Playing Softball With the Dukes

Photo credit to JMU

Batter Up! JMU Softball Visits 6th Grade

On Thursday, August 27th the JMU women's softball team came to visit and teach 6th graders at EMMS. There were three rotating stations. Each class was split into three parts, and my group started at the ground catch station. The instructors told us what to do, then they rolled balls at us. The point of the station was to catch the rolling ball. After that we rotated to hitting where we hit balls into nets at the batting cage. They split into three groups and we each had a different instructor. We hit into nets and we each got 7 turns to hit the ball into the net. I had a lot of fun at this station. My instructor was nice and she learned our names quickly. After this we rotated to the last station, the catching and throwing station. My partner was Elisabeth, from 6th grade. We tossed the ball to one another and were supposed to catch it in our gloves. This didn't always work too well and the ball often ended up flying way past the person trying to catch it. It was nice to get to practice throwing and catching during P.E. After that we got to play a mini game and my team won 7 to 2. It was fun to get to play with JMU softball team and I wish they would come every Thursday to play softball with us. I would like to give a special thank you to the coaches of the JMU softball team. I would also like to give a special thank you to Mrs. Yutzy for letting me write this for the middle school's blog.

By: Hannah, 6th grade

Photo credits to JMU

Hannah wrote the article above for our EMMS blog. She volunteered to do this and was really excited about the softball team's visit and the opportunity to write about it. It is fun to see her enthusiasm! Her article was also linked on JMU's sports page, where they posted about the visit.

The team also tweeted photos from their time with the 6th graders. Quite a lot of fun and excitement surrounding this visit!

#JMUSoftball getting some team community service in before schools starts at Eastern Mennonite. pic.twitter.com/EZ7KyyieII

— JMU Softball (@JMU_Softball) August 27, 2015

Nice job of teaching fundamentals #JMUSoftball atEasyern Mennonite clinic pic.twitter.com/ViGv3bwPCA

— JMU Softball (@JMU_Softball) August 27, 2015

Hitting is always a camper favorite #JMUSoftball. pic.twitter.com/gpxsMRrKpm

— JMU Softball (@JMU_Softball) August 27, 2015

Circadian Rhythms, August 2015

How they would have spent everyday of the summer if I had let them

Five dozen ears of corn, a last ditch effort to stock the freezer before school starts (unfortunately, it was a casualty of the freezer debacle -- though I decided to refreeze it anyway)

Helping Grandma with green beans from the garden

Slow but steady progress on Hannah's quilt

Our first watermelon, one of the strawberry variety and delicious!

Playing Jenga at Grandma's house

Two cool cats showing off their new shades

Trap set and ready for a skunk

Success!

Hannah is prepared to watch the skunk meet his fate, with nose covering and binoculars

All set to make and can pizza sauce

The potato harvest, not as many as we had hoped for

The cantaloupes finally ripened and were very tasty

Playing basketball has been a highlight of this month

Hannah receiving her Mirror of the Martyrs book at church, the rite of passage into 6th grade

All the summer squash are gone, leaving only pumpkins and corn on the northern half

Southern half has more pumpkins and sweet potato vines still growing like crazy

Tomatoes and peppers are still producing too

Spring Break Trip to Florida to Visit Granny

The girls and I used Spring Break as a chance to fly to Florida for a couple days of fun and visiting with Granny. It was the first time for the girls on an airplane which was very exciting.

When we arrived it was lunch time, so lunch at a beach burger shop was in order. Then we went back to Granny's condo for some beach time.

The following day, we went to the Kennedy Space Center to see the rockets, space shuttle, and learn a little more about space exploration.

Of course there was ice cream.

The following day we got to see Daytona, a light house, and look for Manatees, but never found them with Granny.

We also went to the Marine Science Center to see and touch some fish, went shopping for chocolate, and had dinner on the pier.

We played mini-golf and these two got locked up.

The last day, we spent time on the beach and packing for a long drive home.