opening day and cody's first outing!

 

friday was opening day for the batavia muckdogs! what is a muckdog? i have no idea….google brings up every team with the mascot of muckdog when you ask too. but I can tell you they are the short a affiliate team of the marlins, located in a small town between rochester and buffalo. the field is the oldest field of the new york penn league, most of the buildings in town are from the 1800’s too, so we’ve done a complete 180 coming from palm beach. 

perks over here getting free tickets every game for the "box seats" (i.e. the seats under the netting) i'm not complaining! i've gotten to meet people who are various host families, season ticket holders, family members of the other players and i even got to meet the pitching coordinator's wife who kindly let me borrow one of her blankets, i wasn't quite prepared for cold nights after the heat and humidity of florida. lesson learned. 

the opening series for the team was against the auburn doubledays, sadly the first two games were lost. but it was so nice to finally watch some baseball after months of rehab and training. there are even fireworks every friday night! it's pretty comical, the music is oldies and slow and the show is pretty intermittent, but none the less, fireworks!

cody’s first outing under the lights went well even though the statistics might paint a little bit of a different story. he entered the game in the 5^th and for the 5^th and 6^th innings he was perfect, six batters up and six batters down. he was getting a lot of groundballs and was throwing all three of his pitches for strikes. then in the 7^th inning he ran into a bit of trouble. after getting a quick out he walked the next guy and then surrendered a double to put runners on second and third. then getting the next batter 0-2 he threw a good curveball down in the zone that the hitter drove up the middle for two runs. cody then retired the next two batters ending the inning on a strikeout. 

his line:

3 IP, 2 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 BB, 1K

if you’re interested in keeping up in real time or want to see past info you can always check out cody’s stats here:

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=t511&player_id=641667#/career/R/pitching/2015/ALL

  pretty excited for our little adventure in all this number 35.

finally, a team....

So, here we are. After five months of spring training, rehab for tommy john, and extended spring training, cody has been placed on an actual team! Finally, were getting into some real baseball people. Like with bleachers and fans and not having to wake up before seven everyday.

We knew for about over a month when those who were in spring training were going to be leaving for teams. But, we only found out less than 24 hours before the players flights took off where we were going. Which meant driving around all weekend with our car packed to the brim yet again with all of our belongings. Okay, not all, we left even more behind. Living with less with every move.

We are excited to announce that cody will be playing for the Batavia muckdogs. Where is Batavia and what is a muckdog, you might ask? It’s a small town in upstate New York and I honestly still have no idea.

I’m starting to think this is more of a roadtrip blog than a baseball blog!

Cody’s mode of transportation was a three hour plane flight, lucky him. Mine is a 20 hour drive up the entire east coast. And today was day one, 9 hours into South Carolina. Only had one fun stop today in Savannah, Georgia. Where I enjoyed probably one of the best cold brews yet at The Coffee Fox and found a tiny organic café for a late lunch. I wish I had more time to walk around and explore, it was so beautiful with old brick buildings and spanish moss hanging from the trees lining the roads. Marking it on my list of places to come back and spend a weekend (or longer) in while we live on the east coast!

Cody’s first game is Friday! Hopefully it doesn’t take me two months to blog about it….

on the mound

has it been over a month since the last post?! i am ashamed....and busy.....

i've had the greatest joy of getting to become closer with the wife of the couple we live with. she is selflessly involved in our church and it has been so fun getting to join her in a lot of it. pair that with my job that work from home and making a lot of new friends, who i am very sad to be leaving soon....i'm making excuses....but that's my short update!

in better news, guess who is throwing in games again?

finally. one whole inning. welcome to rehab.

a little over a week ago, cody pitched in a game for the first time in almost two years and there were two fans to watch, spencer who played with cody in college and myself. extended spring training games apparently aren't making any headlines or worth even selling tickets for ;)

here's how it went:

1 IP, 0 R, 0 H,  0 BB, 1 K

sooooo ready for that in normal people language? me too. i literally just learned how to write that.

he pitched one inning, allowed zero runs, no hits, no "base on balls" aka walks, and one strike out.

his velocity was sitting in the 89-91 mph range. hopefully, it continues to go up.

there have been more innings since, but because minor leagues is just so informative about when you're going to play I keep missing them. but there will be two games this week, so i'll be sure to do my due diligence in cataloging those here.

here's the photo i got! sorry you have to look through the fence....it's a little awkward being the only girl in the stands with like 15 players, let alone getting up to the fence to take a better shot...soon, soon. especially since cody got me a swanky new camera, yay!!!!

let me know if you have any requests for specific baseball (or not) updates :) hoping to have a blog post soon about moving to a team!!! it's going to be either New York or North Carolina....any guesses?

polka dots?

Hello there! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here and Ashley wanted me to give you a little update on how baseball is going and how my new arm is holding up.

