Please enjoy the following sunrise hike photos courtesy of Michelle. You will not find me leaving the house at 3:00am to hike with friends but I am proud of my middle children when they do.
Can an Independence Day blog post be complete without some time at the ball fields? Natalie has her final tournament of the season and it was bittersweet to see the girls play so well but knowing this was the last chance they would have together before some of the girls (N included) aged out. I will always appreciate these coaches, players, and their families for truly making something special.
Pool play day was sunny and hot. My alarm went off at 5:30am to be at 7:00am warm ups an hour away. The first game was close but didn’t end the way we would have liked. The second game the girls took a solid beating and then after leading most of the third game, it ended in a tie. Natalie did some great work in the outfield and knows how to make those pitchers work when she hits those foul balls. Day 2 Hubby, my dad, and Michelle joined Natalie and I at a much more reasonable time in the morning and the game was a delight to watch from the shade of trees. The team played really well and continued on to the next round. With a two hour break between games, Natalie chose to stay with her team while Hubby took the rest of us to First Watch. So delicious. The second game ended up being their last game together as a team although they had started out strong. There was much hugging and some tears and a lot of photos even though there was a team party planned for two days later.
The Main Event provided bowling, laser tag, pizza and an arcade for the team to enjoy. I didn’t want to be a creeper so I went to the outdoor mall nearby. There were some heartfelt best wishes and gratitude shared but mostly just good clean fun. I’m happy they could have this time together.
Without work/school/softball to keep us out of the house, Natalie and I attacked areas of our home that could be hiding things that it was time to give away. We spent days sorting through STUFF and literally had an entire truck load to give away. Since our truck needs to go to the mechanic on Monday, Hubby helped me drive around town to get rid of it all. Arc took some, Goodwill took the folding chairs, Habitat for Humanity didn't want anything but gave us the idea to go to the Children's Home thrift to give away our toy kitchen set and doll bunk beds. We also made a stop at the recycling center to get rid of cardboard and still had two chairs that will have to go to the dump. After spending a couple hours doing that we realized why people just let things get out of control in their homes. I am glad we are taking care of all these things we have grown out of now while we still physically and emotionally can. Thank you, Hoarders, for giving me the motivation to do this now instead of postponing.
For Independence Day we decided to buy tickets to the Colorado National Speedway on July 3rd instead of buying fireworks (the neighbors didn't get together this year anyway) and had such a fun time. We haven't been there since Danny was obsessed with the movie Cars as a small child. It's been fun to see Michelle and Natalie really get into F1 racing and seeing the difference between this and what they see on tv. Boy, was I glad I brought my noice canceling air pods and sunglasses with me. We would literally get dirt from the track blown at us. lol. We saw soooo many yellow flags and a sprint crash directly in front of us. The drag racing with street legal cars was especially fun to see at intermission. Wish Hubby could have signed up for that in his car with Danny riding shotgun. Oh, and fireworks. A great little fireworks show. I failed to take many photos this weekend but I do have one of the four people sitting next to me. Kate came down with a headache and knew she would be miserable so my dad got to take her place and he had a grand old time. I'm so glad he is retired so that he can do last minute stuff like this with us.
On the 4th of July we slept in so missed the ward breakfast (except for Kate who went with Emma) and watched some F1, 1776, and Hamilton. Hubby made us some delicious hamburgers for dinner, and then Kate, Danny, and Michelle all went and hung out with friends to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I have to type that all out because K's friend, AB, ate dinner with us and asked some 4th of July questions. Ya'all haven't watched 1776 and it shows. Yes, I know I am one of the very few people in my generation that has. lol. Hubby, Natalie, and I had the Solo Stove going in the backyard and N underlined the fact she enjoys making s'mores much more than actually eating them. We then took the dog with us on a walk to watch all the illegal fireworks going off. We were pretty surprised at how many there were given the extreme potential for wildfires right now but thought that the people setting them off in the middle school parking lot were actually pretty smart. Oh, America, we love your love of blowing things up to celebrate the day our break up letter with Britain but it can be kind of scary on years like this. Glad we woke up to safety in the morning. Glad we live in such a wonderful place.
Comments