Picture of the day...smashed ball

Our favorite picture of the season.  Look at the deformity on the ball!  They use a semi-soft ball, somewhere between a teeball and an official baseball.  Granted, he's not actually looking at the ball when he hit it, but it still went pretty far.  Sadly, the really good first baseman managed to catch it heading onto the outfield grass, but A.J. hit it really well.  Look at the form in his body, too.  It's perfect!  You can draw a line from his foot through his hip to his shoulder, just like it should be.

AJ Pitching

Here's an animated GIF of AJ from a couple weeks ago. Just trying out a few tricks with the camera. We've got 350 pictures in just the last 2 weeks to try and sort out.

Vacation next year...and walking there

Next year the Al and Joy Pabst Family will be vacationing...together...at a house on Tybee Island, just off the Georgia coast near Savanna. We decided to help us all get in better shape, that we would walk there. No, not for the actual vacation, but collectively walk the distance from our house (since we live the farthest away) to Tybee. That's a distance of 2438 miles. So far, we've gone about 37.

I set up a googledoc spreadsheet to help us keep track of our progress. The link is http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AoMNJc5xw5DYdHZvY1FscWQwOFFMblRHZEwxWWE4dGc&hl=en and everyone can view it. Some of you I've invited to also have access to edit it, so that you can enter your own data. I figure that from here on, if each adult walks 7.8 miles per week, we can get there. Kids count, too, so all the times A.J. walks to school will be included. Let's go, Pabsts!
Inspiration Photo of Tybee--

Families can be Together Forever

That's what the boys and their cousin Shyanne sang at Susie's funeral on Monday. It's so true! Families really can be together forever, and knowing that is so comforting. Who wouldn't want to be with these cuties forever?

















Pop's been gone nearly four years now, and Susie was ready to be with him again. We were all sad to see her go, but took comfort knowing that she had a great life, and that she was excited to see Charlie (Pop) again.




















Susie was great. She loved her kids, and especially loved the grandkids and great-grandkids. We miss you, Susie!

A pitching sequence

A.J. is on a kid-pitch team this fall, and he is usually the starting pitcher. A couple of others have come a long way in their pitching techniques, but because A.J. prefers to spend every waking hour thinking about, playing, and dreaming about baseball, he has some advantage over those who simply "love" baseball. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is a compiled pitching sequence. This is over several batters, but is representative.

Set.

















Windup.

















Reach back.

















Stride.

















Grimace.

















Release.

















Follow through.

















Conference by the umps after you question their call at first.

Flickr Photo Set From Our Trip To Canada

Now we know

That Dodger fans are the rudest we've ever seen. Never before have I felt unwelcome as a visitor to a ballpark in the away jersey. Not only were we unwelcome, but Cardinal fans were booed just for walking up to stairs to go to the concession stands. Even when we were ahead, it was the worst game I have ever attended. It was unbelievable what they yelled at us as we walked past. Especially considering the boys were there. After the game was over, there was one fan who was kind enough to try to console A.J., who had tears streaming down his face. He was saying things like, "Hey, they played well," or "we're all baseball fans." A couple of guys were nice enough to curtail their language when the noticed the boys. Most of them were just obnoxious 20-somethings that would probably be out-pitched by A.J. It was still rather disconcerting, and we waited until the stadium was mostly empty before walking to the parking lot. I had joked with Ms. Candy (Levi's teacher) yesterday that if we got mugged or shot she would know why, but I didn't think we would really be at risk!

I will cheer for the Dodgers if we go to a game that doesn't involve the Cardinals, but I will never be a Dodger fan.