End of July
August is always stressful and crazy with school starting (both our kids and Mizzou), Football season starting, more sports, dance and now Gracie is doing band this year. And of course birthday planning. I'm trying to enjoy the calm before the storm.
Here are a few pictures of what our terraced flower bed look like, just a year later!
They look pretty good if you ask me. We just need to get the lower level done. :)
Last baseball games!
Owen has had a fun year of baseball. We didn't know that it would be kid pitch going into it, but that's what we have. He has played with Southern Boone kids and seems to like it. I'm not sure how passionate he is about baseball; it's probably 3rd on his list of sport loves, but he does like to be with friends. He also is not a bad little catcher. There were very few balls that he let drop.
Finishing up catching
Taking some practice swings
So, we let him pitch one game. His team only had 7 players for the make-up game and the coach let him try it. Even more importantly, his dad let him try it. It was pretty rough and he ended up throwing over 50 pitches in the 1/2 inning. He struck out 3, though. (Actually 4, but there was a dropped 3rd strike). I think Owen has no idea how may he walked, but just remembers that he struck out 3 to get out of the inning.
Gracie and Me watching baseball
A little time at the lake
We have been down to the lake since we returned from our vacation. Owen spent a few nights down there a couple weeks ago and we spent an afternoon there when we went to pick him up. I think he was spoiled appropriately by his grandparents. We will head down there again on Sunday to drop the kids off for another couple days.
Swimming in the pool
Gracie and Owen's swim suits match!
Kittens!
We have added to our family. I always thought it would be another dog, but we have two more kittens! Our friends had a couple kittens that were the only survivors of the litter and they couldn't keep them because of their dogs. We know that Tom is getting older and we need cats to keep the mice away, so here they are. We went to pick them up a couple weeks ago on July 15. They have been staying in our garage and we started letting them outside for a few hours at a time this week. Nutter and Custer...yes the kids named them.
On the way to their new home!
This is Custer. He's a boy!
Owen with Custer
This is Nutter. She's a girl!
Nutter looking into the house
Gracie with Custer
Both of the kitties on our porch
In their down time, Gracie and Owen have constructed an obstacle course with hay bales, pallets, and fence. They run the course and time each other.
Owen using the fence as one of his obstacles.
We also went to see the musical "Matilda," which was put on by the Columbia Playhouse. Tryps is a children's organization through Stephen's College and they have a summer theater. One of Gracie's friend's older sister was Matilda. It was so good and I'm so glad that I took them to see it. The director asked some of the kids in the audience to participate before the production started. Of course, Gracie volunteered. Her friend, Hayden, is standing next to her. After the show was done, Gracie said that she would love to be in a show like that and she wants to be the main part. Go figure. When I asked her how much time she would have to invest, she guessed right by saying "Probably more time than I spend on softball." Yep.
Gracie and Hayden onstage. Owen wanted nothing to do with that.
More pictures from South Dakota
These are pictures that I stole from Kimi's albums.
One of the tunnels on Needles Highway that we had to fit the truck through.
I'm pretty sure this was more rock climbing off of Needles Highway
It's a stare down. This is how close Nick was to the Ram.
Kimi snapped a really good photo!
Hiking in the Badlands
This is at the Visitor Center in Custer State Park.
There was an interactive map that you could look at and find information.
Climbing wall at the Visitor Center
Another hike
Jumping in the water at Hippie Hole
The girls opted to hike out the first time after jumping off the cliff.
They decided to try climbing the rope after that.
Another jump from Owen
Nick's turn!
Waiting to jump
Nick going off again
Kimi also got a really good picture of Crazy Horse Monument.
Like I mentioned before, we didn't actually go to the Park, but this is what it looks like from afar.
Fireworks!
We watched fireworks in Ashland a couple weeks after 4th of July.
Gracie and Owen's previous after school care also has a huge fireworks display after the holidays.
So...This is pretty awesome.
I promised Nick that I wouldn't post any pics of the new facility until after all the players had been through. I still will definitely not be sharing this on social media. The team went through last night and had their first meal as a team in the new football facility! So here is a little glimpse of Mizzou's newest facility addition.
Last weekend, Nick took us through to see all of the cool stuff that has been under construction for almost two years. It did not disappoint and Owen was really excited!
This is their auditorium where they will have their full team meetings.
Graphics on one of the walls.
Locker Room
Owen picked his favorite players.
The dryers are ginormous.
Here are the recovery and workout pools
This one is a treadmill. Crazy.
This is the recovery pool. I believe it is pretty cold, but look at all the TV monitors to watch.
They even have barber chairs.
The South EndZone is not completely done yet. They still have work to do on all of the suites for donors. But the coaches and team are in the building. I'm sure Nick still has quite a list of requests to get done, but it is an amazing facility that has been an ongoing process for a long time.
In a week we will visit Iowa for the weekend to see family and friends. It has been a really long time since we have been up there. My cousin is getting married, and I'm sure we'll have fun seeing everyone. We'll see how much we can pack in to a few days.
After that, we will hit the ground running with the start of everything for the fall. Until then, I will be breathing easy and enjoying the down time!
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