A new session of kickball

Last week we started session 2 of summer kickball. A new team, about half the old one, this time around. We lost our first game 10 - 4. But last night we WON! 5 - 3 and we fought for every run and every out.
The most exciting part of the game - when I got hit in the face. You are out if the ball hits you. It's allowed, but not above the shoulders. I asked if I could get some water before continuing to run. The ref looked at me like I had two heads. "WHAT, I'M OUT! NO WAY!" We then had the discussion of did the ball hit directly on my face or bounce off my arm. It hit my fave, I felt it. It hurt. I didn't cry. I felt proud of myself.

The most suspenseful part of the game was the last play. Bottom of the 7th (we play 7 innings) we were in the field leading 5 - 3. THE BASES ARE LOADED! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. Two outs. And their power kicker is up. OMG! The kick was high and long. Lucky for us we have a couple of awesome outfielders, one of whom caught the kick. And we won.

Kickball is exciting and awesome and great exercise.

Afterward we tried our skills at Flip Cup. It turns out we are pretty good.

Being Crafty

I started sewing with my sewing machine last year. I decided to make a baby blanket for Charlie Pierce, Sara's baby. It's a really soft blue, yellow cotton, and denim. I think it turned out pretty cute. And since Charlie surprised us (no one more than his parents I'm sure) and arrived a month early - what was supposed to be a shower present is now a welcome baby present.


We love you Dave, Sara, and Charlie. Welcome to the world.
And oh yeah, I really like my sewing machine.

Because I'm a Geek Like That

We saw this wall display at one of the Smithsonian museums (Portrait Gallery Maybe?) and it made me laugh. Can you read it?

Washington DC

I went to DC last weekend to visit my Mom who was there for a conference. We went to lots of museums and geeky stuff that we totally enjoyed and both Rob and Chip were happy we did together so we never have to make them come along.

We went to the Library of Congress. I am now thinking up relevant research so that I can get a library card and access the reading rooms. Getting a PhD allows me to do this and I need to exploit it while I can.We went to the Newseum which Mom thought was great as a history teacher and I spent too much time reading. This is not the place to go if you don't like to read. But the view from the promenade was pretty cool.


The biggest surprise / really cool thing was this photo:
The Mountain Eagle is the newspaper from Letcher County Kentucky where my Grandma Frazier grew up. She still subscribes and gets a stack of papers every week / month - I don't know how often they come. But seriously, who knew that this small town paper (that publishes notes from readers to other readers as a mini-classified section) would be featured at a major museum.

We walked a lot, talked a lot, and ate a lot. Now if my library book wouldn't have been lost in the hotel (I'm pretty sure it got tangled in the bedding when the sheets were changed) the weekend would have been pretty close to perfect.

We were the Kickball Champs!!!

We won the semi-finals 4-3 and the Finals 4-1 in what were likely our toughest games of the season. GOOOOOOOO RUNS!