We Made It!

What a summer for softball, this has been.  We made it.  I don't know how, but we did.  I wasn't able to go to the last tournament which started on a Monday... I think people believe that parents don't have work responsibilities.  These girls truly saved their best performance for the last tournament.  They had an amazing week during the World Fastpitch Championships in KC July 18-22.  They started off 3-0 in pool play Monday and Tuesday, then Tuesday afternoon, won their first bracket game.  It was a true team effort, last week, all of them performing well.  Gracie did great and hit .489 during the week, committing 0 errors in 8 games.  She split her time between catching and 3rd base.  I'm so excited for this team and wish I could have been there to watch in person.  But here we are, another summer of softball in the books.

Aces Fastpitch '05 Team Summer 2022

Lucy and Gracie

Lucy is such a positive role model and I am so glad Gracie had the opportunity to be on the same team for a season.  Lucy will be a senior at Rock Bridge in Columbia this fall and will have to move up to 18U.  Gracie still has a few years at 16U.

Lucy, Sadie and Gracie

At least Sadie and Gracie will stay together!

Sadie and Gracie

Kenzi and Gracie

Kenzi will also be a senior this fall and goes to Centralia High School.

What a great family for Gracie to be around!

Haley, Syd, and Gracie.

These 3 will be together at Southern Boone for a few years.

Gracie and her teammates

Another picture in between games.

School Ball...

Southern Boone played their last summer league game against Centralia.  Gracie got to see Kaelyn and Kenzi; hitting off of both of them.

Kenz and Gracie

Kenz, Gracie, and Kaelyn.

Between July 13 and July 21 were 19 games of softball in 9 days...straight.  Games every day.  Two days were in Ashland for school league and then the rest were in KC area.  Crazy.  I went to a couple on the weekend when Gracie was guest playing with Stealth, but the rest were during the week and I watched on my phone.  The tournament with Stealth was great, and the team took second.  Gracie hit her first homerun at the 16u level and the first one in a game since school ball last fall.  Pretty exciting.

Owen went one of the days with us to watch Gracie.  He took his book with him and found a perch.

I always want him to go with us, but completely understand if he would prefer to stay at home if we're not spending the night somewhere else.  He is very helpful with Ruby when we have to be gone.

Homerun for Gracie to help them win a bracket game.

I actually love this softball park.

It is very unique and has great views of the fields.

The Stealth-Arrowood team after the championship game.

Gracie took one to the face during infield warm-ups.  woops.

Her lips were pretty swollen, but she still refused to put a mask on.

While Gracie and Nick were in KC all of last week, Owen went to summer school, went swimming, and rode his dirt bike.  It was a pretty good week.  We went out to eat one of the nights and he also had his annual doctor's appointment so he can play middle school sports this fall!  Finally Football!!!

Owen loves doing this!  Makes him a pretty happy kid.

Right after softball ended, Gracie had one more basketball tournament with her mid-mo Cougars team.  Owen went to the lake while she played.  I think this was way more fun for him.  Porters are really good to him.  Here are some pics from the weekend.  The basketball team didn't play all that well this weekend.  Gracie had a couple of good games, but they didn't seem as cohesive as they have in the past.  They went 2-2 over the weekend and did not place in Show-Me State Games.  They played a couple of teams out of St. Louis who were pretty good, but overall, they should have played much better.  I'm hoping Gracie uses this as motivation for the upcoming basketball season with her school.  Lots of work to do here.

Gracie playing defense.  

Her team after the last summer tournament. 

I hope they will stay together to compete after their school seasons are done.

They will all be freshmen this year at different schools.

While that was going on....Owen had some fun on the water with the Porter family.

Learning to surf behind a boat.

Almost ready to drop the ski line.

Wake boarding for the first time.

He looks pretty good and seems to pick this stuff up pretty easily.

THIS!

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This is what I want our kids to do.

This is where I want their priorities to be.

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Thursday afternoon I found this in my email and it makes my heart so happy.  This makes me so proud and is far more important to me than any athletic or academic achievement Owen could possibly get.  Owen has such a big heart and I am so happy that his principal shared this with us.  This type of behavior will get you so far in life.  Your actions can make a huge difference in someone else's day and in their life.  You have no idea how much the things you say and do, even the small things, can impact another person both positively and negatively.  

Owen - you are doing, and are going to continue to do great things.

Always stay humble and kind.

Beautiful sunrise last week

This was looking west at sunrise this morning.

You can see the faint double rainbow behind the approaching rain shower.

It's finally going to rain.