baseball... a family tradition

We don't spend a lot of our time watching TV.  That means the kids haven't really watched many baseball, soccer or football games.  However, my brother- that's a different story!  He LOVES baseball above all others, but will watch anything he can.  Even better if it's in person.  In fact, he loves baseball so much that he spends some of his vacation time each year road-tripping it to as many different minor and major league games as he can.  Earlier this year he traveled around the southern US - and this week he's traveling around Michigan.  We spent the weekend with him (and numerous other family members) and had the opportunity to go to a baseball game in Kalamazoo.  It was the kid's first baseball game and they loved it for a little while!  Conner took his baseball glove, hoping for a foul ball of course (and because Uncle Matt had his).  He got his glove signed by the mascot, and I think that was the highlight of the game for him.  There was a home run, but he was in the bathroom then.  The game was on the 4th, so we enjoyed music & fireworks after the game too!

If you want to check out his blog it's kind of an interesting tour of the baseball fields and some of the little slices of Americana he's found along the way.  He gets a baseball hat at every park too - his collection is getting pretty impressive!

Since my brother lives so far away, we don't get to see him as often as I would like - and we were talking a lot about how we were going to see him on this trip and go to the baseball game.  We've been following his blog of course, and talking about all the places my brother goes.  Conner decided he wanted to write a book for Uncle Matt.  We took some computer paper, folded it in half, stapled it, and he started dictating.  I only changed one or two little phrases so they would make sense to my brother.  Otherwise, it's all his language.  I'm sure he could have written some of it, but I knew we had a short amount of time to get it done before we were leaving, and I was more concerned about him enjoying the process and putting his effort into pictures.  Writing isn't quite relaxing for him yet.

The book is titled "Cubs Fans" and talks about how the two of them are Cubs fans, how they talk about baseball, and have Cubs hats.  I just love how hard he was concentrating as he was illustrating it!

Do you have any special baseball memories?