Meeting the President of the United States

Waiting for it all to start.

The press corps landing on the ball field in two C-9 helicopters.

Marine One landing with the President. Actually two landed but this is the one the President came out of.  We were a lot closer then this picture appears.

The over flowing stadium. Notice the snipers on top.

One of the Moms from our spring baseball team gave the opening remarks and she was awesome. She is also the reason the boys got the VIP hook up.

On stage and walking through the VIP tunnel.

POTUS!~

Apparently, the other guy is VA Senator Kramer. I had never heard of him before today.

This is just after I shook his hand. Notice all the secret service. People were crazy!

The autographed baseball from the President. 

We had a once in a lifetime opportunity today to meet the President of the United States. Nick's little league team was asked to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game before he spoke at a rally just down the street from our house. The rally was at the Potomac Nationals stadium and there were close to 15,000 people there so it was a little crazy. But we were blessed to receive the VIP treatment all day. We had reserved parking and then got to skip the 15,000 person line and got to go right to the front and then we had a reserved space right next to the stage so it was amazing. I don't exactly agree with Obama's plan for our future and probably won't be voting for him in November but I will say he is a very charismatic and funny man and an amazing speaker. He was incredibly kind to the boys as he signed a baseball for each of them and gave them all high 5's and posed for numerous group pictures. I don't have any good pictures of them posing together as we weren't allowed back with them. The white house press core took tons of pictures of them and is e-mailing them to our coach and he said he will send them to us. So hopefully we will have some more to post soon. We were directly on the side of the stage so I didn't get very many good pictures of them on stage but some of the other parents did so when they send those to me I will post them too. One of the Moms got some amazing ones with Obama in the foreground and the boys right behind him. Nick said it was the best day ever and he is never washing his hands again. He was totally in awe and couldn't stop grinning all day. I guess lots of the foreign press corps and other photographers wanted pictures of them and he said it was like being a professional baseball player. He is already a celebrity at age 9 and loving it.

The baseball up close.

 Our VIP passes

Fall Baseball

Just posting some pictures from Fall Baseball for Daddy to see. It is hard to tell the difference because they are both on orange teams this season. Plus last night we played another orange team. Way too much orange going on. Nick is on the Orioles and Aidan is on the Grasshoppers another minor league team. They are both enjoying it especially Aidan who is finally putting it all together. Nick is seeing some serious fierce pitching this season as he jumped up to AAA ball. These boys throw hard and accurate and you have to have quick bats to get around on the ball on them. Just another step in the learning process.

Video of Aidan hitting the ball

Video of Nick hitting the ball

First Day of School

 The new lunch boxes.

 Aidan has snack time and his snack had to be in a separate bag & labeled.

 Being silly while waiting for it to be time.

 The new backpacks.

 Aidan's Kindergarten name tag and bus tags so he doesn't get lost.

 Nick helping his brother get on the bus.

Same bus and bus driver as last year just less kids.

Well I sent my baby to Kindergarten today. I thought I would be sad and maybe even shed a tear but they were ready and so that helped. Aidan was raring to go about 20 minutes before it was time to go to the bus stop. The bus was almost 15 minutes late so there is no way they got to school on time but I am guessing it was that way for all the buses today. He has a duck name tag on his back pack because his class are ducks so that basically when they get to school the teachers can pick them out and get them to the right spot. We got new backpacks and lunch boxes this year as we completely destroyed our ones last year. I invested in some high quality eco-friendly ones this year as we are trying to eat better around here. I am hoping no one loses either of those things. I am enjoying the quiet and hopefully will finally get some much needed projects done around the house. Then maybe I can figure out what else I want to do with my free time. 

Saying Good Bye

It was hard to say Goodbye to our family as it always is. We are so thankful for all the time we got to spend with everyone and for all the love and generosity over the 3 weeks. It really helped take our mind off of Jeremy being away. It was incredibly hard to say Goodbye to my Grandma as I never know if I will get to see her again. A big thank you to Uncle Jake for all the sessions of N64 and wii he suffered through it truly made my boys so happy and they miss you already. Of course Gilbert the dog may be missed the most. I am also so grateful for the wonderful friends in my life who took time out of their busy summers to spend with us. God has blessed us so much. We miss you all so much! Hopefully we can make a repeat trip next summer.

The MN State Fair

I was blessed to be able to go to the Minnesota State Fair twice while I was home. I went once with Abby with no kids which was great. It was hot as blazes the day we went and we sweated our butts off but had a great time. I ate cheese curds and a malt and seriously felt sick the rest of the day. They were still worth it. They are so yummy! Then the boys and I went with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Stacy. They had a great time too but were worn out after the day and ready to go home. They ate mini donuts, sno-cones, cotton candy, burgers, watermelon boats, malts, and Sweet Martha's cookies. They both had bellyaches that day. They rode the Giant Slide and did the trampoline park but their favorite part was the Boy Scout ropes course and the kids fishing derby. Aidan didn't catch anything but he loved trying. All in all, it was a fun day and a great way to end our trip to Minnesota.