Hall-iday!

For the first time in a long time ... we have a full week off of kid's sports and activities.  The school year just got out, Mallory's tournament season had a weekend off, and Holden's baseball season is over.  So the weekend was filled with ... peace and quiet!

Well - maybe not entirely - but we had no rushing to sport events.  Mallory had a practice last Sunday with her new team - Magnolia Steel.  They will be playing this weekend in a big Memorial Day Tournament.  They are a pretty solid team - so I hope they play well!  I had a baseball game with the "old man" baseball team.  I was happy that the team changed from being the Tigers last year, to the Dodgers this year!  We lost 8-0.  I went 0-2 for the day, however, I had to come in and pitch.  CRAZY!  I have not been on the mound in a game since I was 12 ... and even then - I didn't pitch a ton!  The starting pitcher gave up 5 runs in the first two innings.  I came in and pitched 4 innings - gave up 3 runs - all unearned (the Dodger infield made quite a few errors) - and I struck out ... well - nobody!  I don't throw quite hard enough, yet (not sure that I ever will) - and my breaking ball ... well, it's coming around.  I finally started throwing the slider for strikes ... I just cant get it to bite ... it moves more side to side instead of sideways and down.  I need Holden to teach me, because his slider is just plain nasty!

Kenji "planking" on the roof of the house ... no one else
wanted to paint the trip near the roof!

Other activities during the week included me painting a house on Saturday with a group of workers from the property.  The event held locally is called "Paint Your Heart Out" where several teams paint houses in the community for people who are unable to paint for themselves.  The lady who owned the house - Ms. Adger, was incredibly grateful, and we had a good time doing it.

Tuesday marked the end of the school year ... which means - end of school year party at the Hall house.  Incredibly - this thing seems to get bigger and bigger every year.  4 hours of kids everywhere!  I think there ended up being around 40 kids here.  The hot spots being the volleyball court (for the boys), and the pool (for the girls).  Hot Dogs, Soda, Gatorade and Chips aplenty - but everyone had a good time.  It's nice to have the party at our house ... except cleaning up really sucks!

Holden and Mallory are still practicing - making good use of the tee and the net for their hitting.  Hopefully it pays off for Mallory this weekend, and Holden for his High School baseball tryouts early next month.  We will keep you posted on the activities as they happen!  Until then - that's all from Bossier City, LA!  Hopefully, we can continue to avoid all these crazy tornadoes hitting the middle of the country!