Happy Birthday Dad

This is just a post for Dad. I love and miss you. Be home soon. I leave you with a good pic.

Fiesole, Italy.

"STAY HERE....DON"T MOVE"

Classic. Hotel De Cathedral.

Hey guys. Well, as some of you probably already know...my parents and aunt made it safely back from their European excursion. We had a blast and I will show you guys the pics after some words. First, I would like to say Happy Birthday Ian, I wish I was there my man, be back soon. Have a good one...maybe Lela will watch Joey for ya tonight. Love ya Ian. To everyone else, thanks for the comments and the encouragement to keep writing on my blog. I have to be honest...it is getting harder to sit down and write about what has been going on. I am ready to see you guys and I can't think about anything else. Karly...I still laugh at your comment, GO TO KCI WHEN I LAND!!!!. Phyllis, love you and I will see you as soon as I get back. One more thing...Ian...my dog better be alive after you took care of him. I am personally taking the accomplishment of having the best dog in the family. Alex...Sachel sucked (from what I hear), and Mandy....I'm sorry...good dog, but I have never had to worry about Jake's rear end getting dirty...haha...you have to be a Lewis to know what I am talking about. Miss you guys and will see you soon.

Concerning baseball. I am just going to give you a rough recap and explanation about what is going on. We have made it through our "pool play" in first place. We advance to the semi-finals with home field advantage. We are waiting to see who we play from the other pool because they started a week after us. Therefore, I have this weekend off and we will host a team in two Sunday's. In the Semi's and Finals you have a best of three series. If we win two games in the Semi Finals...we advance to the France National 1 Championship. This all will go down in a three week span. Semi's October 18th and 19th, and the Finals on the 25th and 26th of October.

My plane ride back is the 28th if everything goes to plan.

Ok. Now to talk a little about the family trip....well, I will just let the pics do the talking. One thing...I was always telling them, "Stay here...don't move." Cause I was scared I was going to lose them at these places in Italy/France. Mom was getting irritated because I was talking down to them...hahaha...I guess I was.


Cinque Terre, Italy


Dad getting much needed smoke.

St. Peter's Plaza


Dad doing the "Pisa Stance" at the Patheon. Rome.


Michealangelo's Piazza. Florence, Italy


Nena in Florence.


Mom and I in Fiesole, Italy.


Mom walking down Italian steps.

A great trip. I loved every second. I hope you guys did too. I love you guys and will keep in touch soon. Happy Bday Ian and I hope "Fire and Ice" 's Cashew Chicken is good. Miss you and 20 MORE DAYS BABAY!

The hills are alive with the sounds of the Lewis's.

Hello my fellow readers. Thank you for keeping up with all of my blogs and extended absence. To Ian, Alex, and Grant….I love how you guys call out the fact that I get excited about a girl and usually it ends up not working….Same thing happened again, but I am seriously getting used to it. To Karly and Tiff, love you guys and I know now that I have two more friends for life now, love you guys and you have made it easier to live over here. To Phyllis, I love you and I am really glad I got to talk to you the other day. I pray for a speedy recovery and I lit a candle for you at Joan of Arc Cathedral. Who else is better to light a candle to for strength huh? To everyone else who reads and doesn’t write, I hope you enjoy my words.

I really don't have an answer for my relationships. The best way I can describe them would be like lighting a string of Black Cat fireworks. You are surprised and excited when you light them but before you know it...the show is over.

Enough of that. I am just going to give you a string of pics of Mom, Dad, and Nena being over here. I want everyone to know that we are constantly talking about you guys and wishing you were here. We have had laughs and conversations about certain things everyone would enjoy. So here are some pics. Enjoy. Love you and talk to you soon.


Outside their hotel next to cathedral



Chateau Clere. A wildlife paradise


Nena baiting a marmot.


Mom and Nena outside Notre Dam


Louvre.


Eiffel Tower Pic


Their having a blast and I am looking out for them. Love you guys and know that you are missed. Pce.

Hey

New post coming in the next couple of days.

Quick hits:

Won last Sunday's games. Now 6-0 in a 10 game playoff schedule

Katie-Me = Se fini.

Mom, Dad, Nena, and I havin a ball.

Italy next Monday.

Love yall. Post pics soon.

A Beziers Beating.

Hello my loved ones. I loved all the comments. Alex, you get the reward for best comment...I had to read it twice to get what you were talking about...then I laughed hysterically...Happy Birthday too. Love you Alex and sorry it's belated. Karly, miss ya and glad you're still on board...gonna party it up KC stylee when I get back, Tiff, thanks for the Myspace message, very sweet and I loved it, Ian, thanks for your humor and wit. Send Willow with Mom and Dad. IF I GET ANOTHER "RED DAWN" I am personally kicking someone's ass.

To Phyllis,
I just recieved the news of what happened and I am terribly depressed. I send all my strength, love, thoughts, and prayers your way. I really wished that wouldn't have happened. We will see Europe together next year.

