Birthdays and Holidays

We ended June with a birthday and Deb was able to spend another week with us!  Of course, we were pretty busy while she was here and it was very helpful to have an extra car to help transport kids to/from the school.  There were baseball practices, football camp, weight training and softball games to go to.  Then another softball tournament up in Illinois.

Happy Birthday Nick!

We approximately one hour to celebrate Nick's birthday before we went in different directions.

I feel like it is this way every year.

43 years old.  Crazy.

My dad had a birthday as well

#70!

They went up to Iowa for his birthday and the holiday weekend.  We went to the lake the weekend before to see them.  It was fun to get some lake time!

Swimming at the pool

More pool time.

After Gracie and Nick returned from Oklahoma the last week in June, Nick dropped her off at the lake for the night and we all spent some time there the next day.

Gracie joined the 14U national team in Oklahoma for a tournament and did really well there.  She made 1st Team All-Tournament, which was pretty surprising since her team didn't do that well.  Nick took her, so there are no pictures from that tournament, but I think it was a good experience.

This was before the deer ate all of the lilies.  They started to bloom and then they were gone.

While Deb was here, she also helped with weeding and planting some strawberries, tomatoes, and peppers.  A lot of outdoor things get done when she visits. :)

These pics are all of the same sunset just minutes apart.  Crazy the way the sky can change so quickly.

I love the long summer days that lead to perfect sunsets.  Usually I'm a sunrise person, but this is great.

8:30pm

8:41pm

8:47pm

More softball for Southern Boone

We went to Fulton while Nick's mom was here and watched some softball there.

Next tournament:  Peoria, IL

Owen stayed back with the Porters and we took Nova with us.  Owen and Kegan both made the All-Star team and had practices, so Porters took them to practice and Nova got to play more softball.

I think Owen was pretty content with the weekend.  He got to go to the lake for most of the weekend.

I found the river on my walk!

Nova and Gracie after the Saturday evening games.

The team eating lunch at the tournament.

Gracie getting ready to play.

In-between games.

The girls had a lot of fun at this tournament.  There was quite a long break in between game and they decided to play Head's Up on the field.

Jumping to try to act out what the word was.  It was entertaining.

This was given to one of Gracie's coaches to pass on to her.

I don't think she will every have interest in playing in Illinois, but kind of encouraging.

More waiting

Watching more games

Gracie and Kenzi

This moment...I wish they could all end like this.

To keep going in the tournament, we needed one more run and Gracie had the hit during that game that produced the win and walk-off in the bottom of the 7th.  She hopped all the way to her dad after she rounded second base.  Such highs and lows in sports.  This was definitely a high for Gracie.

Unfortunately we didn't get past the next game and had to head home.  It was another close one that went into 2 extra innings.  We just couldn't produce at the plate.

Gracie had to stop for a photo with Lady Liberty on the way home.  I don't even know where we were.

Definitely not New York.

This was Owen's weekend.

Baseball and Lake time.

We exchanged kids again on Monday so we could take Owen and Kegan to practice on the 4th.  

Yes, they had practice on the holiday.  Nova and Gracie had some fun in the sun.

Gracie and I sat outside to watch some fireworks from our neighbors.

We also were attacked by mosquitoes.

Not a great pic.

Ahhh... Little League Baseball

Owen was very undecided about trying out for baseball until we discovered that the age cutoffs are different for baseball than they are for softball and this is his last year for 12U.  So, we did a couple weeks of daily baseball.  There were two teams from Columbia that participate in districts for baseball due to the high number of participants in the little league program here.  I'm not sure exactly how they divide the National league and American League, but Owen ended up in the American League and his team consisted of mainly friends from Ashland.  The National League team consisted of mainly kids from the Mavericks competitive team, which obviously provides them a little advantage over our baseball players.  Regardless, the kids practiced and prepared for competition. They came out with a win in their first game.  It was the longest game I have ever endured, with a score of 18-17.  3.5 hours. We began at 6pm and ended at 9:30pm.  The teams were very evenly matched and played again 2 nights later.

The next night we played the National Team and did really well through 4 innings.  Then the other team broke open the lead when we took out our first pitcher.  We did score one run and had a couple hits, but the Nationals dominated.  Owen got to play both outfield and catcher during this game.

The third game was the following evening and was another very long game against the same team we had beat earlier in the week.  Another close game that we came out on top in to allow us to play against the National Team again.  

Owen getting ready to play

Lining up for the National Anthem

Getting ready to play

Doing a little catching in the 2nd bracket game against the National Team

More catching

Owen pitched in the last game against the National Team

More pitching

I think he's smiling here

Owen had a really good first inning in the last game.  He got out of it facing only 4 batters.  He was throwing pretty well.  The second inning didn't go as well, though, and the other team kept hitting the ball and we struggled to come up with any defensive plays to get outs.  Owen ended up throwing 85 pitches between the 1st and 2nd innings.  He threw more strikes than balls, but the other team was just hitting really well.  I think Owen was really hoping to come out of the day with a win, but the cards were just not dealt that way.

Owen getting a jump off of third base

I think this was after the first game that they won against a team from Harrisburg.  He had a really nice hit to right field that got him to third base.  Owen does a great job of being a lefty utility player; pitching, catching, playing first, and outfield.  He has a great arm and has a lot of potential!  I love that he has so much fun with his friends.  I asked him after his experience with little league if he wants to keep doing it and he said yes, so we'll see what happens next.

Another tournament in Wentzville

While Owen was playing his last baseball game in Columbia, Gracie's team was playing in Wentzville.  This was their last tournament with Kirsten; she has to working during their tournament this week in KC.  What a fun group this has been!  I can't believe this will be the last week for them.

Aces team for the most recent tourney in Wentzville.

Gracie got an awesome pic of the man who can sleep anywhere.

Thanks Lucy for joining in the fun!

Last weekend was very frustrating for Gracie.  She had a pretty solid defensive effort through 5 games, but couldn't get her hits to fall and didn't have one hit over the entire weekend.  I don't think I have ever known her to go that many games without a hit.  Not sure what was going on, but I know she was pretty upset about her offensive performance.  The team went 2-3 over the weekend with some pretty close games.  I didn't get to see them play on Saturday, but Sunday's games were both pretty good and both came down to the very last inning.

Last week was another week of summer school, wrestling camp, working out, and softball.  Every night there was something that we had scheduled.  Southern Boone Softball Wednesday and Thursday, then guest playing in KC with Stealth Friday, Saturday, and Sunday... more on that later.

Owen had wrestling camp through the YMCA Thursday and Friday last week and just going to summer school Monday through Thursdays.  Two more weeks of July!