it's here...

baseball, that is.  the most glorious time of the year, according to lee :).

the aggies kicked off their season with a home series against university of illinois chicago a couple of weeks ago.  apparently, the weather did not get the memo that baseball was starting because it turned oddly cold for our mild winter and rained enough to (almost) make up for our drought last summer.  thus, we decided to skip the first game to avoid slick and dark roads on the way to college station.  we were all packed up before we made that decision so it was pretty easy to load up the car and head that way the next day.  the clouds were still looming but we had hopes of getting in at least some of the game.

after meeting katy and the garrett kiddos for lunch at mcalister's and doing a little shopping, we all bundled up and headed to the new and improved, beautiful olsen field at blue bell park.  unfortunately, the rain also decided to come back about that time in the form of a disgusting mist.  to avoid being terrible parents and exposing our child to weather that we would have sit through in years past, we waited underneath until the mist passed. 

with the weather somewhat cooperative, brendan and i made it through about 2.5 or 3 innings before we finally decided the wind might be a little too much for him.  although, in 3 layers, fleece pants, socks, 2 hats, a blanket, and lee's jacket blocking the wind, he probably would have been fine.  but we really did not feel right risking it much longer than that.

hopefully, the next time we make it over to college station we will have a sunny weekend to enjoy all the new improvements to olsen field and maybe even an entire game!

summer is here!

we officially kicked off our summer with a long-overdue weekend in college station. we had not seen an aggie baseball game in person since probably march or early april. however, with summer upon us and the aggies hosting a college world series regional (i do not even know if that is the right name for it), we were itching to get out of town.

we made it in right after the first game had started and sat down just in time to see a sweet in-the-park homerun which was soon followed by quite a few more runs that evening. the aggies played my favorite kind of baseball game: quick and lots of runs!saturday, we began our day with breakfast at rudy's because you just cannot start a day in college station off any other way. boy, had i missed those yummy breakfast tacos! we went shirt shopping, caught a couple of heats at a swim meet while 2 of the garrett girls competed, and finished that up with a swim of our own at the garrett house. saturday night was capped off with another aggie victory and possibly hotter temps than friday night....we were excited to see 93 degrees on the scoreboard...at the end of the game!

with both of us about to leave on separate trips (posts to follow, of course), we decided it would be best to head back home before the last game of the series so we could get everything packed up and ready to go. even though we may have jinxed the aggies by not staying (they received their first loss of the weekend sunday night), we did get to spend some quality time with baby will which is infinitely better than a baseball game :).

aggie opening weekend

that's right, folks. it's baseball season again. this means a couple of things: the weather is getting a little nicer and lee is even happier than he was before.

the aggies started the season off right with three wins: 3-1, 10-2, 14-0.

my new camera and our good seats on saturday made for some pretty nice shots, if i do say so myself.

the kiddos got "jobs" running out with some of the starters and standing with them for the national anthem

the next three were a sequence of shots taken with my continuous timer. after several tries, i was pretty proud of my results:

the most wonderful time of the year

no, not christmas. the other best time of the year. fall.

fall means football and changing leaves and my birthday and cooler weather and even better reasons to go to starbucks. well, as i mentioned last year the two about cooler weather and changing leaves never really happen here in houston until somewhere around december.

football, in particular, is something we both really enjoy and enjoy watching together. when we are not at kyle field in college station cheering on the aggies, we are watching as much as sec football as we can on saturdays and the texans (and others) on sunday or monday. such a great sport!

last saturday was our first saturday in college station together (lee went to the first game but took no pictures). lee's dad was also in town so we all met up with katy, tiffany, and aaron for lunch. later, we headed to campus for pre-game festivities. i had never experienced "step off" where the people follow the band from campus to the stadium, but katy, tiffany, and i met up with the garretts and did just that. first, there was a loud cannon and then lots of people trying to follow a loud band...very interesting experience.

the aggies did a really nice 9/11 tribute and a sweet flyover before the game began. thankfully, the aggies pulled out a pretty significant victory despite quite a few fumbles on special teams. we left at halftime and got to watch most of the second half of the bama game!

baseball and baptisms

*i apologize for the lateness of this post. the short work week and traveling really messed me up.

last weekend was another beautiful weekend in college station for us. the weather was great, although a little windy by the end. blue bonnets were starting to peak out here and there. we got a lot of great time in with friends. seriously, if texas weather could just stay what it is now all year long, it would practically be perfection.

we hung out with the garretts on friday night, and kyle, jamie, kason, and emily joined us on saturday for more baseball. kason and emily were awesome at the game...i think they thoroughly enjoyed their first aggie baseball game. (kason's first?)sunday was the highlight of the weekend as we got to share in the emily's baptism day at a&m united methodist church, which is where lee, kyle, katy, and more went to church while they were all in school. lot's of special memories from college for them and new ones for all of us to share. emily was a trooper as she was passed around and looked adorable in the process.i believe i mentioned the wind earlier. little did we know when we decided to stay for the last game of the weekend that we were setting ourselves up for record high winds and an aggie team who did not seem the least bit interested in playing good baseball.we left early, but did not leave town until we witnessed one more awesome moment. second baptist church in springfield, mo is so so awesome for allowing friends and family everywhere to witness a special baptism night via the internet. we were able to share in elijah's baptism just as family and friends in louisiana, georgia, kentucky, alabama, california, and more did. what a special, special moment in his life. we love you so much elijah!

batter up!

eventually, we may run out of baseball-titled posts, but until then, i will keep them coming.college baseball has officially begun, and lee has a little extra pep in his step that will most likely not fade until the fall. even strep throat could not keep lee from witnessing the aggies start their season...and for the record, lee made sure everyone knew he was noncontagious for approximately 3.5 hours prior to first pitch.

the three-day event turned into a friday night and saturday double-header weekend due to the chance of rain on sunday. over the three games, we enjoyed the company of the garrett family (thanks AS ALWAYS for the tickets...you guys are wonderful), the tindall family, katy, aaron, joel, denton, and sean. the kiddos each got a shot at the kid jobs during the game like changing the bases and diamond darlings.

(cool editing, right?! thanks katy!)

the weather might not have been the best medicine for lee, but the aggies did pull out 3 wins which pleased him and made it totally worth it.

in honor of Bowl Season

my first bowl game: a&m v. georgia

unfortunately, i did not bring any more luck to the aggies than lee ever has. in extremely cold temperatures, the aggies stayed close until almost halftime (hence the reason my shots stop at the halftime show), but the dawgs kept it together for the full 60 mintues.

we had a good time anyway (minus the freezing) and i enjoyed using our new camera to take some great action shots.tried to be patriotic with this next one, but i apparently had not learned how to avoid the circle of pink dots around the sun with the new camera just yet...how awesome is this sunset?! many thanks again to the garretts for the tickets, although we were sorry to hear that phillip got sick. also, we were pretty pumped to enjoy the game with katy....football with friends always makes for a great time.

better luck next year, aggies!