Kid pitch

To finally wrap up the fall baseball season, Rhys played in his first kid pitch tournament.  Bill has a friend from work that has a son Rhys's age and has a select team.  They decided to combine some members from his select team with some kids we've been playing with for a while and enter the Project Grinch tournament.  Each kid brought a toy to be donated, and we had a special holiday name for our combined team: the Misfit Toyz.

Playing kid pitch is a big jump up from coach pitch. The most obvious difference would be having a kid pitching and trying to strike the batter out instead of a coach pitching to the batter.

Another big part of the learning curve is learning how to steal bases!  Rhys did really well at this.  I was overwhelmed watching, because it seems like so much to pay attention to!

The team didn't do very well in the tournament (they lost all three games they played), but it was still a good experience.  I think Rhys is looking forward to playing kid pitch in the future, but if he's like me, he's still glad to have one more season of coach pitch to look forward to first!

Texas game

 For Rhys's birthday, we gave him tickets to the Texas football game versus Florida Atlantic, which was set for November 20th.  August 22 to November 20 was a long time for an 8 year old to wait, but I'm pretty sure he'd say it was worth it!

 

He and Bill went together and ended up meeting with some family friends.  Rhys felt pretty lucky to watch the game with one of his best buddies (and fellow Texas football junkie)!

It was a great game for them to go to, because despite the Longhorns' rough season, Texas pulled out a big win.  The boys were ecstatic and celebrated every good play.

Remembering Nick

As if recovering from the loss of Boompah wasn't enough, we got news just days later that my sister's old boyfriend and close friend of the family passed away.  He was just 21 and a week from graduating from UT with plans to go on to medical school.  He was one of the sweetest and most loving people I've ever known, and he stood by my sister, unwaveringly, while she went through some tough times.  It's truly hard to grasp that such a young guy, so full of vigor, is gone.  We will truly miss him.

Nick's obituary can be found here.

Boompah

 

The weeks before Thanksgiving, my grandfather's chronic illnesses took a turn for the worse.  He was in and out of the hospital a couple of times before he decided he was finished with that and wanted to be home.  He knew his days were numbered, and he wanted to spend it as comfortably as possible with his family.  So we all gathered, spending as much time as possible with him, and my mom and aunts took turns staying with him around the clock.  It was a difficult time to see him in so much discomfort, but heartening to see the family he created surrounding him with love.  The Monday before Thanksgiving, he passed away at home, just as he wanted to, with his four daughters, wife, and grandson with him.

He was such a wonderful grandfather and leader of our family.  He was always present, always ready to offer advice, and would drop anything to rescue any one of us in need.  He had such an eccentric personality...there is nobody in the world like Boompah.  He left a huge gap in our family that nobody can fill, but his larger-than-life personality and our memories will live on forever.

His obituary can be found here.