Tournament time

Well, Coop has run us all into the ground in less than one week! He had a baseball tournament on Friday night and Saturday in the 95 degree heat and humidity and then he played in the Longmont Junior Golf Tournament the last three days.

His team won their game on Friday night to advance to Saturday. He was told on Friday night that he would be catching no matter how many games they played. They were the #11 seed going in and we were just happy to have made it to Saturday. Well, these kids played like champs and the next thing we knew, they were in the semi-finals! Cooper wore that heavy catcher's gear in the heat for back-to-back-to-back games with very little break. I think he lost 20 pounds of water. They lost the semi-final game, but they played their hearts out. He had amazing coaches this season and it was so fun sitting in those bleachers this year. These kids turned double plays and were so fun to watch.

Today, he wrapped up his third day of a golf tournament on three different courses in Longmont and he has improved so much. The kid consistently drives ball 150-175 yards right down the middle (which explains why he struggles at times hitting down on a baseball) and really enjoys himself on the course. He had a par 4 on his last hole of the day and finished 8th in the 12 and under division. It was fun to see his name in the local paper. His dad was his caddie on Monday, Uncle Bennett on Tuesday and I got to do it today. What a neat thing to be able to support him over the last week.

She'll tumble for 'ya

So, despite my efforts to get Kaiya to take to other sports, gymnastics is in her bones. We tried tennis this year (kinda sad to watch) and she really enjoys and does OK at soccer (though I catch her doing gymnastics on the side lines). I have not let her do gymnastics more than once a week (all the other girls at her level go twice), but I may be losing this battle. The girl climbs into her bunk bed by doing a pull up from a dead hang, she sits in the splits while watching TV and she is never upright on our swingset outside. I wish there were an olympic sport just for climbing. Anyway, when I picked her up at the gym this last week, she announces to me that she figured out how to do a round-off, back handspring on the tramp. Once she can do this on the floor, she can compete on the team. This video isn't all that great because it was after two hours of practice, but she insisted on showing me over and over. :)

Living the dream . . .

I am a summer freak. I don't even mind when it hits 100. Summer means being outside, baseball every day and very little cooking on my part. :) My kids got a bit of the summer bug from me, but Cooper might reconsider his dream of following in his Uncle Bennett's footsteps after catching a ballgame in the 100 degree heat. I have never seen so much sweat on a kid. He looked like he took a shower every time he took his catcher's helmet off.

It has been so fun going to Cooper's games this year and seeing the boys progress. It's not the comical little league anymore. These are kids who make plays in the outfield and get struck out by decent pitchers. Cooper is living his dream of playing catcher this season and doing a pretty good job. He has had to learn to pick up his pace (if anyone has ever walked any distance with him, they know what I'm talking about) and fight through sore knees. Considering the kid just had surgery in April, I'm pretty impressed!! :) We're proud of ya, Coop!

Livin' at LAC

This is the 3rd year that we have joined the Longmont Athletic Club just for the summer. They have a decent outdoor pool and it's never crowded. On a day like today when it was 99 degrees, there is no better place to be than in the pool. Our neighbors join each summer as well, so we enjoy meeting them there, taking our lunch and just letting the kids play. It's a little ghetto (the train tracks in Longmont run right behind the pool and at least once a day, a very loud train roars by), but the kids could care less. My kids are all fairly decent swimmers because of frequent trips there, so I guess that is a bonus.

I wish I had the time and resources to petition our HOA to open a neighborhood pool complete with a BBQ and grassy area (we would likely just live there for the summer), but until then, we'll just keep hanging at the LAC!

The 4th is 2nd

Next to Christmas, the 4th of July is our second favorite holiday. From the time I was a little kid growing up in Greeley, the parade was a must, hanging out with family and nearly burning off a finger doing fireworks were all standard operating procedure. Doug remembers being awakened by blaring loud patriotic music that his dad played.

As a family, we have started our own traditions and kept around a few from our families. We started making homemade rootbeer right after we got married (the recipe adopted and modified a bit from Doug's dad) and quickly learned that the 5 gallon recipe was a bit much for the two of us. The last few years, we've only made about two gallons and that seems to be about right--enough to make rootbeer floats with family and friends.

We got to also go waterskiing this year and had a blast. Kaiya and Cooper both got up on skiis and did awesome. Kinley said she will try it when she is 17, but loves riding on the "taco". We all missed a few spots with the sunscreen yesterday and added to our patriotic look by being a bit red, but we had a great day. Thanks to the Ackers and Jeffers for joining our fun and carrying on the tradition of teaching our boys to be pyromaniacs on the driveway! Ugh.