On Saturday, we had a RockBand Party for him at RiRi’s. He had some of his best friends over for swimming and make-believe concerts. He invited Chris, Zack, Dylan, Dalton, Jacob, Gram, Drew, Jada, Jaylee and of course, Jake and the twins! All the kids had a great time and Jackson got lots of neat gifts and MONEY!

Happy 10^th Birthday Jackson, We Love you!

     Jackson is on the A-Team. He plays on Saturdays and plays Tight End. Jake is on the B-Team and he plays on Tuesdays. Jake is playing Tight End and Defensive End. Jake is #3 and Jackson wear’s Uncle Justin’s Old #50. We’re so proud of them,they practice real hard and we think it’s been a great character builder for them.

The first day of school is the only day the boys wake up in a good mood all year. After that, every morning is all down hill from there. Usually, going from promising to an utter disaster in 0.9 seconds. We get a lot of “I don’t want to brush my teeth!”, “My hair won’t do right!”,”No way am I eating that for lunch”. It usually ends up in a scream fest and someone crying. Usually Mom or Dad!

Anyway, today they were excited about their new clothes and shoes they got to wear for the first time. Thanks to all the grandparents and their Mom. Here’s hoping they have a good year. I can’t believe they are in 4th and 2nd grade! We love you boys!

Man, they were fun to watch. At seven, I knew the batting order backwards and forwards, knew all the coaches names and all the Dodger greats from years past. My days were filled with dreams of playing in that Dodger infield with Garvey, Davey Lopes, BIll Russell and Ron Cey. I studied their batting stances, the way they fielded a ground ball, how they came into the dugout, heck I even copied Ron Cey’s walk (He waddled as he walked, hence his nickname “The Penguin”). I can remember cutting out every clipping about the Dodgers that I came across and placing them in my scrapbooks. I followed every game.

It was hard growing up in Mississippi and trying to root for the Dodgers though. Living in “Cardinal land” all my friends and even my granddad were St. Louis fans, so most couldn’t believe I’d root for a California team. These were the years before cable tv with baseball on 5 to 6 channels a night. No, I had to settle for the NBC Game of the Week or occasionally a game on ABC. Also, I usually had to wait an extra day to see the box score of a night game because the Memphis paper would be printed before the west coast games were through. I’d always hate it when it read…

St. Louis 3 New York 1

Houston @ Los Angeles Late

Arghhh!

But as soon as I’d see that box score, I’d clip it out and take it outside to a tree and pin it to it. Then I’d hit rocks with a broomstick and replay the game in my own little world. I was Garvey and Company taking on the J.R.Richard and the Astros or Steve Carlton and the Phillies. The Dodgers always won of course.

In 1979, Mom and Dad took me and my brand new little brother to St. Louis to watch the Dodger vs. the Cardinals. I was probably the only little boy there dressed like a Dodger, but I didn’t mind. Leaving Dad alone in a parking garage at midnight with my crying 11 month old baby brother, my Mom took me down to the area where the players come out to get on their bus. At the bus we met Steve Garvey, Johnny Oates and Ron Cey. They all signed a baseball for me and Garvey even took a picture with me. It was truly the greatest moment of my life to that point.

The next couple of years I continued to follow the Dodgers and my parents always took us to watch the Dodgers play when they were close. With the advent of TBS and Braves baseball, my brother became a Atlanta Braves fan. So, we made our share of pilgrimages to Atlanta to watch the Braves/Dodgers match ups. Every year we met more and more players from the Dodgers and the Braves. Like Bob Horner, Pedro Gurerrero, Dale Murphy and Ken Landreaux. It was a lot of fun.

The Dodgers won the World Series in 1981, and I couldn’t have been more excited. They finally put it to those hated Yankees. They won the series 4 games to 2. It was right about then, I began hearing talk of trades and finances increasingly became a part of baseball conversations. This was all new to me and in 1983 it hit home. The Dodgers gave up on Garvey and free agency led him to the San Diego Padres. I was devastated. You know when older folks say they remember where they were when Kennedy was shot? Well, I remember where I was when Garvey signed with the Padres, Factory Outlet Mall in Lakeland, TN. I heard it on some guy’s radio. I felt so let down, I felt like someone should have called me to get my take on the deal or something. Why couldn’t LA pay the man what he wanted. You just don’t give a guy’s hero to the Padres for nothing! Come on, the Padres, one of the worst teams ever. Heck, even their uniforms were hideious! Garvey himself said “he looked like a taco when he put the uniform on.”

