Alexis and TBall

As most of you know by now, Alexis has decided that she wants to play TBall.  And in the purpose of full disclosure there was no one happier than me!

As soon as we got her signed up, we made the fun trip to Academy Sports.  Picked her out a glove, shoes, batting helmet and got her a bat.  Now, she is a girl so everything was pink but I was just happy that we were buying the stuff that the color didn't really matter!!  Lol.

We had the first couple of practices and they went well.  She could throw the ball and ran the bases well, but she would NOT hit the ball off of the tee!  It was the most frustrating thing in the world.  We could throw the ball to her and she would hit it, she could throw the ball up and hit it on her own, she would hit the ball while on the ground and she would even hit the tee!  But as soon as you put the ball on it, she wanted nothing to do with it!  I was able to finally get her to hit the ball by telling her to hit the top of the tee.  Since she liked hitting the tee, I figured maybe she would run into one and hit it.  Sure enough she did.  Once she saw how much fun it was to hit, she was on her way!!

Last Saturday we had her first game.  I am not sure who was more excited, me or her.  I woke up early that morning and was ready to get to the field.  Really brought back a lot of memories.  Even at an early age I loved getting to the field early and I guess as a parent that really hasn't changed. 

I have to say, she did really well.  She hit the ball all three times up and she stopped/tracked down the only ball hit her way.  To top it off, she even got the Game Ball!  (And yes, I know every kid will get one, but it was pretty cool!)  Heather and I were beyond proud of her and how well she did! 

I do have to make sure to thank everyone that came out!  She had a great cheering section for her first game and we really do appreciate it!!  It meant a lot!

So without further ado, here are some pics:

I am working on getting all the video together and as soon as I do, I will get it posted as well.  Our nephew Harley shot some great video from the game.  He got over 40 minutes of video so as you can imagine there is a lot to comb through.  Also working on getting video from my step mom as well.

There are more pics on Facebook so make sure to check them out there! 

Later!

TBall Practice

So Alexis had a hard time hitting off the T when we first started.  She could hit the ball off the ground, hit it when we threw it to her, throw it up and hit it herself and even hit the T...she just wouldnt hit the ball off the T!!  It was crazy!  Well, I was finally able to get her to hit the ball off the T and here is the proof!  So proud of our little girl!!!!!

Apple of My Eye

I am not going to lie...I LOVE Apple Inc.  I love everything they put out and everything they stand for.  I figure before I get too much further into my blog I need to make that statement. 

Here are the Apple products I have owned or currently own:
-LC 575 from 1995.  It had 5 MB of RAM.  Unreal.
-20g iPod (Clickwheel)
-MacMini
-Black MacBook (current)
-30g iPod Video (5th Generation)
-2g iPod Nano for Heather
-Original iPhone
-iPhone 3G (One for Heather and I)
-iPhone 4 (One for Heather and I)
-iMac (current)
-AppleTV
-iPad (original)

Now some of these things were gifts (20g iPod, AppleTV) and I got the iPad for work so I didn't pay for everything.  I have also had several mice and wireless keyboards along with their iWork software and MobileMe through the years.

I have talked several people (family and friends alike) into buying iPhones, MacBooks and iPads over the years.  If you want one and need help, I am here!  I will even go with you to the Apple store to help you out!  (Right Katie?)  Not one person has ever taken their purchase back and each of them have purchased even more Apple products over the years.  I need to get with Apple on a referral program or something!  lol.

There are two questions I get asked all the time:

1.)  Why Apple?  Simple...they just work all the time every time.  And if for some reason they dont, all you need to do is take it to your local Apple Store and they will help you out!  The guys at the Genius Bar are amazing and can help you out with anything...FOR FREE!  Try that with your PC.

2.)  Should I get an iPhone?  I tell people that it depends what you want to do with it.  If you want to have access to your music, photos, text, make calls and send email it is perfect for you!  This is not the device to replace your home computer for web surfing!  If I was stranded on an island, it is the one thing I would want with me...now AT&T having coverage on the island is a whole nother story!  lol.

I have stood inline for all three of my iPhones.  The line for the iPhone 4 was by far the longest.  I actually took off work and camped out.  I was there for about 12 hours, but when they went on sale at 7am, I was the first one out the door with my new iPhone and on my way home!  It was a great experience that Heather was nice enough to come along for!  The people were amazing and we all had a great time!!  Here are a couple of pics:

So there you go...there is my Apple Disclaimer going forward!  I love everything Apple and I want everyone else to as well!!  :)

Later...

Woody & Buzz's Adventure

So if you read my last post you know that my goal this summer is to be able to attach a video camera to a balloon, let it go and track it down to see the video.  This weekend, I took a very small step is testing this out and well, it did not go so well.  I do have to admit I really had no idea what would happen so I wasn't overly disappointed, but disappointed none the less.

I decided to take an older camera that I have that shoots video and attach it to a kite. Before you say "that sounds easy" you should know I was dealing with a $5 kite from Wal-Mart (sorry Lex) and a Sony point and shoot camera that was (yes, was) about 8 years old. I ended up coming up with something that looked like this:

Yeah, I know what you are thinking..."How did you ever think that would work?"  Well, it was really windy and the camera was pretty light.  All though the video worked just fine, all I got was video of a kite twisting in the wind 3 foot off the ground and a lot of pavement.

The whole point of this test was to learn, so this is what I learned:

1.)  $5 kites from Wal-Mart are not good for conducting any kind of test.
2.)  Sony cameras do not like to hit the ground, even with padding.
3.)  Do not conduct any experiment where Woody and Buzz could meet their demise with your 3 year old daughter watching.

All kidding aside, I did learn a lot and my next test will involve a lot of helium balloons and a camera so we will see how that works out!!  Between now and then I will have to replace a little girls Woody and Buzz kite so all will be right with the world!!

What I Want To Do

Every once and a while I run across things online that I think would be really fun to do. Maybe not all of what is being done, but a portion of it.

My latest fixation has been this video:

Now, I am not crazy to think that I can locate a weather balloon or spend the money that they did, but I think it would be fun!

I would like to start with maybe a kite...something I can control and dont have to track down. I am thinking that I could attach a Flip camera to it and just get a really long string and see what happens. Now I know that I cannot see space from 100ft in the air, but it would allow me to see my surrondings from a different perspective. After all, seeing things from a different perspective can be good for you!

So this is going to be my summer project. It may or may not work out like I want it to or hope that it will, but I think it will be something fun that Heather, Lex and I can do together. I will make sure to keep you updated along the way!

I'm Back!

I have spent the past several weeks really trying to figure out what I wanted to do with mikepeery.com. My webhosting is up this month and one thought was just putting it in moth balls until I could come up with a good way to utilize the site.

Then yesterday on our way back from Austin it dawned on me that I could just do a blog and talk about what I wanted to! Not just about family and what we are up to, but things that I want to talk about like technology, sports and social media! I figure with Facebook and Twitter that you are more than able to keep up with what Heather, Alexis and I are doing!

So here I am...I hope you enjoy it and come along with me! It should be fun!!