Serie B

Thom and Jenn brought some Italian Soccer jerseys back for the boys. Money and shirts for taking care of Flyer. I kinda miss tha dog.

Having Fun

No football games today do to rain but that didn't stop practice. The boys love playing for coach Cory. Dylan loved getting back into the football grove and moving on groom that horrible baseball experience.

Concert Night

The band played well this evening.

Puppa Pic

He's been a good dog and the boys really wore him out at the tennis court today.

Fun Again

We had a flag football practice this morning in preparation for this afternoons game. Sam had a smile on his face the whole time which is a big improvement over baseball. Dylan is missing today's football activities because he is in New York on a drama field trip. They left this morning at 4:30am. They are doing a workshop and seeing Wicked and Les Miserables and arriving back here at 3am.

Visitor

Our friends Thom and Jen are off to Italy for a week and left us Flyer to look after. They are paying the boys to walk him and such but I'm convinced that Nicole will be handling most of the load. I, on the other hand will not be taking him out at the crack of dawn. He is a sweet little thing regardless.

Skills

Back home in the gym. First post-baseball basketball practice.

Quick Season

Baseball ended for the season a little early this year.  Due to some poor coaching, the boys have decided to call It quits for this team and take a look at joining another team in the Fall or next Spring.  It all happened pretty quickly but started two Sunday's ago with some negative comments towards Dylan and escalated to the coach punishing both boys by sitting them because Nicole and I hurt his feeling with some questions about his coaching techniques.  The boys are sad to be away from their friends on the team but it was clear the coaches hostility towards us and them was going to make it tough to have any fun the rest of the season.  The boys made the call, showing great character.  

This team was struggling in the first 6 games of the season.  Good players, mediocre team.  Two Sundays ago we were playing a much better team and lost the first game of the double header 30-0, we were down 22-2 in the second game when Dylan made an error fielding a pop fly in left field.  This was easily the 30th error of the two games by the Eagles and while Dylan and Sam both had a few errors, every kid had a few as well, do the math.  The missed pop fly was a ball hit high and into the sun and while it isn't clear that the sun was the issue, his glasses were fogged up or he wasn't paying complete attention, it garnered audible disgust by the coaching staff.  I gathered the coached together and nicely let them know that it wasn't acceptable to treat Dylan that way and left it at that.  

Brien "the manager" responded the next day with a passive aggressive note and article about youth sports and setting the bar too low.  Completely missing the point that the request was to send positive messages to players, not berate and belittle them for making a mistake.  That prompted Nicole to write a very well written and respectful email to "the manager" explaining that we simply wanted him to adjust his coaching to help our kids learn the game, improve their skills and be good teammates in a more positive fashion.  Well, that generated a 7 paragraph email defending his 9 years of youth baseball volunteering with a number of examples of how Dylan and Sam had let him down during the last 6 weeks.  Basically, he was saying that Nicole's email broke is little heart and the boys need to shape up.  

Ok, so we left that alone, attended practice the next two days and got ready for Sunday's game.  On Saturday night he emailed us that while Dylan can stay on the roster Sunday, we was going to limit his time on the field because he doesn't think he can see.  His promise pre-season, was that all kids would play equally and not sit out more than 2 innings a game.  This is not a league where standing are kept, it's most kids first introduction to the full size 90 foot baseball diamond and intended to get them ready for high school.  Oh yeah, and he's not a trained eye specialist in any way.  I let him know that I expected Dylan to treated like the other players and thanked him for his concern.  

Sunday game day was tense with "the manager" barely acknowledging Me, Nicole, Sam or Dylan.  "the manager" was clearly hostile towards the boys and played Dylan in right field for two innings and Sam in left for three.  Now, keep in mind that in no way did he say that Sam would be limited and in past games, Sam pitched, played catcher, first and a little left field.  After game one, the the four of us huddled and let the boys decide if they wanted to stay for the second game.  They weren't having any fun and didn't see great hope for that changing.  We packed up and left.  I did have a few words with "the manager" and let him know that retaliating against children who just wanted to play baseball because their parents hurt is feeling was pretty childish.  He let me know later that day in an email,  that as "the manager" he couldn't' allow that kind of stuff to happen and I wasn't allowed back at practices or games.  I gave him a little more  pointed feedback on his coaching skills and let him know that the boys had decided to end their relationship with the team move on to teams where they had good coaches.  

