We Love Baseball

Sorry if you already know this story and are clicking old “WLL” because it’s a vital part of your day, but I have to write this for posterity. I’m getting old and might not remember the details.

September 13th, 2011. We buy plane tickets for St. Louis. Jen and I are going back to the “Lou” to scout out some possible places to live. That’s a whole other story. I think the Cardinals are about 5 games back in the Wild card race. As soon as I got confirmation of the flight I decided, on a whim, to see what baseball game was being played on that date. Game 6 of the World Series. Wouldn’t that be fun? I text my brother to get some tickets as a joke.

The next couple of weeks roll by and the Cardinals are rolling too. I could drag it out little by little, but I found myself in bed, hunched over the computer with Jen, pricing World Series tickets sometime early in the NLCS. We found them for $350’ish a piece. Too much. I told her to let it go and if it was meant to be then God would take care of it.

Game 1 of the World Series came and went and this was starting to become interesting. Jen was watching me get more and more antsy through Game 1 and once it wrapped up she turned her computer screen to me. 1 ticket for $150.00 – face value from the Cardinals web site. What? Really? She said “I’m buying it.” A couple of clicks and I had one lonely ticket. What kind of fun is that? 15 minutes later she said to me…”What was the Section/Row of that ticket we bought?” “Oh…here’s the one right next to it on StubHub.” Ok God…very funny. Trying to sneak into my world by using baseball as a backdoor. Of course at this point we are in for the “weirdly coincidental where the hell did that come from ticket”.

Back on planet earth we arrive in St. Louis as planned, but just as Larry was loading up his rain coat, winter coat and mittens, Game 6 gets postponed. Turns out the next day will be perfect weather, who knew?

I don’t have to tell you about the game. Click here if you really don’t know. Are you kidding me?

I got to spend an evening at one of the best World Series games ever….with my Dad. We high fived our way out of that stadium until I thought Larry’s arm would fall off. There. It is written.

Sorry Larry. I love you, but I love Jen for looking for tickets. I love Mom for taking the sting off of the “weirdly coincidental where the hell did that come from” ticket. I love baseball. God – whoever you are? Thanks for providing the once in a lifetime day with Larry.

Orion update

It occurs to me that some people might check this blog still clinging to the hope that they might find out some info. about my father, the “Larry” in We Love Larry. I guess that’s fair. We almost called it “We Love Tacos”.

Larry and Wilma are in Alaska. No you read that right. This isn’t some new reality TV show. At some point I think my message was received. That’s right I take full credit for them going on an Alaskan cruise. I didn’t pay for it or anything, so my credit doesn’t really mean much. I’ve been kind of living a life of “Oh well, might as well do that” and I think it caught on just a little bit. I just got off the phone with Mom last night calling me from Skagway, Alaska while she was waiting to find out if she could find a spot on the dogsled. I’m not kidding. They are spending 10 days cruising and sledding around Alaska and I hope they have a blast. I’m pretty sure my Mom has wanted to do this for quite a while. I’m also pretty sure my Dad hasn’t, but he’s healthier and always been a good sport.

There’s the Orion update. They aren’t in Orion.

I was born in a small town…

Had  a recent and quick visit to Orion Sam and I took a couple of days to head out and see the sights of the Quad Cities. Most important to Sam was that he got to play battleship. Kids are weird. Here are some photos.

We visited the Andover park after breakfast. Larry couldn’t resist.

A visit to the Quad Cities isn’t complete without a trip to the John Deere Pavilion. A trip to the John Deere pavilion isn’t complete without the obligatory picture of “People in a tractor bucket”

Sam wasn’t sure what to think about the ducks that attacked our Channel Cat taxi on the Mississippi.

  

This picture has an interesting story. The playground equipment Sam is riding on I rode on as a kid. I repaired it as an adult working for the Village of Orion, and now Sam is playing on it. How many kids have been flung off this thing over the years?

Island Time

Larry and Wilma have headed further south for a much needed break from grandchildren and living in a house full of the “other” Carrolls.

My in-laws have graciously given them shelter in their condo on Pine Island and I hope they can take some time to enjoy the sun, read a book or two and get away from everything. I’m not sure they have much of a choice because Pine Island isn’t exactly a hopping place unless you’re a fisherman or botanist. Either way I’m sure they will enjoy it.

Dutch treat

It has been one of those weeks. I can’t specifically blame any one thing. Ever have one of those weeks?

Highlights might include:

• Jen got a new bike. Remember that “Buy me a Dutch bike” crusade she entered into on Homeroamers.com? Well I got together with the usual suspects and we all chipped in and bought her a bike. Here is a picture of it.

