Emily and the Lady Raiders

Tonight was Emily’s last game for the season.  This little tiny package of dynamite absolutely loves playing softball.  She’s been playing with the same team since Kindergarten – all classmates from the neighborhood.

They’ve done quite well as a team – every year being among the top teams in their division.  Linda and I have had a lot of fun watching them grow over the years.  Spending time with the other parents is also quite fun.

The softball fields are part of a complex of 12 softball diamonds – all meant for girls softball.  It really is a very nice complex.  The only downside – it seems to be the hottest and sunniest place in all of Johnson County.

So proud of you, Emily.

Little House on the Prairie – The Musical

We enjoyed an evening at Starlight Theatre last night watching the musical adaptation of “The Little House on the Prairie”.  The shows stars Melissa Sue Gilbert as Ma – you may remember her playing Laura in the 1970’s TV show.

The girls have been lovers of the books and we’ve been to several of the Little House on the Prairie museums (De Smet, South Dakota; Walnut Grove, Minnesota; and Mansfield, Missouri).

The evening started with meeting friends for dinner at La Roux – a new southern cajun restaurant here in town.  After an awesome dinner of BLTs (made with fried green tomatoes) and sweet potato fries, we headed off to Starlight Theatre. Starlight Theatre is an outdoor amphitheater in Swope Park here in Kansas City.  What a beautiful night (especially for being 85 degrees with sticky humidity).

The musical was engaging, fun, and very entertaining.  Linda and I both commented that we weren’t quite ready for the show to be done.  When you know a lot of the story, you expect to see more of it.  However, one can only fit so much story into 3 hours of musical.

If you get a chance to see it – do so!

Image courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio

Biking Across Kansas – Linda Does It

So I reported back in February that Linda bought a new bike with the goal to participate in Biking Across Kansas.  This is a week-long ride where bicyclists ride from the Colorado border to the Missouri border about 60-80 miles per day.  Riders then sleep in tents or gym floors in the small towns that break up each stage.

Linda trained daily since February riding about 20 to 30 miles either in the basement (on the trainer) or on the great paved trails we have here in Kansas City.

Her parents and both girls travelled out with her on the first day and gave her a great option of staying in a hotel room each night (albeit with a kid in the bed).

Each day was hot and rainy…but she really loved it.  She completed 194.5 miles of the ride – stopping, as planned, on day 4 so that she could return to Kansas City to run the Music Teacher convention she’d been planning.

We’ll be training again next year – for both of us to complete the entire ride.

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend Warrior

I was invited to join a softball game with the Knights of Columbus group from our previous church a few nights ago.  I hadn’t played softball in close to 15 years, but I figured I was in pretty good shape after all of my P90X.

The game was going quite well – I’d had several decent hits and a few runs.  Towards the end of the game, I blooped a hit to the short stop and figured I’d beat out the throw to first.  I pounded feet all the way to the bag, just getting beat.  However, in my attempt reach the bag before the ball, I stretched out my left leg toward the bag.  I landed hard on the bag with my toes hyperextended, my ankle hyperflexed, and my knee hyperextended.  Ouch.

The next morning found my pinky toe bruised and swollen with the bruise extending down into my foot.  The amazing thing was that I really didn’t hurt…until I twisted my knee in certain ways.  I know I didn’t do any major damage, but I’ve definitely sprained my foot, ankle, and knee.

Unfortunately, this means no exercising for several days.  I missed out on my Saturday and Sunday exercises – two of my favorite workouts (Kenpo and X Stretch).  I’m missing today as well, but I’m not really going to “miss” it.  Here’s hoping I feel well tomorrow and will be able to do they Plyometrics (jump training) – a good cardio workout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of www.davidwenzel.com

Happy Father’s Day

First – Happy Father’s Day to my father and father-in-law.

Next – Happy Father’s Day to anyone else that may be a father.

Instead of grilling and relaxing on a hammock today, I’m at work in the ER taking care of others.  I’ve had the last 5 days off – so it’s okay.

To make up for not being around today, Linda and the girls took me to dinner last night (Granite City with an excellent meal and a big mug of Benedict Bock) and then Cold Stone ice cream afterwards.

It was a nice time.  However, I would really love to spend the day with my daughters.

PS – Happy Birthday to my little sister, Su.

Blast from the past – running the bases

Ahhh…running the bases on a hot Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.  July 6, 2002 found us, once again, at a Royals game celebrating Rod’s birthday. After the game, the kids get to run the bases (more importantly, so does Linda).

Many, many happy memories with running the bases with the girls.  They’ve been doing it since they were born – really.

Occasionally, they get to take in some batting practice with Sluggerrrr at the Little K.

The Fabers come to town

Linda has been hard at work coordinating a joint conference between the Kansas and Missouri Music Teachers Association, being held this weekend.

The keynote speakers are Dr. Randall Faber and his wife, Nancy Faber.  They have authored some of the most popular piano teaching books; many piano students have likely played some of their material.

Dr. Faber performed a most wonderful concert last night at the conclusion of the conference day.  Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Gershwin were offered to the audience in amazing lyricism and technical prowess.  Most enjoyable.

Afterwards, the kids met with them and got autographs on their respective books.

Finally back…

Yes – we’re finally back.  We didn’t go anywhere, but we’ve just been quite busy.

Ultimately, I’ve spent more time on my new MacBook that I got for work and spend very little time on the iMac that has the working file for the website.

Good news – I now have the file on my MacBook and I can keep up on the website much, much easier.

Many things have occurred in our household since my last posting on May 17.  The girls had their dance recital, school talent show, and – most importantly – finished school.

Linda completed her goal of riding 194 miles across the western half of Kansas.  There’ll be more to post about this later – it deserves a good post.

Anyways, I plan to keep up with the website much better.  I also hope to be able to add a “comment” section.  This is gonna require some research, but I think it’ll be worth it.

Thanks for waiting for us….