Boston!

Spike went with me to Boston for the NSBA Conference.  What a cool opportunity for us.  The boys stayed home and from all reports did just fine without us.  I don't know if I should be proud of them or sad that they don't need me so much anymore.
The conference was great. I went to a reading seminar that I really liked and the other one that was great was a general session about the Khan Academy.  Google that.  It is a non-profit organization that is trying to educate the world by offering classes for free.  They have had some great success stories from Mongolia, Africa, South America and of course the US.  I am so excited to look into this more.
We went on a trolley site seeing tour while it was raining. No pictures from that.  We went to the Yankee/Red Sox game.  That was so cool.  Yankees won!  Yahoo!
 This is a picture from the upper deck of Fenway park looking out over Boston.  Our hotel is just past right field. We got some tickets that had seat numbers on them but said SRO.  Bruce went ahead and ordered them on our flight out to Boston.  Turns out SRO means standing room only.  We got tickets to stand up the whole ballgame behind the other fans.  This turned out all right because after four innings the Yankees were down 9 to nothing, so lots of Yankee fans left.  Then the game got exciting and the Yankees got ahead and lots of Red Sox fans left.  We sat down in some empty seats for the last two innings.  This was the 100 year anniversary of the first game the Yankees and Red Sox played.  So we got in on a little history while we were at it.

During a break in the storm Spike and I  went on the Freedom Trail.  Here are some pictures.

 Here I am in front of the USS Constitution. The oldest ship still being used by the Navy.  It was a rainy windy day in Boston on Sunday.  That is not a pond behind me, just a huge puddle.

 Here is Spike in front of one of the cannons.  There are some pumps on this deck that they used when the cannons were being fired.  They actually pumped water onto the deck so that the sparks from the cannons wouldn't start a fire.  This made the floor really slick so they had bags of sand ready to throw down on the floor.  They usually had 400 men on this boat, which is not a very big boat.

 The rigging.

Here we are at Cheers! No, we didn't go inside.  I am sure if we were to go in they would have yelled, "Spike!"

 Both of us in front of cheers.  The trolley driver was kind enough to take this picture.

 The beginning of the Freedom Trail.  They have the about two and half mile trail marked with red bricks or red paint on the street.

 The cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried along with Paul Revere, John Hancock and other famous Patriots.  It is called the Granary Cemetery.

 Paul Revere's headstone.

I don't know why this was in front of this old building, but it looked cool, so I snapped a picture of it.  I think it is front of one of the first public schools.  There was also a statue of Benjamin Franklin there.

 The Old North Church.  This was a really cool place.  I got a cell phone picture of the inside. They wouldn't let us go up to the steeple.  As it turns out that steeple isn't the original one.  It was blown down during a hurricane in the 1950's.

 Make way for Ducklings.  Here we are in the Boston commons.  Get the book.  Read it.

 I was just sitting gently on the mother duck for this picture.  She was a bit damp from all the rain but I survived.

 Spike and I wandered around the parks and then walked to our Hotel.  We loved looking at all the architecture and craftsmanship of these houses. Spring was definitely in the air and the trees were beautiful.

Boston is one of the cities that I like the best.  Not that I have traveled much but all the history of the place and the things that are going on there now make it spectacular.  There are over 60 colleges there so the atmosphere is of a college town and learning and doing.  I wish I could take the whole family there and spend a month and of course have all the money I needed at my disposal.  I know Jacob and Mark would have loved it. Oh, goodness, who am I kidding all the kids would have loved it.

Jacob's Baseball

 Jacob was doing a bang-up job pitching against a Powell team here.  Overall the season was a great learning experience.  Most of the ten year olds had not had any experience because of how the teams were put together last season.  So this year Jacob got to pitch and play all of the positions.  He sort of got bored when he was out in the field but that didn't happen very much.  Mostly he played first base or short stop.

 I predict he will do just great next year and will continue to learn the game.  He had a great coach this year.  He was extremely patient with our kids.  I don't know how he did it sometimes.  Most of our kids, I swear, were Attention Deficit.  There were probably three who actually knew that the game was being played.  The Pitcher, the catcher and the first baseman.  It was a year that we just left our 'competitive hats' home.

Jacob gets to go to football camp next week.  That should be a new and different experience for him.  He needs to learn the game and how to get along with coaches and other players.  So.....here we go again.

Jacob's Baseball Pics

He's a Hitter!

Jacob got his first hit in baseball! Last year he didn't ever hit because it was his first year and was trying to hit (or not get hit) off of twelve year olds.  This year the league changed some things up and now he is hitting against 10 year old pitchers. Much safer and easier!  He was quite proud of himself and even got another hit into the outfield the next up at bat.  I think his confidence level went up and he will be able to hit every game!

Here he is coming into home.  I like the way he is concentrating so hard to hit the plate.  It makes me smile! In his game tomorrow he gets to pitch.

Little League Baseball

Jacob got walked for this up at bat. It looks like he is a little leery about stepping up to the plate.
Getting ready to go home!

Thinking about going.....

Finally! Home Safe!

Jacob really enjoys baseball. The Orioles coaches are great and so are all the older boys. When they win a game, the coach takes them to get ice cream. They have been getting a lot of ice cream lately.