Larry and Wilma will be here tomorrow night as we are all looking forward to it. This will be the longest bit of travelling they have done since Dad got sick. I hope everything goes well so they feel secure to do things like this again. They will be here through the month of November. Hey Mike! – Stop over and water the plants will ya?

All in all it has been a quiet and uninspiring week. Look above. Only one highlight. Crazy.

The redcoats are coming!

I guess technically Orion’s colors are scarlet and black, but it doesn’t sound as cool when you say “The scarlet coats are coming!”

Larry and Wilma will be visiting sunny Florida in a couple of weeks. They are going to be in the area for almost a month and give us all a chance to celebrate together for many occasions…including Tim’s birthday, even though he won’t be here to help. He doesn’t know if but we celebrate his birthday every year, it’s just more fun when he isn’t here for it. We all buy each other gifts in his honor and have red velvet cake. (Just kidding Tim!)

We don’t have a lot of details yet, but we hope that this visit will allow them to enjoy the weather here and relax a bit away from home. I’m sure it’s a bit scary to travel after all that has happened over the past year, but it’s time. The plan is to get rid of the cooking, cleaning, doctor visit routine and replace it with more interesting things. Kayaking, swimming, maybe a little hang gliding.

Sunny is looking forward to seeing them again and Sam says that grandpa owes him a quarter. I don’t know what that’s about, but bring your quarters Larry.

The “Team”

After delicately balancing the camera on the TV and failing to get the timer to work about 10 times. I finally captured the entire collection of the “2009 Orion to Tampa Dog sled” competition.

Is that Albert Pujols?

Since this is “We Love Larry” I'm contractually obligated to post a picture of him once per month. You should see the rest of the contract, it’s full of clauses like that.

Wilma gets the bonus appearance here today.

Love you guys!

Happy Birthday!

On August 29th the best thing I can write about is the person behind the man, behind the “WLL” blog. My Mom. It’s her birthday today. A while back she told me the best thing I could get her for whatever holiday it was, was write a letter to her. I’m not going to use this as a replacement for a letter, but I do want others to read some things I have to write about her.

I’m almost sure that without my mom, Larry might not be here with us today. She will tell you she wishes she had seen this, and done that, but I have no doubt that without her care and concern that things would be much worse than they are, or were. My mom has always been the caretaker of “this is what you should do” to the point that we all give her a hard time about nagging us about doctors, dentists, and everything else. The thing we sometimes miss is that she wants everyone to be the best that they can be and not to suffer or be hurt in any way. As an adult with two growing kids I have no idea how she managed all the things she managed while we were growing up. I had the childhood dream. I played baseball, soccer, went to Cub scouts, camped, hiked, boated, skied, mowed the lawn, slept in a tent in the backyard, had a pool, had a paper route, walked to school, made snowmen, rode my bike all over town, all because of my parents and very much because of my mom. They made sure I had such opportunities growing up to do so many things that I apparently decided to grow up and take my family on the adventure of a lifetime these last 6 months. So…if you get a chance, drop Wilma an e-mail or give her a phone call on her birthday. She is a special person to me and if you are reading this it’s likely that she is special to you also.

wcarroll@frontiernet.net

309-526-3505

Love you Mom,

Jon

Odds and ends

I’m just throwing things around lately. Here is a picture that keeps popping up on my Facebook site. I’m pretty sure it is due to my overwhelming popularity in college….or maybe for some other reason. I doubt it. I vaguely remember having hair. My mom and dad made it to quite a few Parents weekend parties at Western Illinois University. The guys at my fraternity were always happy to have a beer with Larry and Wilma.

100th entry

Being a data geek I'm obligated to post this information. This blog has been operational for 115 days and this is the 101st post.

There have been 2,012 visits from 6 continents and suprisingly about 30 countries.

The most telling statisitic is the visits from the States. These are the visits I attribute to people checking in on my dad. There have been visits from 32 of the 50 states.

After typing all of the above I'm obligated to tell you a story about why those numbers are probably spread far and wide.

Throughout my life, everywhere we have travelled, my dad always ran into someone he knows. One time he was visiting me in Florida and staying in a place my in-laws had on Pine Island (click it to see where). We drove to a teeny tiny location at the tip of the island called Bokeelia. As we are preparing to enter a small restaurant I hear the usual, "Hey Larry!". Never fails and it never surprises him. 99% of the time it is someone from Deere and Co. that he used to work with. This has happened to him / us more times than I can count. Vegas, St. Louis, Chicago, Florida, I forget where else, but it is pretty cool. I'll include my mom in this observation also because the above happens for a reason. My mom and dad are good people who have taken time in their lives to get to know people, make them their friends, and have memorable interactions with them. I won't be surprised when someone taps me on the shoulder during this trip and asks me, "Aren't you Larry and Wilma's kid?" I will proudly tell them that I am.