1. Friday hike | 2. Night light | 3. Day light | 4. First Landing | 5. In a row | 6. Autumn at the Beach | 7. Lucy meets the water | 8. First at bat | 9. Making it matter | 10. Cocktail | 11. Breakfast sandwich | 12. Sweet ride | 13. Cal | 14. Bust… — 1. Friday hike | 2. Night light | 3. Day light | 4. First Landing | 5. In a row | 6. Autumn at the Beach | 7. Lucy meets the water | 8. First at bat | 9. Making it matter | 10. Cocktail | 11. Breakfast sandwich | 12. Sweet ride | 13. Cal | 14. Buster | 15. Easy Sunday

It was good. We all seem to have nabbed Cal's slight cold, but otherwise, I'd clock this weekend as a good one. I'm back on my hike routine with my dear friend Tracy and that was pretty much the highlight of my Friday. I wish I could take you guys with me sometime. Wouldn't that be fun?

Neel came home from work to find a new stretchy leash sitting on the counter. When he asked what it was for, I said, "I'm taking Lucy to the beach tomorrow. You're more than welcome to come with me if you want." It was at least the 3rd weekend that I'd wanted to go for a walk on the beach and we hadn't. I was tired of that. So we got up on Saturday and took Lucy to the beach.

I loved it.

She remains uncertain.

Saturday afternoon Cal had his first baseball game of the season. He's playing Little League Fall Ball, which is pretty low key. It's an instructional league, and it's giving Cal some much needed at-bats. His team had only had two practices before Saturday's game, and, well, it showed. But here's the thing. Our kids (boys AND girl) are a bunch of scrappy 13 and 14 year olds playing against SIXTEEN YEAR OLDS. Need I say more?

Those big kids had a lot of swagger. They sauntered up to the plate. They jawed with their coach (not impressed). They jawed with the smattering of parents and friends in the stands. There weren't many of us there, and since at the start of the game the sun was shining directly on the bleachers on the 3rd base side (where the visiting team generally sits) a lot of us were sitting on the 1st base line. Parents from both sides chatted and talked. It was all very friendly; these games are more often than not.

One of our kids drew a walk, and I cheered. (To be honest, there was little to cheer for for our guys, so we were taking what we could get.) The catcher from the other team (yes, you read that right) , takes off his mask and says to me, "Wait, are you for them?"

"Yes. I am."

"Why are you sitting on this side? You should be sitting on that side," and he cocks his head back to the 3rd base line.

Do I need to remind you that this is the TEENAGE PLAYER FOR THE OTHER TEAM?

Perhaps, given the distance, he didn't see my eyebrows go up as I said, "I can sit anywhere I want, darling."

Cal was next at bat.

It's possible that I embarrassed myself with how loud I whistled and cheered when he batted in two runs with a double that went over 300 feet. Perhaps.

Boy earned himself some wings for dinner that night. And you know what? Even he and his teammates noticed how disrespectful that other team was to their coach during and after the game. They lost, but they learned a lot and they improved over the course of the afternoon, even. I'll take a loss like that, where our kids hold their heads up and respect the men who come to coach them over a sloppy win any day.

Back to the beach Sunday morning. This time to meet my friend (and photographer crush) Kim and her husband and their dog Buster. Lucy is still uncertain, but she's getting there. We might even let her off leash next week. She can't run too far, right?

Back Friday, my sweets! This is my last week off. Promise! XOXO