Settling

We are settled for the most part here in the Cape. I am caught up on work, Ryder is sleeping great so we're caught up on all that sleep with lost with moving and traveling, and it's almost the weekend so we get to enjoy ourselves! I just wanted to post a few cute pictures from today of Ryder. Pictures are becoming much more frequent with a Daddy across the country missing his little boy. I find myself whipping my phone out to take pictures and send them to him every couple hours or so. Thank God for the technology we have these days!!! We might even try to Skype for the first time this weekend :)

Ryder and Chloe riding Grandpa's lawn mower

Ryder cheering on Auntie Ally at her softball game
Enjoying the game

We Made It!

Well we all made it to the Cape. Let me back up as bit since I have a video and picture from before that....

Before we left town we tried to spend some quality time together as a family since we would be spending a decent amount of time apart. We went to Ryder's favorite pizza place, Peter Piper, and played some games. The video is of Ryder and Derrik playing the basketball game. I love watching Derrik try to balance playing the game with his son and still beating the high score. I think he accomplished both pretty well :)

The night that we were packing up to move out of our house and getting stuff ready for us to fly out was s-t-r-e-s-s-f-u-l! It is days like that that I begin to wonder what in the world we are doing this for. I wonder why we constantly move our family around, leave each other for extended periods of times, and get rather cranky over the whole situation that a minor league baseball life involes(I have days I love it too... moving days are always the cranky ones though). The photo below though is the exact reason we do this! One of our great friends Chris Heisey (we lived with them last spring training, in North Carolina, and consider them to be some of our closest friends in this large baseball world)made it to the Big Leagues!!! Ryder and his Da were so excited to see Chris up to bat in his major league debut! It was a HUGE reminder on the perfect day that this crazy dream we are chasing can come true. We are so happy for Chris and hope we can meet him up there one day!!!

Watching Chris up at bat

On Tuesday morning we were up bright and early (although it wasn't bright... it was 3 a.m.) to catch our flight. I am always very nervous about flying with Ryder, especially for these really long cross country flights. Our first flight was four hours. The idea of being trapped in a small place with no where to go for that long with Ryder gives me serious anxiety!!! He was amazing though. He never once even fussed. I got a little nervous though when I had the windows closed, Ryder leaned back, he has his blakey and paci, DVD player on and the flight attendant tells me its a new law that you have to wear headphones!!! I was like SERIOUSLY?! He brought me back the earphones you put into your ears. I look at him like he was nuts. They wouldn't stay in Ryder's ears even if he would let me put them there. I explained to him that people would probably much rather hear the Cars DVD then my son screaming, but in the end the DVD player ended up on silent. Luckily Ryder has seen the DVD so many times it didn't seem to phase him! Our layover went over pretty smooth, and the second flight was only two hours. When we first got on there was a couple next to us with a kid the same age as Ryder. They were quietly reading him a book while feeding him some veggies as I am throwing the DVD player in Ryder's face bribing him with M&M's! On travel days anything goes as far as im concerned!! Ryder slept for almost the whole flight, but woke up as we were landing screaming. I think his ears were bothering him. We survived the five minutes of screaming and got to see Grammy, Auntie Hailey, and Auntie Ally when we got off the plane.

Ryder watching the planes during our layover

The big boy walking with his Auntie Hailey
I know it's blurry, but I love it...
This boy loves his Aunties!

The trip home from Boston went great even though we were stuck in rush hour traffic. The girls were so excited to see him they entertained him the whole way home. Once we got home Ryder ran around for a bit, ate dinner, got a bath, and was quickly off to bed. Before bed though he saw a picture in our hallway of Derrik and was freaking out saying "Da, Da, Da". It was one of the cutest things i've seen him do. Below is a little video of him looking at the picture

Luckily Ryder went to sleep right away and slept great all night. The time change never seems to affect him because the travel days are always so exhausting! I got to leave the baby monitor with Auntie Ally and sneak off for some Chinese food with my parents. It was nice to get to catch up with them. I thought my fortune fit our life right now perfectly!!!

