Tatercation

Tate was pretty excited when he made the 8-year-old All Star team (and I was pretty excited when I was asked to help coach).

There was just one problem — the state tournament was the same weekend as our annual St. George vacation w Traci’s family.

Tate was bummed.

“Buddy, we just went to St. George three weeks ago,” I reminded him. 

“But not with everybody.” He loves hanging out with all the cousins. 

I promised him we’d have our own great vacation. A staycation. A Tatercation.

And it would be epic.

While the rest of the family was doing this…

We were doing this…

Organizing Tate’s hat collection. (Of course every 8-year-old needs 21 hats.)

And taking all of our change to the bank. ($87. We’re rich!)

And going to Universal Athletic to get my beloved, 25-year-old mitt fixed after one of the All Stars’ fastballs busted right through it.

And hitting the batting cages…

Before spending the evening with Grandma and Grandpa at the Bees game.

And that was just the first day!

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There was also the tournament doubleheader, where we put up 34 runs and only gave up six — thanks, in part, to Tate’s lights out pitching.

And where we got to eat lunch with 94-year-old Great Grandma, who lives across the street from the baseball fields. (Grandma was pretty happy about the visit. “You brought me french fries AND a diet coke?! How did you know these are my favorites?”)

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After weeks of practices and games, Tate and I were excited to spend our day off of baseball… watching baseball.

While I scouted our competition from the stands, Tate and Nolan found a shadier seat.

We spent the evening a Taylorsville Dayzz (extra Zs makes everything extra awesome). Curtis doesn’t care much for fireworks, so he and I usually stay home while Traci takes Paige and Tate. So this was probably the first time I’ve watched Tate watch fireworks. 

With each explosion, he’d give a “whoooah” or “where did that come from?!” I loved every second of him loving every second of it. 

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When things couldn’t get any better, they got better! At the last minute, the All Star team was invited to walk in the Taylorsville Dayzz parade. 

There’s nothing a bunch of 8-year-old boys love more than chucking taffy at innocent parade goers. But when you hand them the candy at 8:30 and they don’t actually start walking until 9:15, much of the candy had mysteriously disappeared into 8-year-old tummies. 

For the remainder, we advised, “Don’t throw your candy all at once. It’s a long walk and you’ll want to pace yourself.” 

All of the candy was gone by the time we made it to the first turn. 

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By the time the family came back home, we were exhausted. The Tatercation was fantastic. Maybe we’ll need to do it again next year.