Princeton, New Jersey..........

Princeton New Jersey, we went to the University on the look out for Harry Potter, this is where Daniel Radcliffe is studying. A lovely student town, we had a nice time here just wandering around the campus and relaxing.

Philadelphia..........

So ever since hearing "Yo, Adrian", it was always a big thing of mine to run up the Rocky steps......!!!! I wanted to do it ever since I can remember, our friends are from Philly, so said they would take us while on our trip. We drove from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia, and as the boys are big Phillies fans we also wanted to go to the stadium, which we didnt get to do but will next time. We got to the Museum and looking up the steps I thought I can run up them no problem. There were so many steps it was so deceiving, I was exhausted when reaching the top. It was fantastic, I got a big lump in my throat I was finally there. The kids were loving it, although Sam didnt really know who Rocky was, what an impact that film had on Philadelphia the tour buses were rolling up and people were running up the steps, it was a lot of fun.........!!!! When we came home we watched all the movies, Rocky is still my favourite, it was awesome to watch the movie actually having been there.....

Washington D.C.

We went on holiday this year to Washington D.C. went to see Arlington Cemetery, where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded 24hrs a day. We saw the changing of the guard which was an impressive sight. It was like watching the Terminator, very weird but really good. When we were on the tour of the cemetary we saw JFK's memorial, and the memorial for one of the pilots of 9/11 that flew into the Twin Towers. We also went into the Capitol Building, and stood in the rotunda, an amazing place to be in. We went to see White House and saw Obama's dog out on a walk. We saw all the usual tourist sights the only complain was that it was a lot, a lot of walking........!!!! We went with our friends "The Harveys" and had a blast. We ended up getting on a tour bus as there was too much walking and the kids were flagging towards the end of the 3 days we were there. We went in all the Smithsonian Museums, found a couple of Irish bars which were so not Irish..........LOL

Bitter Sweet................

So, after Sams 9/10 year old All Stars won the District Championship, we had to tell the boys that Maggie was ill.... Instead of spending the night celebrating, Sam spent the night crying. Maggie went to doggie heaven on July 18th, we miss her so much, and I cant type about that anymore........!!!!

A lot of blogging...........

I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately, (sorry Dad, Auntie M). I promise I will do better. We have had a very busy summer and a lot has happened. I will start from where we left off...........

9-10yr olds win District Championship 2009

Top picture:- I wondered why Sam wanted to be 99, when he grows up he wants to be just like Matt...... Well we did it, we are District 3 Champions for the 2nd year in a row, what a great game. We played South Orange in the final, Sam was starting pitcher, and did a fantastic job. We played well to get 2-1 us in the first inning. In the second inning we ran amock and scored 13 runs, the other team lost the battle right there and then, although they did score another 4 runs to make it 15-5. We needed one run to end the game in the 4th inning, and its Wyatt upto bat, we have a runner on 3rd, you just know Wyatt is going to hit the ball, and there it is, a nice hit and we get the winning run. It was not as tense as last year as we had such a huge lead still it was very cool to see the kids win it again. They played really well, we are the smallest team, but the biggest hitters. We had a great turn out from the Celebration crowd, people came to support us and they didn't even have kids in the game, thank you. Johnny Boy plays tonight in the Semi Final.......GO CELEBRATION

Celebration beat BVL.......!!!!!!

Celebration Juniors put on an amazing display of team work today. We played BVL, a team we have never ever beaten, ever. Any time we play them we get scared of the words "BVL". We were awesome, John played centre field, 1st base then ended the game as catcher for Matt. We were winning 8-0 in the first inning got a bit nervous and ended up letting them back in the game, we got to the 6th inning and we found ourselves 8-11 down due to a grand slam and a home run. Big Ray steps up to bat and puts the ball in play gets us the runs needed to put us ahead in the game 12-11. They were last at bat so we needed to hold them in order to win. Matt steps up and throws a great inning and strikes out the last batter. Let me tell you, that was the most amazing peice of team work, ever. We didnt let them get the better of us. If we never ever ever ever ever win a game of baseball again that win was the icing on the cake for us........ GO CELEBRATION!!!!!! (Dad, John is on the right of the picture in the Red Catchers Gear)

9-10yr olds reach the Final

Sam pitched in todays game to reach the Final again. We played a fantastic game against Kissimmee All Stars, they were the team we kept in the tournament by winning on Wednesday. Sam got a great hit that almost hit the fence he was happy as could be about it. We are just gonna stay relaxed now and chill out till Monday when we play the final. GO CELEBRATION.......!!!!!!

Junior All Stars 09

Celebration Junior All Star Team 09, what a great group of kids we have this year. Over the past 3 years we have had some massive egos on our All Star Team that probably cost us a few wins, this year we have had the best group of kids I have seen in a long time, they have bonded well together they play awesome together and all have a blast. John has been playing centre field and 1st base. We are all hitting the ball well and making very few errors, we are the first Junior team to ever win a game in All Stars, that in its self is a great achievement. I am praying so hard that these boys do something amazing and make it to the final, maybe even win this tournament because I know they have the ability to do so. I also want them to do it as this is Johns last few games playing for CLL. GO CELEBRATION JUNIORS.......!!!!!

