Christmas in January

Well, since my dad spent Christmas in Chicago with Cristie's family and then we met in Florida on the 29th we didn't get an opportunity to have a Christmas with my dads side of the family.

It was a very casual night with pizza, chicken wings, salad and just lots of catching up. My uncle Scott made a great discovery - Ritz, my dad and Cristie's labradoodle, has a great resemblance to Will Farrell. (I'll get a picture and post it)
After a quick couple rounds of presents we pulled out the Wii. In Chicago, Adelle and Julia got the new dance game. This pretty much provided the entertainment for the rest of the night!

This is my uncle and cousin attempting the game, my dad singing in the back, and me dying of laughter


And miss Avery got some very cute Kitty Jammies


Oh family, at least you can always fall back on 'I didn't pick them' ... right?!?! =]

International Softball Federation Tournament 2010

Most of you already know my softball history and my love for the game, so when I was approached to go to Plant City, Florida for 2 weeks to help coach an elite 16U team in an international tournament I couldn't say no. Not only was this going to be a great building block for my coaching background; but, the whole point of this tournament it to help spark bring softball back into the Olympics.However, let me tell you, 2 weeks is a LONG time!!! Overall, the NW Elite team finished 5th (out of 30+) and I got to spend some quality time with my father and a long-time good friend (college national champ, 3 time All-American & USA player) Ashley Charters - inside joke because this has become her intro. to everywhere she goes =]

This was a pre-game warm up game of Feet, Knees, Butt, Back...They loved it ;0)When the team didn't make it to the final day of play we helped Ash put on a little clinic with the teams from Korea, Bahamas, Russia, Canada, and Philippines. Here's Ash teaching her throwing technique.

We also got to spend 2 days at Disney World - 1 day at Epcot and the other at Magic Kingdom. On the second day though my dad and I were a little tired of waiting in lines and following moms pushing strollers all day so we ditched out early and headed to....Gator Land!!!Though it was the winter and they weren't too active (cause they are warm blooded) it was still really cool to see hundreds of gators. We even got to see 4 White Gators - no they are NOT albino, they are white. Apparently, there are only 12 recorded in the world and this park has 4 of them.