Kindergarten Sings

Another overdue post... but it's fitting to share this with you today on Drew's last day of Transitional Kindergarten.

On May 22nd, parents were invited to see the TKers play the flute (recorder) and sing.  On Wednesdays the kids from AM and PM come together so this is both classes.

Drew is in the center, 2nd row kind of below the "I" in Sing

Here's a closer shot.

 

The concert began with the kids playing the flute.  I wasn't sure what to expect - I remember not playing the recorder until I was in about 3rd grade.  Turns out the kids play one note per song - they learned a total of 3 notes (B-A-G).  Here are a couple of videos of them playing the recorder/flute:

This was the first song they did:

 And another song where the sing in Spanish (this is for you Abuela!!)

After they were done singing and playing the flute a lot of parents thought the concert was over, but oh no, they did several more songs just singing.  Here's one final video for you.

They finished up with the pledge of allegiance (they still say "One Nation Under God") and walked back to their room where there were refreshments for the kids and parents.

Our little star.... Dave and I had to head back to work so we didn't stay.  The concert lasted about an hour!

End Of Season Party

What's a Tball season without team pizza party?

Following the last game the team headed out to Pavlo's Pizza for the celebration.

And of course the trophy presentation!  As Dave presented the trophies he said something special about all of the kids.  He got choked up a few times.

Here is a video of Dave presenting Drew his trophy (sorry about the background noise)


The kids pretty much had reign of the house - it was pretty empty.  When they weren't eating they were in another room playing video games.

One of the families tried to get a picture of the three coaches with their son, but soon several kids wanted in on the action...

L-R (Coaches) Asst. Coach Dan, Asst. Coach Steve, and Manager Dave.  Drew is in the bottom row next to last on the right, the other coaches' sons are on either side of Drew.

After this party we followed up with two after-parties with one of the coaches which lasted late into the night.  We had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.  We hope to keep in touch with several of the families on the team - in fact several have requested to have Dave as their manager again.

Final Game of the Season

Our final Tball game was back on May 18th and boy did these boys play their hearts out!  Here's one last shot of the boys in their uniforms as a team.

That photo came from one of the other parents on the team (I was a little late to the punch).

The Nationals got the first two outs of the game (they played the Blue Jays and what were probably the youngest collective group).  Drew did pretty well throughout the game.

That's Drew with Coach Dan getting ready for his 2nd at bat.

And here he is for his second at bat.

He was pretty proud of himself - once he got to third base.

For his final at bat, I captured it on my phone camera. While Drew writes right handed, he's a natural left handed batter.  Dave convinced him to try batting righty for his last at-bat.

Here is the video:



He was so excited about crushing the ball he forgot to drop the bat!   All the coaches gave Dave props for switch hitting Drew.

And then one final team cheer! 

Every Saturday since the final game Drew has said how much he misses playing ball and all his Tball friends.  It's really quite sweet.

Final TK Field Trip

At the beginning of May, Drew's TK class went on their final field trip of the year to Smith Family Farms in Brentwood.  It was quite the long bus ride for these 5 year olds (with traffic over an hour) so it put us behind schedule, but they sure jam packed a lot of fun into our time at the farm.

Drew's PM class started by listening and participating in a jamboree.

I was one proud mommy  - the band leaders were asking all sorts of questions and Drew was always the one with the answer (and the right one I must add).  I was later told by one of the other chaperoning moms that the lady came to her and asked how old the group was.  She'd never heard such great answers from one kid and complimented her on how well behaved the whole group was.

After the jamboree, the kids went over and ground some corn to feed to the animals.

There Drew and his buddy Max are feeding their corn to the chickens.  There is another coop where they had peacocks too.

At yet another station, they learned about baby animals and were able to pet a baby chick.

Here's Drew petting the chick...

And a baby bunny (mommy kept her distance.  She's super allergic to rabbits).

For their next station they learned about bugs - both good and bad ones for farms.  Then they were given magnifying glasses to look at different insects.

At the next to last station before lunch, the kids made a bouquet of flowers and herbs.

After they made the bouquet, the kids could go dig for earthworms. 

Needless to say the boys rushed through their bouquets to find worms.  I think only girls dug far enough to actually find any.

After lunch the kids joined for a group photo.  Drew is at the bottom right.