That's a lot of words but in the end, we have joined one of their favorites coaches of all time on a flag football team and have made their Basketball spring practices and tournaments a priority that would have been secondary to baseball until July. They love their basketball team and commented last week, while we were still on the baseball team that the practices were fun and the the coaches and players made them feel like family.  Coach Cory of the flag team is right up there in that category as well.  

This all reminded me of a baseball coach I had at about 10 or 11 years old.  Horrible man that stood on top of the dugout yelling at me.  I made the choice to change little league programs and flourished under new management.  I still have good memories of baseball up until I kinda lost interest and focused on track and I hope the boys find another chance to play the game with a good coach and build on the great memories they have of the game in the 7 previous seasons to this nightmare.  

Haircut

Dylan came back from his haircut telling me to never delete this photo because he wants all his haircuts to look like this.

Early Departure

Heading back to DC on the second flight out this morning. The 6am flight seemed way to early. 7:20am is a little more manageable.

San Fran

My friend Martin has a great new apartment with this view. Those are tennis courts in the foreground but he doesn't play tennis. Good meetings today but I'm ready to go home.

Couple of Rough Ones

The Eagles lost another couple a games today. More errors than I can count but every kid had at least one. This is going to be a long season at this rate. These kids need to get their heads in the game. Next week is a new ballgame.

Bikes

We bought the boys some nice bikes about 7 years ago but they didn't get a lot of use for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, they have out grown them now. I'm sure someone will get some use out of them soon.

Whiffle Season

Mr. Wu still needs to do his thing, including yard aeration which will make whiffle harder to play for a while.

Tulips

A nice older man on the street downtown asked me if these flowers were roses. I told him I was pretty sure they were tulips and he seem satisfied.

Afternoon Workout

Our double header was cancelled today due to a wet field in Rockville. We drove over to our local diamond and spent 90 minutes on hitting, fly balls and infield practice. My arm hurts from swinging the bat and tossing some pitches.

Dugout

I think all dugouts are disgusting but the boys seem happy in it.

Sammy on the Mound

Opening Day

The Eagles dropped both their games of the opening day double header. Way too many team errors. Dylan and Sam did well but they were shaking some rust off too. Dylan was flawless at second base and played left field a couple innings but struck out twice and grounded to short. Sam caught, played first and third and pitched a couple innings. He struck out a couple but gave up a number of runs. I'm sure they will do better next week.

Boredom

Nicole seems to have been looking for something to do while the boys were at baseball practice tonight. Why not take pictures of her shoes on the fence? It will be 80 degrees here tomorrow but our first double header is scheduled for Sunday with a projected wind chill of 40 degrees.

Picking Up

Most of the tidal basin cherry blossoms blew off the day we got back from Europe but lots of other things are blooming now.

Great Trip

Th boys took this. We didn't get any photos of all four of us except a selfie in Ghent.

Fun Times

We got home right on time yesterday after an easy check in and flight from Amsterdam. We left for the airport 4 hours before our flight but had a 20 minute, traffic free ride, a 5 minute check in and a 10 minute security screening. I figured things would be slow based on what recently happened in Brussels but things went really smoothly. We also got from the gate at Dulles, past passport screening, bag pickup and customs in 45 minutes. That may be a new arrivals record as well. Home today getting ready for the school and work week to start tomorrow.

Heading Home

Las night in Amsterdam. Time to head home.

Deep Thoughts

We walked and rode bikes in Vondelpark today. Great day to be outside.

Van Gogh

The boys got a little something out of this museum but tired of it fairly quickly.

Canal Tour

We hit the Van Gogh museum early, had breakfast then took a small boat canal tour. It's been a little rainy today but we've gotten a bunch more sites in. We have the Holland v. French football game tonight then one more day of touring before heading home on Sunday.

Happin Place

Dinner across the canal tonight at a fairly popular water hole. Lively place.

Rijksmuseum

We got up early to get in line to get tickets to the Anne Frank museum today. It was mostly Nicole standing in
Iine. I took the boys to get breakfast. We got there at 8am and got not the place around 9:30. Probably 75 people in front of us at 8 and 2,000 behind us at 9:30. Nicole and I had both been there before but it was good to go back and the boys got something out of it as well.

