Julyness

Tball

I was a coach.

Yes, it is hard to believe.

I never imagined that statement would come from me.  EVER. I mean I like to play sports but was never any good to actually play on any team outside of church ball.  Besides, being married to Neal who is Mr. UberSportsGuy, I would be more of a bench warmer.

So,…. ya.

I was a coach.

Of Aedan’s Tball team.  Actually co-coach or maybe more of an assistant coach.  Whatever.  Aedan’s friend’s mom roped me into it and I must say it is a very fun/frustrating/exhausting/silly job. 

And I’ve actually learned some things.

It is true.

1) Sometimes it is the ones who throw well that you have to watch out for (as in balls whizzing past my ear)

2) Kids like to eat their gloves.  Gross.

3) 3 innings is an eternity.

4) Kids want to throw the ball with their gloved hand.  Makes no sense.

5) Some kids want to run along ALL of the lines drawn out on the field before going to 1st base. 

6) Being a coach and forgetting to show up for team pics is SUPER lame.

7) In a single run, a kid will hit the ball, run to catch the ball they hit, and then run to 1st base to hand it to the other team’s 1st baseman.

8) Being an outfielder in Tball is a bummer.

9) If you are a baseman it is a job requirement apparently to be chatty with the other team.

10) Even though he is ok at Tball, I think Aedan is in it for the social aspect. 

Oh what fun!  Overall, I am glad I did it and I am having a blast!

I think I was the team cheer leader.

Congrats for making it through buddy!  We are now in soccer season so updates on that later!

Unpacking

So I unpacked a few more boxes and guess what I found?

Naw, not really.  These were from when we were packing to leave our old place.  The kids loved playing with the boxes and that gave me a few moments of peace as I was busy packing.

(At the time Lily was always making this face it was funny)

Welcome to our World of the Weird…

Before I give you all an update on the house, I figure I should give you a little area history.  Here are some things unique to our neck of the woods:

This was the first thing I saw of the area when I came up with Neal for house shopping.  We saw the steam from a long way off and I jokingly said to Neal, “Hey, I bet that is a nuclear power plant.” Sure enough it was.  These cooling towers are seriously huge, reaching 495 feet into the air. Together the units can produce enough electricity to power more than 2 million average American homes.  Now it didn’t bother me that we would be living near one, and I especially felt comforted when I saw their “blast radius”.

See that little star on the right, sitting pretty outside of the radius? Woot! That’s us! :)

The surrounding area is also home to…

Do you remember this movie?  The team was called the Rockford Peaches, one of the first all-female baseball teams in the world.  Well while they take many liberties with the characters and events in the movie, the team did exist. 

I have yet to go here but I’m told that Rockford has the nation’s finest Japanese Garden.  It seems kinda odd for the midwest but we’ll take it.

Lest you think the place is home to many Japanese American folks (I observe very few, it’s too bad), it is actually the home of one of the highest concentrations per capita of Swedish Americans.

Which brings us to the fact that as of this year we are now host to Illinois first ever Kubb Tournament.  Kubb (pronounced Koob) is nicknamed “Viking chess,”a Scandinavian lawn game where the object is to knock over wooden blocks by tossing wooden sticks at them. Obviously the helmets are essential. Anyone want to help us form a team so we can join in on the fun next year? :)

Ok one last weird one I promise:

Here let me zoom in for you in case you missed it

We don’t live in this town but our branch meets down the street from this place.  You ever wonder where all the extra parts of the turkey goes because Butterball sure doesn’t pack them with the rest of the bird?  Well now you know.  They truly chop them up and deep fry them. We really got into local festivals these past few years but I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to participate in this festival.  Apparently it has been going on for 30+ years.  Should you want to know more you can go here.  Yikes.  People are crazy.

Alright, now that I got that out of my system I can now give you a serious post about our place!  What weird things are happening in your world?