Oh where did the summer go?

I have never been so behind on blogging.  As I sit here on the eve of the start of a new school year and reflect on the busiest summer we've ever had, it's truly like I don't know where to begin a summer recap.

Let's see  . . . baseball games, gymnastics camps, trips by two of us to Michigan, pool days with Sydney, triathlon training, mountain biking, a 20 year wedding anniversary getaway, 4th of July festivities, Girls Camp, Rockies games, a first real job, Trek, a Utah visit and a surgery blunder in the family put more on our collective plates than we ever dreamed we could juggle.

Cooper played Legion B (JV) baseball this summer, which essentially meant that he played baseball from sun up 'til sun down on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for all of June and half of July.  Practices have always been from 9-noon on Tues/Wed in our little town.  Strange schedule.  The problem was that all of Cooper's games were also on Tues/Wed as well--a double header each Tuesday afternoon followed by a single game on Wed evening.  Poor kid had nothing left by the time Thursday rolled around.  He also got his first real job this year--umpiring pee wee and T-ball games for the rec district.  Fun to see him get a real paycheck and now that he has his sights set on a car, he's learning the real meaning of saving his money.  He had to throw out a parent and a coach during his time in blue, but handled himself well and came home with some great stories.  He also managed to squeeze some golf in whenever he could. 

Playing on the field my brothers played in Eaton . . weird to be on the visitor bleachers!

Syd finally decided Coop was A-ok

Coop also decided to follow in his dad's footsteps and give mountain biking a try.  Super fun to see he and his dad have that hobby in common now.  They also went on High Adventure as well, which included white water rafting, repelling and more mountain biking.  

High Adventuring

Sporting full body armor before heading down the ski slopes at Winter Park on his new bike

The highlight of Cooper's summer was his trip by himself to Grand Rapids in late July to watch his Uncle Bennett play professional baseball.  He left on a Monday and didn't come home until Saturday.  He had an amazing week hanging out with Bennett's host family and his teammates and really experiencing the life of a minor league ball player.  We were able to watch many of the games on our big screen through the use of technology, which was a real treat.  A close second for Cooper for this summer would be heading up the neighborhood driveway fireworks show on the 4th of July.  I choose not to talk about his pyromania any more than that!

On the field in Grand Rapids

Homemade root beer floats and driveway fireworks . . oh yeah, baby!

The pyromaniac in his happy place on the 4th

Cooper's heart situation is a huge mystery.  His heart function continues to be low, but he still feels good.  Being on blood pressure medicine is a pain, but he takes it in stride and just refuses to let any of it slow him down.  We went to the Cardiac Kids annual picnic and had a great day and Coop landed himself a spot in an upcoming public service announcement that will air on local TV shows soon! 

The girls had a blast at the picnic

Kaiya packed more in one summer than most people do in a year.  Between her regular gym schedule (6 hrs/day, four times a week), she also went to a camp (flying by herself and meeting up with a teammate) in Missouri and then I accompanied her and a teammate to a camp in Cedar City, Utah.  She is totally unfazed traveling alone and being in strange places.  

Doesn't even flinch flying alone

University of Missouri dorms

Off to Cedar City!

Love this picture of her handstand on bars 

She also did a ton of babysitting this summer and was one of her sister's biggest cheerleaders as she trained for her triathlon.  She also has a Starbucks Frappuiccino habit, so she got good at riding her bike to Starbucks and getting one on occasion.  We squeezed in several pool days, which meant time with Sydney and family.  Kaiya went to Girls Camp for the first time this year and she got to go to Water World with a bunch of her gym buddies and loved playing back yard volleyball under the flood light her brother rigged up.  Her summer activities culminated in a trip to the mountains with her coaches and teammates to bond and have fun in a big cabin.  The way she can create skits and dances on the fly is impressive.  We got some fun pictures of her doing handstands across America as well. 

Ready to be a Belieber

Handstands at Girls Camp

Not sure they get any cuter than Syd

Kaiya and her buddy, Abby

Kinley became one independent girl this summer.  She had no choice.  Between baseball, gymnastics and work schedules, she was often the brains of the operation at home.  She had lots of playdates with friends, loved our pool days and spent time every week training for her triathlon.  It was so fun to see her put her mind toward something that was all her own and push herself to accomplish a huge goal.  She never stopped once during the 150 yd swim, 4 mile bike ride and 1 mile run in the IronKids Triathlon in Boulder on Aug. 3rd.  She doubted herself and even had some nervous tears in the week leading up to the big race, but she pushed through it.  Seeing that smile on her face as she crossed the finish line was just awesome.  

Her first official tri training session in May

Eliciting training helpers

Swim training with Uncle Brandon

More swim help from my good friend, Tasha

Race day!!

Sporting her body tattoo

Transition area

Kinley's fan club

After waiting for 2 hours, it was finally time to go!

All done!

Passed out in the car on the way home. 

