Baseball and birthdays

This weekend was insanely busy. And I mean BUS-AY!

On Saturday, Jennifer had her first baseball game. (Ahem. T-ball. But I call it baseball because starting a sentence with "T-ball" and even having that letter-dashed word representing a sport just irks me. Hey, at least it's like baseball! Just so you know, for future reference.) Anyway, we got to the game, and I didn't realize that the looong schedule written out on the roster meant it was going to be a long game. What happened was, the teams played on different fields, so we were all rotating around the entire field at certain intervals. We ended up being there for over 3 1/2 hours! Yikes! Fortunately, we had a 45-minute break. I used that time to go buy an outdoor lounge chair to sit in (was getting tired of sitting on the grass, especially with all the bugs and beetles crawling about) and Jen got a kid-sized chair, too. Then we got lunch, but we had to eat it fast to get back to the game. (Thankfully, I wasn't that hungry, anyway, and I brought some snacks along for Jennifer.)

At one point during the game, Jen got upset because she couldn't be pitcher. I told her it was the first game, so don't worry about it. They have lots of other games scheduled and she'll get to be pitcher at some point. (I did, however, get irritated that one girl in particular got to be the pitcher so many times. Now I don't exactly know how that whole "choosing a pitcher" thing works. But I still thought it was unfair. This particular girl should not receive favoritism or special treatment just because she's in a certain position on the team.) And let me tell you, I was sooo glad I got that chair. It was a lot more comfortable, especially since the game went into overtime. By the end, I could tell a lot of the girls (Jen included) were tired and worn out.

After the game, we had a birthday party to go to. My friend, Jimmy, has a daughter who celebrated her birthday yesterday, and we were rushing to get the gift wrapped, me get directions to the place where the party was at, and get out there. I'd never been to the place we had to go to, so I didn't realize that it was ALLLL the way out in Springfield and that it took nearly 40 minutes to get there. (Believe it or not, I didn't get lost!) I kept wondering why the heck would someone have a party so far away. But when I got there, I found out why! The party was at Splash! and I thought it was a very cool place. It's a huge indoor water park and they have EVERYTHING, for the people who can't swim to the expert swimmers. They have a huge waterslide and even a tiny pool for babies. Very cool. Jimmy was surprised to learn that I couldn't swim. Well, Jennifer can't swim, either. So imagine my irritation when she kept going into the deep end. I kept warning her to stay out of there. Wearing a life jacket, she assumed that she was safe to go into the deep end. I wasn't prepared to take that chance.

Today, we had ANOTHER baseball game. I was not looking forward to it. Yesterday, I was so sore and worn out from all the moving around and coming and going all the time. I was literally walking hunched over because my back hurt so much by day's end! I had asked my hubby to take Jennifer to her game today, because I needed the rest. And I wanted to spend time with the baby because I barely got to see him yesterday. But hubby's allergies were bad today so I had to chaperone again. I was thankful that at least today's game would be short.

Before we could go to her game, though, we had YET ANOTHER birthday party to attend. (Jennifer is sooo popular. She gets invited to a lot of parties!) So we ran to Fred Meyer to get the gift, picked up lunch, came home to (hurriedly) eat, then wrapped the gift and were out the door again. We could only stay at the party for a few minutes, though, because the party was too close to the time the game starts. So Jen just had the time to give her friend the gift and wish him a happy birthday. I briefly spoke with the birthday boy's father, apologizing that we couldn't stay. They were very understanding and supportive of Jennifer's game, wishing her well. Her friends were excited to see her wearing her team shirt and cap. The parents were generous enough to give Jennifer a goodie bag even though she could not stay, and I really appreciated that.

Getting to the game was another matter, though. It didn't go well. It was located at a park that I had trouble finding last season. In fact, first I ended up at the wrong park, then in a dead end, cursing Google Maps. This time, hubby wrote out the directions, and even showed me a satellite photo of where the park was. And I still got lost! I spent half an hour driving in circles and trying to remember how I managed to find the park last time. What's worse is that I kept asking people where the street was and where the park was, and they said they didn't know! I started driving around grumbling, "We're trying to get to a park that nobody knows about!" At one point, I texted Jimmy, because he and I talked about him going to her game yesterday. And I was all, "I hope you didn't go to the game, because I'm lost!" (This after we were over 30 minutes late for the game.) The first thing in his message when he texted back? "Lol." I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "Well, I'm glad I made him laugh."

Finally, FINALLY!!!, we found someone who knew where the park was. And the street, too. It's a miracle! (Cue a chorus of angels singing, "Hallelujah!") She gave us directions and I used that along with my memory when things became familiar to FINALLY find the park. I told Jennifer to go on to her game while I park the car and I'll catch up to her.

While they played, the assistant coach noticed how Jennifer was wearing the same cap from last season. This season, the caps are blue, not black. The coach had told me it hadn't been a problem when I asked her about it on Saturday, but now the assistant coach said something about it. She told Jennifer to give me her cap and they tried to find an extra one for her to wear, but there weren't any. So they sent her out to be pitcher. Yay for finally being pitcher! But, boo for no cap! I was sitting there, mentally freaking out and thinking, 'Gah! She can't play with the sun in her eyes! She needs a cap!' It took A LOT of effort to restrain myself from launching an Obsessive Mom protest of how they were "making" her play without a cap and she had the sun in her eyes. But the assistant coach and coach started a conversation and I just watched and waited. They wouldn't just let that happen. They had more common sense than that! Then the assistant coach came up to me and said they'll bring a new cap for Jennifer at the next game (on Tuesday) and for now she could wear the old one. I was grateful for this. When Jen came back after that inning was over, we talked about the cap situation. I told her she can keep the old one as a souvenir. She laughed then went back to her team. I suddenly visualized a row of her team baseball caps all put together on display, representing Season 1, Season 2, Season 3... (LOL)

Miraculously, I got home okay. Despite ONE bad turn, at least I knew the area and knew I had to turn around and go the other way. (I have been living in Eugene for how many YEARS now???) I can't believe I get lost so much. Even with the directions. I can be so brainless sometimes! I mean, not too long ago, I was trying to get to this business located in Springfield and somehow or another ended up in Goshen! But somehow, I figure out how to get home.

And if I don't, at least I can text hubby or Jimmy to tell me how to get there. Even if it means they'll end up pointing and laughing at me about it.