This summer will be remembered at the summer we "stayed in Joelton, TN for a week!"...and brought home the Dixie youth class A state runner up title. Bo may not remember it in 20 years, but we have lots of pictures and videos to show him! It truly was an awesome experience- from the year spring leading up to it to the last championship game. Bo played on a "competitive" team in the spring that just played a few tournaments as well as in Dixie youth, so he played a lot of ball this spring and he wouldn't have it any other way. We had a great group of families that were a part of this all star team- it was a long process of daily practices, coordinating hotel rooms, arrangements, and it couldn't have been more perfect- I think it was a combination of great parents and a good leader (I have to give Rob credit when it is due him:) He is the most fair and honest person I know. There are LOTS of pictures below- and I am going to talk more about the road to and week at the State tournament after the pics....
 |
| The mini parade that led us out of town |
 |
| Ellie with her "Go Bo" sign |
 |
| The Hensleys |
 |
| Opening Ceremony flags |
 |
| The hit of the tournament for Kate- "Ozzie" the Nashville Sounds mascot that they brought in for the tournament. Kate has a love/hate fascination relationship with mascots. She talks about them all the time, but is scared to death when she sees them up close (which sounds like a normal 2 year old...but it's really quite different). She will sit on the couch with Rob at the computer looking at mascot pictures and talks about them all of the time. On this occassion, she actually poured her raisins (which you can see in her hand) on Ozzie instead of "giving him 5" because she got so nervous! At Braves games, she is obsessed with "Homer" (or Punkin man as she calls him), at the Tiger games, it's Pouncer! |
 |
| These three guys celebrated their 7th birthdays while we were there! Aden, Ryan, and Bo |
The cool shirts a few of us moms designed
 |
| Lincoln and Bo- best baseball buds! |
 |
| This was taken after we got home- it was Bo's birthday the day we got home and this poor guy was sick with 102 fever (which he had during the last game but we didn't figure it out until after the game). He was scared to tell us he was sick, afraid he wouldn't be able to play:( |
 |
| We gave him "real" bases for the backyard!! |
 |
| The tournament directors gave him a cake and the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" after the championship game...but I guess after a loss and the fever, he wasn't in much of a birthday mood. |
 |
| Lane playing on the other field while Bo played in the championship game - I don't know if she ever saw a play in his game, but she enjoyed every minute! |
 |
| Pregame |
 |
| chillin between games |
 |
| After the semifinal win- I think Rob is telling them 1 more win! |
 |
| The ballfield gals - Kate is not having any part of this picture |
 |
| Chuck E Cheese during a rain delay! |
 |
| I have no idea who this little guy is, but he jumped in the picture with Bo and was so proud! Adorable! |
 |
| 4th inning score of semifinal against Munford 16-0 |
 |
| Olivia and Kate- 2 of the sweetest 2 year olds I know |
 |
| Fans! |
These pictures are from tournamants prior to state - district and pre-district- we won both of those
 |
| Her favorite baseball player "Mr. Dub" |
 |
| This was the district championship game- and this is when the boys started saying "we are going to stay in a hotel!!!" |
 |
| District Champs |
Burlison Gin ball....
As the saying goes, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"...Lane got Rob's brain (the good and the bad parts of it) and Bo got his crazy love of sports! So here we are at age 6 playing for a t-ball state title! I have to say, it was an awesome experience and I wouldn't take anything for it. He played some competetive ball in the spring with the Mudcats, along with Dixie ball and then his all star team won district and were runner ups at state. Rob coached all of his teams so that added to the responsibility, but it was so worth it. Our team stayed together, at a great hotel 20 minutes from the field that I spent no less than 12 hours on the phone finding/negotiating (since there were several other state tournaments in the area). The kids got to swim after games (and on the days the games were totally rained out!) and loved hanging out in each others rooms, playing WII or just doing boy stuff. The rain certainly put a damper on things and although it seems like not a big deal now, at the time, it was quite a pain! We would get to the field and either not be able to start or start an inning and the rain would set in again- at one point they brought in a helicopter to help dry the fields. This meant that we ended up playing 4 games in a 6 hour period- back to back (we lost our second game to Munford - a game we were up 11-3 in the 3rd inning that got rained out and we came back the next day to lose). so that meant we had to win 3 in a row to play in the semi-final (against Munford again)- and we won that game big- to go on to the championship game against Savanah. They played their best game of the tournament (according to their parents/coaches) and we didn't.....so we came home runner ups. Bo took it pretty hard, but after a couple of days, I think he realized how much they had to be proud of!
I may not say this in a few years, but for now, there isn't many places the 5 of us would rather be than hanging out at the ballfield (girls included)!