            Spring Training officially started this week and with that begins the 2015 season. Things are going well as I’m approaching being back to 100% game ready which should be in about a month and half, give or take. For those who know a little bit about the game, I’ve been throwing Live BP’s (batting practice) and will soon advance to simulated games.  Finally after that I will be able to throw in an ACTUAL game, after a very very long year of not playing.

            Now to explain the oddly shaped and colored circles on my right arm… My wife instantly sees them as polka dots, not shocking, its one of her favorite patterns. Unfortunately for her, I’m not sporting a fresh polka dot tattoo but rather the after effects of a treatment on my arm called ‘cupping’. Put simply its like a deep tissue massage. The purpose is to improve circulation to that area and help with the healing process.  A little glass ‘cup’ is placed on the injured area and the skin is sucked up into the cup using a suction pump. Then you leave the cups on for about 10 minutes. It looks like this.. 

Then after you look like this…

As to whether I’m a firm believer in the treatment is hard to say. I did feel better the next day but that could have been due to a number of different things. But I’m willing to try a procedure that the training stuff believes will help my arm feel better and get me back on the field faster. 

let's go "downtown"....

this weekend proved to be a smack in the face "you're not in california anymore duh" weekend. and it all started with planning a date night. each week we trade off planning a date night that costs under 20 bucks (which sounds easy until you realize you've done coffee the past ten weeks!) and this week was my week, and they usually are wednesday but this week it was pushed to saturday. it's kind of funny since it makes it sound like we have to make time to see each other, but in reality cody gets home from the field after only about three to four hours. soooooo date night is really more about getting out of the house and doing something that we have to pay for since we aren't in the position to be doing that daily even though we have enough time too. it's like retirement but backwards and with way less money.

well, this is actually way more challenging when you're placed in a new area, home field advantage is gone! so i googled. yep i'm such a  romantic obviously that i turned to google and typed "cheap things to do in florida." and apparently it's happy hour, that's the exciting and cheap thing to do in florida according to the internet...aren't you supposed to make my life easier?!?! oh well. so i looked up areas to walk around, because that is one of my favorite things to do, walk around and people watch and explore new places and cultures, so what a easy thing being in a completely new home.

exploring is basically the easiest ever back in the golden state, there's a downtown in every county that is actually way fun and you can see the personality of each city in each one. downtown LA for example is world's different from downtown san diego, which if you ask me i'll choose san diego any day over LA, sorry LA, love you sometimes though. seriously, you can walk around for hours and not be bored by looking at new restaurants and stores and people or quaint little city houses. there's always something new to notice too, like that graffiti of a majestic wolf-unicorn-cheetah or that house with a large gnome collection you looked over while instagramming that modern hipster coffee shop you just gave an outrageous amount of money to for the world's smallest yet most delicious latte. 

so, after much research of places closer than miami (saving that for another time, right cody? please?) i landed on the riverwalk of downtown ft lauderdale. sweet right?! you mean like the riverwalk in san antonio?? loved that place!

and so off we went....

and we were met by a scenic ghost town.

what a sad, sad, sad little attempt for a "downtown"....okay i'm being judgey but i've never seen so many empty store fronts in my life! the directory had spaces for about 30 places but only 4 places were written up on the board....it's almost laughable. but we gave it a shot and kept walking around, at least to find some coffee....

i do hope they improve this place because there are so many rundown and abandoned treasures like this!!! i can already picture myself eating breakfast with a coffee on that patio overlooking the river...

it really was a scenic place, but it felt so empty!

a place with buildings and walls like this, it deserves more places than "the tilted kilt"....seriously.....

after a failed attempt on yelp to find what could have been a fun little coffee stop, we gave up and went to our tried and true, west palm beach.

we've been a few times now and it reminds me of pasadena, so we ate and grabbed coffee and dessert at a newer place.

before i talk about that i want to make a disclosure that i'm a fan of the creative and specialty coffee shops, seriously, i'm a sucker for some good latte art, but two or three hearts in there and i'll be back time and time again. but, sometimes a big glob of foam and alternative 90's music does the soul good.

c-street coffee.

that ugly foam cappuccino was amazing, the flour-less chocolate cake that you spelled "flowerless" and served in a styrofoam container, and the large group of older ladies that looked like they loved their mom jeans for their comfort and not the trendiness of them, side by side with their husbands who enjoyed a good sock and sandal with their tommy bahama shirt made it even better.

 
speaking of people who could care less about their style, can we talk about how this guy right here went from wearing nike drifits and baggy jeans to rolled up slim fits and the best socks ever....

he just wanted you all to know he's come a far way.

so there it is folks, sometimes a adventure fail turns into a great night, laughing about ending up in the wrong side of town and walking into the india festival.

thanks for saving our night west palm! you're a little gem to us now.....


