This is the last week for soccer for both Claudia and Angela. As it is they both have two games this week, they are playing on Saturday to make up the early season rainouts. Check out the guy down the line with the chair and footrest, he sat there the whole game with his feet sticking into the field of play.
Chloe decided that if he can be in the field of play than so can she. Actually I think she was laying there during half time. Claudia thinks the final score was 2-2.
We headed out to Andrew and Jeannette’s last Saturday for a BBQ and some swimming for the kids (and big kids, as Steve went for a dip). Here is Angela underwater.
The girls started jumping in and doing fancy cannonballs.
Rachel and Angela.
Angela did a pretty good job of splashing me with this jump.
Eric causing a little water displacement.
A video of Claudia doing her cannonball.
This weeks photo is from Claudia’s game on Monday night. She is in the air kicking the ball. Their team won the game with no problems. The girls will miss their playoff games as we will be on our road trip.
Another photo showing the determination in Claudia’s eyes as she throws the ball in. Angela’s game was on the worse field for watching the game, let alone taking pictures, it is looking directly in the sun. They played a good game and even with shoddy refereeing they won 3-0. She didn’t call a water break during the first half. Most refs will call usually two water breaks during the half. In the second half she called Angela’s team offside, even though there were still two players from the other team way downfield. We think it was a conspiracy, the refs father coaches her sister on one of the other teams in Angela’s age group.
We have a family of robins nesting in our maple tree in the backyard. It is the first year we have had them. Yesterday when we came back from the baseball game, I let Chloe out the back and she was bounding across the yard, fortunately she did not spot the fledgling sitting on the ground under the tree. We figured we would let nature take its course and left it there undisturbed. We kept the dog out of the back yard for the rest of the day. Here is the mother sitting in the nest.
We think there are still two more fledglings in the nest.
This morning Susan went out and said the bird was still sitting there, later when I took Chloe out it was gone, no where to be seen. Eventually Chloe tracked it down, it was in the back corner garden, the dog was barking at it and the parents were circling overhead. The fledgling made a break for it, the wrong way, eventually it made it over to the other side of the deck towards the front of the house. We thought okay, we can close the side gate and Chloe won’t be able to get it, I threw some evergreen branches in to give it cover. As Chloe and I are sitting at the gate, I could hear it chirping and the parents were keeping a close eye on it. Next thing I know it is hopping past us, again the dog was oblivious to this thing about two feet away. I put up a firewood log barrier to try and lead it back the way it came, but it was just sitting there. Eventually we had to go out. Here is the fledgling that has been all over the backyard.
While I was trying to steer it towards the back garden again, the parents were squawking away, I think they called in their buddies as sparrows were flying around and then we saw this guy on the neighbours back fence. It is a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), a medium sized member of the woodpecker family.
One of the watchful parents. When we came back the fledgling was gone and there was no sign of it anywhere. Hopefully it made its way back to the cover of the back garden or actually figured out how to get air borne.
We rode on one of the new subway trains Sunday on the way home from the baseball game. They are pretty cool, the Toronto Rocket is a “six-car-fixed” configuration with open gangways which allow riders to move freely from one end to the other end of the train. They are kind of like the accordion buses. The maps are cool they have LED’s to indicate stops and flash when the stop is approaching. They went into service on July 21, 2011. The subway leaving Yorkdale station.
We headed down to the Rogers Centre early in order to be one of the first 20,000 to get our Roberto Alomar Bobblehead. We took the subway down and arrived at 10:40, the gates didn’t open until 11:00. The lines were already snaking around by the time we got there, in our line alone there had to be a few hundred people ahead of us. Once they open the gates, the line moved quickly, but the way they gave out the bobbleheads was a little chaotic, no real order to it, it would have been easy for people to collect more than one.
The coveted Roberto Alomar Bobblehead, this one is not worth as much as it is out of the box and no longer MIP (Mint in Package). A quick look on Kijiji and Craigslist have them listed for anywhere from $50-100. Even when we were leaving we saw some people offering to buy a bobblehead on the street.
When we left Mississauga it was cloudy and overcast, the forecast was still calling for 60% chance of showers, when we got down there the roof was closed. The Jays were taking batting practice.
Jose Bautista taking a few warm-up swings before getting in the cage.
Next thing we knew they started opening the roof. Not often you get to see it actually open or close while you’re sitting in it.
Some video of the roof starting to open.
We were sitting in the 500 level in Section 525R, row 16, seats 6-10. They are almost right behind home plate with a great view of the field. Unfortunately after the past couple of weeks they have stopped showing replays on the Jumbotron, there were a few close plays that the umpires have blown the calls, so now there is no replays at any of the stadiums.
The roof is almost fully open and we are now sitting in the sun.
The last panel rotating around to the far side.
Prior to the game there were some pre-game ceremonies to honour Robbie Alomar. They played the Journey to Cooperstown on the big screen.
There were some former teammates among the special guests.
Roberto Alomar entered the stadium walking down one of the aisles among the fans, he is the guy in front of the Mountie wearing the suit.
Robbie shaking hands with from L-R, Kelly Gruber, Duane Ward, Devon White, John MacDonald and Paul Beeston.
The MC was Jerry Howarth.
John MacDonald (current Jay) saying a few words, they were teammates in Cleveland when he was starting out. Cito Gaston in the background.
There were a number of video tributes to Robbie.
Robbie with his mother and father thanking the fans.
They had a big number 12 on the field covering second base.
They had special second bases for the game, they had the number 12 on the actual base.
Everyone heading off the field.
On with the game, it was a later start due to the pre-game festivities. On the mound for the Jays was Brandon Morrow.
Jose Bautista watching a ball.
Jose walked and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two run home run to follow, the Jays jump out to an early 2-0 lead.
The wave.
The newest Jay Colby Rasmus was o’fer coming into the game, he broke out with a single and a 2-run double to go 2-4 and now sits with a 0.125 average since coming over from St. Louis.
The first pitcher in relief for the Texas Rangers was Yoshinori Tateyama. A couple of innings later he was followed by Koji Uehara.
It was a good game, the Jays scored runs in each of the first four innings, Brandon Morrow had 11 stikeouts and had a one hitter going through five innings.
The final boxscore for the game. It was a sellout attendance. The people that sat down on either side of us didn’t get a bobblehead. The one family arrived at 11:50 AM and there were none left.
We celebrated Susan’s birthday on Saturday going to see the Harry Potter movie and then dinner at Swiss Chalet. Afterwards it was time for cake. We all love cake!
The girls are making a little extra money this summer watering plants and gardens. They are watering Big Angela’s gardens while they are over in Europe. They will also be watering her neighbours garden for a week starting this week. Here is Angela adjusting the sprinkler and getting a little wet along the way.
A few pictures from Big Angela’s garden (Angela who works with Susan, use to live down the street from us when the girls were young, in order to differentiate between the two Angela’s, she became “Big Angela”).
The plants are still looking good. The girls have been doing a good job.
This week they will also be watering Judi’s vegetable garden while they are away. During the school year, Angela and Claudia were walking Judi’s daugther to her babysitters after school a couple of times a week.
We are sitting at the AMC theatre waiting for Harry Potter to start. Free refill on popcorn and drinks. Lights are dimming.
This weeks Soccer Photo of the Week is from Angela’s game on Thursday night. They only had 10 girls, so there were no subs and they ran all game. It was a great game against the first place team. They played them to a 2-2 draw. Here is Angela throwing the ball in.
You can see some of the five subs the grey team had for the game.
