Day 136: (7/3): American Tradition: Baseball

It's getting close to the Fourth of July, our Independence Day.  What could be more American than baseball?  Baseball is really not Colton's favorite sport because of the lack of constant action but he is good at it. He's on the Cardinals team and they've only won 1 game so far so it has been a long season!

He's in Machine Pitch league this year and the coach puts the balls in this contraption and it launches them out to the kids. It's a little more consistent than the coach pitch and they get 5 tries at bat.

He's serious at bat...and it kind of looks like he has a wad of chew in his mouth but I'm thinking it is just gum or at least I'm hoping it is.  They start young if that's not gum!  ;)  And from the mother perspective it's killing me seeing how wrinkly that shirt is.  He missed the first 2 games because we were on vacation and the coach had just shoved his shirt in the bottom of the batting bag until we got back.

I'm pretty sure he made it past these guys to score the run.

They rotate positions each time in the field and my favorite position to watch him play is catcher. The outfit is so clunky and it is fun to watch them look like little transformers walking to the plate. He did pretty well at the position but hasn't wanted to play it again because it is so hot with all the stuff on.

We only have two more games and they've lost all but one.  At least I got a pic of the scoreboard for the game they won.

Day 135 (7/2): Ange's Concert Series

The Today show has a concert series so I figured why couldn't I?  Over the past few weeks I got to see some amazing concerts. I wasn't sure if anyone could be as good as Bon Jovi but they were right up there in terms of the "great concerts!" I'll start with the opening acts of Sugarland which were Danny Gokey and Luke Bryan.  They were both very entertaining and could sing just as good and better than they sound on the radio. Oh yeah and they were easy on the eyes!

Do you remember Danny Gokey?  He was on Season 8 of American Idol. I can't remember who won that year but I don't think he did. If I remember correctly this was the season with Adam Lambert but we all know how my memory works. He started out as a Christian singer and is now trying out the country arena. His voice was wonderful and he is truly talented. So I'll put my Simon Cowell hat on and give unsolicited advice:  He needs to work on connecting with the audience. He didn't say too much about the songs or his life and just sang.  He was good and I can see him doing well in the country scene.

Excuse me...I will be back in a jiffy.

OK I'm back.  I had to go get a towel to wipe up my drool from looking at the pictures of Luke Bryan. He is such a good looking man!

See look at him...he's saying here I am Ange...I'm here for you! 

Well maybe he just says that in my dreams. He was phenomenal. You didn't get to see too much of how he would be in concert based on his Celebrity Apprentice stint. They made him seem stuffy and all business like but he was nothing like that in concert!  He really connected with the audience...well probably more with the throngs of females in the crowd.

You can defintely tell why he did well at the CMT awards this year as he strutted his stuff on the stage and put on a great opening act. He was all over the stage and got the crowd pumped up and ready for the main event! 

His boyish charm and antics made it even more fun to watch the show! He could sing and belted out his top songs such as Do I, Rain is a Good Thing, All my Friends Say, and other crowd pleasing songs.  He even rocked it out and did a cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman.

You can't tell by any of the pictures but his jeans were tight! Kind of ironic when his song Country Man talks about not wearing tight jeans or the baggy kind. I really didn't care because he looked good in them...thus the towel for drooling!   

Day 134 (7/1): Medic Required

Colton has been begging me to fix this Webkin for a while now and I finally got around to it. He absolutely loves Webkinz so if you need any birthday ideas....  I think he's up to 19 or 20 of these stuffed creatures.  I keep on thinking that one day he'll grow out of the stuffed animal stage but that has yet to happen. During football season he has them lined up on the basement floor on opposing teams doing plays that he sees on TV. When the neighbor kids come over they play veterinarian and zoo games with them so I guess I don't mind because they are using their imagination.

