booted foul by the third baseman, so the umpire called it foul. I considered throwing a fit but thought better of it. She ended up striking out after a legitimate foul ball.

Layla strides into a single

Which turned into a run

The foul ball that wasn't

An actual foul ball

She played second base and center field in the last two innings, though you really couldn’t tell a difference.

2B

CF

Layla as second baseman

Layla as center fielder

But no matter. They got their first win 10-6. The final out came on a pop fly to the first baseman, who stuck out her glove for a great and–by the look on her face–completely unexpected catch.

Pitching against the Wildcats

On Wednesday, Speed had this second baseball game (they won the first game) against the Red Devils, on which his best friend plays. At the plate, Speed had two walks and scored both times he got on base. On both occasions, the third base coach tried to hold him, but Speed disregarded him. They won 11-2.

On Saturday, they tried to remain undefeated against the ORLS Wildcats. He made a fielding error in the 1st inning at shortstop, but it did not lead to a run. At the plate, he hit a home run in his first at bat (again, the third base coach tried to hold him) and a double in his other at bat. And he pitched the 4th inning pretty well. The game ended when Speed caught a line drive and doubled up a runner at first for a 1-3 double play. They won 12-7.