Cryin'

Nathan  apparently was the first in line for the blonding, a 10+ year tradition that ensures good luck for the Saudi team.

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The travel team experience is kind of like the holiday season experience.  You look forward to it, you get all revved up for it, you love seeing your kid(s) so happy about it, but there's a price to pay.  And you know you'll also be happy when it's over.

You've got the stress, the extra stuff to do, and the extra family members to deal with.  In addition, money seems to shoot from your wallet about as regularly as Old Faithful spouts in Yellowstone.  Ooo, aaah!

Several home runs were recently hit at Canyon Yards, so the boys got together at the end of the last practice to move the outfield fence back a little bit.

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This year's travel team experience comes to a climax next week.  Whether it's the central climax or not has yet to be determined.

Coach Matt spent a weekend at the beach taking in the spectacular technicolor view of home plate.  That's the Arabian (Persian) Gulf behind him.

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"There's no crying in baseball," said Tom Hanks' character so famously in the movie A League of Their Own, but there's a lot of crying in Little League baseball, even on the travel team.

Naturally, there are the strikeouts and errors, but there are also personality clashes, unmet expectations, and miscommunications, which means that everyone involved is strapped into the proverbial emotional roller coaster.  Still, I defer to Mr. Hanks:

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I spent time last night writing "#19" and "#14" on a bunch of underwear and socks.  At this point, stuff like that makes you feel like crying.  You're sending them off on their own,  plus, at the other end of the spectrum, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  What's really causing the tears--are they tears of joy or tears of sadness?

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Being a part of the travel team family is a challenge, as is being a member of any family.

Going back to the holiday season analogy, you sit down at a table with a beautifully-browned turkey sweetly steaming and surrounded by an array of tasty dishes, but the adults are all peeking at the cousins who don't get along.  Also, you can literally feel, it seems, your mom's annoyance with your father, and you all know it's just a matter of time before Uncle Bobby goes off on his annual rant about "dogs pooping on the beach."

But the only thing the kids at the table remember is Aunt Laura's awesome stuffing and Grandpa's silly faces.  Then they go play and eventually fall happily asleep in your lap during round 12 of the age-old  argument pitting the "good ol' days" vs. the present...

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We're part of the travel team family now.  It hasn't always easy, but we got it done--and the kids are happy as heck.  Mission accomplished.

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Today we saw the boys off.  (No cryin'.)

Moments before they left for the airport to head to the regional tournament in the Philippines...  A few guys were missing at this moment, but rest assured, Aziz, Nic, and Ziyad were scheduled to meet the team at the airport!