"Take me out to the ballgame..."

I felt very American yesterday because I played in a baseball tournament and ate a McDonald's cheeseburger.

Maybe you're thinking that playing in a baseball tournament doesn't really sound like a Dana thing to do. And you'd be right. (I don't usually eat McDonald's cheeseburgers, either.)

But when the weather is absolutely perfect, there's upbeat music playing the whole time, and cute little kids are running about, baseball is quite fun! And a cheeseburger seems like the right thing to eat for lunch.

Adorable Erika dancing to the music! All together now...Awwww. :)

Smiling with the cutiepie and her dad, who was the one to invite the ALTs to form a team for the tournament.

I keep referring to it as baseball, but yesterday's games were played with special kind of homemade not-quite-baseballs -- like people in Kuji used to play with during WWII, when they couldn't afford baseballs and had to use what they had around to make them. I was given these two as presents:

Even though they're made from cloth, they're really not as soft as you'd think.

Our team only won one out of three games, so we didn't get to play in the championship round. (To be honest, three games was enough for me.) I'm happy to report that while I didn't score any points for our team, I at least made contact with the ball each time I was up to bat!

Afterwards, we had a party with some of the other participants.

I've never seen fish cooked in flames like this before. (Yikes...it kind of looks like the guy in the back has his hand in the fire!)

The after party was a ton of fun, and I made several new friends -- like this guy who wanted to wear my sunglasses and do a "cool pose" for my camera, haha...

Well, peace out for now!