Marathon

Brantley's school puts a group together each year to participate in the kids marathon. Last school year I didn't even look at the paper when it came home. I just thought, he can't run a marathon. But, they had 90 kids running last year. So, this past fall when the paper came home I actually looked at it. It's modified so the kids are supposed to accumulate 25 miles prior to running the last mile at the marathon. They run the same last mile as the real marathon. So, I signed him up and he started tracking his miles with track club last fall. The weather this spring wasn't really good for track club so he missed a few weeks and came in short on the 25 miles. Here is the group of 3rd grade boys. There were 2 more that showed up after I took this picture. I have no idea what his time was and I'm not really sure they tracked it for the kids like they do for the real marathon. Thank goodness the weather turned out okay and I think it was a good experience for him.Here are Brantley and Hunter after the finish.
And, a video of him finishing the race.

More Baseball

Yesterday's game was the most exciting game. The first inning did not go as planned with 3 up 3 down for the Rays and the other team scored 5. Down by 5, the next inning was 3 up 3 down for the Yankees and the Rays scored 5. The Rays took the lead by 3 in the 3rd inning. The Yankees answered in the 4th with 3 runs but the Rays got one in to lead by 1. It was a disappointing 5th inning for both teams with no runs. Top of the 6th, the Yankees scored 5. It didn't look good with the Rays up to bat down by 4. By some amazing feat, the Rays loaded up the bases. Four runs in to tie the game. Bases loaded, 2 outs, no pressure. They did it! 5 runs in. You've never seen a more excited bunch of boys. The Rays won 14 to 13.

Brantley had 3 at bats yielding a triple and 2 singles. It really should have been 2 doubles and a single. His triple was really on errors and one of the singles should have been a double. Brantley was almost to second base but the other runner had stopped so Brantley had to high tail it back to first. He also got 4 RBIs. The other coach actually came over to check to see if Brantley's bat was legal. Our coach told him, sure you can check it. He's our best player. The other coach said, "You just don't see a ball come off a bat like that." To which our coach replied, "Yeah, we've been working on his bat speed." We all had a good laugh about it, but it truly was a great compliment to Brantley.

Baseball Season just got a little longer.

Well, last weekend we decided to let Brantley try out for a travel ball team. I made him promise me that he would be okay with it if he didn't make the team. As I expected, he didn't try out as well as he is capable of playing. He did do a good job fielding and did a great job at first base, but he couldn't hit. Actually, none of the kids at his tryout were hitting except for one. I didn't see any of the next session so I don't know what those kids looked like. Brantley did have one advantage though. The coach for this team saw him play in the championship game last season because he was the coach of the other team. And, he was the coach that saw him play in the scrimmage...the one the dad was referring to when he said there as a coach scouting my boy. Anyway, we got the call tonight and Brantley made the team. He is so excited about it. I hope he can handle it.

Finally...a WIN!

Finally, a big win for Brantley's baseball team. They won 17 to 4 tonight. Not sure how, but they all seemed to hit well tonight. They only fielded 3 outs (the rest of the other teams outs were strike outs) and Brantley was in on all 3. He got 2 at first base and the 3rd was when he was playing second base. He should have been 3 for 3 at batting, but he hit a single on his third at bat and the runner from 2nd to 3rd got out at third base. It was the third out so the run he batted in didn't count and he didn't get credited with his single. He still had 3 RBIs tonight, 2 of them with a huge triple in the first inning. And, he got the game ball tonight!

Spring Break

Today was the last day of Spring Break. Since Brantley's after school program didn't have anything really fun planned for Thursday and Friday, I decided to take a couple days off and do some fun things with him. Yesterday we went to the IMAX to see How to Train Your Dragon. We had tried to take him to the IMAX in Chattanooga when he was about 4 (I think) and it didn't go well. This was the first time I thought to try it again and he loved it. I think I even saw him try to reach out and touch something once. I found myself continuously looking over at him every time something cool happened in 3D and his mouth was open pretty much the whole time. The movie was really good also. I'd definitely go see it again. Afterward we went to Dave and Busters. I found that it is pretty much just a more expensive Chuck E. Cheese. We did see a guy hit the jackpot on Skee Ball. He must have been some kind of professional or something because he did 2 lanes at once and got both of them over 700,000 at the same time so I think he got the 500 tickets twice. I think he went around some more because I saw him later redeeming his tickets for a Wii. Something seemed fishy about that guy. Anyway....Today we went on a zip tour. I didn't know we had anything like this around us so it was a cool find. I was afraid Brantley would be too scared to do it, but he was all over it. I think he was a little apprehensive at first, but after the first zip line, he wanted to go before me each time. (pics/vids below) After the zip tour, we had our gourmet lunch at McDs and then headed to the movie theater to see Clash of the Titans. I didn't like it as much as the Dragon movie, but it was good. And now, Spring Break is over. Boo.

This is the only video I got of him landing since after this he always went before me. :)

The longest and highest zip. I kind of lost him in the trees.

Baseball Update

Well, it's finally happened. Brantley is so used to having great teams, but not this season. We have 3 experienced 8 year olds on the team, a couple of 7s that are coming along, and the rest of the 13 team members that have a lot to learn. The Rays lost tonight to the Orioles 9 to 3. On the bright side, Brantley is batting a thousand so far this season. Of course, he's only had 4 at bats in 2 games. Having 13 players with only about half that can hit doesn't get you through your line-up very easily. This will definitely be a character building season.