Today was spent getting unpacked, getting Ryder settled, and getting caught up on work since i've slacked the past few days with the move and travel. Ryder was a little stressed this morning with the chaos of my parents house. For anyone that doesn't know what my parents house looks like... it's huge! They have the main part of the house which consists of two floors, the basement which has the office in it, and our apartment which has two floors also. Between my parents, sisters, employees from work, and Ryder's great-grandparents being here for the summer it was a little overwhelming to him. He was very clingy to me and I truly think had no clue what was going on! He seems so confused that the pets were here and Daddy's car, but no Daddy. He's warmed up to everyone throughout the day and will do just fine in no time!

My mom took Ryder out of the house for a little bit this morning while I get a few things in order. Here he is enjoying some Dunkin Donuts on the beach.

Ryder and his Grandpa walking to the bus stop
Throwing rocks in the drain while we wait for his Auntie

This evening we got to go to Auntie Hailey's first softball game. Ryder lasted about a 1/2 an inning before he was standing at the plate by the umpire!!!!! Talk about embarrasing! Between Ally and Hailey's softball schedules they are at the field Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I think we might be missing a few because tonight wore me outs!!!

Ryder watching the kids play

In the batting cage with some softballs

We are so glad to be past the moving/packing/traveling part of our chaos we have going on in our lives right now. We miss our Daddy like crazy already though!!! I'm off to bed... I'm SOOO exhausted!!! Which also means i'm not re-reading this post to check for errors...Sorry!

What's the Little Man Up To...

Ryder once again has seemed to turn another page in this growing up thing he is doing right before our very eyes. He is becoming such a big boy. As you could tell from a post of mine a few weeks ago Ryder was having a hard time communicating with Derrik and I and vice versa. It feels as though we have suddenly figured out how to conquer a few of these barriers that were making our life a little stressful. It has been amazing and we are all really enjoying ourselves these days. I feel like I need to do a little documentation of what his little personaility is like right before this move because every moves we have made he's so different then the house before.

Ryder eats, sleeps, and breathes golf. He points out every golf course we pass (which is a lot living in Arizona), has his foam golf club in hand it seems at all times, loves to putt around the house with his dad, and is really swinging like a champ these days!
When Ryder wants something he loves to just scream or whine until he gets it. Now that we are learning our words we have made him start to say please before we will give it to him. It is sooo cute to hear him say "tease" in a really whiney voice so we'll give him what he wants. We are working on him saying thank you, but he just can't get anything out yet for that. Ohh the boo-boos.... When Ryder really scraped up his knee a month or so ago it clicked in his head what a boo-boo was. Since then everyone has boo-boos all the time. Every time he hurts himself we have to kiss it no matter how minor the accident was, and he makes up fake boo-boos on us to kiss. My favorite though is when he'll point out a wonderful pimple on my face, say boo-boo, and then kiss it. Thanks for pointing them out bud :)

Ryder loves to go bye-bye. As soon as he starts to see me get his water together, make snacks, or put shoes on he asks if we are going bye-bye. He always rushes to try to get Chloe in her cage so we can leave immediately. I am trying so hard to get him to understand that going bye-bye doesn't always happen right at the instant and that we have to do things first.

Just recently Ryder has started telling us when he goes poo-poo. Although poo-poo means he either passed gas, peed, or pooped, we are just glad that he is now telling us. Since we are seeing this sign we are entertaining the idea of starting to potty train when we are settled with a team. We are also entertaining the idea of just waiting until September when the baseball season is over. We will keep you updated :)

The talk of baseball has really picked up around the house with Derrik getting so close to being on a team. I have been trying to tell Ryder that his Daddy plays baseball, and we get to go watch him play. Ryder now says baseball while pretending to swing an imaginary bat. I'm pretty sure he gets this from watching Derrik always doing that around the house. During Derrik's second game today we got to sit pretty close to the fence, and Ryder got to really see that his Daddy was out there on the mound. He was soooo excited and kept pointing and saying "da". My favorite though was every time the umpire would call a strike Ryder would say his version on the word while throwing his hands in the air. I think Ryder was more excited about the strikes then his Daddy!

My favorite thing Ryder is doing right now is saying "oh man" or "oh no". He says it all the time, and I swear creates scenarios that work just so he can say those words.

Ryder also loves to talk with Chloe. He tells her "good girl" when she goes potty, to "stay" when he opens the door, and to "get" when she is jumping on him. I think Chloe and Da have a tight race as to who is Ryder's best bud.