I stayed loyal to Garvey, left my beloved Dodgers and became a Padre fan. Yes, I wore the brown and yellow and later brown and orange with pride. Garvey finished out his career in San Diego, even taking them to the World Series in 1984. He played in a couple more all-star games and even won the NLCS MVP against the Cubs in 1984, hitting a walk off home run in the 9th.

Well, with my hero retired it was time to pick a new team and player to follow. Well, I looked for 21 years. I tried staying with the Padres and Tony Gwynn, although he was a great hitter, he wasn’t the same player as Garvey and the Padres were back to sucking, big time.

I’ve tried many times over the years, to be a Cardinals fan, but man I just can’t bring myself to stay with them. It really makes sense for me to root for St. Louis. They are close to home and they are always on TV and even the Triple A club is here in Memphis. But I just don’t get that feeling with them that I had with the Dodgers.

I probably went years without watching a complete game on TV. I never looked at the thousands of baseball cards i collected over the years. I never pulled out an old scrapbook just to remember. Baseball was dead to me. My first thoughts were, hey maybe I’m older now and everything is different. I’ve got mortgages, work and family on my mind or maybe baseball has gotten so far out of kilter with contracts, drugs and steroids that it’ll never mean the same to me as it did in 1977. I don’t know what the answer is, but I have to tell you, lately I’m starting to have that feeling again, and I think I’ve discovered why and what’s been missing all these years.

My seven year old son, Jake is into it. Man, he loves baseball with a passion. He eats it, smells it, breathes it. It’s really all he thinks about day and night. He loves to play it, watch it and talk about it. It really is an obsession with him. I sit and watch him while he’s watching a game, and answer his questions when he has one, and I can see that fire in his eyes. The same fire I had. It’s all new to him as it was to me back then. The smell of the glove, the feel of the bat, the texture of a baseball card, the thrill of the grass…the thrill of the grass. Ok, W.P Kinsella I’m not, but looking through my son’s eyes I have found the game again. I catch myself watching games on TV now, it doesn’t matter who is playing. I want to see the hit and run, the brush back pitch and the sac fly to Right. I want that new rookie card from that kid that plays for the Rays. I love baseball again.

All these years, I went looking for the perfect team to root for, the great player to follow, the team that would give me that warm Saturday morning feeling again. What I’ve found after all this time, it was the game I was after. Not a team or a player, it’s all about the game, just like it was in 1977. Thank you Jake. I can wear my “Old Dodger” hat with pride now, I’m a baseball fan again.

The sleep doctor gave us the statistics on Jake’s study and recommended the first step be to remove his large tonsils. They wasted no time on scheduling the surgery, scheduling it for Thursday. Although, it is a routine, same day surgery nowadays, Jake still had to spend the night because of his sleep apnea. (Fun for Mom!)

We had to go to Lebohneur Hospital for the surgery. A place we’re quite familiar with (Jackson’s Foot Surgeries 1998,1999 (2) and Jake Heart and Adenoids (2002,2003) and 3-4 emergency room visits. Maw-Maw, Ri-Ri and Jackson were all there for support. Of course, Jake had many gifts bestowed upon him to get through the ordeal. All the grandma’s sent magazines, baseball cards, coloring books, movies and hand held games for him to pass the time. I believe Jackson thought Jake was getting a little too much attention, and that didn’t set to well with him. These kids are just “starved for attention” ha ha.

He got to meet Benard, a small green child who is perpetually 4 years old. I have no idea what his ailment was or his prognosis, but Jake got a kick out of meeting him anyway. His mom was nice.

There was also a huge construction site outside his window. This helped Dad pass the time. There was something going on at every corner of the site. It was fun to watch.

They took him to the “bunny room” around 10 am to prepare for surgery. For those who don’t know about the “bunny room” , it’s the dropping off point for the kids going to surgery. It is also where they can pick out a toy from a wall of toys as you enter the room. It has always been a sad place for Angie and I, not only because your child is going under the knife, but for seeing all the other kids that are there with their parents, saying goodbye. Most of the kids have problems far greater than anything our children have ever been through and for that we are always thankful.

Today, was a little different. For those that know Jake, you know he has a very quirky sense of humor and it magnifies when he’s in a doctor’s office or public place. Well, let’s just say he was in rare form in the bunny room. He was definitely playing the room. From his dramatic hunger pains, to saying he was going to die in the O.R. and we’d never see him again, he was really trying his parents. The anesthesia doctor came over and asked him what flavor anesthesia he wanted. The doctor went through the list and Jake decided on Root Beer (changing from an earlier request of Watermelon). The doc replied “Well, that is a special flavor, reserved for boys and girls who mind their parents and do their chores”. Jake said dryly “Oh, well I can’t have that.” Needless to say, Angie and I said “take him back!”