Game 1: Red Sox Vs. Rays

Well, it was a tough loss for the first game of the season and it as cold out there this morning. The Rays lost 18 to 3. They shouldn't feel bad about it though because the coach for the other team and his sons do travel ball so the team was just slightly stacked. Brantley only got 2 at bats and got 2 singles with 1 RBI. He and Jack had the 1-3 connection a couple times but there were a lot of missed balls on the field. The team definitely needs some more practice!

Spring = Baseball

Yes, that's right folks. It's time for baseball again! This season we are cheering for the Rays! Yesterday was their first scrimmage with games starting next weekend. Brantley used his new bat in the scrimmage. He needed a heavier bat and the one I found for him is a composite bat as opposed to an aluminum bat. Composite bats are supposed to be broken in before really hitting with them. We went through 2 buckets of balls with it, but didn't get to soft toss Friday evening because I wasn't feeling well. Brantley decided to use the bat even though it wasn't fully broken in. He sent the ball sailing almost out of the park on his first at bat. It was weird because the composite bats don't make the same sound as the aluminum bats do. So, when he hit it there wasn't the crack that let you know it was an awesome hit. He got a triple out of that one. He had 2 more at bats. One should have been a double or a triple but the coach at first base told him to stay. The other was a single. One of our dads came over to me and said another coach was scouting my boy. How funny! Another funny from the game was the other team had "Mario and Luigi" playing for them. I didn't put that together until I heard our boys saying it. I guess Mario isn't a completely uncommon name, but Luigi has to be a rare name around here. Anyway, the Rays won the scrimmage 14 to 4.

Congrats to Brantley!

Brantley's school participated in World Maths Day this year. Students play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic. Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 500 games, earning points for each correct answer. Brantley had the top score in his ENTIRE school! I asked him if he got anything special like lunch with the principal or an ice cream party. He said he got a pencil that says I love math, or something like that, and Smarties (the candy). We went out to dinner to celebrate to our favorite Mexican place. Yum!

Moving on to Baseball

Well, the basketball season is over with an 18 to 14 loss to Tennessee in the first round of the tournament. Brantley scored 10 of those 14 points. I told him he can't be a one man team and to not be too hard on himself. He played hard. The coach was pretty hard on him the whole game so I'm really happy that he handled the game so well. A crucial mistake happened when they were down by 3 with about a minute and a half left, Andrew got the ball back on a Tennessee inbound and went the wrong way on the court. Oh well....baseball anyone?

Replacing the CR-V

We've had our CR-V for almost 11 years. We bought it brand new and it now has 210k miles on it. It needs some heavy work done to it now, so we decided it was time to get something else. We drove a new CR-V and a new Pilot. The CR-V was fine. A little better than our old one but really nothing special. The Pilot was really nice but out of our price range. I also went to drive a Rav4 but decided it was too small, and the Highlander was too expensive. I also went to drive a Ford Edge. I really like the Edge, but again decided it was more money that we wanted to spend so Lawson didn't go look at any of those. Today, we went to look at a used CR-V, but we got in it and it smelled really bad. We didn't even drive it. We looked at a couple others and the X3 caught my eye. I've wanted a BMW since I was a teenager. So, we drove it. It was so pretty, a gold color on the outside with gorgeous dark brown leather. Brantley didn't like the color of the leather but I loved it. I drove it and of course loved it. But, after really looking it over and sitting in the back seat, we decided it really isn't a family car. I'm sure Lawson had the front seat pushed all the way back, but Brantley really didn't have a whole lot of leg room in it. He's only getting bigger so, alas, no BMW for me. Ten years from now when Brantley goes off to college, I'll be getting my BMW. So, we decided on a pre-owned Honda Pilot. We opted to spend a little less money and get a larger vehicle. I think we made the right decision.

Weird Winter Weather

We've had more snow this winter than I can remember in probably twenty years. It's been frigid here. I'm ready for Spring! Brantley got to go sledding for the very first time a few days ago (I'm a little behind in posting). We had snow followed by ice the last weekend in January which led to all Basketball games being canceled that weekend. (The Tarheels won this past weekend. Brantley scored 10 points!) We don't even own a sled so we tried to make a make-shift one with cardboard and a garbage bag. Brantley was embarrassed to use that. Then, I thought about out skim board from the beach. It worked perfectly, especially since the ground was actually frozen. We didn't even make footprints walking on it!

Ice Basketball

The first ball he put in got stuck in the net because it's frozen. I didn't have my camera out so I didn't get that shot. Every time the ball got away it just kept going because of the ice. He slipped several times but kept playing anyways. The driveway is so frozen that for the most part our feet didn't even break through. We need some ice skates!

Conversations with Brantley

This conversation occurred at bedtime as I was laying down with him for a few minutes.

B: Mom, I'm either going to go to college at Florida, Vandy, or Memphis.

Me: Memphis? (I'm sure it's because he's completely into basketball right now.)

B: Actually, I probably wouldn't go to Florida. It's a hard decision. Which one has the best education?

HA! That came out of no where. Who's been talking to this kid?

After I finished laughing I said, well, then it would have to be Vandy.

B: Okay, I'm going to play basketball at Vandy.

Basketball Update

The Tarheels won last week. Brantley scored 8 points, 2 of which came from free throws after he was triple teamed. Today, we had the 8am game. Brantley is not a morning person. He didn't wake up until the 3rd period, but he scored 9 points in the 3rd. He says he scored 4 more in the 4th, but I'm not sure. Either I just quit counting at 9, or he didn't make any in the 4th. I remember he put up some shots, but can't remember if he made a couple of them. Either way, that is the most points he has scored in a game thus far. Even with that though, they lost today, 26 to 21. They were down 14 to 3 after the first period so they tried to come back. I did get a clip of Brantley making a shot in warm ups. It's actually a pretty nice shot. :)

3rd Grade Music Program