Weekend in La Pine
Julie, Jacob, Matthew and I spent the weekend in La Pine, Oregon, located in central Oregon just south of Sun River. Jacob had a busy weekend of baseball scheduled (5 games over 3 days). Many of our friends opted for houses or condos in Sun River or Bend, but we decided to stay right in La Pine to (1) experience a new town (2) get an indoor pool and (3) minimize the driving to/from the games. Here's a short photo journal of our weekend.
Jacob's first game on Saturday wasn't until 2pm, so after a dip in the pool we played a 4-way game of San Juan. This was the closest game I've played in so far Jacob, Julie, and I each finished with 35 points. There is usually opportunities for second-guessing of choices in this game, and this was no exception. I held on to one to many cards one round when I could have tucked one away in the Chapel of course that cost me the one point that would have led to victory. Jacob won by the tiebreaker, continuing his unbeaten streak.
Matthew is usually the true hero of events like this he spends most of the time trying to keep himself busy while his big brother plays game after game. His time will come soon for tournaments like this, possibly as soon as next year.
Not that he didn't find any time to play and occupy himself. A good part of Saturday afternoon was spent playing with some of the cute sisters of Jacob's teammates.
Jacob's coaching staff is simply wonderful. Coach Dyer (left) has a great sense of humor and is a master at reducing tension and making the boys feel comfortable.
Jacob's catching abilities are really coming along. One key as a catcher is to get a quick release when throwing out baserunners this means minimizing steps and snapping your throw. At the start of the season Jacob would often take two steps before throwing and would sometimes double-clutch. Lately his release has become much quicker now he needs to work on his arm strength and speed.
Sunday's games were over by early afternoon. We drove about 25 minutes to Newberry National Volcanic Monument to visit the Big Obsidian Flow. This was well worth the trip a huge flow of obsidian sits alongside volcanic rock, and this time of year also meant quite a bit of snow.
We ended the day on Sunday with a visit to Paulina Creek Falls, a nice little waterfall beneath Paulina lake.
Jacob's team did very well, finishing 4-1 over the weekend with their only loss to one of the other strong Sherwood teams. All of this pre-season tournament work appears to be paying off they had their first regular season game tonight against an Aloha team and beat them 16-1.