ArcaMax

"Being here is a real common denominator -- everyone loves baseball," said Andrew Mullen, who played here eight years ago and was now back to watch a cousin. "Playing here was an awesome experience -- the best tournament I've ever been to," he added. Mullen, from New Jersey, now plays college baseball.

Some of the boys are on all-star teams; others, like my cousin, on community teams. That can make for some lopsided pairings, but the kids don't care. They say it's the perfect tween vacation.

"You get to play baseball every day and be free to have fun without having to do what your parents say," said Colby Grant, from Jacksonville, Florida, playing for the Julington Creek Stars.

"The best part is meeting kids from all over the country," added his teammate Luke Morningstar. The boys come with team pins to trade with other players.

"Of course, there are rules -- everything from having their uniform shirt tucked in to having their cap turned the right way to getting up on time for breakfast.

That's what makes this week as much about learning life skills as baseball, says their coach Ray Wilkins.

It all started with a family visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame back in the 1970s. Wouldn't it be great if all kids had a chance to play baseball here, Louis Presutti said to his son.

Louis Presutti Jr., a longtime Little League coach and successful New York businessman, decided his dad had a good idea and with private backing, was able to open Dreams Park with 10 fields in 1996.

At the opening ceremonies, complete with skydivers landing on the field with the American flag, Presutti tells the assembled crowd that the park was built to honor his father and his baseball-loving grandmother, who sent five sons to fight in World War II. "My grandmother loved the game and the Red, White and Blue," he said. That's why all of the uniforms are those colors.

"Let's remember it's a game," he tells the boys -- and their parents. "It is a game fought fiercely on these fields ... but a game."

Unfortunately, the Golden, Colorado Hurricanes didn't win many games, and there were some rain delays, but in the end, that didn't matter. What mattered is that it was a week they, their parents and grandparents, won't forget.

Money well spent, said Cathy Willis, from Tennessee. "They're only 12 once."

(Wherever you're traveling with teens this summer, encourage them to enter the Family Travel Forum Teen Travel Writing Scholarship contest that I support. They could win $1,000 for an essay with photos or video on a trip they've taken in the last five years, or, at the very least, get some practice for those college admission essays. Entries are accepted until July 27.)

========

For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)

(c) 2014 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.