Finally, to Mom, Dad, and Nena....

I have had to change what I originally wrote because the chippy feeling just isn't there now. I am still thrilled to see you and pray you have a safe journey.

K...Let me just jump to the weekend. This was our only big away trip that we have had this whole season. The Bois Guillaume Woodchucks would depart from Rouen on Saturday, 12:00pm and not arrive in Beziers until 7:40pm. This trip was a lot of fun because it just brought back every road trip memory that I have had on all the baseball teams that I have ever played with.

If you didn't know....on these trips, playing cards is a must, an ipod is definitely needed, and you try to pull the most outrageous/dirtiest shannigans on other team mates. It was a lot of fun. I tought Olivear, Pierre, and Vincent how to play Heart's and Youker(sp?). It was a great time.

We finally got to Beziers and settled in our hotel room. We ate a team dinner and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest for the next day's games.

This beautiful Mediterranean bordering town sits in the south west corner of France. It was really cool because two weeks earlier, Cole and I passed through this town on our trip from Barcelona to Marseille. Olivear then said to me,

"I have never been this far south in France."
I smirked and replied,
"Oh, this is my second time...no big deal. You should try the crepes."

He gave me a "you smartass" look and we laughed.

Now, I told you the city is beautiful...but....the field.............

Not so much.

It was awful. I have never in my life played on a field in this kind of condition. Jean Luc was fit to be tied because the club spent over 2,000 Eu to get to this place. He was just because this place was embarrasing.

Their were huge rocks all over infield, the grass hadn't gotten a gulp of water in years, and the outfield fence was being blown over every five minutes. We all started making WWII jokes because the place looked like a battlefield. Here is our dugout....

The field.


You get the point.

We laughing about the place at first but when we started taking BP, we didn't laugh so hard when balls would hop up and hit people in the chest, head, and nuts.

The thought in everyone's mind was.

"Fuck this place."

We did what we had to though, and played ball.

Game 1: Bois Guillaume Woodchucks vs Beziers Pirates
Time: 11:00am
Weather: Overcast and Windy
Attendance: 1. The son of the head coach of Beziers. But a loud little pecker he was.

I have to tell you that in the playoff's, we have two 9 inning games. Long days, but we gotsa pitching.

We started off strong as usual and scored three in the top of the first. Marc started for us. He didn't have his good stuff though. He was complaining because he just couldn't find a rhythm. So this game was a little testy for us.
They scratched two in the bottom of the first and this battling back and forth continued throughout the first seven innings.
They actually made it 5-4 before we tallied 6 runs in the top of the seventh. Their spirits were broke and they caved in to give us the opening win. 11-5.

Now we get a 30 minute break. What the shitty thing was though, was that the first game lasted three and a half hours. Not really giving us a lot of leeway to catch our 6:30pm train back to Rouen.

Another kinda-funny-not-so-funny thing was that most everyone on the team forgot to pack sandwiches for between games. So we scrounged all of our bags and pooled in what we got. We had 3 sandwiches, a little jar of Nutella, a chunk of Camenbear cheese, and a sleeve of chocolate cookies (thanks to Olivear). So all 10 of us had an odd between-game meal.

Game 2: BG Woodchucks vs Beziers Pathetics...I mean Pirates.
Time: 2:30pm
Weather: Sunny and windy as hell.
Attendance: A couple cute gf's of Beziers showed up.

I am not going to say much about this game. We scored 8 runs in the first off of 437829 errors. Final score 25-6. The only cool thing that happened was during my last at bat.
Romain and I always give each other shit about our families. I give him shit because he has a really cute 19 year old sister and he gives me shit about Mom being hot. Just routine baseball banter.
So in this last at bat, he came up to me and said,

"If you hit a homerun, I will give you my sister's number and you can have one night with her. But if you don't hit a homerun, you have to buy me a bottle of whiskey."

I agreed and everyone was just laughing and waiting for my at bat. I told everyone to watch my warmup cuts and I just took some barbarian cuts registering hysterical laughs from the bench.

I step up to the plate.

1st pitch.

Landed 20 feet beyond the center field wall.

I was just hootin' and hollerin' from the base path and guys on the team were rolling on the ground laughing. Romain had a look of shock on his face. I think everyone will remember that moment.

"Dame el numero, puta."

"Ahhhh, femme ta guelle." (Ahhh Shut the Fuck up.)

We gathered our stuff, showered, and headed to the train station. We made it with 7 minutes to spare.

