Danny’s baseball tournament brought us to Gondola Square in Steamboat when all the winter stuff was over and before the official summer activities began. We had a marvelous place to stay at the resort that must have been the coolest condo ever when guests started signing in the year Hubby was born. Only trouble is when you stay in something built in the 1970s you might have a hard time finding it due to all the new builds around it. But the weather was perfect for playing baseball and for waiting to get back into the condo when we accidentally locked ourselves out. Not too hot and not too cold and there is enough rain to make everything beautifully green.
We drove in on Thursday as soon as Michelle got back from her first Stake Young Women's camp (more on that when I figure out who to beg for pictures) and take a shower. The next day my boys woke up at 5:30am to drive to Craig (an hour away) to be there for 7am warm ups for their 8am game. Hubby and I decided this would be the day to let the girls have some r & r and enjoy Steamboat. Natalie and I listened to both games on Game Changer while we did things like play games and Michelle listened to her audiobooks she missed while she was camping. We tried to ride the gondola or eat at the grill closest to our condo but both were closed down and it turns out the gondola wasn’t scheduled to open for summer until June 30th (after we would be back home). We did find a barbecue place to eat and this friendly polar bear and got to know the resort a little before we got rained on. The team came back victorious after winning their first game 10-2 and their second game 12-2. We all got to celebrate together with pizza and games and swimming.
Due to the rain later in the day on Friday, the schedule was changed so our team only had one game at 12:30 on Saturday. Before the game we opted to take the easy hike to Fish Creek Falls and were very impressed. As I stood on that bridge next to the rushing water I felt so close to my Heavenly Parents. I could have stayed there for a long time just feeling that divine atmosphere.
You’ll notice Kate isn’t in the group picture. Although we had originally planned for her to come along she didn’t like the idea of spending three days potentially watching baseball so found one day to spend with A, one day with P and two days with my parents. I sure did miss her but I never make her siblings watch volleyball so I’m not going to make her watch baseball.
All the rest of the games had such a great backdrop in Steamboat and all five of us agreed the scene was gorgeous and the weather perfect. On Saturday the game started off super low scoring but eventually the Vibes were able to score some runs while keeping the other team at nothing. They ended up winning 13-0!
After their win a lot of the team walked over to the alpine slide together. I assumed since families were in the ticket line everyone was going but after I paid I found out Hubby and I were the only adults going. It made me a little scared b/c I had never gone on an alpine slide before but I absolutely loved it. We got separated from the boys when we realized Michelle/my parent’s phone was lost but luckily Hubby found it pretty quickly on the ground. It was damaged but still in working order. We did get to the top in time to see the boys waiting their turn. When our group of four were ready to go Natalie and I went first and then Michelle came down. I was a bit surprised she had beat her Dad by so much. Then, when he got to the bottom, Hubby explained he had given Michelle a 10 second head start and then gone as fast as possible to try to catch up. When he hit the first curve he fell off his sled and his left hand had the skin torn off. Let’s just say when he showed it to me my stomach did a flip. It made the other parents glad they didn’t go on the slide.
Since the girls had never been to hot springs I really wanted to take them that evening. Danny had been to the ones we were going to on a skiing/snowboarding trip with Hubby before so opted to hang out with some of his teammates at a different hotel pool as the night before. It was soooo relaxing to spend time in the hot springs and from the picture V’s mom sent it looks like they had fun. We still all made it to sleep at a normal time to be ready to check out of our condo and be there for more baseball and the drive home.
The last day of the tournament was amazing. With the way the standings worked the Vibes were set to play the same team they had shut out the day before. Imagine our surprise when at one point the other team was winning 2-1! With excellent team work and grit our team won 7-3 and moved on to the championship game! By this time most of our pitchers were almost used up since one of them had to go home after catching Covid from his dad and another hadn't made the trip at all. But our team came out swinging and we were ahead 11-1 by the time one of our pitchers that usually plays catcher stepped onto the mound. We ended up run ruling the winners of the other bracket in the 3rd inning and won 21-1!!! Incredible!!!
We were all so proud of how well the boys played together. In their five games this tournament they only gave up eight runs! It was a wonderful thing to see and these boys had a great time doing it. We are all glad the season isn’t over yet. We want more of this!
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