Flag Football

The boys have been a part of flag football for the past few weeks.  I have only gotten to go one time (with company and other things going on), but I got some pictures from a friend and some from Ron's mom!  They are small, but enjoy!

 

I was told Ronnie had just made an interception before this one was snapped!

 

It has been football weather too - nice and chilly!

 

Of course, the biggest fan has been right there to watch!

Next Saturday is the last day of football, so we'll just move on to watching our Buckeyes - who by the way are 4-0!

 

 

Adkins Olympics

We've been playing and talking Olympics around here. 

It's been fun to see the kids get so excited!  Maddie exclaimed the other day, "Gabby Douglas is my best friend".  It took me a little bit to realize she was talking about the US gold medalist gymnast.  She has asked to watch gymnastics nearly every day since seeing her first event!  She loves watching them float through the air on all the different events.

I've overheard several conversations between Eli and Maddie where one was "being interviewed" by a reporter.  "It's my last chance to win a medal."  "I would love to win a gold medal."  Even, "I have a good feeling I could go undefeated," as Eli exclaimed.  When asked what they were doing, they both replied they were giving "acceptance speeches".

And then after I put a stop to the gymnastic flips off the bunk beds, Maddie exclaimed, "It was a good day.  I wish I could but my mom said no more flips."

All 4 kids have been involved in the competitions. 

Honestly it is a little difficult to do laps in a small pool.

but they had fun.

They also used the wagon as a net and played some beach volleyball.

Then there was the cycling, and ping pong.  There was also some equine events, but they were also stopped due to young horses being ridden by bigger riders!

There has been a lot of disappointment in the fact that the coverage is so late at night.  We missed a lot, we've been up too late!  It's hard to see all you want and they got tired of water polo in the afternoons!!

But we love the Olympics. 

Nathaniel has said on numerous occasions, "I wish the Olympics were every year".

So as London games come to a close, the Adkins games will probably continue a little while longer!

What about you, are you enjoying the Olympic games?



Progressive Field

Today we had the opportunity to go to Progressive Field.  For those of you who are not Indians fans, or even baseball fans.  Progressive Field is the home of the Cleveland Indians Baseball team!

Last year we were given tickets by the Ruffers.  This year we were asked to join them on a trip to Cleveland.(this is particularly big because Mr. Ralph cheers for that team in Detroit)  We would also be going with another couple in our Farmer church (Doug and Mary Sue).

The stinky part about today was that Ron ended up not being able to go.  He had a funeral this morning and so was unable to make the trip with us!  (I am proud of my husband.  It is very difficult at times to be in ministry, but Ron does it well.  He always puts others before himself and I'm so proud of the example he is giving our kids.  He could have said, and been justified in saying "I can't be there on Wed, I'm going with my family to a ball game"  but instead he put the ministry to our people first and ministered to a hurting family.)

All that being said, it was hard to leave him this morning!

In addition to Doug, Mary Sue, Ralph, Cathy and the 5 of us there was also Bradyn (Ruffer's grandson who is Nathaniel's age).

We weren't sure it was going to be a good game or not.  Our Indians have been on a loosing streak and have not played well since the All-Star game!  Honestly though, that didn't slow these guys down.  They were excited to go and cheer for their team! 

As it turned out, our Indians just needed us to come and watch so that they could get a win.  The Indians are now officially 2-0 when we are present to watch!!

 All 5 had a great time!

Thanks you Doug and Mary Sue!

Thank you Ralph and Cathy!

We had a great time!

WOW!

The Final Tournament, The Final Game.  After this the season is over.  The Fairview All-Star team had done a great job at the Edgerton Tournament.  They had gone undefeated through 4 games in two days.  Now it was the Championship game against a team that they beat on Saturday by 1 in extra innings.  It would be a good game, were the boys ready to play?

The umpires brought both teams to the plate for the coin toss!  Fairview won and elected to be the home team!  We would get the last bat!

 Ronnie struggled in the lead off spot and probably had his worst game hitting.  He didn't get on base.  He had a great at bat his second one, where he fouled several off, but when he finally got it straightened out, it was a pop up, that was easily caught.

 Nathaniel didn't fair much better.  He popped his up and was pretty unhappy with himself!

It was a hard fought game.  Fairview was down the whole game.  By the end of the 5th inning we had allowed way too many runs!  It was 11-5!  We had to not only hold them on defense, but then we had to score 5 runs make it tied!

Defensively, we did it.  We got 3 outs without any damage. The team brought it in for our offense to take over.  It would be our last at-bat.  We had to score.  We were in the middle of our line up and honestly it looked pretty grim.  Could this team, who was not batting especially well pull off a win?

It was absolutely crazy and unbelievable!  They got 2 outs, it was grim.  Then they just kept hitting and running and hitting and running and scoring and finally...the 12th run crossed the plate.  They had won it!  They scored 6 runs in the final inning and won the tournament.  Crazy and so exciting for these boys to finish in such an unbelievable fashion!

 Nathaniel and Ronnie both got a trophy!

The whole team did.  Notice even the "batter boy" is in the picture! 

Wow, what a season, what a finale!

 This year of Pee Wee ball has been full of crazy plays and games and fun times. All 4 of these guys have enjoyed themselves!

 Then of course they needed a little water guns after all the trophy stuff.  The coaches pulled them out!  But after emptying them the kids filled them up and ended up getting completely soaked!

So we FINALLY draw another year of baseball to a close!  My 2 were a little disappointed on the way home.  They didn't play as well as they could have.  We talked about how it is a team sport and that yes, it was not their best game, but their team played hard and pulled off a win and then needed to be excited for their teammates!  Lots of lessons have been learned throughout this year and lots of fun times and memories!