The surgery went well and Dr. Chanin, the ENT, said he had Jake as clear as he could get him. Hopefully, this will help his sluggishness and attention problems during the day.

Grandma came up to the hospital and babied him a little and brought him some more treats. When he got home from the hospital Aunt Debbie, Nana and Robbie brought him two tubs of ice cream, baseball nut and chocolate. John-John was very happy!

He’s going to have a long week of recovery, hopefully it won’t be too bad. I guess I can officially say Jake “The Kid” Jones is on the DL (disabled list for you non-sports fans) for the week.

After Drew’s we went to Mindi and Sid’s house for more watersliding and BBQing. Following all that we shot fireworks. The kids loved it! Especially Julia. She wasn’t sacred at all. She held sparklers & poppers and a couple times she got so close to the fireworks , I had to tell her to move back.

Saturday we worked in the yard and then went over to my brother Justin’s for more…you guessed it, BBQ and watersliding! It was fun, and Justin had some great ribs. Justin and Tabe had three little pools and waterslides for the kids and we brought our waterslide too. John liked the pool with the little basketball goal, He’s our little “roundball king”. Jake had fun racing and playing with the older boys. Julia is the “queen of the waterslide”. She must’ve went down that thing 100 times! Backwards, sideways or face first, she tried them all. It really wore out the twins as they fell asleep on the way home.

Sunday, we went to RiRi’s and had more… just kidding, not BBQ, we had spaghetti, ravioli and eggplant! Justin and I took Jake to his baseball tryout, so we were kind of late, but we had a great time. All the guys watched the Yankees/RedSox game, it was a good one with the Yanks winning 5-4 in extra innings.

Overall, it was a fun July 4th weekend, although we really missed Jackson. It wasn’t the same not having him here. He comes back Tuesday at 3pm. We can’t wait to see him!

He now gets to enjoy a week in San Antonio.

Tonight Jackson goes for his Yellow Belt in Karate! We’re all excited to see how he does. I hope he remembers his moves. He liked Karate at first but now not so much. I think after Karate we will start taking golf a lot more seriously and give us some father-son time together. Although, I’m not much of a golf coach, I know more about that than I do karate.

I know he is excited about his trip too! MawMaw is taking he and his three cousins (Cody,Chris and Zach) to San Antonio to see Angie’s dad. They are going to Sliterbaughn Water Park and Sea World too! Good luck Maw maw, you’ll need it!

Good Luck tonight Jackson! We’re pulling for you!

The boys played real well in the first game beating Grenada 17-9. Jake went 2-3, but didn’t get anything hit to him in centerfield, so he looked kind of bored out there. There was a guy at the park selling baseball cards, so Jackson and Jake wore out our pocketbooks. Jackson went from “concession stand mode” to “baseball card mode”. He’ll get us to spend money one way or another.

On Friday we had to play Clinton, the best team in the state. Those guys are awesome! We hung with them the first two innings, but they were too much for us and beat us 24-3. I know it sounds bad, but these guys were good, believe me. They were a little cocky though. As I was walking between innings to coach third base the little boy playing pitcher, blew me a kiss. Little punk! Oh well, you have to play the best to get better. This set up a Saturday match up with Batesville.

After the game we took the long trip back to the hotel and decided to go to Geyser Falls, a water park. The kids had a blast! There was a giant wave pool, super duper slides and lots of crazy water areas for the little ones. Julia was in heaven! She must’ve went down the slides 50 times. John was a little timid, but that’s just John being John. The big boys are a lot braver than I ever was. They tackled Mt. Everwave, three giant slides that were at least 100 feet high. I was so scared for them and was thinking the whole time on my course of action if they fell off. I guess I’m a little over protective, but I can’t help it, they’re still our babies. The boys acted like it was nothing. RiRi had fun too, she got wet trying to get Julia to a slide. She even had to climb a rope ladder to get up to the slide stand (Way to go RiRi!). Afterwards, the lifeguard told her she could’ve took the stairs.

On Saturday we played Batesville and jumped out to an 7 run lead. I really thought we were going to win. Unfortunately, Batesville came back and beat us 19-12. We played really well and the boys gave it their all in the loss. I hated to see Jake’s season end that way, but he’s had a great year and improved 10 fold since last summer!

We left Saturday afternoon and drove back to MawMaw’s cabin at Enid. It was good to be able to stretch out a little bit, because the hotel was really crowded with seven people living in it. We cooked out hamburgers and hotdogs and watched some movies. It was RiRi’s first trip to the cabin, so we were glad she got to see it. Sunday we went down to the beach, played some miniature golf and then left to go home.

It was a fun trip, and pretty laid back for a trip having all the kids with us. RiRi was a big help and I think she had as much fun as we did.