Ryder's favorite toys right now, when he opts to put the baseballs, golf balls, and golf club down, are cars. He loves big cars he can push around the house with both hands and small cars he can ride along the walks, counters, and furniture. I love watching his mind run wild while he plays with these toys and babbles to himself.

He also now loves clothes with things he likes on them. He lights up when I show him he's wearing his Mickey pj's, his fish pj's, or a shirt with a ball on it. He will proudly announce to you throughout the day who is on his shirt. I don't think Ryder's Me-Maw knows how happy she made her grandson when she gave him hand-me-down Mater (from the Cars movie) pjs. Those are by far his favorite and get worn at least a few times a week.

Speaking of Mater, Ryder absolutely loves to watch Mater's Tall Tale's on the Disney website. Mater is the cutest caracter from the Car's movie and they have these short clips called Mater's Tall Tale's on the Disney website. He will watch them over and over again on the laptop and just crack up every single time.

Ryder's kiss has evolved to the sweetest kiss in the world. He has blown kisses for a long time now, he then gave kisses but it was more of just putting his lips to yours and that was it, he started to pucker up not to long ago and literally give a real kiss, now he even makes the noise when you pretend to kiss him from across the room. You can call him at anytime and tell him you love him and he then puckers up and makes the kiss sound. Love it!

He's also a little bit of a cuddler right now. When he just gets fustrated and cranky we will go grab his paci and blankey and curl up on the couch. He sits with me from anywhere between 5-30 minutes then just suddenly decides he's done. He leaves the paci and blankey behind with me and always just takes off playing again. It's a great way for him to calm down and i'm loving it!!!

I am sure I am missing so many things, but I had to at least document a few of our favorite things Ryder is doing these days. He is such a cutie and we couldn't be move in love :)

1st Rehab Start

Well yesterday was Derrik's first time back in a game. For those of you who don't understand, he is making what is called a rehab start on what the Red's call their extended spring training team. All teams have this and it's for the players who didn't make a team out of spring training. It is a convenient place for guys coming out of rehab to get some games in under their belt because the teams are in Arizona at the same facility.

The most important thing about yesterday was that Derrik didn't hurt while pitching and still isn't hurting the day after :) We are beyond thankful for this!!! Derrik only gave up one walk (which was the first batter.. we'll just give that one up to nerves since he hasn't been in a game in like eleven months), he got a ton of ground balls (which he's suppose to get), and overall did just what we hoped would happen. The infielders and outfielders were a mess and were literally letting balls roll through their legs getting players on base, but as one of the Reds coordinators sitting next to me put it "We'd rather see this because it's getting him some work on the mound instead of him just pitching a couple pitches and getting out of the inning". His velocity was down from what it was when he was 100% before this injury, but after talking to a couple trainers he has been reassured this is expected and will come back in the next couple months.

I feel very comfortable at this point saying Derrik is healthy and just needs to work on becoming the amazing pitchers we all know he can be! He said it felt very weird being on the mound with a team behind him, guys on base, and taking signs trying to deal with these guys on base. I think this shook him up a little since this has always come with such ease to him. I know that within a couple game this part of the game will come right back to him, and I think he gets that now too!

At this point Derrik will continue to play in these games, he will continue to develop himself as a well respected pitcher once again, and will wait on his call to go play with a team again. I won't be on here updating every game... I think it would make my husband go crazy!!! For now we need lots of prayers that this part of the rehab goes smooth, and that Derrik has patience to give it the time it needs. I think this might be the most fustrating part for him because he wants back on the mound TODAY to work on it, but need to give his arm rest.

Not to much longer and we'll be out of here!!! Woohoo!!!

Who ate all the birthday cake?!

Birthday Cake

For Derrik's birthday we had a cake, and I wasn't really sure what Ryder would think of it. He really hasn't been a huge fan in the past when we have given it to him. I gave him a huge piece thinking he wouldn't eat it, and it was less left in the pan to taunt me in the days to come. He loved it though and chowed it down!!! He then proceeded to ask for "more, more".

Here are some goof ball faces from my phone that he was making while he was eating the cake:

P.S. - Since my vent post about how out of control Ryder was... he has been a saint! I hesitated to write it because it seems to always backfire, but it's been going on for three days. AND he sat in his highchair playing with play dough, watching the phillies, and hanging out with us for THREE hours yesterday!!!

