Surge Baseball

Grant played for Surge again this year. It was the team's first year as a "modified" travel team. That meant that we played in Cal Ripkin as an all star team but we also played in tournaments outside of Cal Ripken. 

 Grant did well this season playing some center field, catcher and a little second base. He had some good buds on the team as well and that always makes for a fun season! 

Elaina spent all of her baseball days running the field after games. As long as she came home completely dirty she felt like she had done her job:)

At the Arcade

We took the kids to the arcade area one day because we had "no beach" orders due to some early afternoon games. Elaina was finally old enough to do some stuff.

 Bobby totally created a monster with all the ticket games. She squealed and laughed and had the best time seeing all of those tickets spill out. 

She then gathered up like 8,462 tickets and turned them in for a dumdum and a plastic frog. Awesome.

I hope this isn't the beginning of her gambling addiction:/

Beach Pics:)

 Days on the beach are the best. I love looking back at our beach vacay pictures and seeing how the kids have grown. I was pretty bad at documenting this beach trip because our beach time was so sporadic with the baseball but here are a few to document the occasion!

Destin Game Days

We spent lots of hot days at the baseball parks in and around Destin. Elaina was content as long as there was a concession stand and as long as I kept saying "yes". I did give in to an early morning sno cone run so I could watch the game in peace:)

Cade played a solid third base throughout 9 games and the Mavs came through with 9 straight wins! 

The team got a huge trophy!

And, the boys all got super bowl sized rings. Look at that tough face:) 

It was the perfect ending to a great season. I honestly had no idea how being on this team would turn out but it has been a fantastic learning and growing experience for Cade in his baseball career. We were blessed to get to hang with a great group of boys and parents and that made the season so much easier to adjust to our new team. I wouldn't trade the season for anything and I'm pretty sure Cade would agree! 

Beach Baseball

This year's family vacation was a lot different than our usual. We ended up in Destin with Cade's baseball team, MAD Mavericks, for a World Series tournament. Luckily game times worked out for us to actually spend some time at the beach having fun with teammates! 

Sister here had the best time ever.....mix baseball and the beach and she's a happy camper! 

I didn't get as much down time as normal but I did get to soak in a little sunshine and watch my castle builder. Can't beat that! 

 We rented a condo this go around and lucked out that there were several team members staying at the same place. The kids were having so much fun hanging on the beach. This really IS a great group of kids (and parents, too!). 

Some beach time.....now game time! 

Twelve Have Passed

My last year with pre-teen Cade arrived today. Twelve years have passed and today we celebrate it! He woke to some Sister Schubert's cinnamon rolls and we sang a little morning Happy Birthday song. 

He chose his annual all day Partypalooza ( I mean, why would you NOT?) and we invited pretty much the same crew that's been coming for years. We had a couple absentees this year....one that has been at his birthday parties every single year of his life. That was a bummer:( His friends were primed and ready for an all day swimathon and I was prepared with sunscreen since I sent home a bunch of lobsters last year. 

 Cade requested Grandma's chocolate cake and as usual it was divine!

Happy birthdaaaay dear Caaaadee....Happy birthday to you!

The gang.

Swimming, swimming and more swimming....

And the annual birthday jump. I always love this photo:)

We ended the night with some dinner at Drake's where there was a trivia contest going on. The boys participated but didn't win (although they thought they had it in the bag!). The biggest spurt of laughter came when someone else in the restaurant named their trivia team "Saving Ryan's Privates" instead of the popular movie "Saving Private Ryan". Oh boys. If it has to do with anatomy or bodily sounds there is always laughter. 

I'm so thankful to have had the privilege of watching Cade grow over these twelve years. I pray for many, many more partypaloozas to come!~

Sixth Grade in the Books

 I really can't even believe that I'm sitting here blogging about Cade completing his first year of middle school. As the cliché goes, time is flying. This year started and then all the sudden it was over. I'm not sure I had time to blink! 

 Cade had a great year. He didn't get shoved into a locker or pushed down in the hallway and he's kept a good distance from crazy girls so I'm considering this a winning year! He also came out with a few awards. He made A-B Honor Roll (darn that one B!), received an "iChoose 2b a hero" award (I'm going to assume that means he had good manners and kindness), and an award for Power Performance in Math (he's a math rock star apparently). 

We are so proud of Cade and the young man that he's becoming. I hope the Lord continues to bless him in his endeavors. As much as I miss him sitting in my lap looking at truck books, I am still so very excited to watch him grow. Sixth grade is in the books! No more bottom of the totem pole....well, for 2 years anyway:)