Free to Make a Wiffle Ball Game as Extravagant as we Please

104.  That's what the thermometer in my car read today.  And close to it for the past few days.  I'm kind of a literal pansy--I don't tolerate heat well at all.  Gives me migraines. Makes me sweat (as it does to everyone else--but I realllly hate to sweat).  But sometimes we ignore those things for the sake of family, puppies, and babies.

On Sunday we had our July 4th picnic and Wiffle Ball Classic (you may remember some of the details from Memorial Day).  My brother, one of my sisters, and a few of their friends had planned for several months a few celebratory things in honor of the 25th anniversary of our picnic/ball game.  I wasn't aware of the extent of it all--if my brother applied himself to everything as he did to this he'd probably be rich.  This post is going to be a bit picture heavy--keep in mind that all of this is going on under a hundred degree sun in mid-afternoon.

 Welcome to our home!  Ignore the parched flowers--I promise they've been watered.

My uncle made this sign to welcome family to the field (a.k.a. the backyard).

 

 Birds' eye view....

 Special 25-year emblem--you can see how dry it's been by all the brown patchy grass.  Sexy.

 I don't know why but this amuses me.

I told the ump to make his little clicky thing read an exciting pitch count.  I guess this is exciting.  Depends on the score, I suppose.

My brother and sister kept it all official-like with chosen teams lining up on the baselines:

 At this point everyone is wondering what all the pomp and circumstance is about.

My big brother then read a speech he wrote.  Please note that this is the guy who couldn't be paid to do his homework in high school, and he wrote a fer-lipping speech for a picnic!  He went on to say how much these events have meant and still mean to all of us.  How 25 years ago my dad and his cousin were sitting outside staring at the backyard wondering how they could kick it up a notch.   And how events like this help to make our family even closer.

 I'm pretty sure my nephew wanted his dad to hush and get on with things.  He usually looks a lot more like Harry Potter but he got buzzed for the summer (my nephew, not my brother).

Everyone's attention was then called to right field (I think--right field? behind first base? I think it's right field) for the unveiling of the Memory Field Hall of Fame and its first two inductees:

I love how my sister is all "Ta-da!" in this picture.  I had to tell her to be easy on that perfectly usable piece of fabric she's rumpling in her hand.  My other sister was wandering around with the video camera for most of the game.

 

 

Don't all Hall-of-Famers get a bottle of celebratory wine? No really--I'm asking. I don't know :) 

Instead of a CD, this time the National Anthem was sung.  That's moxie.

 

Backyard ball game or not, it's still a bit solemn (these are some of my favorite pics).

My mom always throws out the first pitch.  She told me she'd hurt me if I put her picture up here. As such, this is not my mom (my mom's not Korean--I don't know who this is. It was on Google Images).  I do really admire how high in the air her leg is, though.  You can pretend this is my mom if you like.  She wouldn't mind.

Here are a few action shots:

I'm mostly putting these up as my way of saying "Hey, my camera does pretty well with action shots."

And in case you were wondering just how we get the score up on that scoreboard....

An old laundry pole with a clothespin duct-taped to it. Obviously.

After the game, they gave out 2 trophies:  MVP of the game and Home Run Derby winner (they had that before the game).

One of those trophies is made out of Miller Lite can.  Classy.  It is.  It used to be a Budweiser can (insert guffaw here).

OK. Game over.  Here's some cuteness.

 When this guy was a  pup he could fit in your palm.  Now?  His head is the size of a punch bowl.  But he's such a big doofus he's not scary at all.  He drools, but he's not scary.  Just slightly icky sometimes.

I love this shot of Jefferson.  It was so hot even he wasn't up for much nonsense.

When I saw these two they had just finished getting their drinks.  I asked them to re-pose like that and Girl-on-the-Right said to Girl-on-the-Left "We have to dig them out again so it looks real for the picture."  Too cute.

This one had the right idea.  In addition to the sweetest little embroidered flowers on her shirt.

Look how wide awake she is a few hours later--this picture cracks me up.

There was the most wonderful looking American flag cake with blueberries and strawberries and a cream cheese icing.  Sorry, no picture--I ate it.  The cake, not the picture.  I got to the dessert table late and I thought it might be unpatriotic to show a half-eaten flag cake.  Plus it was flying off the table and there just wasn't time.

As if all of this wasn't enough--my brother/sister have one more trick up their sleeves for Labor Day, but I don't want to reveal yet because it's supposed to be a surprise.  We'll see how well I do with that.