Happy Birthday

Ryder and I are wishing our Da-Da are VERY VERY Happy 25th Birthday!!!

We Love You Babe!!!

A quick picture I snapped when we stopped by today to watch Derrik's last sim game :)

What We've Been Up To

We have been trying to keep busy out here in Arizona. This final countdown to the end of rehab is grueling. It feels like it is dragging on, and we're trying our best to keep going on with day-to-day life while knowing a move is somehow,someway in our near future.

This little man manages to fill up a lot of that time :)

How cute is this baseball shirt his Mimi and Papa got him?!

On Sunday I drug Derrik out to the park because Ryder and I can't stand being in the house come the weekend. Sundays are Derrik's only day off and his day he wants to sit at home and relax. Ryder and I on the other hand look at them as his only day we have him to go do anything with. We try hard to make a compromise somewhere in the middle :) Anyhow... on our way to the park we had to walk through Main Street and noticed a cycling race was going on. We found out it was going on all day and spent quite a bit of time watching it. Ryder absolutely loved it as he does all things that involve action.

The boys watching the start of the race.

Ryder had sat in his stroller for quite a while.

When he started fussing to get out he immediately went and sat just like his Daddy... too cute!

Watching the bikers as they go by...
And of course checking out the jets!

These days it's hard to find something new to entertain Ryder. I sometimes think moving all the time is a blessing in disguise because it gives Ryder a whole new house to find activities to do. Someting as simple as a new cabinet to empty and crawl in can entertain him for hours! The other day we filled the sink up with some water, and it was totally worth wiping up a wet floor for almost an hour to myself to get stuff done around the house.

Yesterday Daddy came home with a present for Ryder! I thought it was so sweet that Derrik thought to do this for Ryder, and of course Ryder was thrilled!!!

Ryder's new glove!

Daddy showing him his new gift

And of course the first thing he does is pretend to pitch...

Like father... Like son!

Baseball Update

April 22nd (tomorrow): Derrik throws his last simulated game - 2 innings

April 26th (Monday): 1st game - 1 innings

April 29th (Thursday): Light throwing

April 1st (Saturday): 2nd game - 1 inning

That is all we know as far as the baseball side of things is concerned. Derrik continues to feel great and after the 1st it's just a waiting game.

Moving Update

We decided in order to do this move in a way that wasn't financial through the roof we needed to make decisions now. We didn't have answers from the Reds so we just had to use our best judgement. Next week a family friend, who we are so thankful for, will be flying out here to drive our car back to Cape Cod with our three pets. The car and pets will spend the rest of the season in The Cape so we can reduce our "baggage" we have to deal with throughout the season.

We have bought a ticket for Ryder and I to fly to Cape Cod on May 4th. We feel Derrik will not leave any earlier then this, but were nervous to buy anything later because anything is possible at this point. We will camp out there and visit with family until we get word from Derrik that he knows when and where he will be playing. There was a ticket for $54.00 to North Carolina (the AA team where Derrik left for surgery) that we couldn't pass up on May 25th. We are hoping Derrik will be assigned to the AA team and hopefully be there by this date. We took the risk and bought the ticket. We will make adjustments if we need to of course.

That is it for now... I'll keep ya updated!!!

Not So Picture Perfect

Blogging is a weird place for me. It began as way for close family to be able to see pictures of Ryder while we were far from home. It later became an awesome way for me to document Ryder's life for our future since i'd be broke if I printed off all the picture we take of him! I wanted it to be a source of journaling almost for me to put down the good, the bad, and the ugly. I notice though when we are having a rough day though i'll want to blog, but then hesitate because I don't want our friends, family, and bloggers judging me on our bad days. I have come to realize maybe I try to paint things a little too "picture perfect".

I read lots of blogs by people I do not know, but have children around Ryder's age. Most of them are younger moms like myself and are sort of like a group of girlfriends I can compare stories with. However, I feel like all of these mom's have children that are always perfect, eat all their veggies, never cry, play perfectly, never get their clothes dirty, don't even know what a tantrum is, always sleep through the night, don't hit, don't get cranky, never throw their food, behave in restaurants, and are geniuses! I feel as though we are the only ones struggling through anything with our almost twenty month old toddler who has hit his terrible-two's a little early.

