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Well, this will be brief and without pictures. New York was awesome. We saw "Wicked" and "Mary Poppins." We did the American Girl thing and rode the "red double decker bus." (One of Jessica's must do things when she is in NY-she just loves the thing and we never got off-we just went in a BIG circle around the city and she took pictures and smiled the whole time)

We saw Miley on the Today show. There were some insane parents that had actually camped out ALL night and then LEFT before she came on because there were too many people. Whatever!

Jessica had a great time. Girl got a $5 umbrella when we were leaving "Wicked" due to the torrential, and I do mean torrential downpour. I never knew that all I had to do was spend $5 and the kid would be so stinkin' happy. I am glad that we had those three days together and were able to focus on just her before we were off to the land of baseball.

All was well until I got a phone call from Ricky that their flight had been cancelled and that they were stuck at JFK. Between lost luggage, a last minute $350 ticket, a "malfunction" with the airplane, sitting on the tarmac for an hour and a 6 hour drive for Richard, my dad and MIL, Jennie we all made it to Cooperstown. Ricky's equipment and luggage were lost. I almost "lost it" in the airport. I was either going to cry or be very unprofessional. I tried breathing, I tried acting like it would all be okay and then, to what did my ears hear, but it was "Dancing Queen" on the airport radio and I started to sing and dance. I did not care what the hundreds of people thought. Little did they know that was their salvation...salvation from not seeing a crazy Mexican go ballistic and end up either on Youtube or on the news for going psycho.To make matters worse, my son traveled to NY with no shoes-just cleats and shower shoes for 2 weeks.

Ricky did not place in the Home Run Derby. He was a bit sad but his team placing 3rd out of 96 teams in the "around the horn" competition made him feel much better. His first at bat on Sunday morning he went yard and crushed the ball over the fence for his first of four homeruns during week 1. The 11 year-old Blue Devils ended up 30th out of 96 teams-please remember that they were playing against 12 and 13 year olds. The team that knocked them out eventually won it all and are a baseball academy out of Florida. Ricky pitched against them and was the only pitcher in the tourney that did not allow a homerun, struck out two and gave up no runs.

Week 2 the 12's came and they faired a lot better ending up 5th out of 99 teams. Ricky hit 2 more home runs. His bat did well and he had a great time. We went back to the Hall of Fame and saw Barry Bond's asterisk ball. It was not there during week 1.

Jessica turned 8 on the 4th. We clebrated by going to Sal's (pizza equal to Pizza Villa but NY style) and then her and her Nana baked her cake. We took her to the Soccer Hall of Fame and to Cooperstown Family Fun Park. Her three days in New York City were also part of her celebration. Her favorite food in NYC-a Dunkin Donut!

Finally we made it home late Saturday night missing 7 pieces of luggage-the saga continued. Jessica and I stayed in Sacramento at the Marriott so we could get some school shopping done as I had no clue that Mc Swain started on the 12th!

It was a great 17 days...would do it again in a heartbeat. Next year will be Ricky's last year to play in Cooperstown. They want to play two weeks and are in the process of building, what he calls... a powerhouse team. Oh to be 12 and have that be your biggest concern.

Our family made a lot of great memories. We laughed, ate good, laughed some more. It was definitely a trip that will be forever remembered by all.