My kiddos were off school last week so we did what any family would over spring break…we made a baseball field in our back yard! Our family really loves baseball and as I write this post, the Kansas City Royals have their season opener TODAY!!! The Kubik’s can hardly wait! We are HUGE Royals fans and have been for a long time. We try to take the boys down to Kansas City at least once a summer for a game. Our boys belong to the Blue Crew Club so every year we get a jersey, a hat, and a coupon book of things to do at Kauffman. October of 2014 was a very memorable year for the our family. We don’t miss many Royal’s games, but last post season, I don’t think we missed a game! The final play of the World Series 2014 when Alex Gordon was on 3rd base our entire family was inches away from the TV screen yelling at him to go home!! Needless to say, a baseball field in our backyard will be a beloved feature had by the whole family!
What cracked me up is due to our profession, we had several tools to help make this field go up pretty fast! Jason uses a probe rod to stick in the ground when he is looking for a tank or checking the sludge in a lateral field. This made an ideal stake as we measured off our bases – which we used his measuring tape that he has for property transfer inspections. When we conduct a septic or lagoon inspection, we have to check distances from property lines to make sure systems meet the proper setback requirements issued by county code. Once we determined this, we used our SOUTHWICK LIQUID WASTE flags to mark our bases, pitcher’s mound and home plate! (Who knew there’d be so much use for septic tools in making a baseball field?!)
This is still a bit of a work in progress as we haven’t installed an official pitcher’s mound or have a back stop behind home plate. (Currently, Mom is the back stop or maybe the better name is “gopher”…) There’s even been talk of bleachers and the purchase of real bases as we replaced our SOUTHWICK flags for rubber base mats…so far no one has made mention of any stadium lights! I guess we’ll just have to see how much more gets added, but at this point, I might stay up some night and see if Shoeless Joe Jackson pays us a visit…him or Ray Liota, I’ll take either!
Despite the fact that all we really have right now is a mowed square and some bases, my boys have been playing their socks off! The wind was insane all day yesterday, but that didn’t stop them from basically playing the whole day outside. They each dawned a different baseball jersey and swung and hit and ran all afternoon. I don’t have to tell you that this kind of activity makes a momma’s heart swell! Easter evening the whole family got involved in hitting, throwing and running the bases. We ordered a pitching machine last night – very excited for it’s arrival!!
So, that’s been our spring break! Making our own Field of Dreams…or at least a field of a few memories! What did you do over your break?!