It was a great trip back home. We traveled in 2nd Class on the way to Beziers but we had 1st Class tickets for the return journey.
A great trip home. Romain bought a bottle of whiskey for the debt (no sister), and everyone passed it around while sharing laughs. A great time.
Vincent (back left), Charles (left), and Romain (right)


We arrived late that evening in Rouen and everyone departed ways.
Yesterday, I slept a ton and went for a run. I texted Katie because she was back from Barcelona and asked her if she wanted to hang out. She agreed and I offered to make her dinner and just have a chill evening. So last night, I made us mussels in pasta with a mushroom/onion red sauce accompanied by glasses of Apple Brut Cider and coconut sorbet for dessert. Not bad if I say so myself. We then walked around Rouen at night and stopped at one of the bridges over the Seine. It was beautiful looking at the cathedral from afar and seeing a full moon cast over the water. We just shared conversation the whole time. Came back to my place for red wine and cheese and listened to music. A great night.

Katie and Me


I love you guys and I can't wait to see some of you really soon. Have a safe trip and I'm sure I'll talk to you before you depart. Focker...out.

Things of ole'.

Bonjour mon amis et famille. Well here I am again, sitting in my apartment, and thinking about what to write about since I last left you. First off, thanks for the comments and I appreciate the feedback about the video. I have to tell you that the video was a success with the club. All the kids love it and have sent me emails expressing their thanks as well as the parents. Not to toot my own horn, but that last part is pretty good eh? Haha…love you guys. So on with the info…

Cole and his girlfriend, Jen, came to Rouen for the tail end of their “Euro Trip” and they were going to spend the rest of the week with me. We had a blast. I showed them around the town, we went to a castle, and Cole got to make a superb dinner on his birthday. If you don’t know Cole, he is a chef in a high class restaurant in Denver, Colorado. So he kinda surpasses the level of skill that would be on “Cooking with College Dudes.”

Cole's Paella



I have to tell you one more thing about Cole and my trip. Jen had to leave a day earlier so Cole and I had one more day in Rouen. We did something that I haven’t done in over 7 months. We saw a movie at the theatre. So I found out that the only showing of “Batman Dark Knight” in English was at 8:30 at this one cinema. So Cole and I walked over to this place, about 30 minutes walk. It was really funny at first when we took our seats because we were the only goof balls in this huge theatre. I mean, who wants to see a movie in a language they can’t understand. Then a couple of people started strolling in….but I noticed something. They were speaking French. So more people started showing up….and they were speaking French. Well shit…..this better be in English. The previews start commencing. ALL IN FRENCH. Well shit. I could have sworn that this showing was in the original version. Cole was giving me the look like,

“What the fuck Tony, I just wasted 20 bux American on tickets and some shitty Popcorn.”

I just told that we would wait for the first word spoken on the screen and go from there. The movie started…Cole and I were just glued to the screen waiting for the first spoken word. It was English! Cole and I just gave high fives and laughed. We got looks. It was just really funny.

Cole left the next day, Sunday, and I prepared for our first games of the playoffs. Sorry, not going to give and in depth analysis about the games. We played Dunkerque for the 5th and 6th time. We swept them….again. Marc pitched a 1 hit shutout in the first game 7-0 and I picked up the 9 inning win in the second game 11-5. We played well, we hit well…yada yada yada.

Okie dokie. Now let me backtrack a bit. I have to tell you a funny story that happened last Wednesday. I treated Eric to a dinner because we needed to talk about the new club. After Cole, Jen, Eric and I ate and talked for a bit, Cole and Jen retired for the evening because they were pretty train lagged and Eric and I went out for a beer. Eric took me to the “Underground.” It is an Irish pub that is really chill. Eric and I were the only cats in this place besides the stereotypical Ted Dansen Cheer’s bartender. So Eric and I were talking about the next year as well as playing some darts. It was about 10:30pm and I was almost ready to call it a night and head home...
But something magical happened…..

I’m talking “thank you god” magical……

A bus pulls up outside the bar and about 40-50 girls come into the bar.

Eric and I just give each other maniacal grins. Hold on, this is the best part.
They are all English speakers.

So Eric and I got a couple more beers.

It was a great night.

I met a really sweet girl from California. Her name is Katie and we hit it off as soon as we started talking. She is just a sweetheart and we have been hanging out the past couple of days.

Enough of that though. Let me tell you something else that happened this week that I haven’t done since I have been back to the states.
Eric asked me after the games on Sunday if I wanted to stay at his house that night because he wanted to take me trout fishing.

“Oh well, hell yeah.”

So early Monday morning, we headed out to a little rural town outside of Neufchatel. We started at about 8:00am. Another one of Eric’s friends, Michel, joined us. He is a really nice guy who loves to fish. I told him….
”Man, if you love fishing….you need to get to Missouri.”
So we drank beers, bullshitted, and pulled trout out of the lake all day. We left at about 1:00pm for Eric’s to start BBQ’n our bounty. Good day.







I really haven’t mentioned one of my good friends on the team. His name is Vincent, CF, for our team. He is a really cool guy with always something to do. He always has friends with him and he has been a good friend of mine. So here are some pics.



That is about it for now. We go to Beziers this weekend for the next match-up in the playoffs. It is in southern France, along the coast. I will talk to you guys soon and I love and miss you all. Good night.

Hey guys.

Post coming in two days.