I then had to question myself. If reader's of our blog aren't around (which no one is since we are in the middle of no where by ourselves through this awful rehab!) do I maybe paint that same picture of our family? Do I lead people to believe we always have smiles on our faces, that we play in fountains, color pictures with chalk, kick balls, read books, and go on fun adventures? Do I lead people to believe we always have our act together? I think I might in some sense.

I think part of us does it because we like to remember the good and forget the bad. I know I sure do! I hardly remember what it's like to be up all night with Ryder when he was an infant. I think to myself how bad was it really? All I can remember is how little he was, how cute he was, how sweet he smelled. I don't remember the bad. It's an amazing thing how we can do that!

Well... just for future reference when (or if...because right now it's so far from our minds it's crazy) we decide to have other children, I want to remember that Ryder was just like he is now and that is passes (it does right?!).

Ryder right now is being a terror... terrible two's? Someone told me they go from about 1 1/2 - 2 1/2. Well he will hit twenty months on Sunday, and I think we can consider ourselves well into this phase. Ryder right now requires constant attention, is throwing awful tantrums, hates being at home, isn't sleeping that great, throws pretty much everything, and loves to hit. We have good spans and we have bad, but it feels like the bad last forever. If we keep him busy with constant entertainment, walks in his stroller, trips to the park, rides in the car, and anything else we can think of it's all great. If we stop this for even a second to think about taking a phone call, relax, check e-mail... forget it! All hell breaks lose. Needless to say we are e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d!!!

We have tried spankings, time-outs, ignoring him, giving him what he wants. We basically have tried everything and honestly none of them really make him happy. We are writing it off as a "stage" that we will hopefully pass with all the change that is about to come up in our lives.

So there ya have it... it's not so picture-perfect. We love our little man with all our hearts and still want to love and kiss on him even when he's being not-so-nice. After this post I will go back to making everyone think he's the happiest boy in the world, but just needed to vent for one post... promise to get back to the happy picture posts pronto!!!

Anticipation

I think that is the perfect word for what is going on around this house! With Derrik's rehab coming to a close we are trying to make arrangement for this big next step in our life. It feels like it is all we talk about. We have come up with so many scenarios for what we can and might do, but don't really know anything.


What we know:

-Derrik is feeling great! He feels slight pain every once in a while, but it's like one out of twenty pitches. Right now it's basically about getting ready to play at the level he was playing at before.

-Derrik has three simulated games on Friday, Tuesday, and Saturday. (We think we know this, BUT they also change things. This is the schedule as of right now).

-Derrik will throw in his first extended Spring Training game April 27th.

-The pitching coordinator for the Reds told us to be ready to go anywhere after May 1st.

- The BMW will go back to Cape Cod from Arizona so we have one car to worry about in case we move a lot in the few months to come.

- Our two cats will go back to Cape Cod for the duration of the season. They are a lot to travel with and my grandparents will be staying in our apartment over the summer while we aren't there.

- Plane tickets to Boston and Raleigh are SUPER cheap right now.

What we are questioning:

- After May 1st? Like May 2nd? Or like May 30th? Thanks for the info!

- Where will we being going? Will we go back to AA Carolina? Will we get sent down to High A Lynchburg to see how he does? Will they think he's ready for AAA Louisville and just send him there (wishful thinking)?

- Do we pay a little more and ship a car back home to Cape Cod so we don't put miles on it, or do we have a family friend drive it for us because it's cheaper?

- Do the cats go in the BMW with the family friend (if she's willing), or do they go with us until my family can come get them when they visit?

- Do Ryder and I fly back to Cape Cod early in the month so Derrik can leave at a moments notice if they tell him one day before he has to leave? Do we wait it out and hope tickets are still cheap when we find out where we are going?

I am sure there are SOOO many more questions we keep asking ourselves. It is literally making us crazy. We are trying to enjoy these last couple weeks. These are our last couple weeks where Derrik will be home at night and not traveling on the road every other five days. These are our last couple of weeks in a nicely furnished house and not a sparcely furnished apartment. We are trying so so hard to enjoy it, but i'll tell ya what.... anticipation really gets the best of you sometimes!!!

I will do my best to keep everyone updated. It is so hard to explain to anyone what is going on because, honestly, we don't know as you can tell. Only time will tell...

Charli Lyn Way DeHaven

Today one of my best friend, Natalie, had her second baby girl. After a quick three hour labor, Charli Lyn Way DeHaven was born at 9:29 am weighing 6lb 12oz and 19.5 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing great. Big sister, Finley, is already in love with her new little sister. Most importantly though, Matt made it down last night just in time to be here for Charli's birth. I am so happy for the whole DeHaven family that they get this time together. I am also thrilled with technology these days, and that I already have a bunch of pictures of Charli. I wish I could go visit them in the hospital so bad!

Congrats Matt, Natalie, and Finley

A Beautiful Morning for Some Art Work...

You might notice almost all of our pictures are taken out on our patio area lately. The owners of the house just purchased the house back in July and had yet to furnish their patio area. It was a huge selling point to me when we decided to rent the house because it's like a huge play pen for Ryder. Although mid-day is hot out there, our mornings and early evenings are gorgeous! Today we colored with chalk, the other day it was the pool, we play basketball out there, push cars, and sometime just walk around in circles. I work right inside in the kitchen and can leave a window cracked to hear Ryder. It is such a great esacape for him! We are trying to soak in all our "caged-in" outside time we can while we are still here. I am going to miss that patio more I can imagine I'm sure!

Please Tell Me WHY?!?!

Why is it that some day's my son only wants to do things he shouldn't?

Why does he want to climb onto the stools? Sit on the counter? Crawl onto the kitchen table? Stand on the coffee table?

Why do I feel like a bad mom because i'm constantly telling him no and putting him in timeout?

I try very hard to let him bend the rules since we are stuck in the house all the time. I let him play with kitchen utensils (nothing sharp of course), pull the tissues out of the box, play with the remotes, but REALLY? Do we have to make this place look like a jungle gym?!?!

The little man just went down for a nap. I asked him to please take a long nap. I told him I loved him very very much, but PLEASE take a long nap!!!

Sunday Funday

Now that Spring Training is over, Derrik gets Sunday's off again. It's not the whole weekend, but we'll take it since we don't want too much time off because we want the heck outta here soon!

We didn't have much planned today except wanting to spend the day together and, of course, watching golf. We started the morning off with some cinnamon rolls for breakfast which were delicious! We then played around with Ryder for a little bit. It's not too often that we both put everything aside and just completely give 100% of our attention to Ryder when at home. While in the living room he kept acting like he wanted to jump. We taught him what the word was and asked him to keep doing it over and over.

Video of Ryder jumping

I then suggested that Ryder really needed a haircut so we made a trip to Wal-Mart for some clippers. Derrik had tried the haircut thing out before, but it was with a beard trimmer that he uses on his face. We figured since he seemed to do a good job last time that we'd invest in the real thing. Once we got home we all settled in for a nap. I'm not a great napper because when I do I don't want to get up, but on Sundays I usually give in and enjoy the extra sleep time with my hubby. It's our way of "sleeping in" since Ryder doesn't care what day of the week it is and is always up early.Once we got up golf was on so the boys spent a lot of time in front of the t.v.

"Chips and golf... It doesn't get any better then this!!!" "Hey look what I realized my tongue can do now!"
Once the golf ended we decided it was time for the haircut

The trick to a successful haircut is definitely the lollipop!

Notice the tear by his eye :(

It was HOT out today! Any small dreams we had of even maybe living out in Arizona on our own will are slowly but surely diminishing. We have fallen in love with the community we live in, but it's only April and it's already HOT! I mean I grew up in Florida and dealt with some serious heat, but it is crazy out here. So a sweaty baby and a family covered in hair only meant one thing... get the hose out and fill up Ryder's little pool with water.

"What a great idea!"

Ryder went to sit next to dad and burnt his little tush on the pavers

This is the look Ryder gave Derrik after he let out the loudest fart! After this picture, Ryder proceeded to get up and go look behind Derrik to see what made the noise!!!

Trying to convince Ryder to actually get in the pool And that was enough of that for him....

The water was pretty chilly! I would know that because when I had my back turned rinsing the hair off Ryder's highchair Derrik threw a cup of water at me. I then thought i'd get him back, but ended up in the pool myself and with a cup of water poured over my head.

Tomorrow is Monday which means back to the grind of daily life. It's ok though because every Monday means another week further into Derrik's rehab. His first live BP is Tuesday and first simulated game is Saturday!!!