Hit Ball, Run Bases

Through his friend Michelle, Josh discovered the wonder that is T-ball.  After seeing how much joy he had playing with her set, we had to get him his own.  He grasped the concept of hitting the ball off the tee and "running" the bases pretty quickly.

Soon that's how he wanted to spend all his time outside and if allowed would be outside to "hit ball, run bases" for at least 2-3 hours a day.  With all that practice, he went from just barely knocking the ball off the tee like in the video above, to whacking the ball a good one to two hundred feet without even hitting the tee.  I took this video about three weeks after the first one.

While his hitting is fun to watch, what Scott and I love most is his "field stance".  He'll spread his legs so wide in an attempt to squat down to catch the ball, that he has pretty much no balance left and will fall over if he tries to reach for the ball. 

We reinforced his baseball love by taking him to a few Dragons and Red's games over the course of the summer and each time we were amazed by how much of the game he actually wanted to watch.  The last Reds game we went to, he sat with rapt attention through at least seven innings and now he will tell you if you are "safe" or "out" and will talk about foul balls and home runs.

Since this is my blog and I can brag if I want to, we are constantly amazed by how far he continues to hit the ball and his overall dedication to "practicing".  Given how much he enjoys it, we keep encouraging it and who knows maybe we'll have a major league home run hitter on our hands. 

A day (or two) at the beach

For our family vacation this summer, we met Chris, Emily, Sam and Nate on Captiva Island in Florida for a week of surf, sun and fun.  We had found out the week before that in December we'd be having a baby girl and while we were super excited about "Baby Sistah" we were happy to celebrate our last trip as a family of three. We had so much fun showing Josh all the fun things there were to do at the beach. 

We built sandcastles

Looked for seashells

Hung out in the pool 

Played in the Waves

Enjoyed fruity drinks in lounge chairs

Went on a boat rides to see dolphins and eat a cheeseburger in paradise. 

Raced at the Bus Stop

And generally just enjoyed some family downtime

All in all it was a great trip.

Shower time

When Josh had his heart cath in April, he wasn't allowed to soak in a tub for ten days so we started letting him shower with Scott.  Since then he's definitely a "shower man" and will only take a bath, which used to be one of his favorite things, only if showering isn't given as an option.  Heaven help you if you mention taking a shower in his presence and don't offer to take him with you into his new favorite "water park".  When did he get so big?



 

Summer fun

As previously mentioned, Josh loves being outside and while he couldn't fully appreciate all of the boy wonderness that our wooded lot with creek will hopefully one day provide, he definitely made the most of what he was able to do this summer. Overall we definitely tried to make the most of the warm sunny days.

Watering the garden (or really just playing with the hose) was a common request. 

Playing with the new sprinkler or in the new pool was a great way to pass the warm afternoons. 

Putting together the new play set with Papa was fun

Although he wasn't too sure at first, Josh soon learned that popsicles are a key summer time treat

 When it was too hot outside, we went to the museum

At mom's work picnic, Josh got to go on his first roller coaster and ride the carousel

 We spent lots of time at the park - both water park and playground

We used our family pass and hit up the zoo

All in all the summer of 2012 was full of family fun.