Craig and Heather plus TWO: July 2016

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Father’s Day

We all had a really good Father’s Day. We went to church and out to Firebirds with Granna and Grandpa. Then we went and continued our family Father’s Day tradition and went to Knight’s Play and played 9 holes as a family. I am a lucky guy to have such a wonderful wife and two really great sons that I get to see every day.

Vacation Bible School

This year was the first year that our family has been in town for our church’s Vacation Bible School. So we were looking forward to having them go to VBS this year. To make it a family affair, Mommy taught the Kindergarten class while Daddy was the Science guy. The school was from Thursday – Saturday. Jack and Mark really enjoyed it. The main Bible verse was Nehemiah 4:14. They enjoyed the lessons. But they really enjoyed recreation, science, and even crafts time.

Here are some pictures from VBS:

Science time. Blowing Bubbles with a straw.

Bigger bubbles = More fun

Song time at VBS

The largest class was definitely 1st grade!

Tennis Camp

The first week out of school means Tennis camp at the University Club. Jack and Mark are really excited about tennis this year, since Mommy has been playing for the club this past spring.

The next Sampras/Agassi/Federer/Nadal/Djokovic/Murray/Roddick?

Last Day of 1st Grade

It is hard to believe but Jack and Mark have finished the first grade. Today was the last day of 1^st grade. We are so proud of them. Mark has really enjoyed being taught by Ms. Thompson and she has enjoyed Mark being in his class. The school will miss Ms. Thompson next year as she is moving to another school. Jack has done really well in school this year. He enjoyed Mrs. Khatibi being his teacher. He had another challenge as she had a baby in late March so his class had a couple of substitutes for the remaining part of the year. No problem for Jack though.

Here are some pictures from their last day:

Raleigh Regional

NC State was selected as a host for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The four team tournament included Coastal Carolina, St. Mary’s, and Navy. This regional was thought to have the best overall field. In fact, several people thought that Coastal Carolina should be a host as well. Well, the regional was exciting, all though very wet. Weather played havoc with the regional. The opening round game between the Wolfpack and Navy had a 3 hour rain delay and the game that started at 7 finished around 1:30 AM. The next day, State played Coastal Carolina. The game was called due to weather at midnight with Coastal up 3-0 in the 9^th inning. The next day, Coastal finished off the game winning 4-0. After church, we traveled back to the Doak for the rematch between Navy and State. State jumped out quickly to a 6-0 lead and easily won 13-1 behind a fabulous pitching effort from Johnny Piedmonte. The next day, we got the boys out of school a little early and took them to see the Coastal-NC State matchup. Behind a sterling performance from Will Gilbert, the Pack rolled to a 8-1 victory setting up a winner take all match. This game was held up for one hour due to rain. State was tied 2-2 with Coastal when the rains came again, this time at 9:30 PM. The boys talked us into letting them stay to the conclusion of the rain. We told them they needed to go to school no matter what (it was the last week of school and some of the desks had already been taken away and put up so little learning was happening). We went back to the game and saw State take a 5-3 lead into the top of the 9^th inning (at midnight). The rain then came again. We left and later heard that they postponed the game until 2 PM on Monday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the next day Mommy took the boys to the game and the Pack had to get one strike to finish off Coastal. But a hit by pitch and a single made the score 7-5 Coastal and that would be the final score. Very sad, but we feel Coastal may make a run throughout the rest of the tournament.

Wet baseball weather doesn't keep the Wolfpack away!

This kid loves him some wet weather Wolfpack baseball! - Jack

Boys begging their parents to keep them up late at the game! (It worked)

Now for more baseball around 10 PM. 2 excited boys!

On Tuesday afternoon ready for two outs. Unfortunately, the Pack only got one before Coastal took the lead.

Baseball Card Mistake

They say that baseball cards that contain mistakes are both rare and worthwhile. Well when you have twins, the mistakes are more likely. Exhibit A. Please see below.

Wait a minute. That doesn't look right!!!

Tooth Fairy

Recently the tooth fairy has been a frequent visitor to our house. We have more gaps in our teeth this side of Michael Strahan and the majority of the NHL. Check out these pictures of Jack (unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of Mark and his missing teeth). They are really growing up:

Fun in the Sun

Memorial Day is upon us. That means two things. Baseball and water. No words needed. The pictures will suffice.

Happy as a lark! - Mark

This is so awesome! - Jack

Best friends having some fun in the sun!

ACC Baseball Tournament

With the Lookouts baseball season over, we could attend a few more NC State baseball games. One of the benefits of the tournament being in Durham is that there is a high probability that the Wolfpack will get a night game or two during pool play. With the cheating Tar Holes not in the tournament, haha, State has 2 night games. So we bought tickets to both games. First was the Pack playing Miami. Due to the way that the pool play works, the Pack, who lost to Florida State a day earlier, had already been eliminated from the championship game. So these were two almost meaningless games. Nevertheless, they had to be played. The Pack needed to probably win one of them to feel good about hosting a NCAA Regional. We enjoyed seeing the Pack play the Canes, which would wind up in Omaha as part of the College World Series. State didn’t play their best game, but still took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the 8^th inning. The Wolfpack’s closer, Tommy DeJuneas, was in. He came in, and quickly gave up a 3 run homer to give the Canes a 8-7 lead that would be the final score.

The next night the Pack played Georgia Tech. Tech was up 5-3 in the bottom of the 9^th with 2 outs and the Pack had one runner on base. Shane Sheperd hit a lazy fly ball to center field which for some unknown reason the center fielder dropped it. Then Stephen Pitarra hit a 2 run single to tie it up. In the 13^th inning, the Pack won it 6-5.

Here are some pictures from the tournament:

The family before the Georgia Tech vs. NC State game.

Hey look, it's Sawyer and Reed up to bat (Lookouts joke!)

Extra innings = extra smiles!

School pictures

Remember when we said that Jack and Mark couldn’t get their hair cut due to school pictures were upcoming. Well here is the outcome of those pictures. Aren’t they so cute?

Mark

Jack

Mark’s Presentation at School

Mark’s class as the last big assignment for the year had to present something to his class for 5 minutes. Ms. Thompson said that it could be on any topic, just something the child is interested in talking about. To no one’s surprise, Mark chose to talk about baseball. He made a poster that had some basic information about baseball and was going to demonstrate how to properly field a ground ball.

Here is his poster and his talk (we recorded this as he practiced):

Excellent posters!

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Championship Night

To win the title, the Lookouts would have to beat the Bees twice during the night. Daddy had a feeling that due to the rain that had postponed the game for a couple of days, the Lookouts would win the first game easily and then the deciding game would be a tossup. Jack and Mark were so pumped before the game. I joked with some of the other parents that if their boys were half as pumped as our boys were, the Lookouts would win without a problem. In game 1, the Lookouts jumped on the Bees early and cruised to a 10-4 victory. That victory setup the deciding game. The game turned out to be a great game between the two best teams throughout the year. The Lookouts were up 5-4 in the top of the 6^th, but gave up one run to get the score tied. In the bottom of the 6^th, Mark was up with one out and almost got a base hit. Now with 2 outs, Jayden hit a double and the Braden hit a rocket up the middle that scored the championship run. The Lookouts win 6-5!!! Pandemonium reigns!

We are so proud of Jack, Mark, and the rest of the Lookouts!!

Here are some pictures from the evening: