Practices - what if they are FAR away

How many of you drive your kid across town or to another community to practice only to have to turn around and go pick them up after just a few minutes at home?? Baseball practice for my oldest is 45 minutes away so with a two hour practice, I found that its better to stay put on the other side of town rather than drive back and forth.  Here are some benefits of staying close to practice or even parking at practice and walking places once there.  1) gas usage 2) traffic headaches 3) quality time for yourself or 4) quality time with another child. 

Gas.  You save it if you stay put.  Hmm. Not much more to say here.
Traffic headaches.  It always happens.  You are just 10 minutes away from picking up your kid and WHAM! traffic jam, construction or just plain slow drivers.  Instead of getting road rage, just stay put at the facility and avoid the headaches.  It can be a great way to unwind even if its staying in your car to read which takes me to the next one...
Quality Time for yourself.  I use the time at the park to take a walk, ride my bike, write a letter (remember those things you used to send your grandparents that you put stamps on?)  We always feel like we don't have enough time to exercise or get moving, well an hour of walking or biking twice a week gets you a lot closer to your exercise goals than sitting in a moving car.  I have also been known to slip in errands to my favorite stores or to get my nails done.  This allows you time to yourself without feeling like you are missing out on some other family time in order to pamper yourself.  Contact a friend who lives on that side of town - even if its a quick cup of coffee or bite to eat, that reconnection will do wonders for you! If you are desperate for more organizational time, plan out next weeks meals, clip your coupons, catch up on emails or read all the mail from home. 
Quality time with another child.  I have taken child three with me and spent the time together at the park eating a picnic supper or just playing on the swings.  In my case, it also gives the child at home some special time with Dad.  So EVERYONE wins in this scenario.  The only combination I don't have here after writing this for a bit is quality time with your adult child (aka your spouse).  You could find a sitter/helper for the other kids and just go have dinner alone! Since I just thought of this option you can imagine how many times we have done this together....yeah, none.  We have done dinner out with the other kids as a special treat to them, but not just the two of us.  Maybe one of these years!

Ok, if you read this far, I have a question.  Am I nuts for trekking my kid 45 minutes away for practices?  What are you doing out there for your kids?

Feel like I need to catch up....all the time

I know all of you have had the feeling that you are behind on projects, house repairs, cleaning, laundry. I think we all feel that stress at times. What is spinning around right now for me is feeling I'm behind on capturing the last two years of travel baseball memories but recollecting stories chronologically is not gonna happen. So, this is an official disclaimer that all of these posts are going to be random, may include events from the past five years of baseball and may not be one hundred percent factual, after all, hundreds of games mean i may have some memory lapses...come on, people just go with it. This past weekend the boys played in Cincinnati, Ohio in a pool of 24 teams. Some of the kids on the team had to miss the last day or two of school in order to participate. Patrick missed the last day of sixth grade but it was only a field trip so we didn't think it was a big deal. So PDiddy and I set out after school on Wednesday. The hotels we stay in normally have one or more teams staying there. Its a little like having two different fraternities at the same function. While most interactions are cordial, there can be some off field competition as well. I will be writing future posts about some of these examples!

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  Wow, pretty deep.  But what I realized over this weekend is that there are a lot of memories, lessons and knowledge that can be gained from the game of baseball, kids who play travel baseball and the way that children react to your involvement.  My blog will attempt to share some of  my experiences as a mom of three young sons ages 12, 9 and 2.  My oldest is in a fantastic travel baseball club that travels the Midwest based out of the Milwaukee area.  The team has provided a group of talented young men the ability to work together to join into a competitive arena in the greater Chicago area and other tournaments in neighboring states.  Its not a rec league, or a select league, its a step above, getting national rankings with the USSSA organization.  I am learning all sorts of information about how teams prepare their players, strategy and families to play competitive sports at a young age.  I am also seeing the affects a decision of placing my son into this type of commitment can have on relationships, family and finances.  I want to share our experiences and gain insight from others who are no doubt in similar scenarios.  Not finding any specific moms doing this, I decided to start it up.  So here we go peeps.  Batter Up!