"Ally", the alligator, had a little too much play on the football field or too much to eat during a zoo feeding and blew out some stitches on his underbelly. Inside these Webkinz are little bean bags to make them soft and cuddly I guess. So I got out my scissors, needle and thread and put on my surgeon cap to sew up the sides of Ally. 

Just a bit more for those of you that are wondering why Webkinz are so special. They come with a code that you can plug into the website and have a virtual animal to take care of and play games in order to earn stuff for the animals home online.  The games really are educational with spelling and logical thinking activities and they also learn how to count Kinzcash.

And if you look real close I think that Ally is smiling now. I think she liked being stitched up so she can get back out there in playtime.  It reminded me of Toy Story 3 that we saw this past weekend. I wonder if Colton will hang onto these until he goes to college?  Time will only tell.

Day 133 (6/28): Chiggars

I know some people that have never heard of chiggars. They think they are mythical creatures in the grass. I remember when my stepbrother and girlfriend came down from Minnesota and they thought we were crazy when we talked about getting chiggars. They learned what they were real quick how itchy they can be and that they are indeed real! I think anyone that has grown up in or around Kansas knows how real they are and how you feel like you want to itch your skin off with the bites.

Colton told me right before church on Sunday that there was something wrong with his "privates"  (as he called them).  Can you see where this post is going?  Not a good thing!  I checked out his junk and there was a red irritated area at the base of his "privates". I told him to not think about it and we went on with our day.  About 4pm that day he wanted something done because they didn't feel any better. I told him to try an ice pack. I wasn't really sure what was going on at that point in time. About an hour later he was almost in tears and I checked out his family jewels. They had almost tripled in size from that mornings glance and looked extremely bad. I don't have those parts but it made me hurt.  So off to the ER we went.

He did not want to have the nurses check out anything down there. I reassured them that they had seen plenty of them in their jobs and no need to worry.  Well the nurses thought it was an allergic reaction to bug bites and sent us home with antibiotics and benadryl. He even fell asleep on the way home from all the drugs.

We went and saw his pediatrician the next day and he said it was one of the worse case of chiggars in that area that he had ever seen. He thinks that Colton is allergic to them and especially when they bite in that area! So we are stocking up on bug spray and staying out of overgrown grassy areas in order to protect our future namesake - literally!

Our days have been filled with pills and liquid meds to get Colton better. He's smiling in this picture but he usually isn't smiling when he's gagging down the pills with Gatorade. It has not been a good week!  My advice to all parents is to spray your kids down. The dr. suggested spraying around the waistband and then create a barrier by spraying around each leg where your shorts end.  Good night and don't let the chiggars bite!

Day 132 (6/20): Weddings & Elephants

We went to Kansas City this weekend to go to Mark's cousin's wedding.  I didn't take pictures at the wedding because I didn't know anyone. Plus I thought I might ruin my camera with some of the jayhawk sites around the reception. The bride graduated from KU and even had a jayhawk cake.  But I did get some beautiful and interesting wedding leftovers. 

The reception hall had been decorated with tons of vases of roses, tulips and lilly buds. The flowers were red and had blue ribbons around them (remember KU - ugh! Would have been much more pretty with some purple!). The roses and tulips were in full bloom but the lillies had not yet opened. Mark's mom stayed late at the reception and snagged me a bouquet of them.  They were gorgeous!

The tables also had these candle votifs that looked like they had been spray painted. I commented about how they must have sprayed them with the blue to match the theme.  When Mark's mom brought the flowers she said that they were spray painted but by elephants.  Yes I said elephants.  The bride worked at the KC Zoo and is primarily with the elephant exhibit and she had them paint the candle holders.  Pretty unique and I'm happy that I have this little piece of art on my endtable. 

Day 131 (6/10): Mammoth Site

We took the boys to Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD after we left Kerri and Cheryl for their trip back to Casper. It is the world's largest mammoth research and tour facility.  I was a little unsure if the boys would enjoy it after the wildness of Reptile Gardens and Bear Country but I had friends that had told me to go because it was so interesting. 

