On the Democracy of Ground Balls

Our family has had quite the sporty week.

Sunday morning - Nathan and I cheered Mark and my mom in the Triangle Triathlon here in town. We got there late (Nathan slept until nine... I actually had to wake him up for a change!) so we missed the bike-to-run transition (and swim-to-bike, but we sort of assumed we would miss that one).... I can't make any sense of Cary on a normal day (I'm pretty sure Ryan can attest to that), but when half the streets are closed because of the event, I should have allowed way more time to figure out where to park and how to get from wherever I would park, to the event itself. Anyway we must have done some good cheering, since mom finished second in her age group, and Mark had a new best time for the run! Yay Mark and mom!

Sunday afternoon - mom and I got a couples massage at Iatria. Ok, so it's not that sporty. But it was awesome. And she deserved it, anyway!

Sunday evening - Mark, Nathan and I went with our neighbors Amy and Drew, and Jim and Renée, to a Durham Bulls game. Remember the movie Bull Durham? Yeah, it was made 25 years ago. Don't you feel old now? Anyway, if you didn't know, the Durham Bulls are a real team, and it's a great place to see a game. There's nothing like a baseball game, a hot dog, a cold drink, or some cotton candy (or d.- all of the above, if you're preggo Renée) on a hot summer night. Nathan hadn't been to a game like that before (church softball hardly counts, when he and I are two-thirds of the crowd!), and he was thrilled by all the people and all the cheering and the noise. He's recently started pointing at things he wants (or wants us to look at), so he spent the whole game pointing at everything in sight. It was super-cute. Especially for me, since I don't care as much about who wins and scores as I do about Nathan's antics.

Monday evening - I forgot about workout class and eat Mexican food! Hey, we talked about the missed workout class, so the dinner counts as sort of sporty... right?

Tuesday evening - Nathan and I went to cheer Hayes and Mary (friends from church) in their swim meet, the last of the season. Wow, did that bring back memories. Six-year-olds who can only swim halfway across the pool, kids with heat and lane numbers markered all over their arms, teenage girls flocking around the younger boys as their "mascot" for the summer (yep, that was Hayes), belly flops masquerading as dives off homemade starting blocks, kids with heat ribbons in one hand and hot dogs in the other.... it was sort of nice to re-live the fun and nonchalant part of the swimming world, especially after watching the serious Olympic trials a couple of weeks ago on TV. Anyway, Nathan and Hayes had fun playing in between events, as you can see.

Wednesday evening - I remembered to go to workout class! But just five minutes in, they paged me from the nursery upstairs since Nathan was hysterical and no amount of hugging or games or books would distract him from his fury. The clingyness continued all night, with nursings and bottles and hugs dotting the hours of wailing, until he finally cried himself to sleep (something I try to never let him do) around 10. Whew! I have no idea why he was so traumatized - he's stayed in the nursery (there and at church) many times, with hardly a problem. And he seemed fine today. So who knows... I'm just glad it's over! So in lieu of my missed workout last night, I made a batch of brownies and drank some red wine. Not as bad as the Mexican that replaced Monday's workout... but not great.

Bonus I-love-you points for anyone who can tell me what are as fascist as ground balls are democratic.

If you want to see more pictures of the Bulls game, click on our family, below.

by mgoetts