Three Bucks

Three Bucks
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Sponge Bob was not the only character at the baseball game; there was also the legendary Brutus Buckeye. As you can tell, Brutus knows how to strike a strong pose, a pose that puts fear into feral rodents everywhere.

The boys picked out their own hats for the game. I was surprised by Alex's choice, but it was a good one. I was also surprised by Michael's choice also, but hey, it's Michael! It is funny to see how small that hat is on him now; we only bought it 2 years ago!
R. A. Patton (05.10.2006)

Purdue Is Going Down

Purdue Is Going Down
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

The OSU people certainly new how to get our boys motivated to try out a ball game; they played commercials on cartoon network saying that Sponge Bob would make an appearance. The boys practically begged me to take them.

It turned out to be a good experience. Literally every inning they have something going on. Tee-shirt tosses, hot dog tosses, base running contests etc. It was a pretty well put together package and it was affordable; Alex was free and Michael's ticket was the same price as Cracker Jacks!
R. A. Patton (05.09.2006)

Batting Cages

Heading To First
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Recently I have been taking the boys to the batting cages on the weekends and they have been doing well. In one set Friday night, Michael hit every ball except one. Of course he hits almost all of them straight to where first base would be!

Being in teeball I was surprised that Alex wanted to use the batting machines as much as he does. He also has been improving; in one sortee this weekend he hit four in row; that made him very excited!
R

Say Cheese

Say Cheese
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Michael just picked up a 20 dollar digital camera from the Discovery Store, and he has been taking it everywhere. Most of the pictures I captured this weekend included Michael taking a picture. His camera holds 20 pictures, and out of his first batch two were pretty good. What is funny is that Michael knows exactly what he wants to take pictures of ahead of time; at the Ohio State baseball game he wanted a picture of a fly ball, and at gymnastics he wanted an image of Laura doing a flip!
RAPatton

Big Bear, a reserve member of the Justice League

Bye Dad
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

Those two goofballs in the window are Michael and Alex. On the day Jenny had surgery, I got the kids ready for school and decided to take pictures.

While I was working on the class videos on Sunday, Alex stumbled on a Justice League Marathon on Boomerang and watched it on and off for the rest of the afternoon. When Jenny and I were putting Alex to bed, I asked him if Big Bear was a reserve member of the Justice League. He responded with a big smile, so I continued. I told him that they call him whenever their is a Bear specific problem. I told him, using my Yogi impersonation, that there seems to be a bear that "is stealing Pic-a-nic baskets!" and that this looks like a job for Big Bear! His sleepy grin was from ear to ear as he drifted off into dream land.
~R. A. Patton
P.S. Alex says he doubts that Big Bear is in the Justice League, because he sleeps alot.

"I just love history!"

Going To School
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

On the way home from Whole Foods Saturday Michael was telling us about a research report he was doing on Guatemala, when with a grin of delight he blurted out, "I just love history!" He then continued, but addressing his brother, "Alex, you are so lucky, when you are 2nd grad you get to learn about history too!" He continued on and on about how great history is as his smile grew so much that it was almost as broad as his mother's in response to his words.
RAP

Indiana Jones

Quack Quack
Originally uploaded by Jagrap

This winter we have started to encourage the boys to watch more adult movies by having family movie nights. In recent days we have watched the three Indiana Jones movies, and have discovered that Alex loves Indiana Jones. He said that 'Temple of Doom' was his favorite movie of all time and is considering being Indy for Halloween (We bet he will be one of the Super-Mario brothers)!

Michael preferred 'The Last Crusade' because of it's connection to Arthurian lore; the Magic Treehouse books he enjoys are tied to the legends of Arthur and Merlin. Jen is happy because now the boys want to ride the Indiana Jones ride the next time we go to Disney (which means we get too also)!
RAPatton