It was great to be able to chaperone this year on two of the three field trips!  It worked out to be the first and last field trip, and I hope to do it again next year when he starts Kindergarten at his new school!

Little Leaguers Take the Field

At the end of April (while Dave and I were in the throws of tummy ailments) Drew's Little League along with dozens of other leagues around the Bay Area, paraded on the Oakland Coliseum for the A's and Baltimore game.

We arrived a bit late so the other teammates were already well ahead of of (we were toward the end of the line), but Manager Dave and Drew were able to walk the chalk around the stadium.  

Talk about a field of dreams, huh?  Can you imagine hearing Drew's name announced on the PA system inside one of these ball fields?

I'm not sure who was more excited to take the field, Daddy or Drew.

Dave took the camera along for the walk.  Here's a shot of Drew "catching a fly ball"  on the back fence.

I couldn't walk the field - only players and coaches in uniform - so I went and found our spectacular seats.  Here's a picture I snapped of the boys as they passed by our seats.

We were sitting right in front of the Orioles bullpen.

Drew in front of the A's dugout.

And Daddy overlooking home plate.

We ended up leaving the game after the 7th inning stretch - the A's were losing.  Dave and I were feeling miserable and Drew was starting to overheat.  There were about 4 or 5 other teammates there - of course I was so out of it/sick that I never thought to take a picture of all the boys.

While we were walking out of the stadium we heard the crowd start cheering - that was the first of several runs (I believe it was a home run for that cheer).  We got home to find out the A's ended up beating the Orioles 9 to 8.

Looking Forward to His First Loss

I will catch up on my blogging one of these days.  I have a ton of pictures and posts to update, but the problem is finding time...

But we have big news I had to share immediately - for those that didn't already hear on Facebook.  Drew discovered his first loose tooth yesterday!  He's been so so anxious to lose his first tooth that he'd break down crying at the most random times, upset he didn't even have a loose tooth.

Well his bottom right tooth was slightly wiggly when he went to school yesterday, and nearly halfway out by the time he got home from school.  He woke up this morning and first thing he said - "Well it's still in there".  I anticipate we'll have our first Tooth Fairy visit sometime this weekend at the rate he's wiggling it!

A Run With a View

The weekend of our anniversary last month, Dave and I ran our annual Pat's Run - the San Francisco Shadow along with fellow alumni, family and some active military.  The 4.2 race actually takes place in Tempe, Arizona at my alma mater Arizona State University to honor Pat Tillman.

Here was the group who ran or walked this year (I'm helping hold the Pat Tillman jersey in front and Dave is next to me.)

We've lucked out and for the past 3 years we've done the shadow run, we've had great weather in San Francisco. 

We snapped that shot of the Palace of Fine Arts on our way to find parking. I think it's so beautiful especially on a nice clear day.

We have to get a before picture... when we're not totally gross after running 4.2 miles (the # Pat was in College).  Notice the Golden Gate Bridge in the background?

And then we were off...  here's the view from my run close to the turnaround point.  You can't get views like that anywhere else.  This is the fun of running - inspirational vantage points.

And then along the beach (near Crissy Field) headed back to the start/finish.  Notice the Palace of Fine Arts in the center of the picture?  And the pointed building is the Trans America Building.

I was on my way to make a stellar personal record for this distance - with an average of 10 minute miles (I'm usually closer to 11 or 11:30 minute miles) but then I ended with a side ache around 3.5 miles and slowed it way down.  I did run the whole distance however.  My final time was 44:13, still a personal record for this race/distance by nearly a minute.  My previous PR was back in 2009 when I first ran this race in San Jose.

Dave did fantastic too - he finished I believe 3-4 minutes after me.

He's a wanna be Sun Devil given me the fork.

We had to scoot quickly after finishing due to my working in the City and Dave needing to coach Drew's T-ball game back home.

We couldn't leave though without a finishing shot.

On our way back to the car, two guys in the military ran the race carrying packs on their back.  We managed to see them come in (they ended up taking the long route accidentally I'm sure).  

It's amazing how special this race is when you're honoring a man like Pat Tillman.  I hope we continue to run this fantastic event.  I'd like to make it back to Arizona next year for the 10th anniversary run!  I've only run it once in Arizona and it's so amazing to finish on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium.