30 Days of Updates Day 18

Austin's baseball team got to go to a Little League World Series Tournament in Kansas City this summer (it sounds official but it is not "the" Little League World Series baseball that you see on TV. I have learned there are multiple World Series Tournaments per year, per state. Why we picked KC is beyond me other than it was different teams to play, different atmosphere and a lot of fun!). It was a 5 day event full of baseball, swimming, BBQ, drinking, laughter, frustration and friendship. I will treasure the memories that we made during this trip, and very little of them had to do with actual baseball.

We (and by 'we' I mean the parents) did multiple fundraisers throughout spring to fund this trip so that the only out of pocket for each family was gas and food. And even a few of our meals were covered. We stayed at a Super 8 Hotel, which we were almost thrown out of and which was a little on the trashy/dirty side. We now call it the Okay 4 1/2, because it was not super and it definitely wasn't an 8 on the scale of 1-10...

 The first night we took over the pool and had water balloon fights with the kids. At the end of the night I am pretty sure every parent was thrown in fully clothed. We were told the next day that we clogged the pool pump with our balloon fragments...ooops. That was probably strike one.

We got to go to the original Arthur Bryant's BBQ which was amazing, and the Dinosaur Cafe which all of the kids loved. We stayed up late (the parents) and got too loud at times and maybe drank too much Fireball and ran around outside chasing helicopters (which probably contributed to strike two at the hotel). We cut loose and were poor examples for our children, who thankfully were in bed asleep so didn't know it.

Baseball-wise, it was a disappointing trip over all. I think we won 1 game and lost 4; at least 3 of which we should have won but lost due to stupid coaching decisions...

Austin played great though, as usual. During one of the games, he was brought in to pitch with the bases loaded down by a run or two. He had to shut down the other team with about 5 minutes left in the game in order for us to get a chance to bat again to take the lead. I will never forget his pitching...he struck out 3 kids  in 9 pitches in a matter of 3 minutes to give us a second chance. Which we in turn blew...but I will never forget what a little rock-star he was on the mound. And he will never forget the chants of "What time is it?! It's Miller Time!!" that his teammates and the parents chanted every time he came up to pitch or every time he came to the plate to bat. It made the trip entirely worth every minute.

Austin and Aubrey, Kansas City; July 2013

Sliding into 3rd...safe.

Striking out the side.