Summer is here!

We’ve had a number of events in the past few days that serve as fitting kick-offs to summer.

It started with Nolan’s final baseball game of the season. He played third, first and stood at the pitcher’s mound (a coach pitches) and made two or three outs in the field.

At bat he was the last batter of the game. His manager was pitching and I was catching. After a few strikes and fouls he got a weak hit that came to rest about four feet in front of him. It was quite unspectacular. His manager and I looked at the ball, looked at each other and we both seemed to be thinking the same thing: we can’t end like this. So we both laughed and called it foul. Nolan got one more pitch. This one was a strong grounder that rolled all the way out into right field. Since he was the last batter he got to round all of the bases.

After the game the kids all got trophies. Their manager got a baseball autographed by all the kids and a bobble head doll that said something like “#1 Coach” on the base.

Later that afternoon we took the boys to see “Cars.” This was Thomas’ first trip to the movie theater. I watch video clips and movie trailers on the computer with the kids. Thomas loves to watch the trailers for “Cars,” or as he calls it, “Funny Trucks.” He did well at the movies. He got a little restless toward the end and started moving from seat to seat. But for the most part he was well behaved and had a good time.

We all thought the movie was great. I imagine this DVD will wind up on the Christmas list.

We saw the movie at the Latham Circle Mall, which is of course right across the street from Krispy Kreme. On our way to the theater we noticed a steady stream of people going in and out. So we figured that after the movie we’d go over for our final doughnuts before they closed for good.

When the movie ended we headed over to Krispy Kreme only to be greeted by a couple of employees standing outside who informed us they were closed…for good. They were supposed to shutdown at 10 p.m. Sunday. But it turns out that during the time we were in the movie theater they ran out of doughnuts and weren’t going to bother making more. So that’s the end of Krispy Kreme.

We explained to Nolan that they went out of business and he said, “But they give me hats!” referring to the cool old school paper hats all kids get for free. The boys were bummed, but they got over it pretty quick when we decided to go to McDonald’s instead for dinner.

Father’s Day got off to a great start Sunday morning. I was awakened with breakfast in bed. I got to lay there sipping my coffee, skimming the Sunday paper and watching SportsCenter. There are not many better ways to start your day! I also got cards the kids made and a cool magnet Nolan made for me at school.

It was a beautiful day Sunday. After church we decided to go for a family picnic/bike ride. We drove to Lock 8 in Rotterdam just be different. We ate lunch there and then hopped on our bikes and rode a few miles west along the Mohawk River to a park where a creek feeds into the river. It was a good spot for Thomas to dip his feet in the water while Nolan and I tried skipping some rocks.

We bought a new bike rack for the car a few days ago that we used to get to Rotterdam. Although we enjoyed the bike ride, let me tell you, dealing with this rack was a nerve-wracking pain in the ass. It seemed really hard to get it to fit securely on the car, especially after the bikes were mounted. And as we were driving they seemed to be swaying around far too much. We could see cars behind us backing off for fear they’d wind up with a mountain bike on their hood. So I think we’ll be returning the rack.

Later in the afternoon we went over to my sister’s house to hop in the pool and then enjoyed a great cookout. That was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow is Nolan’s last day of school. But today his class put on a concert, which was great. The kids were so cute. I hope to YouTube (is that a verb now, like Google?) some video of it at some point.

Refreshments were served for everyone in his classroom after the concert, where we said our goodbyes to Nolan’s teacher, Mrs. Bacchia.

Tomorrow he finds out who his first grade teacher will be. Next year will be strange with Nolan in school for the full day and Thomas starting preschool. I’m sure Kris will have some more thoughts to share on the end of the school year.

So that was our action-packed few days. Let summer begin!