We hit the Rijksmuseum after that then the bloom market and a few other things, like the red light district. The are crawling on the big Amsterdam letters below, time for a break.

Goodnight

Long day ends with a great German dinner. Time to get some sleep.

Ahoy

Not quite picnic season yet but we do have a nice little spot to eat outside.

This Boats a Rockin

This is a nice rental. The Brugge place was pretty nice and the tower was cool but this boat is badass.

Tower

The tower from the street without boys.

Tower Boys

This is the top of the tower that juts up in the middle our apartment. We are on the European 4th floor which really means the 5th floor. The entrance to the tower is in our living room and is another three stories to the top. The boys have gone up a few times a day to get a look around and make chicken noises to annoy the passes by on the street. I took this form the street about a half a block away. It's a great apartment, really old building, very modern interior.

Good Tmes

Time for bed after another good Belgium day.

Night Bridge

Around the corner from our apartment.

Gent

We followed up yesterday's long trip to Ypres and the Flanders WWI battlefields with a relatively short trip to Gent. I was a two hour train trip to Ypres, a stop at the In Flanders Fields museum, lunch, a four hour battlefield tour and a two hour trip home. The museum and tour were great. We have all been getting up to speed on WWI in many ways and the tour helped bring home the horrific experience that was WWI. We even saw a recently discovered artillery shell a farmer place on the side of the road. It's estimated that over 10 million unexploded shells are still in the ground in Belgium and France.

We took a short 25 minute train ride up to Gent today and saw the Adoration of the Lamb painting by Von Eyck, climbed the bell tower and toured Castle Gravensteen. Back in Brugge drinking wine while the boys are at the top of the attached medieval tower making chicken noises for the people on the street below.

Ypres

The boys exploring the German trenches at Bayernwald. Great day in Ypres yesterday but we were tired after the 13 hour excursion. More later.

Cercle Brugge

We got seated in the visiting team section which was not a good fit for us. They let us move when we explained we were not Excelsior fans. They game ended in a draw. 2-2.

Possible Holiday Card

...via PhotoToaster, using these settings.

Sent from my iPad

Late Start

We slept hard and long last night. I was the first one up at 10:30, that never happens. We didn't get out the door until noon. Walked a bunch and bought train tickets to Ypes for tomorrow morning. This is a great walking city.

In Brugge

A rather quickish flight that ended with a landing in pea soup fog. The wheels touched the ground before I saw it. Kinda disconcerting to say the least. Our driver was at the airport waiting and we made good time to Brugge. The apartment was ready when we arrived so we got all set up then went exploring a bit. Lunch, grocery store then a two hour nap. It's another great apartment. 5th floor with great views and our own private 8 story medieval tower.

Inside the Plane

Sam really hates long flights.

We're Off

Beautiful sunset over terminal C. Off to Belgium.

San Diego

It's coming to the end of my 16th National meeting and the 2nd in San Diego in my eight plus years at ACS. Nothing all that new to report but happy to be heading home in the morning.

Early Summer

Another 80 degree day in ally March and a nice sunset.

2nd Practice

The boys are now on the full size field and due to the warm weather, we are already practicing. Another 80 degree day tomorrow and more baseball.

Season End

The basketball winter season ending patty was tonight at Ledo's Pizza. We combined it with a fundraiser for the club. We have a few weeks off before practice resumes in preparation for some spring tournaments and the summer league. Basketball never stops.

15 Years

Nice dinner at Brabo and we are back home in front of the fire.

Dessert

The finishing touch to our anniversary dinner.

Tug of War

We had our first baseball practice on a 65 degree day on Tuesday. Things changed quickly mid week and we woke up to this today. I think this is winters last gasp but I will give it to the season. It looked like a pretty weak winter in December but the next two months proved to be very wintery. We had twice the average season snowfall and a fair share of cold days. I'm going to miss winter but it's probably time for some spring like days.

Nicole and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday by hanging out with the kids and watching a movie. All of us in the same room in front of a fire was the perfect way to bring in our 16th year. We are leaving them at home and going out for dinner tonight, but back early for another movie.