Other than the triathlon, she will tell you that the other two highlights of her summer was spending a week in Utah with her cousins at Aunt Nancy's house and at grandma's (ask her sometime about performing CPR on a frog and walking a goat to the snow cone shack) and going to the Justin Bieber concert in late June.  I went almost completely deaf and I took a good friend along with me for moral support, but both of my girls loved the show--it was action packed to say the least!  She got the tickets for her birthday and Kaiya was happy to tag along!

Kinley's day with Syd

So pumped for the concert!

It wouldn't be sumer without some Rockies games

Fox Hill pool

Doug started his new job this summer and is in such a better place.  He's in a totally different division now (still at TIAA-CREF) and his schedule is more flexible.  He's looking forward to working one day from home in the near future.  As usual, he is amazing at his church role leading a group of teenage boys through these crazy years.  He accompanied the group to the mountains and hangs right with them.  He really enjoys mountain biking and wonders why it took him so long to realize that he just doesn't enjoy running, but biking is a blast!  Doug and I celebrated our 20 year anniversary on June 26th and were able to spend the night in Denver while my mom kept the kids.  It was so nice to get away and we did a lot of reflecting on our last 20 years.  

20 years!!

I was fortunate enough to make a quick trip to Michigan as well to see Bennett and it was so memorable.  We got more one-on-one time than I've had with him since he was little and stayed at our house.  I got to see how much he's really grown up, talk about his upcoming wedding and learn about his plans after baseball.  We really gave his manager a scare when we went out to dinner and there he sat with an older woman with a wedding ring on.  Hilarious!  I forget when we are in public that most people don't know we are siblings. 

Fifth Third Ballpark 

Fun to see Bennett's baseball card for sale in the pro shop

In addition to managing multiple carpools, I volunteered to be the camp nurse at Girls Camp near Laramie and at the Southern Utah gymnastics camp.  It's so rewarding to be able to use my job skills to work with young people.  I've decided teenagers are truly my favorite age group to work with.  Sounds crazy, but I love it.

Girls Camp!

My skills really got put to the test in working with the youth group on a trek across Wyoming.  Once every 4 years, our church takes the kids from our area (200+) to an area that was traveled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850's.  It was one of those experiences that I could almost never be able to fully explain, but walking 20+ miles with these kids all decked out in pioneer attire was a life-changing experience.  I think nearly all of the kids that went would tell you the same thing--camping in tents with no foam pads and no pillows and pushing handcarts for three days really makes you understand how good their lives are and what was sacrificed so many years ago.  I am so grateful to have had that much time with Cooper and any worries I had about him being able to keep up were quickly put to rest.  On day three, he pulled the handcart for 14 of the 15 miles and could have kept going.

This trail gives new meaning to being in the middle of nowhere!

As part of the medical staff, it was my job to keep an eye on the kids and tend to all the little stuff that pops up.  However, on night #2, it became clear that we were dealing with more than just little stuff.  At about 10pm, I was notified that a young lady was vomiting and shaking and felt awful.  It became quickly obvious that she was severely dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke.  By the light of a lantern and using a handcart as an IV pole, I gave this young lady a large amount of IV fluids and eventually put her to bed once I was convinced she was stable.  The next day, she did good all day while we were all out on the trail, but by evening (when our group was just a mile shy of the campsite), she went downhill again.  I was picked up by a support vehicle only to find her completely unresponsive at the campsite, but with stable vital signs.  Long story short, I gave her more IV fluids and accompanied her to the closest ER in Lander.  She perked up after getting some sugar paste en route (why on earth a perfectly healthy girl dropped her blood sugar after being fine all day is still a total mystery), but remained a pretty sick girl.  After lab tests showed nothing significantly wrong, we took her back to camp and I drove her home the next morning before the buses left.  (Crazy side note--she did great the next day but then got worse again a day later and ended up spending the night where I work, but is now fine again) I am told that it costs about $40,000 to send these kids on this trek every 4 years and I will never be able to wrap my mind around the amount of planning, cooking, paperwork, emails, meetings and prayers that went into putting this trip together, but I know we are all different people after having gone.

For my mom's birthday, we decided to run another half marathon together--this time the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half.  Gorgeous day, gorgeous scenery and we talked for all 13.1 miles.

Last but not least, on July 12th, my dad went in for some elective surgery to remove a section of his diseased colon and as of the date of this writing, he is still fighting through the aftermath of a surgery gone bad.  He was in the hospital for four weeks fighting infection, jaundice, malnutrition, weakness and pain and was just recently transferred to the rehab unit of a nursing home that he helped establish.  He is finally making progress toward getting home.  I made it to Greeley nearly every day while he was hospitalized and I hated the days I couldn't make it.  It has been a privilege to be his advocate, family nurse and cheerleader as he has fought through this horrific ordeal.

4th of July at Papa's new house on the lake

Ice cream parlor near Papa's house

Adding to her list

The only thing that comes to my mind as I finish writing this enormous blog entry is the line to a Bon Jovi song that says I'll sleep when I'm dead!  Whew!!