Finally Getting Some Rain

So, the sleepover Sunday night didn’t go so well. I’m not sure if anyone slept well. But the girls had to get up and get to their first day of basketball camp at Truman. I got them checked in a little before nine and they were there until noon. I was able to get some grocery shopping in before picking them up. Then we picked up some lunch and all headed over to my parents for the kids to swim for a little bit. We had a shorter swim because I wanted to head home, let the kids rest and get caught up on some stuff before heading out to ballgames. I had some frozen spaghetti sauce that I thawed for dinner and we were able to eat before heading out. Jackson had to be there at 6:30 for his 7:30 game and Lincoln played at 6:45. We dropped Ellie off at my parents so that she could ride bikes over to the ballpark with Briley. Lincoln seemed to be a little distracted the last couple of games, but after working with Andrew and a little pep talk, he had a great game.

We could see Jackson’s field from Lincoln’s field and it looked like the previous game was still going on and they were still playing when Lincoln’s game was over. So, Jackson’s 7:30 game didn’t start until 8:30. The plus side was that it was cooler. Jackson had an awesome game. He finally got another great hit and he was on fire at second throwing out at least 5 people at first. Their team is short a player, so their outfielders have a lot of space to cover. So, when a ball was hit to far right field, Jackson booked it out there and made a great throw in to keep the batter at second. I think it was a great game for his confidence. As the game got later, my parents offered to take the twins and Lincoln to their house even though they were still having fun playing with some of the other kids there. Then as the game continued past 10, Andrew decided he should go let Buddy out since he had been in his office for 4 hours. But then he ended up bringing Buddy to the park on a rope. Thankfully, Buddy behaved and Jackson was very excited to see him after the game. They went home and I made a very quick stop at Wal-Mart before picking up the boys.

Ellie stayed the night at my parents with Briley and my mom took them to camp in the morning. That afternoon we had friends over to swim at the pool. It was a hot day, but thankfully there were some clouds and a decent breeze and it ended up being a great afternoon. There were a lot of kids and they had a lot of fun. At one point, the were all jumping around in the pool and made it like a wave pool. People started heading home around 4:30.

Thankfully, my mom had dinner for us because we had ballgames later that evening. I brought their uniforms with us, so we didn’t have to go home to change. Ellie was up first at 6 and the twins were at 6:45. It was pretty hot out, but thankfully we had a good breeze and some clouds every now and then. Ellie didn’t think she would be pitching, but at the last minute, they put her out there in the first inning. She did awesome. She ended up pitching two innings and struck out 4 batters. One of the strike outs was three straight strikes that the batter didn’t even swing at. And I believe they only scored one run on her. I had to move over to the twins game during her second inning, but could still kind of see from there. The twins’ game was pretty par for the course. Although, I reminded Miles to swing a little sooner and he had a great hit. We went home after the games and watched a bit of the Cardinal’s game, but then the twins wanted to go on a bike ride. So we all went around the block a couple of times. Then while Bennett was riding on the LaBeth’s sidewalk, he got caught in a rut beside the sidewalk and fell off, hitting his mouth and elbow. His poor front teeth (that he has hit several times) were knocked loose again and he was bleeding. We finally got him calmed down though and soon it was time for another late bedtime.

I almost didn’t get up in time to get to the pool because I overslept. It seems like every night is a late night and I have worked out for 8 straight days. I usually do six and take a rest day on Sunday, but my schedule last week kind of messed me up, so I was trying to keep up the workouts straight through the upcoming Sunday. So I got my laps in and then took Ellie to basketball camp. When I got back, I had the boys come outside to play while I cleaned the car, garage, watered flowers, planted a new Boxwood that I hope Buddy doesn’t kill and did some weeding. Jackson got to pick up poop and then did some batting drills. We had some cloud cover and a breeze, but the humidity was still very high so it didn’t take long to work up a sweat. Then I headed in and started up the 30 Day Shred again. I decided it was time to add in a little more variety to my workouts for a little bit again. Ellie got to go to my parents after camp, so she and Briley could have one more day of swimming together. The rest of us stayed home and I was glad to get some items marked off my to-do list. Collecting and submitting all of Andrew’s CLE hours is always a fun one, but nice to get it done. The twins and Lincoln got out the slip-n-slide again and played with their friends. Andrew took Jackson downtown to get his hair cut and then he just rode his bike back home.

We didn’t have any ballgames that evening, but we did have a going away party for Gage. So, I made dinner before Jackson and I headed over to my parents’ house. We decided to have a pool party and invited some of Gage’s friends. We ended up having around 10 boys there. Of course, they were rowdy but it wasn’t too bad. We had to lay out the rules and remind them several times. Thankfully, my dad put most of the pool toys away. They ate pizza and snacks and played in the pool for about an hour before we had to kick them out because of lightning. Then we had to move into the pool house as it got closer and the rain started coming down harder. We hung out in there for about a ½ hour before we went back out and let them swim for another 20 minutes or so until their parents came to pick them up. Gage was so appreciative that we organized it for him. Jackson is really going to miss him and I’m going to miss him being around for Jackson.