9-10yr olds Defending Champions

Last night was complete "de ja vu" 9-10 yr olds were defending their championship from last year. We were playing St Cloud, (the team we beat to win the championship) the game was tied all the way, we had to play 2 extra innings to finally clinch it. Sam played 1st base and did a great job. Our pitcher Joesph played so well under extreme pressure. We had bases loaded with one out and he struck the 3rd batter out with his very last pitch......... Extremely stressful for the parents but such a great feeling to see our kids win. Again we were the smallest team out there with the biggest hearts....... Pray for good things to happen.

High School Summer Baseball

John has been playing on the High School Summer baseball team and has been having a great time. He has been catching and playing centre field, we played a tournament in Disney Wide World of Sports this week and played at the U18 level, most of our kids are 14, 15 year olds, we got smoked every game but the other coaches made nice comments that we were a good team and when we "grow up" we will be great. The opposing teams were truly fully grown men we were playing, and some were even on the professional level. We did good hung in there every game, John played great and every time he got up to bat he hit the ball and made every play that came to him. Well done Johnny boy.........!!!!!

Coolin off........

I cant believe how hot it is already Its hot hot hot...... its going to be 100 degrees today. Way to hot for us......!!!!! Yesterday we went to a friends house for dinner and cooled off on the water slide. Sam loved it and had great fun playing out till late, the dogs had fun too. There are no baseball/Footie practices today so we are staying in doors and having a Tiger Woods Golf tournament on the XBox.

Sam Graduation

Sam Graduated into Middle School last week, he dressed up smart, which was so unusual for Sam who now likes to dress sloppy, whatever happened to my smart well groomed kid I used to have in Liverpool........ This was Sam's teacher for the 5th grade Mr Melrose, he and Sam got along like a house on fire and had a great year. Sam will miss him when he goes into 6th grade. Sam does not go anywhere now without his cube as you can see he also has it here, he loves that cube and has the "shakes" when he leaves it at home........

Land of the Giants

Are we really that small......? We were host family this week to some soccer coaches from England. Last night was our last night with them and we had some fun. I didn't realise how tall they were both of them well over 6ft, and Daniel (our friend) was as tall as them. The tape measure came out and we measured Owen he was the tallest at over 6ft4in he said everyone thinks he plays Basketball for Miami Heat LOL. The kids had a great time at camp and played some great soccer, but it was very hot, and needed some down time in the afternoons before evening camp. Sam got the soccer bug again and is playing in a tournament this weekend.

Rubik's madness.....

After a long awaited year of Rubiks madness Sam has finally completed the Rubiks cube. His goal was to complete it in this school year. Today is the last day of school and he can complete it fully in under 3mins. We had him complete it yesterday for the camera he did it in 1.54 seconds but Mum forgot to press the record button. So every time he completes it quicker we will post on here for you all to see. GO SAM.....!!!!!!

Graduation 2009

It was Grad Night tonight, John got all dressed up looking good for the dance. It was so weird dressing him up to go out, made me remember when he was just a little boy and I look at him now and he is so grown up. The party was at the clubhouse in Celebration and all his friends were there, when we got there, we took some photos and then they all went in to party the night away. I cannot believe he is going to the High School this year.........

Baseball Weekend

We played a baseball tournament this weekend that meant we had to be up at 5.45am both Saturday and Sunday, I am exhausted.....!!!! We played AAA and we did quite well, we are a AA team and played up for this tournament. We won 2 games and lost 2 games, but we got to play in the stadium that the Houston Astro's train in so the kids were happy about that. John is number 8 and here he is with his pal Noah observing the field, they said it was awesome playing on a real field LOL. John and Sam have driven to St Petes to watch the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cleveland Indians.

Guitar Lesson

So Sam has now mastered the Rubiks cube his next mission is the Guitar. Keith John and Sam have wanted to learn to play the guitar for years now, luckily enough we persuaded our Barber Neil to come and give the boys lessons on a Tuesday and we will make him his tea, luckily for us he agreed. Neil is awesome on the guitar and so good with these Birchalls, he is also from Liverpool County Road. Neil is making it look so easy I think I can play too.......!!!!! The kids want to learn to play "Wonderwall" first and "Ring of Fire"............LOL It didn't take long before our John dropped his plectrum in the guitar hole, Sam started complaining his fingers hurt and Keith could play all night.

UB40

Not a very good picture but they would not allow cameras into the House of Blues, UB40 last night were brilliant. We saw them back in 91 in Manchester and to see them again 18 years later was fantastic. I was a bit worried as I didn't know Ali Campbell had left the band, no one told me over here......!!!! Duncan his brother stepped in and was every bit as good as his older brother he had all the moves and sounded exactly the same. They sang the old fav's 1 in 10, Tyler, of course Red Red Wine. We had a great night with a couple of good friends and came home and put every UB40 cd I have on my iphone. They are on tonight in St Pete's and if I didn't have plans I would of drove down there and saw them again they were that good.

Perseverance......!!!!!

Well done to Sam, after months of trying to master the rubik's cube finally he made it. I cant believe the patience it took to work this out he researched all about algorithms himself on the internet with a little help from Mr Melrose and Hank. I have to admit I cant believe he has done it, the rubik's cube drives me nuts. Sam has a message for Grandad, "Grandad, I will bring my Rubik's cube over to England and do it for you and Nana".