Summer is officially over. Part 3 - Todd's enrichment?

Mercer joined a baseball team in Alabama.  So, Todd and Mercer were in Alabama almost EVERY weekend over the summer!  Does that count as enrichment?  

Not sure how enriching it was, but I know they got to spend a lot of time together!

The first weekend was actually played in Georgia.  We ran into some friends briefly.   Mercer was not able to make any of the practices, so he had to get to know the team on the weekends at the actual games.  

The 2nd weekend was Todd's birthday, so Izzy and I decided to go to the games that weekend.  

(I took Mercer to his YHC summer orientation in north GA, then we headed back home so that the 4 of us could drive west over to Alabama.)

It was really late by the time we got to our destination in Tuscaloosa.  So we checked into the hotel and quickly went to a restaurant for a nice dinner.  I made reservations at a renovated church, aptly named "the Sanctuary."  It's a speakeasy and serves tapas (small plates).  The kids tried a bunch of different things that they've never tried before.  and liked much of it.  yay! 

The drink menu was clever: names of the dinks based on the 7 deadly sins.  

There was live music.  

It was a fun night.

We stayed at a hotel on the University of Alabama campus.

It was directly across the street from the baseball stadium where Mercer's team was playing.  (so he walked over to pre-practice and we arrived at the actual time the game was to start)

The series this weekend was being played in a tournament at D1 schools. 

Mercer didn't get to play quite as much as he wanted, but at least he was playing some -- unlike in high school!

The players, coach and the parents all seemed to be a pretty good crew. 

  

The next day, there was a game played at another nearby D1 school:  University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).   This one was not as fancy as the one in Tuscaloosa.  

He was on the mound for a little bit.

The following weekend - they were back in Alabama!  This time, Izzy and I stayed home (so we wouldn't have to get a bigger hotel / so we wouldn't have to get a pet sitter).  

It was father's day.  Todd sent me this photo that was taken of the boys and their dads.  

I had planned on making the nice dinner that we had at a fancy restaurant in Savannah that we both loved.  But the guys didn't get home 'til close to midnight.  They did "well" in the tournament and had to play 'til the end. 

So, father's day was a bit unusual, but he was watching baseball -- one of his favorite things to do!! 

The following weekend, Mercer missed the game because he was in Asia!  But his team did well.... and got a tournament ring.  The team was off during July 4th weekend.  So he only missed one weekend tourney total.

The next weekend, Izzy and I went to the fishing pond air b&b up in north GA and Todd and Mercer went back out to Alabama again!  They did well at this tournament and the team got a ring again.  Todd sent these photos.  

And... another tournament the following weekend!    (most of the tournaments were around the central / upper part of the state)

Our last weekend of the summer -- we made it a family trip.  This one was down to Gulf Shores.  (this photo is of Izzy and the dogs on the way down.)  

We rented another air b&b, but it was sort of a different experience - it was in a condo building with a lobby and a parking deck. Usually for air b&b we stay in a free-standing house.  

It accepted dogs, so there was no need for the pet sitter, but... it was a little hard to manage them there, as there were not a lot of places to go walking / potty breaks (except for a couple of dog run areas)... 

and... the place said you had to make sure your dogs didn't bark or you could be asked to leave.  

So we did everything we could to keep them quiet!  They liked the porch, but if someone walked directly next to them on the pool deck, they barked, so we'd take them back inside. If the people were further away enjoying the pool or other parts of the area, the dogs were fine.

(we had to crate them when we went to the baseball tournaments, but the place was huge -- probably had as much square footage as our house -- so we used a room off of the master bedroom that led to a closet that they were in - which was pretty big / it was sort of remote from the neighboring condo (the only neighbor that could have heard them was above us in that space).  

It worked out. No complaints that we were aware of. whew!

The condo was sort of dated - but the real amenity of this place was the property & the grounds!

One other thing that was a little hard was that the coach called us days before the tournament and asked if one of the players could stay with us - that his grandfather had passed and he had to take care of some things.

We said yes... but... it sort of changed the dynamic of our "family" vacay a bit as we were trying to accomodate someone else who was maybe even pickier than Mercer! 

It was "ok" but the kid didn't like any of the food we bought or made (except for the pizza) and also took his phone into the lazy river, so we spent much of the time trying to help him dry out his phone / buying rice / researching and going to buy a different kind of charger / etc)  

The kid said his dad had to work that weekend. (Todd told me that he had never seen the kid's dad at any of the games, so maybe he always sent his son to drive to tournaments with the coach and roomed with various players on the team?)  Oh well. We made the best of it.

We were on the bottom floor, but this is an image from the elevator lobby at the top floor - between both sides of the property.

Izzy and I played badminton in the indoor pool. Todd and the kids went to the lazy river a bunch. One of us usually stayed with the dogs inside, but I did make it to the lazy river once or twice too.  That was the draw of the place, for sure!  (no photos of that as we did not take our phones there like our house guest. haha!)

We took some puzzles too.

One night, much of the team went to a restaurant together in downtown Gulf Shores. It was huge and at some point, they asked various people to get up on the table for various reasons.  Izzy jumped up on the table when there was a song she liked!  

(all of this was before the food arrived!)  haha!

but - ewww.  ??!!

Another night, Todd and I went to chase the setting sun....

We found a dog-friendly public park to go to on the opposite side of the bay from where our condo was.

The colors were great! 

Mercer said he got up early one day to catch the sunrise on the roof. (he was used to getting up early for his job, I guess!)  So I checked it out one morning too.  

the sun went behind the long horizontal cloud and disappeared?!

The last night, I went for a walk along the property to enjoy the water and the reflections.  We couldn't quite figure out the story of the light house (constructed, likely when the condo was built maybe in the 70s?)  but it was a nice beacon. 

After you went across the bridge (that went over the lazy river)... and away from the pool deck, there was a series of docks.

Looking back to the condo from the docks.

And looking across to the lighthouse.

There looks like an older Italianate house tucked in between the giant condos... and it shares the small beach, the dog run and the lighthouse complex.  

There has to be some history to it, but we just couldn't put it together.

I didn't realize 'til that last night walking along the docks that they had places for the guests to go fishing at the very edge closest to the bay (away from the boat slips).... there were a couple of families night fishing -- which may have been fun for Isabella, but honestly we had no more room in the car for anything else! 

Would we go back there?  I think we would.

In between all of that, there was some baseball.  (some very hot, sticky baseball!)  :/ 

Here's the tent set-up from the last day.  The guys played in 3 games!  (we only saw two because after dropping them off at the field for warm-ups, we headed back to the condo to pack.)  

The team was winning so they had to stay 'til the end again. The ended up getting 2nd place in the tournament. Thankfully, this place (at a school) did not have a "no dogs" sign like the other parks did, so we were able to take the dogs to the field with us!  (which is great, because we had no other place to go!)

And - after the game, we got back into the crowded car for our 6 hour +/- drive.

Does this photo look familiar?  It was on the way BACK home!  ha!

Back to Todd's "summer enrichment..."  

Maybe that's not the right word.  

Maybe fulfillment?

This was the culminating trip for baseball that he gets to actively take part in -- a series of experiences that he has built upon over the past 14 years... hopefully he feels fulfilled.... and enriched.

He has certainly enriched Mercer's life along the way.

He accomplished his goal. 

He has got to be proud.  

There's been 1000 more moments than those captured here in this keepsake box. 

Those game balls.... home run balls... and tournament rings represented HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of hours for each of them dedicated to the game that they both love.