Colton would always ask if we "toured ourselves" every where we would go but this facility had you going through a structured tour at the beginning.  The tour began with a video of how geologists thought the mammoth site was formed.

The mammoths were massive in their day.  There were cardboard animal placards around the facility so you could see how large the mammoths were.  The boys only came up to the knee of a mammoth!

You did the 30 minute guided tour by listening to the girl on these telephones. There were several spots that you would go and she would use a microphone to speak through the phones.

 

The boys even got to be part of the show as they carried around a bone of the mammoth to show everyone.  They weren't too thrilled about doing it but someone standing next to them really wanted them to do it (ok...yes it was me...and to my defense I wasn't pointing too wildly).

Boom Boom Pow!  Check out the guns on this guy!

Made me think my legs really weren't that big!

I can just hear them saying.."Me Caveman Me make fire!!"

Mammoth Site was very interesting for both the young and the old. It was only about an hour away from Rapid City and well worth the money.  I can't imagine a time when those humongous mammoths were traversing the countryside but I'm glad I didn't have to share a sinkhole with them!

Day 130 (6/9): Reptile Gardens

Reptile Gardens was actually one of my favorite places on our whirl-wind tour of South Dakota and Wyoming.  I wasn't too thrilled when Mark first came up with the idea because umm...well...snakes and alligators are just not too appealing to me. 

The boys petting a "fake" gator in the indoor sky dome gardens. 

There were tons of other photo ops for us scallywaggers...

There were 3 tortoises over 100 years old in the park and you got to walk right up to them and pet them.  I guess they really like their necks rubbed.  They were kind of rough! I hope I don't get the dry skin like them when I'm that old!  :)

This is Methuselah who was turning 127 years old. She comes in at a healthy 600 pounds and loves watermelon. His birthday was the week after we were there and they were having a big birthday party for him and he was going to feast on watermelon.  They eat through the rind and all!

The odd cacti, succulents and orchids were just gorgeous!  They were planing most of the plant-life outside so we didn't get to see them in full bloom.  Although they had these gorgeous "trees" of petunias that were really cool and I hope someone that reads my blog occasionally makes me one (hint, hint).

The snake show was very interesting but I'm really glad there was a piece of glass between me and the snakes. They let us feel an albino but I can't remember what kind it was...a big one that's all I remember!  The guy that ran the show had a hook that he let the snakes curl around.  I could not wait for him to put the real fast small deadly one back in his box because he kept on coming real close to his hands and head.  It was just plain creepy and I was thinking that driving the bus through tunnels on our Rushmore Tour was a much better job than this one!

Yet another photo op where we "squeezed" in the fun at Reptile Gardens!

The prairie dog town was neat because it had this little popup window that the boys got to check out prairie dog life first hand. I found out that prairie dogs are highly social and they often greet each other by kissing, hugging, and touching noses.  Fun fact for the day:  They are members of the squirrel family but they are called "dogs" because of the barking sound they make. 

Matt, the gator "keeper" showed us how he had to go over to the water pond and rip one of these gnarly beasts out of the water and show us how to grab it's jaws.  I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to know how to do that but it was really exciting to watch.  It was Matt's first day back on the job from college and he was huffing and puffing after he pulled it out.  He jokingly said he needed to give the croc a break and catch his breath but it was really because he said he was out of shape from college.

Matt, was in my opinion - CRAZY - for doing some of the things that he did.  He must really like living on the edge of death.  He told us that if you ever got in a position sitting on a croc or gator (which I hope I don't get in that position!)  to close their eyes. They are relatively dumb creatures since their brain is the size of a walnut and if you close their eyes they think they are dead.  He also said they always wrestle the males since females rarely shut their mouths.  He thought that was funny but for us women...well we were glad he was in there with the gators!

Crazy Fun is Reptile Gardens.  If you ever get in the Rapid City area, you should definitely check it out!  It was well worth the money and the shows were fantastic!