43,000 people wearing silly hats

Don has some of the coolest customers.  Each one of them seems to have season tickets to something, and apparently they love talking sports with Don so much that they are willing to share their tickets with us.  This time it was opening weekend Angel's tickets.

 We had pretty good seats on the lower level, in front of third base.

 At the gates they gave everyone a silly Angel's beanie hat.  The announcer said that it was a sold out game and there were over 43,000 people there.  Imagine 43,000 people all wearing these silly hats.  It was a sea of red and blue.  Donald and Eli were wearing Angel's ball caps as well, so they looked even sillier.

 Even though Eli is 7, I still don't think he is at the point where he can sit and enjoy a game, especially one that goes to 14 innings!  First he started by distracting himself with sugar.  Then he was on a mission to dance every time there was music so he could get on the Jumbotron.  Sadly, his mission was not accomplished. When that didn't work he had to resort to silly hat tricks.

Donald enjoyed it and Don, as always, was in his element.

Angel's stadium is so beautiful!

 Overall, we had a blast together and it was free, you can't beat that!

Into the world of red times

So Donald has been swimming for about 9 months now and I am still continually amazed at his progress.  Today we went to a swim meet in Palm Springs.  The drive is not the funnest, but this is our second time at that pool and both times Donald has gotten red times, so I really have enjoyed the Palm Springs meets.
Today he swam in 5 events.  The way that USA swimming works is the times are divided up into different divisions.  These divisions determine whether you qualify for certain meets.  When you start out you are automatically in the white division.  Red times come next, then blue, then Junior Olympics times.  There are kids on Donald's team that have been swimming for years and still are waiting to get red times.  As of today Donald has four red times and 5 events that he is about a second away from a red time.

His first event today was the 100 IM.  He came in 1st for his heat and got 4th overall, but he got a red time in the event so we were all pretty excited.  Then he swam in the 50 Butterfly.  He won his heat again, but missed the red by just over a second.  Still very proud.  Then he was in a 50x4 freestyle relay.  He was set as anchor because even though he has been swimming a shorter amount of time than the three other kids, he has the fastest time.  He got the fastest split and pulled them up from 5th to 3rd overall.  The video shows the race.  He swam last in lane 3.  Also during this race his split was .08 seconds away from a blue time.  

Then he swam the 50 freestyle, won his heat, got a red and was 1 second away from a blue time.  Last he swam the 50 Back.  He has always disliked the backstroke and it has always been his weakest stroke, but he won his heat again and was only 1 second away from a red time.  He smashed all his goals and had so much fun.  That winning heats really builds confidence although he still gets really nervous before each race.  I was so proud of him and we had a blast as a family and with our team.  I can't wait to see what he will accomplish next.

Oceanside

It is spring break and so today we joined our friends the Kaisers on a trip down to Oceanside Beach.  The weather was beautiful!  I can not believe that it is only April 1st, it feels like the middle of summer.  Donald had a blast boogie boarding.

 I think this is the first time he has ever tried it, but he caught on real quick and now wants me to buy him one.  He also went on a walk with the other "teens" to the end of the pier to get shakes and greasy hamburgers from Ruby's.  The boys also spent time digging and playing in the sand.

Eli wouldn't try the boogie board, but he did a lot of wave jumping.  I think my children were born to constantly be in water.  They must be part fish!
Had lots of fun, thanks for inviting us Kaisers.