baseball, Barcelona and the boogeyman

It's snowed twice this past week, enough snow one day to delay school openings and just a light, powdery blanket last night. Saturday was going to be nice and it was sunny enough for the boys' baseball tryouts at the baseball fields. The best part may have been spending the day outside, away from electronic games and computers. After breakfast (waffles for Ry; hashbrowns for Jack), we got outside early to check the gear and the cleats (see if everything was working and fit and make sure we found everything and included water bottles and snacks in the boys' bags) and the boys played some catch in the front yard. We drove over in time for the MMPII evaluations and then the Minor tryouts. Jackson wasn't sure whether to do minors or majors, but it looks like one more year in minors would be okay. Jackson wants to try some pitching this year, and the majors are stacked with club ball players. Rylee really wants to do minors. The adult rep for that league has cautioned us that Rylee is very young for minors. He was the only 7 year old out there. The rep is pushing Ry to do one more year of MMPII. Jack's coaches for several years, Eric and Bill, said Ry did  better than many of the older boys but purely because of his age probably wouldn't get much playing time in minors. Ry needs work on batting and the machine pitch would be better for that than the errant pitching. Lots of walks in minor league. Ry is a little disappointed and we have to talk about it more. We went to Flying Star for a celebratory lunch, welcoming Spring in a way, even though I suspect there's still some cold weather ahead and maybe some waves of snow, which we really need in the mountains to replenish our aquifers. Next weekend is field cleaning day.

Cyndi says she talked with Ariel, who was on her way to Barcelona for a week for another story. Cyndi also reported that Rylee scored very high on the final round of tests for gifted programs at school, and we just completed the financial aid application for Jackson to attend the academy. Still a long shot, I think, but worth doing. Bright kids.

I've been meaning to mention, mostly for jogging some memory in the future, a couple of the boys' superstitions that I've observed. One is Ry's careful closing of the bathroom door at night before going to bed. That door leads into the bedroom and the bathroom includes a closet. He likes that shut off. The other is how Jackson always asks for company, especially at night, to go downstairs. Ry seems to understand and always goes with him. He will ask even to retrieve a page of homework and even though Cyndi makes sure that several lights are always on. I think it's more an exercise of caution than fear. Jack also got quite concerned about reports that Java is being exploited to hack into computers. We did some research together, and it's actually very real. He wondered if the problem had been successfully patched, came up with lots of explanations, and then a resolution, we think. He needs Java for his Minecraft but thinks he can still use it as an application for that while disengaging it as a plug in for his browser. The downside, from what he told me, is that YouTube also depends on Java running. I'll have to get a followup report from him, because that's the best I can explain.

around me

I was just telling Ariel that Rylee scored very high in all categories on his screening test for gifted classes at his school and that I was talking to Jackson about all of the jobs opening up in cyber defense, which led him to talking about coding (it's all code, he said) and open ports. Ariel was sitting in the air conditioning in the Dubai airport on her way home. It was the middle of night for her. Kuala Lumpur sounded good to me. She was there for the Chinese New Year and all the food sounded so yummy. She was glad to be going home.

It's been a quiet time at home. The weather has been cold, so the boys haven't been getting out. Ry finished The Hobbit. Jack's still hooked on his Minecraft. Maybe I've said this before but I want to be sure to write it down. One of my favorite moments is going to bed at night. Ry stays up with me but at about 9:30 he's ready to sleep. We go downstairs for a snack and something to drink, usually a half glass of milk, for Ry. Then when we get in bed, Ry says, can you put your arm around me? He nestles beside me. It's a sweet moment. In less than a minute, he is fast asleep.

on her way to Kuala Lumpur

I just got off the phone with Ariel, after missing her a few times and having just written a note about her trip to South America. This time she was on a double-deck airliner just before take off to Dubai and then on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she is going to meet some agricultural engineers to do a story on rice farming. I guess the assignment just happened. She must be very excited about it. Sounds like she will have an opportunity to explore the countryside, too.

The boys signed up for little league. Jack decided to play baseball again, even though he really liked soccer last fall, because he thought that he might not play baseball again if he missed this season. I thought it was a smart reasoning, and now want to make sure they both have a good season. He is on the cusp between minors and majors; and Ry is on the cusp between machine pitch and minors. Both the boys seem to understand this and don't have preconceived ideas about which league they should play. I talked to a coach for a bit, and it seemed reasonable they should just try out for both of their age group leagues and decide which fits best in about a month from now.

la piedra parada

I couldn't go longer without including Ariel & Chris's trip to Argentina. I haven't heard many details, and perhaps they will post some pics somewhere, but it involved flying into Buenos Aires, camping along the Chubut River, climbing, and lots of beef. La Piedra Parada is in the Patagonia region, the southern part of Argentina and Chile. The comparable coordinates for their location in the Northern Hemisphere, by my calculation, would be in the Sea of Maine, east of Portland. The climate should be their equivalent of our midsummer. I don't know how they got there from Buenos Aires. I'm pretty sure they went there on their own and the map shows a web of roads somewhere about 1200 miles from Buenos Aires, closer to the Andes than the coast, about half way from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego. I think they were there a good week or so. So here's one pic of them and a video I thought might show something of what they experienced. Maybe they will add something?

Petzl RocTrip Argentina 2012 - Official Teaser from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.