I had planned to take the kids swimming on Thursday, but the day just got away from us. I took Ellie to her last day of basketball camp. She really enjoyed it and hopes to go full day next summer. I went through the three oldest closets and set out outfits for kamp to make sure they each had enough. I like to match them all up and take pictures of all the outfits to make it easier to pack it up when the time comes. That evening, we had Lincoln’s ballgame at 5:30. It was another hot one, but thankfully we got the side with the shade. Lincoln struggled a little bit his first two at-bats. Got a little hit the first time up and struck out the second time. But then he hit a home run the last at-bat. After his game, Ellie and I went to my parents’ house while Andrew took the boys home. Ellie had tagged along when Julie took Briley shopping and Briley got some shoes that Ellie really wanted. So, she approached me about working to make some money to buy the shoes herself. I had planned on cleaning the pool house before the small group barbecue, so I thought that would be a great job for her. I got her set up with supplies and a list of what needed to be done. She turned on the music and got to work. I made my Wal-Mart list and went shopping while she worked. It took her about 3 hours-from around 7:15-10, but she did a great job and didn’t complain at all. I was so proud of her and the next day we went to Goody’s for her to pick out her shoes. She was very excited and gracious about it. Which makes up for the day before when she wanted to make slime and promised not to make a mess like she had done the other times she made it. She ended up adding to much liquid to it (same mistake she usually makes), decided to put it in a balloon to make a stress ball and then had it burst on her and my bedroom carpet-blue slimy glue on my carpet. She did get it all cleaned up though.

We had some storms roll through Thursday night, early Friday and there were branches down around town. My parents said they had quite a few down around them. And Andrew called after he had been at the office for a while saying they had some issues there. The renters had a trampoline that blew across Baltimore and struck some power lines along the way. So, the office and the house were without electricity for a while and they had to have the computers worked on. And there was a little damage to the house where the trampoline ripped the power line from the house. So, Andrew decided it was a good day to get out of the office. He got some salt blocks and mineral, picked up Jackson and Lincoln and went out to the ranch to check the cows and fix some fence. They were pretty muddy when they got home and left their tick-covered clothes in the garage for me. 

That night we were supposed to have three ballgames but Jackson's was canceled and Ellie skipped hers to go to Bella’s dance recital.  The twins had their game though and they are always fun to watch. As we were heading to the game, they were discussing whether they were “gloving” or batting first. Miles said he wanted to be a “glover” first 😊. They both had some good hits and had a good game after a little advice. Miles has to be reminded to swing his bat a little earlier and Bennett had to be reminded to get his foot on first base and be ready for his teammates to throw the ball to him when he is playing first. After the game, we went to La Fuente and then headed home. The boys enjoyed the chance to get out and play with their friends and Andrew and I visited with the parents.  The kids played kick ball and then got out Capture the Flag again. We called it quits around 9:40 this time though.

Andrew and I were up the next morning to head out for a bike ride. We didn’t get out until close to 7 and he was hoping to get out sooner. But we went for our original route that he had been hoping to take me on for a while which was Hwy. 11 to K and K to Hwy. 6 at Novinger and then back home. He ended up turning off to go to the lake and I decided to head on home like originally planned since at the point my legs were definitely feeling fatigued after 11 straight days of working out. But, as I got closer to home, I realized I was going to be close 30 miles, so I took a little round-about route to add another mile to my route and got the 30 miles. And I didn’t realize it at the time, but Andrew took a few pictures of me while we were riding.

That afternoon, Andrew went to the office. I was kind of at a loss of what to do. We were having our small group pool party that night, but there was a chance of rain. So, I wasn’t sure if I should get our house ready for the get together in case of rain or get stuff ready at my parents. So, I kind of did both. I kept checking the forecast throughout the day and the chances of rain were going down, so I finally called it and we had a pool party. Andrew and the boys went over to my parents earlier and picked up some twigs and branches that had come down during the last storm that my parents didn’t have time to finish cleaning up before they left for St. Louis.  I tried to take some time to pull together outfits for family pictures at the beach. I decided to lay them on the floor in front of my bed  and take a picture by standing on the bed. Unfortunately, I forgot my ceiling fan was on and I smacked my head. I instantly had a big goose egg on my forehead and it hurt. I laid down for a bit, took some ibuprofen and then kept going. My parents dropped Ellie off around 4 and then she went with me about an hour later over to my parents to start setting up. Andrew came a little later with the boys and he was in charge of grilling.  He picked up some ice for me as his way over.

It ended up being a great evening and it didn’t rain until the very end. The kids loved playing in the pool as the rain was pouring down. But then a bit of lightning showed up, so we called it a night. 

Leah stayed and helped my parents and I so much with cleaning up which was very appreciated. Then Ellie and I ran by Wal-Mart on the way home to pick up something I needed for our Father’s Day dinner the next day. So, it was another late night but then it got even later. Lincoln was staying the night at Alex’s house, but then he showed up back home around 11:30 and this is what happened next…

So, it was a little late before we all got back to bed but we slept in on Sunday. I was looking forward to a rest day from working out. We went to church and then I spent some time cleaning and prepping all the food for dinner that night. Andrew went to the office and then took the kids out to the ranch for a little while. When he got home, he headed out for a bike ride. That evening, we had my parents and Molly, Tom and Mary, and Matthew and Kristin and their kids over for dinner to celebrate Father’s Day. I decided to do pulled pork so that Andrew didn’t have to grill. We had a nice dinner and dessert and then headed outside to watch the kids play before everyone headed home. And Andrew’s present from my was to try to let him start sleeping in the bed again. We’ll have to see how it goes. I didn’t get around to having the kids do much for Andrew. Miles made him a few cards. He had me write “Dad is the best” on one card and then he copied it to a couple more cards and draw pictures of Andrew.  Ellie made him a card too. He just enjoyed getting to spend part of the day with the kids and we ended up by taking Buddy on a walk later that night, which we hardly ever do.