That's a Wrap

 Today we wrapped yet another season of baseball.  I spent the day in mega heat and I am wiped so this may be short and sweet.  Or last tournament definitely had its ups and downs.  We had some of the worst umping we have ever seen and that's really saying something.  We also got threatened with disqualification when they thought we brought in ringers on the second day.  The truth is that we played with the same team both days and the boys we did bring in to fill in for our missing players were 10 and 11 year-olds.  This afternoon we played in and lost the championship game.  Before that happened though Merrick pitched the entirety of our morning game.  We mercy ruled the team after 3 innings with a score of 14-0.  Merrick quite literally put on a clinic.  He allowed one hit over three innings and had 9 strikeouts for all 9 outs of the game.  He faced 11 batters all game with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts.  It was truly special to watch and a great way to end the season.

For Merrick baseball is life, but, believe it or not, this week wasn't all about baseball.  Ben and Becca were out of town this week so my parents were watching their kids.  This meant LOTS of playdates.  Merrick and Colvin even talked Nana into taking them to the thrift store so they could use her senior discount.  They both came home with new suits that they are very proud off.

When Ben and Becca got home from their trip they decided with the heat it was as good a time as any for their annual slip and slide day.  Aside from a few bumps and bruises, there were no major injuries and that means the day was a success.

Last but not least, we spent one day escaping the heat with a game day.  We took turns picking the game we were going to play.  Unfortunately, Elsie picked Life.  You can't win them all...

Summer Sunshine

 This week was full of sunshine and time spent outside.  Early in the week we had back to back baseball games.  This week marked the last games Merrick will ever play at Field's Bridge Park.  Next year he will be too big to play on those fields and it's the end of an era.  Tuesday's game was particularly special.  First, a little backstory.  The summer after Merrick's 10u season he played summer ball for the first time.  The league didn't have anyone to coach the team so they recruited  two boys who had just graduated high school and played on the varsity team.  The season was a bit of a rough go, but Merrick loved it and especially one of his coaches.  Coach Caleb was just like Merrick, a tall, lefty pitcher.  He took Merrick under his wing and even gave him his old first baseman's glove (which Merrick still uses today).  Fast forward back to earlier this week when Merrick got the news that Coach Caleb had been drafted by the Colorado Rockies.  Merrick was over the moon!  He texted with Caleb a little bit and invited him to come see him pitch for the last time at Field's Bridge that night.  He did and Merrick pitched 3 shutout innings.  Afterwards, Caleb took pictures with some of his old 10u players and signed the glove he had given Merrick.  It was a great night.

This week we also spent time out walking our neighborhood and hiking on trails by our house.  Millie had more fun than anyone on the trails coming home very muddy and happy.

The girls and I also picked marionberries and made ice cream and jam and have marionberry lemonade coming up today.

Yesterday, we finally had a chance to take out our paddleboards out on the river for the first time.  The river has been too cold and fast and this is the first chance we have had with the right conditions to get out there.  We all had a a great time, except for when Jeremy and Carrigan tipped over in the shallow water and got pretty beat up on some rocks.

Because we know life can't always be the good times, this week also brought about some big changes for our family that I am not quite ready to talk about on a public blog.  I am sure I will be ready to talk about it soon, but in the meantime we would take your positive thoughts and prayers.  I have faith that all will work out as it is supposed to.

Summertime and the Living's Easy

 This week was full of random summer fun. In this house, you can rarely make it through a day without Carrigan crafting something.  In the summer, with much less time constraint, her crafting goes into hyper drive.  On the first day of summer she made herself a stuffed watermelon plush (that I think I neglected to post).  Last week, at Merrick's game, the sun was blaring and she took what she could find (tin foil from the burritos I brought for dinner) and crafted a hat for her and Elsie. This week she took her crafting to the kitchen, making pink Rice Krispy treats for the family. 

 This week we went with our church children's group to the temple.  We took a tour around the visitor's center and the ground and then went to a nearby parks for pizza and popsicles.  This is something they typically do every summer, but with covid, this is the first time Elsie remembers going.

