Baseball Season, finally ending?

Fairbanks Baseball has gone on and on and on this summer. My outfielder is on his way with two other players and his Dad/Coach to Anchorage for a final weekend of baseball. He's thrilled and excited and can't wait.

I can't even count how many times he has ventured off to Anchorage (400+ miles and 5+hours) for a sport. Mostly hockey until now. This year with high school hockey and baseball, and comp hockey and then Legion baseball, he will be traveling A LOT! He even gets a Seattle trip to Seattle over Christmas break. That one, along with most others, he will be going solo.

I don't feel like he is growing up too fast. I don't feel like one of those mom's that say, "I can't believe . . ." He is ready. He's at that point in his life. He enjoys his parents and family and enjoys telling us about his life. He can't do that if we are up his a** all of the time.

That said, I did something last night I DID NOT want to do. I sat in on part of his comp hockey practice. I stayed to the side and out of the way, not in the bleachers with the mounds of other parents who just can't let go. I stayed in the car most of the time, reading and totally enjoying myself, but then I had to pee.

I was happy to see my son is no longer the smallest kid around . . . and happy to see his "killer" instinct pop out going after the puck, not just other kids. I got to see how the practice was being conducted and see that it involved much hollering, push-ups, and white-boards. New coaches are always interesting to observe. He has a coach back that he had three years ago. Three years ago I'm pretty sure Jason was nothing but an extra body to him with with a bunch of sarcastic remarks and injuries.

I am hoping this year is different. He has such passion for the game. He loves and hates everything about it, but I think his soul would shrivel up if he didn't have it. It is different with baseball. Playing the field is easy. Its like breathing. So is running bases. Hitting is, well, hit-or-miss. But hockey, its what drives him to take that breath. That is probably much to intense for an 14 year old to feel, but I think that is really the only way to describe it.

So, in one weekend, it is so long baseball season and hello hockey.

Oh yeah, and high school is going well. ;o)

Downtown

BeFunky Original on iPhone, a photo by analaskanmom on Flickr.

A beautiful Fairbanks day in August

August Chena

BeFunky LomoArt on iPhone, a photo by analaskanmom on Flickr.

For Rent

BeFunky Vibrance on iPhone, a photo by analaskanmom on Flickr.

Busy? Or just Lazy? The Jason update - more to come on Carly and Caden.

Oh, I'd like to say that I have just been way to busy to regularly update, but that wouldn't be exactly true. Then again, I'm not sure if I've been lazy either.

Hockey was a very time consuming sport this winter. There is a good chance that I won't be the manager next year; I think I'm okay with that. Let someone else deal with the hours and hours of emails. That is the worst part of it all. The constant flow of incoming and outgoing emails. There are updates for everything and the association is always sending out a forward. Some of our poor families get the same forward several different times from several different managers from several different teams, past and present.

Having two kids play this year doubled my incoming email. So many were the same. Funny though, the emails ALWAYS got to me sooner through my son's association. Sometimes I knew things days before my daughter's team announced it. For that, I am grateful to Arctic Lions.

Jason had a good season and a fun school year. He didn't have a lot of points during regular season play, but he was one of the top scorers in each tournament. That boy just turns it up when a trophy is involved.

He's grown quite a bit this year too. He is officially taller than me. Not that that is hard as short as I am, but for him it was a good day. School went well socially. Grades? Uh yeah, he is failing two classes as he winds up his 8th grade year. He is simply super lazy. He is unorganized and doesn't see fit to turn in the work he completes because he "can't find it," or "my binder broke," or "I left in in the wrong class and the teacher didn't tell me."
Seriously guy, you should know not to turn your science homework into the English teacher. Think I believed that excuse?
I'm not going to bail him out of this one. He's on lock down starting about 4 o'clock this afternoon. I insisted he do extra credit to bring his grades up or he can't hang out with friends. Doubt it will happen. There will be some excuse like, "I couldn't find a newspaper." Or, "she was out of forms."
Whaaaatevvveeeer!

We'll see. He has been going to hockey several nights a week and when he isn't there he is playing baseball at the high school with them. He's not old enough to be on the team, but the practice is good. Maybe we put too much emphasis on sports, but if he's going to be blowing off the academics, I'd rather it be for physical activity than gaming.

I am subbing right now in a school with no cell service. He's been trying to get permission to go to a friends after school. I said if he did extra credit today he could for a little while. We'll see where he is after school and how much trouble he's going to be in. I'm sure he'll have some excuse he knows isn't good enough but will be to lazy to come up with something good and too worried to just tell the truth.

Fatigue

Oh, the exhaustion. Why? Oh, why can't I get used to my schedule? And why can't I go to bed earlier?

Tonight I am watching Invictus. I wish I could understand the words spoken on the screen, but the tone of most of the actors is too low and I'm clueless as to what they have said. But, I get the gist of it from the actions on the screen. It brings me back to college though, when I was a tutor in the YMCA tutoring program. We were in a meeting one day, and we were visited by a gentleman from South Africa who was in Minneapolis on an exchange program. I had forgotten about that until a few hours ago.

I subbed again today and was faced with all new challenges.

1* The computers in the library weren't turning on and going to the home screen like they should. 3 of the 6 finally worked.

2* I had two Intensive Resource classes come in. I was unprepared for that. I chose a book that was far too difficult for the first class of younger students to follow. I learned by the second class though and I asked an aide what to choose. She immediately suggested a Curious George book about sledding and ya know what? I found one. It was great and right up the kid's alley.

3* The computer for checking out materials had several in not many windows opened up from the previous sub. Whomever it was, did not close any of their personal materials out. That was frustrating!

4*I didn't think that children could get more disrespectful, but each time I get a new class of 10-13 year olds, I am surprised by their belligerence and foul behavior. The 6th grade was completely uncontrollable. The graders were bribable, but needed continual reminders. It was mentally trying.

5*I was met at the end of the day with SNOW out doors. Ugh!

Yes, winter is coming and it is getting so chilly. The roads are icing up. My gloves are dirty, so remind me to wash those, O.K.?

Oh, and my kids were told that their gym shoes are no longer acceptable because they have a flat sole. What? Are you kidding me? What BS! The teacher does not think that their Converse are acceptable any longer and told them that their parents need to buy them new shoes. Are you kidding me? The original Chuck Taylor basketball shoe is not a gym shoe? What the hell is then?

I'm exhausted.