Tee-Ball

This is Rudy's first year playing tee-ball. He loves the games and tolerates the practices (actually he enjoys the practice if we just let him play in the dirt the whole time!).

Walking to the fields with a classmate from another team.

On deck.

Batting from the tee. (usually the first two innings)

Ready in the field (he's the one looking for rocks in the dirt).

The third (and last) inning is usually the coach pitching.

SMAS Camping

This weekend our church had our annual camping trip.(SMAS stands for Saint Mark and All Saints) We stay somewhere local and then those that don't want to camp can come and hang out.This year there weren't very many kids. We arrived Saturday afternoon and set up our tent. I had to run home (the best part of camping locally when you need something!), and while I was gone there was some excitement. Our priest was trying to fix a fishing pole and while using a knife to cut something, sliced her finger tip. Paul was left in charge of her two girls and Rudy while our priest and her partner headed to urgent care.
Rudy and her girls have fun together - although they act very much like siblings- one minute they are playing together nicely and the next they are tattling on each other.

The pond was a big draw for the kids. You could hear bullfrogs all day and all night around the pond, but it was much harder to see them.

Our priest made it back with a big bandage on her finger and the evening mass and potluck proceeded. After dinner the kids were still itching to go fishing, so some of the young adults (I am trying not to say bigger kids, since they are late teens/early twenties!) took the kids down to the pond. I don't think they caught anything other than plants, but they had fun trying.

So sad this picture is blurry, because I think it would have been great.

After fishing, it was s'mores time.

And there was some music around the fire played by Paul. (There's dad sitting there enjoying the time - and the fact that he doesn't have to sleep in a tent!)

Our priest tried to get Rudy to sing the Mother's Day song he and Paul wrote for me, but he wouldn't. When he was bribed with some quarters for the arcade, he grudgingly agreed to sing Froggy Went A'Courtin...

...but he hid behind Paul the whole time.

The next morning we started packing up. Rudy got some lessons on all the cords RVs use from Harry. Rudy told Harry he wished we had an RV so he could watch TV. He doesn't yet realize that is the purpose of camping - no TV!

Rudyisms

After going to bed, Rudy came downstairs two times with various excuses for things he needed. We didn't hear anything from him after the second time. When I went to bed, I noticed his light was on in his room. When I walked in, I found Rudy fast asleep on the floor. Since he sleeps on the top bunk, I was not going to try to get him back to bed, so I covered him up and left him there. He did wake up at some point during the night and get himself back to bed.

Rudy may not have been in his bed, but Moonlight was! (And probably wondering why Rudy was on the floor).

Mother's Day Weekend

At Smithville on Saturday they had a Renaissance Faire. Rudy came prepared, dressed with his chest plate.

We saw a comedy show.

And a show with some singers.

Rudy wanted to buy a sword. When he did, the man here put him through several promises and pledges before knighting him Rudy the Magnificent.

On Sunday afternoon, Paul was out with my dad, so Rudy and I decided to check out the beach. It was very windy and pretty deserted, but that didn't stop my beach bum. Within 5 minutes he was coated in sand.

He dug a hole.

And then headed for the water. I wouldn't let him go too far, since there was no lifeguard, but he still managed to get soaked.

After swimming, he came back to his hole and made a chair out of it.

We had a very wet visitor- this was the closest we got to anyone else.

Relaxing and burying himself.

He then combat-crawled all the way down to the edge of the water.