Summer is Baseball

Now this is a great way to spend a summer evening - enjoying some good baseball. Several weeks ago the family headed to Arlington for a baseball game with several hundred other ACU alums (and about 34,000 other fans).

When I headed to college five years ago, I decided that I needed to become a sports fan. I've never been a big sports fanatic, so I chose one sport to follow in particular: baseball. My family still looks at me a little strangely whenever I talk about baseball as it seems so atypical for me. Only a few years ago, I would have given you a blank stare if you mentioned RISP, WHIP, RBI or ERA. And honestly, sometimes I surprise myself a little too, because these days I'm a baseball fan.

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." ~Walt Whitman

Summer is the Olympic Games

I absolutely love the Olympics. I never can quite decide whether I like the summer or the winter games better, as usually I prefer whichever is going on at the time.

1992 Barcelona Olympic Stadium - the only Olympic venue I've visited

I end up spending hours and hours watching gymnastics, swimming, beach volleyball and water polo. And, of course, as many of the equestrian events as possible. When I was younger, I dreamed of being an Olympian someday. I wanted to be a figure skater or a gymnast - either would do. I spent a lot of time in our den doing floor exercises, which in my case mostly meant somersaults, handstands and cartwheels. We would line the floor with pillows in order to avoid cracking our heads on the brick wall in the den.

I tend to like swimming and gymnastics better than track and field, so I'm a little disappointed that today is the last day of swimming. We still have the individual gymnastic events to go, so I do have that to look forward to. I've also enjoyed the fact that the games are in London this year. England is my second home, and I've loved seeing images of Great Britain all week.

In all of the moments of glory that we have witnessed in these games, I think my very favourite video so far might be of these parents of gymnast Aly Raisman. Watch this video clip and see if you don't laugh out loud! Trust me, if your sense of humor is anything like mine then it's worth clicking on that link.