Blue skies and baseball

Saturday was the kind of day that makes me so happy that we live where we live. The weather was beautiful and we had so many things to do, all of which were outside.

Grayson had a Cub Scout leader training session from 9:00 to 5:00, so the boys and I were on our own. Nathaniel had a baseball game at 10:00, but we had to be there at 9:15 for warm-ups, so we packed up and left early.

When we got to the ballpark, my friend Lisa brought extra Krispy Kreme doughnuts over to us. That went a loooooong way toward soothing the sting of the Arriving 45 Minutes Early for the Game.



Jake, by the way, has been able to identify the Krispy Kreme logo since well before he turned 1.



Doughnuts are no laughing matter to him. They are serious business.



(You cannot look at this picture and tell me that the Krispy Kreme glazed bits around his mouth don't make you want a doughnut.)



Surprisingly, the doughnut actually IMPROVED Jakey's focus on the pre-game warm-ups.



He looked like an assistant coach up there in the bleachers with his doughnut, foot kicked up on the top bleacher.



As time wore on, more fans arrived to cheer on the Braves. Jake was particularly interested in this grandmother who'd brought a bunch of snacks for her grandson. Because man cannot live by doughnuts alone. Especially when one's mommy limits him to one. So first he conned her out of a little pack of mini-Oreos.



But it wasn't any time at all before he homed in on the Scooby Snacks (graham crackers) she had sitting in front of her.



When she got up to chase after her grandson, Jakey made his move.



Her husband saw it happening but chose to ignore it. That left me to be the bad guy.



So of course I made him put them down, and that caused a total meltdown. But for the most part, the boys were well-behaved throughout the rest of the game.

Afterward, I took them to Panera Bread for a healthy lunch. Thank goodness -- because I followed that up with a trip here:



Nathaniel got a Dino Sundae (a scoop of vanilla with sprinkles on top and a dinosaur-shaped cookie stuck on top), Jake got a baby scoop of Purple Dinosaur (vanilla somehow colored purple for pizazz), and Nick got a scoop of mint chocolate chip.



Ice cream is just as serious a business as doughnuts are.



Every single bite was enjoyed to its fullest.



One of Nick's friends at school scratched his face again this week (second time this month), so he's sporting some little scabs around his mouth.



We'd just pulled up to a park in a neighboring suburb when Lisa called and said they were heading to a park in Hoover, so I put it in reverse and headed that way. It's always more fun to play with friends, right?

Jake loves a good playground.




And he loved all the kids who were there to entertain him. Lisa's two sons Josh and DJ were there, as well as our friend Angel's daughter Julia Abigail.



Nathaniel's favorite activity at the park was probably climbing that tree. He loves to climb.



When we got home, Jake took a good, long nap, and Grayson got home shortly after he woke up. We were all back outside again when he got home. It's hard to resist the out-of-doors when the weather is as beautiful as it was over the weekend!

Grayson got on the trampoline with the boys and bounced them all around.



It's one of their favorite things to do with him, and it was a great way to end the day.



Jakey chose to end HIS day by eating sand straight out of our sandbox. I don't think it went exactly as he'd planned.


So I cleaned him up so he'd be ready to eat his Supper of Champions: pizza.

And let me tell you ... that wasn't our typical day of food around here. I mean yeah, we don't always eat healthily every meal of every day, but we come a lot closer to the FDA guidelines on a normal basis than we did Saturday. But I can tell you that I WAS surprised that when we got to the end of the Large and Medium pizzas that I'd ordered, I was astonished that we only had two pieces left, total.

Grayson and Nick each ate three pieces, Jake ate one and a half, I ate two and a half, and NATHANIEL ATE FOUR. Baseball will make you hungry, I guess.