Batter up: Lefty and the full moon

Left-handed hitter Bubby brought it on home during batting practice last week, all while the full moon shone.

 

Today's question:

When did you last hit — or catch — a baseball, softball or T-ball?

Running for chocolate and GRAND Social No. 73

I woke up early Sunday morning, still shaking my head in disbelief at having been hugged by Andy Garcia. Two of my daughters, though, were up even earlier — and were off and running in the Hot Chocolate 15/5k in Denver before I even rolled out of bed.

Here, Brianna, Andrea and Andrea's beau, Matt, prepare to run:

And here they enjoy their spoils from having crossed the finish line in "America's sweetest race."

 

Nothing better on a cold day than hot chocolate, right? Great job, guys!

While I don't have chocolate to offer for your participation, I do hope you'll join me for GRAND Social No. 73. On your marks, get set, go...!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a rel="nofollow" href="/" target="blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

The B-baller and his brother

Look who's old enough to play on a youth basketball team. He couldn't be more happy about it.

Look who's not old enough to play on a youth basketball team. He couldn't be more unhappy about it.

Poor Mac. Such is the injustice of being the little brother.

Photos courtesy Megan, of course. Thanks, Meg!

Today's question:

Where do you fall in the line of siblings and would you have preferred a different position?

Exhaustion, perspective, and GRAND Social No. 67

Our kids regularly put things in perspective for us. That doesn't change once the nest empties out, I was reminded once again yesterday.

I spent nearly all day Saturday in my yard pulling weeds. We have a large back yard and the recent downpours rains left us with an equally large number of weeds. So I tugged and pulled alongside Jim, ridding our yard of the unwelcome weeds. It wore me out. It wore us both out. Saturday evening, Jim and I moaned and groaned about our sore bodies and sheer exhaustion following our marathon weed pulling session.

Then, Sunday morning, our youngest daughter put our marathon complaints in perspective — by running a marathon herself. A real marathon. Well, a half-marathon, to be precise, but that's 13.1 miles of running. Non-stop. Finishing in just a bit over two hours.

 

Now that would be exhausting. And that would leave one's body sore. And that is something you'd never, ever catch me even attempting. Which makes me doubly proud of my Andie — and grateful her boyfriend, Matt, shared photos of her accomplishment.

Yes, there are far more exhausting things than pulling weeds. (Though I'm still quite proud of what Jim and I accomplished... despite it taking us far longer than two hours to accomplish it.)

Nowhere near as exhausting as running or weeding is the GRAND Social! Thank you for joining me. Let's socialize!

How it works:

• All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.

• To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.

• You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.

• Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

<a href="/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

• The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.


• If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."

• For another grandparent linky, visit Connie's Grandparent's Say It Saturday Link Party each Saturday.

Five and ready to dive

Bubby loves the water. For several years now, my oldest grandson has taken swimming lessons.

He's enjoyed outdoor lessons:

And he's enjoyed indoor lessons:

What Bubby has not enjoyed was being restricted by Mommy and Daddy from jumping off the diving board on his own. Bubby has begged Mommy and Daddy again and again to be allowed to jump off the diving board like the big kids. Their response was always, "You'll get to do that when you're 5 years old."

Well, guess what? Bubby turned 5 years old this week.

Which meant the waiting was over!

The much anticipated dive attempt was planned for Bubby's official birthday.

So on Tuesday, Bubby's official birthday, a visit to the pool was the highlight of the day.

Bubby stepped right up, and he jumped right in:

Mission accomplished!

Another milestone met, another big-boy achievement checked off.

Today's question:

When did you last jump off a diving board?