Mud Hens watching Mud Hens

I mentioned before that our boys took Minor League baseball team names this year. Catlin was represented by three teams at the rookie level: the Bats, the Grasshoppers, and our team: the Mud Hens.

We were fortunate to take a wonderful little family/team trip over to Indianapolis at the end of June to watch the real Toledo Mud Hens play, and we had an absolute blast!  

We all got dressed up in our Mud Hens gear and headed to the stadium after dinner at TGIFriday's.

Daddy and the boys

The fam! 

{Minus Lolee girl, who stayed home with Grandma Jane :)}

Our friends (and Colin's head coach) Nate and Kara, and Colin's best friend Colden/sister Addie

More friends/another coach! Ryan and Laine, and their son/Colin's friend Bennett

Same story! Our friends (and assistant coach) TJ and Amy, and their son/Col's friend Reef

Cameron checking out the giant field!

The boys were in heaven. They thought this was just the coolest!

Now, we were at the Indianapolis Stadium--so all of us in our Mud Hens' gear really stood out! We were able to get the boys down near the dugout, and the real Mud Hens took notice of all of our little Mud Hens and signed some autographs!

{L to R: Blake, Colden, Bennett, Colin, Cameron}

Getting, as Col put it, "real life autographs"

The boys loved it!

L to R, back row: Cameron, Colden, Reef, Colin, Blake, Bennett

Front: Brayden and Ethan

The boys (and siblings) stood at the front and watched for a long time.

It was an exciting night and even though the Mud Hens lost, the boys had a great time!

L to R: Reef, Isaac, Bennett, Sebastian, Hayden, Ethan, Blake, Jackson, 

Brayden M., Colden, Colin, Cameron, Addie, Brayden N.

Such a wonderful group of kids and parents--so thankful we got to be a part of this special night with all of them! Great, great memories!

Holiday World!!

Right at the close of school, our family packed up and decided to do a little two day trip to a place we had never been: Holiday World!

Tom and Jen had been before, as well as several other people we know, and raved about the place. We've always wanted to go, and thought now was as good of a time as any! We decided to head down together and let the kids experience the fun!

Checking out the lazy river!

Our kiddos! What a cute little bunch :)

Aiden, Cameron, Ethan, Colin, Brooklyn, and Lola.

The fam--ready for a water adventure!

(possibly one of my new favorite family shots)

I should have known to trust this girl. Holiday World was as great as she said it would be!

I don't have a ton of pictures from day one, because we were in the water all day. The kids were exhausted by the time the park was about to close, so we grabbed something quick to eat, headed back to the hotel, and everyone was asleep in no time. Good thing--we needed good rest to get up and do it all over again the next day!

Holiday World is in a town called Santa Claus, Indiana. 

So, you can guess what the theme of the one hotel in town was, I'm sure!

The kids in Santa's sleigh

Cameron and Ethan were so excited--today we were going to ride some "land" rides--their favorite!

Love this family picture at the entrance of the park!

Colin did a very big boy ride (after muuuuuch convincing)--the Raven.

Then Daddy took the boys on the Scrambler.

I almost throw up just watching that ride. *shudder*

But they loved it!

The big (BIG) boys went on another coaster....

....and then did this one! I like to call it the Super Soaker.

Yeah....this geyser got them GOOD!

We did a few more "baby" rides for Lo and Ethan..... 

(Poor guy--he was just shy of the mark to ride the bigger boy rides. Like by 1/4 inch!)

{My amazing helper....Colin just adores his sister and would do absolutely anything for her!}

Even though they were meant for the littles, the bigs even had a good time riding them!

The canoe

Lolee girl loved this one!

I braved the one ride I can handle with the boys....

....the swings!

I was only sick for a few minutes afterward. LOL

The kiddie coaster

They loved this one, too. Could have ridden it 10 times.....oh, that's right. They DID!

While Daddy took the big boys on a few other rides, I took Ethan and Lola on the train.

The space was as cramped as it looked. I don't know how regular sized grownups fit in here....

seriously you don't want to know how long it took me to get back out.

But the effort of getting in the train was worth it for the smiles on these two's faces!

Holiday World was awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. We will definitely try to make this a Summer tradition with our two families!

Bismarck Game -- first real game of the season!

My goal at the beginning of baseball season was to capture a little bit of each game and then blog about it.

Yeah....about that....goals don't always come to fruition the way we would like them to, do they? :)

This game was our very first games of the season, once we got past our first pre-season tournament. It was the very first game with live pitching! In our little league (and most around us), the boys play the first four innings of the game with a pitching machine (that delivers 'every' ball right down the middle of the strike zone for ease of hitting). This not only speeds up the game, but it helps the kids to develop an "eye" for strikes.

Then, in the 5th and 6th inning, a live pitcher comes in. We have two--one in the 5th, and one in the 6th. This would be the first game Colin had ever pitched in, so we were excited and a bit nervous for him!

I take so many pictures that this time--Colin's first at bat (he is the first batter in the line-up, so this was actually the very first hit of the game)--I decided to take some video.  He hit a triple!
(Sorry about the quality--it's hard to video through a chain link fence!)

Colin coming in from scoring. Always so serious!

Lola girl....

....being goofy as usual. :)

I snapped quite a few, and by the time I went to take one with her, she was tired of the camera! *grin*

For preservation's sake, I wanted to make sure to record here who was on Colin's Mud Hens team this year:

Reef and Colden

Hayden and Bennett

Blake and Brayden

Isaac and Jackson

Sebastian (not pictured) and Cole

The boys did well, and we had a the lead going into the 5th inning--where Colin's best friend Colden was up first to pitch! He did a great job, and we got out of the inning without any additional runs scored!

Then, it was little Colin's turn. This Mommy was nervous! There is not much in this world 

quite like watching your child (seemingly all alone out there on that mound!) with a lot of the 

pressure of the game riding on his little 8 year old shoulders!!

(Throwing a warm up pitch)

Daddy giving a word of advice before the inning began

Here he goes!

Colin did great--actually, the best he's done all season. He has pitched several games, 

but this one in particular he threw nine pitches total. Three strikes a piece to three different batters. 

It was incredible to watch and I was so excited for him!!

Coaches congratulating the boys!

I think Col's face says it all--he was pretty relieved!

And also....pretty happy. *grin*

Colden and Colin--best buds on the best Mud Hens team around!

More baseball soon! :)