All-Star's

Today was the beginning of our last All-Star Tournament!  The boys were pretty excited to play.  They haven't done real great in their first two tournaments, but today they were on!

 I grabbed a couple of pictures before we headed off for the tournament! 

Of course I had to get their biggest fan too!

The boys really played well today!  They are in first place right now, but there are two more games tomorrow (that we will miss) and then the Championship and Consolation games are on Monday evening! 

Ronnie had a home run (by overthrows and errors  - we'll take them how we can get them).  Nathaniel had some outstanding grabs at short stop.  Ronnie had some very accurate throws from third to first for outs and Nathaniel snagged a double play.

So we're winding down our baseball season and we're still having fun!

I Remember...

Forgive me for feeling incredibly old, but I remember a day when it was unheard of for schools to schedule anything on Sunday.  It wasn't too long ago that Sunday was kept clear on the calendars.  But those days are apparently in the past - and even out of most of our memories.

Our boys love Baseball, as you know if you have frequented this blog much at all, especially in the spring and early summer!  We enjoy watching them and although I am a bit biased, they are good!

However, Baseball and Sunday don't mix in our house!  Our rule is that we don't play organized sports or competitively on Sunday.

Yesterday the boys competed in the first All-Star Tournament and although I stayed home (out of the heat) with Maddie, I'm told they did really well.  Their team lost the first game, which was the first that some of those boys had lost all season, including my two - but they came back and fought and really played well in the second - and won!  Next game...this morning (SUNDAY) at 10am!

For obvious reasons, our boys won't be there.  The team will actually play multiple games today, but we won't be playing. 

Several parents offered to pick up our boys and take them to the games, but it's not just that Ron's job keeps us from getting there for a 10am game, there is more to it.

Sunday's are suppose to be set apart, different - not look the same as Monday through Saturday.  Yet in our world today, Sunday is another day to cram in whatever we didn't get accomplished throughout the week.  What happened to the days of old?  Why have we gotten away from clear calendars on Sundays?

It all honesty it would be easy to say, "could you take our boys to the first game and we'll meet up with you there?"  Or even, "we can't make the first one, but we'll be there for the second".  It would be easy and honestly our team of 12 needs their starting Shortstop and 3rd basemen.  It makes sense that they need to be there.

Yet it is Sunday!  Easy isn't always best.  Making sense to the world isn't what we strive for.

My boys handle it pretty well actually.  Yes, they would like to play, but they also don't understand why people would schedule during church, me either! 

We still love sports, we still enjoy baseball, but we also serve a God who is bigger than any sport or any game.  We serve a God who desires to be "important" in our lives.  A God who desires to have just ONE day that is set apart and different.

It is hard to be in this world and not of it, and yet we strive to teach our boys that the #1 thing in our lives is our relationship with Jesus! 

I am sure they will think about their teammates today and perhaps even wish they could help them out, but our desire is that years down the road (or maybe even today) they can look back and be thankful that they didn't compromise their time with Jesus for an All-Star baseball tournament!

So today we trade in our cleats, bats and gloves and grab our Bibles!  Today we spend time in the Lord's house!  Today we set apart as different from the rest of the week.  No -we may not be understood and we may not be respected, but today we teach all 4 of our children the importance of families going to Church together and spending Sunday like those of old did - Together and with Jesus!

Tournament Play

This past week was the boys Pee Wee Tournament for Baseball.  That meant the possibility of 6 games in 5 days.  Thankfully it didn't take that many.  As it turns out there were 4 games in 5 days and that means 4 days at the ballfield.  I'm ok if we don't go to the fields for awhile! :)  Not to mention the fact that at the beginning of the week we took sweatshirts and by the end we were playing in triple digit temps!

The boys all had a great time!  Even Maddie enjoyed herself.  She played in sand, with water, with legos and with lots of friends.  I'm not sure she knows anything about baseball, but she enjoys herself! 
Here she is with one of the coaches daughters, Addie.  Maddie loves Addie because she recently realized what rhyming words are!  "Maddie, Addie and Daddy -they rhyme!", is what you will often hear her say.

I realized too that I didn't have too many pictures of the "Batter Boy" in action. Well this one isn't in action, but it was cute.  When the team takes the field, this is where Eli waits!

 As soon as the team is up to bat, he gest to work!

 Below, Brody (pitcher) and Ronnie (3rd) are ready for the pitch!  (Pee Wee league is coach pitch)

 With such a busy week of ball, there was a lot of bonding time within the team!

 With the triple digit temps there were a lot of water breaks!

But in the end...after a well fought tourney...The Blue Buffalos finished the season and the tournament with a 15-0 record and were the 1st place Champs!

 Ronnie getting his trophy!

 Of course my camera and I fought while Nathaniel got his trophy, but he did get it!

Then even the Batter Boy got a trophy - his grin was huge!

 So here they are the Pee Wee Champion, undefeated Blue Buffalos!

One last huddle

 Go Blue Buffalos!

 It was pretty exciting times around here! 

4 Happy Guys and 3 Trophies!

Then a few of the teammates (and families) went to the sponsors to eat and celebrate, BWW!

A fun season, a full couple of months!  Ronnie and Nathaniel have had a great time and their baseball skills have really improved.  And the little Batter Boy is already thinking about next year!  Coach Daddy had a blast too.  It's fun to coach this age as they are, for the most part, willing to learn!  Maddie and I... we enjoyed cheering on our guys!

Oh, one more thing...last night as we were climbing in the van to leave the ball park, Coach Sean tells the boys - "We have a couple more tournaments!"  "You both made All-Star's" 
WOW, the excitement.  And yes, Ron will be his assistant and Eli was asked to help with the bats.  So we will continue for 2 more weekends!