Coaching Finale?

As June came to an end, I managed what I believe will be my final youth baseball game. (Unless of course someone twists my arm into doing it again, which I could totally see happening.) I counted 130 games managed between John and Edie’s teams, culminating with the Centex tournament this June. But I do not plan to stay away altogether, I just don’t want to be the leader anymore. For John or Edie’s next teams, I am going to offer my help by running GameChanger, doing the walkup music, leading team communications, etc. But as for offering kids actual baseball instruction, nah… leave that to the next guy. Managing a team was fun in that you sometimes got to pick the team name (when we did MLB teams) and draft the players. Running practices though is a lot of work and not something I necessarily have the skills for. I do not and never did command respect from the players, and I was not very good at correcting players’ flaws. I could yell “play’s at second!” or something obvious from the dugout, but not help a kid with their batting stance.

Party Central

Each of the last two Saturdays we hosted big pool parties, which was precisely the kind of thing I’d always hoped to do when we moved into this place. They were a lot of work to prep for, and a lot of work to clean up. After John’s baseball tournament ended, I invited the whole team over for a party. That in itself was a lot of work, but add to it that Lauren had flown out to New York that morning. Kids were consuming food faster than I could grill it up. The kids were smashing full pop cans into the ground and taking turns chugging the soda that blasted out of it. They were putting ice down each other’s swim trunks. It was about what you’d expect with twelve 11 and 12-year-olds. On the Fourth of July a week later, we had another party with eight families. The kids were all in the pool while the adults mostly gathered inside. We had bought a huge cooler worth of alcoholic beverages and in the end, only three or four guests were drinking. So now I have a huge fridge worth of beer that should last months… whatever will we do with it all!

Fireworks on the street after the party… not technically allowed in the city limits, but no one said anything.

Camp

Summer is so much more running around than the school year. Instead of just getting kids on the bus in the morning, we have to drive them to a different camp every day. Lauren did all the legwork planning and booking the summer camps, seemingly a different one every week, from Spanish Camp to YMCA to City of Austin camp and beyond. And boy, they ain’t cheap. YMCA Twin Lakes is about 12 minutes away each way—not a terrible haul, but getting out of that damn camp back onto the highway is among my least favorite things. You have to make a left onto a terribly busy highway with no let-up in traffic. On a bad day I might sit there with my blinker on trying to find an opening for 5+ minutes. John we could trust to make his own fun at home I think, but Edie would be another story. If she was home all day she would just stare at screens and complain of boredom, even with the pool at her disposal. Next summer I think we’ll give John some freedom for a few weeks, but Edie will have to keep going to day camps.

Road Trip Starts This Friday

The big summer road trip up north begins on Friday after work and camp. Like I said, I am going to avoid taking I-35 and instead stick to back roads for a new adventure. Our journey will take us to Wichita Falls, TX Friday night, and then up through rural central Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska Saturday, where we should make it to Grand Island, NE. Sunday we’ll complete the drive to Carpenter, where we will only park it for a few days before heading over to Minnesota Thursday. John will stay on the farm for his annual “Camp Glanzer”, and his Austin buddy Clark will meet him there Friday where he’ll stay for a couple weeks. Lauren and Edie will fly home from Minneapolis and get back to their routine, but I will tough it out in the van by myself for the drive home. I’ve got big plans, starting with a St Paul Saints game Friday night. Saturday I will get to Iowa and take in a Cedar Rapids Kernels (Twins Single-A team) game and maybe spend the night with a friend in Des Moines. Sunday I may take in the Royals game in KC before heading to Tulsa where I’ll pop into the office to visit with the CEO. And then I suppose I’ll just drive back to Austin after that.

And lastly, we took Minnie to her first minor league baseball game last Thursday at Round Rock’s Bark in the Park.

Round Rock Express Bark in the Park