Trip to Morgantown - Days Two, Three, and Four

Friday was a pretty laid back day after the drive and late baseball game on Thursday.  I had a nice visit with Eileen after Brendan and the kids had taken off for work and school respectively.  She was getting ready to go to work around 10 and so I went to the nearby Burger King to get on line.  That is where I write the Day One blog as a matter of fact.  After I finished that I worked on the Pickett family tree on Ancestry.com.  I am flabbergasted at the increase in resources from other family trees.  I am working on four family lines:  two paternal and two maternal.  I started with the Pickett line and have gotten back to the 14th Century.  I am learning a lot about those ancestors and look forward to doing more focused historical research to get a feel for the realities of their lives.  Brendan and I spent the afternoon talking about all sorts of things:  present and past.  Brock had soccer practice and Braden had a work out routine as part of her conditioning program.  We ate late but then played a fascinating board game:  Monopoly Empire.  It is one of the new themed Monopoly games.  It is a lot of fun and, most important, a typical game last about 30 minutes.

Brady racing home to score.  The guy in yellow on the
opponents bench had spent the morning hunting turkeys,
opening day for that too.

Saturday was devoted to baseball.  It was opening day for Brady's Little League team.  He had a great game:  3 for 4, two doubles, and two runs scored.  After that we went to the WVU campus to see their game against Kansas State.  WVU has joined the Big 12 and this is its first year.  A new baseball park is under construction nearby.  This will be home for a new team in the NY-Penn League; Batavia Muck Dogs are members of that short season single A league.  WVU will play their home games there as well.  Brendan and I had a conversation with the father of one of K-State players who had come out from Kansas City to watch his son play.

I took some nice photos of the baseball yard and the soccer complex.  While it didn't rain, it threatened all day and thus provided the opportunity for some dramatic photos.

The next day, Sunday, I went with them to Mass and then headed home under sunny skies.

You can see more photos in the Picasa album by clicking here.

Trip to Morgantown - Day One

I drove to to Morgantown for the opening weekend of Little League season.  It was a great day to drive with clear skies and relatively light traffic.  I stopped at the Welcome Center just into Pennsylvania where I saw what Spring likes here:  brown vineyards and ice on Lake Erie.  By the time I got to Morgantown, I saw trees in bloom including redbuds and green grass.  Spring is alive and well and coming to Upstate New York.

Brock successfully stealing second to spark a last inning rally

We went to Brock's opening game which saw his team stage a last inning rally that brought them within a run of tying a game which they lost 14-13.  Brock went one for three with a double and a run scored.  He played in the out field and make several good plays including astute backup of missed throws to third base.

Brendan captured a photo of a father putting a radar gun on his son who was pitching for the other team.  This sums up a lot of what is wrong with youth athletics:  over involvement of parents in what should be a kid's game!

You can see more photos in the continuously updated Picasa album by clicking this link.