We also finally made it bowling, a traditional summertime activity for us.  It was no surprise that Merrick beat the girls in both games.  What was a surprise was that Elsie led for 2/3 of the first game.  She somehow even managed to bowl a 1.62 mph spare.

Friday, while Merrick went to his friend, Mitchell's, baseball game, the girls, Jeremy and I went to our friends the Salo's house.  All the girls played with water balloons on the trampoline while the adults chatted and caught up.

Yesterday, all the kids went their separate ways.  Merrick went with the Ioapo's to watch Kalani's games.  Carrigan went to our church picnic with her cousins and had a blast and  "unlimited Kona Ice".  I don't have any pictures of either of their activities because I went with Elsie to a preschool friend's birthday party.  I think everyone had a good time but I can really only speak for Elsie, who I know had a blast at the entertainment center.  Jeremy had less fun, staying home and fixing our sprinklers that started leaking this week.  Well, maybe he didn't have less fun because I spent 4 hours at child's birthday and he finished the sprinklers and went and got a quiet lunch by himself.  I think he might have been the winner.

Additional, non-pictured fun from the week included swimming, parks, picnics, playdates, and shopping for a new toys and sports equipment.  It was a busy week of fun!  Summer is barreling along but we are trying to squeeze out every drop of fun we can.

Summer Camp

This week started with the 4th of July.  We had a bbq with a bunch of our friend and then did a few fireworks of our own before heading out to watch the city display.  We tried to think outside the box on a viewing area for the city show so we wouldn't get stuck for hours in traffic, but our spot was a little less than ideal.  We could see them well but they were a little low and far to really keep the kids' attention for very long.  It was still a good time though.

Despite being up late on Monday night, reality started bright and early on Tuesday morning.  This week all the kids had camps they attended. Merrick continued with his football conditioning camp which will run for the next several weeks.  He also attended a basketball camp.  He came home the first day talking about how there were several kids and a coach from the Gladstone basketball team and they were giving him the hard sell, trying to recruit him for their team.  It was  a nice little confidence boost for him.

Carrigan spent the week at a Minecraft themed cooking camp.  She was SO excited for this camp and begged and begged to attend.  Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to the hype.  She came home very discouraged the first day when all the kids were loud and crazy, they hardly did any cooking, and they were told they weren't even allowed to use a knife.  She stuck it out though, and it did get better.  I think by Thursday and Friday she actually even enjoyed herself.

Elsie also got to attend a camp this week and it was also a cooking camp.  There is a new youth cooking academy that just opened in the next town over and I was offered a free class since I am a teacher.  Turns out Elsie's camp was much more legit than C.C.'s.  She made an apricot crumble and even was allowed to use a knife (they use a kid friendly wooden knife).  She was definitely unsure when it came time to leave me and go and I thought for a minute that it wasn't going to happen, but in the end she did it.  She went into class on the condition that I stay outside for a while.  Because of this (and because of the class Instagram page), she is the only one I got pictures of while at camp.

As for Jeremy and I,  all the stars aligned with all the kids at camp one day and we were actually able to have a lunch date.  It was a special treat and maybe a glimpse into the future when Elsie goes to kindergarten.

One other note before I wrap up this week's blog.  This weekend Merrick wrapped up his baseball season.  It was the state tournament and it didn't go as we had hoped.  They had a great first game, winning 19-0.  The second game was going to be tough.  They were the team we would need to battle for second place (first place was already all but decided).  We had a great back and forth game and in the last inning Merrick hit a walk off to win the game.  Unfortunately after that high, we crashed pretty hard when later last night some extremely bad umping cost us a game we should have easily won.  Just like that, instead of getting a chance to play in the championship game and earn a spot in the regional tournament, our season was abruptly over.  Merrick was devastated.  We all were to be honest.  That is not how we wanted things to end.  Life will go on.  There will be much more baseball in the future, I'm sure. For today though, feeling are a little tender.