Weekend Trip...

So last weekend over Memorial Day, Julie and I made the trip up to my sister's place to spend some time with my family. The weather was great and we had a wonderful time!!

This was the first time that Julie met my sisters and their families, and I have to say that she took it all in stride and fit in just fine. My nieces warmed up to her pretty quickly, but I knew that they would.

We had a great time with Lexi and Kaitlyn! We played outside in the sandbox, we played the Dora match game, and we even went for a walk around the neighborhood! All in all, a real fun time!

I love the photo of Lexi dumping sand on Kaitlyn while Kaitlyn tries to eat the sand. So typical of my nieces! They got so sandy that they had to take a bath later that night. And Julie even helped give the girls their baths. I'm sure that was an exciting experience for her. Of course, Lexi had to remind us all that when she takes a bath, she gets to play with her Dora bath toys.

I look forward to spending more time with both my family and Julie's family in the future!

Baby Jill...

Well, I am an uncle again!!

My older sister Bethany finally had her baby about two weeks ago, and it was another girl!! On April 28th, the newest member of the family, Jillian Christine, was born. She was 7 lb, 7 oz, and was 20 inches long. And baby and mommy are doing great!!

Bethany and Matt brought Baby Jill home soon after birth, and I went up to Akron last weekend to meet my new niece. She is so tiny!!

Lexi is proud to be a big sister and she loves Baby Jill. She says, "Baby Jill is soooo cute!" But Lexi is also battling fears that mommy and daddy are going to leave her behind. She went on what Matt calls her "hunger strike" for the first couple days. But once Lexi figures out that mommy and daddy aren't going to leave her, she'll be fine. She seemed much better with the whole family there last weekend. My mom and dad, Matt and Brittany, Kaitlyn, and Maely went up for the weekend as well. But I know the real reason that Lexi had fun. It was because her Uncle Benny was there!!

So another baby and another niece. I'm wondering if I'll ever get a nephew??

Here's a cute picture of my mom and dad (the proud grandparents) with all three granddaughters, Baby Jill, Lexi, and Kaitlyn.

Baseball is Back...

I look forward to spring every year, mainly because after 4 months of cold and snow, I'm ready to get back outside. But also because of the two sweetest words in the English language: Play Ball!!!

Baseball is back! I love baseball, and the fact that they play every day from April through October means that there is always action to check out. It becomes that much sweeter when you live in a city that has a Major League team. While the Reds aren't exactly the best team in the bigs, it's nice to be able to head downtown and catch a game whenever the mood strikes me.

A few weeks ago, we had a streak of beautiful weather here in Cincy, so I went downtown and caught a couple games at the old ballpark. The first game I went to was with Lori, Ed, and Julie D. It was a beautiful day and a great day for baseball. The Reds lost, of course (10-2 to the Braves), but we had a good time. Chipper Jones hit a three-run homer, so that was good for my fantasy team.

A few days later, I was lucky enough to get offered some free tickets. And not just any tickets, but ones that were only one row from the playing field behind the visitor's dugout!! Julie got a call from Andrea earlier in the week and she asked if we would want to go to the game with them. We were like, "Heck yes!!" So Julie and I went with Andrea and Scott to watch the Reds and Astros from primo seats!

Check out a few pics I took from field level:
















































Pic descriptions:
Top Row, Left: Aaron Harang pitches in the 1st
Top Row, Right: Lance Berkman on deck
2nd Row, Left: Wandy Rodriguez delivers
2nd Row, Right: Jay Bruce at the plate
3rd Row, Left: Rosie Red runs on the dugout
3rd Row, Right: Hampton, Oswalt, and Backe in the Astros dugout
Bottom: Brandon Phillips hits a homer in the 9th inning

Again, the Reds lost to Wandy Rodriguez and the Astros by the score of 8-3, but we still had a great time. The seats were amazing!! Julie and I didn't make it on the Kiss-Cam, but there will be plenty more games this summer :-)