but i still miss CA downtowns......

hello florida!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY.

finally, i'm sitting here with my husband after almost a month in our apartment above a couple from the church's house. boy oh boy, i do not recommend ever being apart for that long unless absolutely necessary.

but first, the drive continued before getting here.

by recommendation of lauren's dad who grew up in florida we stopped in destin to eat and see the gulf of mexico and it's sugar sand beaches. literally, the sand looked and felt like sugar! but it was also super squeaky sand (i hope i'm not the only one who has felt or talked of squeaky sand because apparently to cody there is no such thing....)

also, the gulf is still freezing in winter too, goodness, when am i gonna feel warm again?! (spoiler alert: south florida is quite warm)

as much as i wish i could say we made it from destin to jupiter, we had to stop and turn it into a two day drive. gainsville, florida, home of the gators! nothing to report there, it was eat, sleep, get up and go, the final stretch.

that four hour drive, was the longest drive ever it felt like. but we made it and moved in and it already feels like home.

 
thanks marlins, i do feel very welcomed indeed.

The Roadtrip: Part 4

after much driving, a lot of podcasts and  half an audio book, we made it through texas. (big fat exhal) if i ever see another rocky landscape i might have to be committed for flipping over ten cows.

anyway,

we made to the south. and let me tell you the view instantly changes, hello swampland and interstate 10 being risen up over the water. it is gorgeous actually, if you ever get the chance, drive from louisiana to alabama. i was in constant awe of how the entire freeway was one long bridge. and truth be told, i actually hate bridges, crazy scared by them, my palms get clammy and my heart beats a little faster when i have to drive over them, walking i'm totally fine. but after about 15 minutes (and after facing a massive fear on the glass bridge skywalk) i came to enjoy the views and wonder that we could see this part of america thanks to that highway being over the water.

also, as a fun note, we drove for two straight days in a rainstorm. and all i had brought for clothing was for warming weather, silly rabbit! so, i looked like this:

man, look at that picture quality, at least i didn't say at the beginning of this blog to expect some amazing photography or anything! but you get the point, i'm the blonde california girl who expects everywhere to be 70 and sunny in the winter. i need to get out more.

first stop for our trip in the south, new orleans! i've always wanted to see it, big cities call out my name for a little adventure, but never to live there. driving into new orleans was actually heartbreaking though, there is still so much damage from the hurricane and you see how that plus a lot poverty can affect such a once beautiful place.

it was a week before mardi gras though, and these folk were already gearing up (fun fact: we stopped in alabama to see my dear friend lauren and she informed me that mardi gras actually started in alabama, not new orleans! and it was a family friendly event surprisingly, the more you know.....) so the houses looked a little something like this:

i felt like the houses that weren't all dressed up were a bunch of party poopers or something!

walking around the french quarter it truly is so unique, i wanted to take all the buildings with me and put them in a better neighborhood and then live in them!

we decided to walk down the infamous bourbon st. but we walked a little to far down it and remembered something, this beautiful city is deeply corrupted by sin. my dad and i were invited into a strip club, and the guy really just didn't understand why we were so appalled that we didn't want to come in....after leaving new orleans i kinda thought about how this is how sin is, it seems so beautiful and welcoming on the outside but when you get the heart of it and open your eyes, it's so repulsive. this is new orleans, on the surface, it is lovely old buildings but inside those buildings hide some horrible things, white washed tombs anyone?

turning around and deciding we should stick to the more resturant part of the french quarter we found this little family band. all the kids had to be under 12 years old, and they were unreal! (you can see a video on my instagram)

 they were a little ray of sunshine among the gloomy rain! and they had the widest range of music, going from "when the saints go marching in" to "ring of fire" without missing beat. the girl with the tamborine was probably my favorite to watch though as she closed her eyes and sang and whipped her head around in marvelous fashion.

naturally, being in new orleans we had to try some creole cuisine!

apparently, this is the place for the best and most favorite chicken and sausage gumbo in town, i have to admit it lived up to that!

before heading out to alabama, we were told we had to try the local fair of chicory coffee, after walking around a bit to find a specific place recommended, we ended up going into a "smoke and coffee shop," true blue i guess. i don't know if chicory coffee is for me, but i'm always up for trying new things and local food!

back on the road to spanish fort, alabama, where my friend lauren lives! i finally got to me her sweetest and most entertaining family. they live in the cutest neighborhood where all the streets are based of "gone with the wind," i wish i took a picture of my namesake street! yup, named after a dude, thanks mom!

here's lauren and i in our finest hour:

after leaving her house, we went to a bass pro shop, when in rome my dad always says!! i had never been before, and woah, i was so overwhelmed and all i wanted to do was buy one of those tree chair things and camp. dad had some fun with the fish tank....

next stop, final stop. finally florida is in sight.