Enjoying my coffee

This morning we were supposed to get up at 6:30am.  Levi had an All-Star baseball game in Maltby, WA and we had to be there at 8:30am, sharp.  We are always late to this kind of thing.  I feel like that big failure of a family that can't get their shit together, ever.  Kids are always fighting; Lily bossing the yojnger ones, Levi busily coming up with every clever excuse in the book and Tallulah, annoying both of them, just by being alive.  And everyone is always waiting, and thinking... "hmm, Where are the Baumgarts?"

So, I was determined to get there on time.  Ken, the head coach, is serious about the all-stars.  Frankly, so am I, and I wanted to prove it.

I admit we were a little leisurely about the morning.  I got up a bit late, the girls slept in, and Levi sat in front of the computer blankly playing video games instead of getting his own water bottle filled up.  On the other hand, the leisure could have been fueled by the fact that I felt somewhat together because the important documents were printed out and copied: Levi's copy of his passport and the medical release waiver.  But the directions...not to be found.  I couldn't even find the email I had read earlier in the week with the address and the link to the famous Maltby Cafe.

Go Senators!

I finally figured out where the game was, printed directions and slapped together five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  A little slim of the peanut butter because, of course, we were out.  Had to scrape the sides of the jar for five sandwiches.  Sweet.  Lunch is going to be great.

As we are leaving the neighborhood, we look at the clock; we have just over 40 minutes to get there.  The Google maps directions say it takes 35 minutes, but the coach said to give yourself an hour because one of the floating bridges is closed this weekend.  Things were tense.  A lot was on the line.

Then I look at the dashboard, the gas light is on.  Fuck.  I click the buttons that tell us how many miles we have left to go - 0.  We have zero miles to drive until we run out of gas, according to the Toyota Sienna.  I look at the directions - 30.5 miles to Maltby.  And we have not a minute to spare for a gas stop.

We once saw a show that claimed you could drive like 50 miles after the brain of your car said you only have zero.  The Baumgarts were going to put that to the test this morning.  Rain pouring down, miles in front of us, we drove on.  And on.

We made it!  and NINE, yes NINE minutes early!

The tournament was cancelled due to the rain.  Life's triumphs and life's disappointments all in one.

How bout that form!  wow.

Jamie and I revelled in the glory of it all, the kids rolled their eyes.  Tallulah asked for another doughnut hole.

So, we decide to get some gas and drive on over to the West Seattle Bowl.  On Saturday morning they have "Breakfast and Bowl."   It was awesome.  Something about being at a bowling diner  reminded me of the above quote from "The Big Lebowski."  But without some guy yelling about Vietnam.  We had a very reasonably priced breakfast ($46.00 for five before tip and taxes.  And that included coffee, five breakfasts, three hot chocolates and a design your own bloody mary) and three free games of bowling for each of us.

I didn't bowl very well at all.  Just breaking 100 once.  But I forget to tell ya'll, on Wednesday night, at AMF Imperial Lanes Quarter Night (also a great deal) I bowled a 150!

I am feeling a bit sick, been napping and watching movies the rest of the day.  Possibly run down after finals and taking all that effort to be on time this morning. Man, that felt good.  We were Early!