Blueberry Baseball

No, we didn't play baseball using blueberries! :)  During our Blueberry Festival they have a c-league baseball tourney that all the teams compete it. It is very official even with brackets based on how you finished regualr season, etc.  We spent the ENTIRE labor day weekend at the ball field!   The tourney was double elimination and they lost their 2nd game, but went on to beat our two biggest rivals and earn a spot in the championship game!  Way to go DQ Phillies!  The kids were exhausted and played so hard.  So proud of them all.  We finished 3rd in the regular season and the boys got a trophy for that.

Unfortunately we lost in the championship game, but we were so proud of our kids. They had only 20 minutes between their last two games but played their hearts out and did a great job!  Here's the team for one last picture together.

And of course their huddle cheer of:  Who are we? DQ!  Who? DQ!  Who!  DQ!!!!

Grant with his 2nd place Blueberry Festival tourney trophy.

And of course we had to go to Dairy Queen ONE more time to finish off the season.  We went after every win during the regular season, so it was only fitting to go one last time!

Great job boys!  You had a great summer...Now it's off to football practice!

I Win! I Win!!!

No, I didn't win in the sense of the word you may think!  I was not in first place...in fact in my age group I finished 14th out of 30, but I still WON!  I feel like this race was MY win against my pain...after 7 years of struggling wtih this nasty neck pain, I WIN!  I proved that the pain is not in control of me and that God can and will give me strength to keep on keeping on!  Last fall, my pain was at an all-time high and I was feeling hopeless.  I've been through some very down times in the past year (besides the last 7 years)...but God brings me through each of those times with flying colors, with lessons learned, growth in Him happening and achievements that make me wonder how they happened.  If you have known me very long you know that I am NOT a runner...I have never enjoyed it and in fact have mostly disliked it strongly my whole life, but I'm actually starting to enjoy it and have great satisfaction in it.  It feels good!  i can't believe i just said that!  AND, I finished the race in my personal best time, which isn't fantastic, but is my best, so I was very excited.  My time by my watch (started and stopped by my croosing start and finish vs. the gun to start) was 29: 52!!So here I am...this is about 1/2 mile into the Blueberry 5K race.

This picture is about 2.5 miles in and believe it or not, I still felt great!

We had to be there early for me to run my race, so Daddy took the kids and got McDonald's and they had a picnic breakfast before the parade, along the street for the parade route!

They are smiling bigger than me for some reason! HA!

Kiara LOVED the parade this year and screamed and clapped and waved at the floats and especially the characters dressed up in the parade.  It was fun to watch in the eyes of a 2 year old!

So, I did it.  It's over. I feel accomplished...yes, I spent money to run what I run every day anyway...but there's something about proving I can do it to the world and to my pain that gave me great satisfaction!  I truly feel like I won!!!!!

The Beach!

I realize those of you who read this who TRULY go to beaches are laughing...but yes...we call it going to the beach here in Indiana if you go to a lake with a beach on it!  Not the same as the ocean and we all realized that very quickly after being at the ocean this summer already.  BUT, we still had a great time.  Kiara does not like having to be held or near us.  She wanted to take off and just go by herself.  She just has no fear at all.  Scares me to death!!!

The boys usually play in the sand a lot and build sand castles with moats etc...this year after being at the ocean, sand castles wren't quite as exciting to them and they wanted to be out deeper in the water.  They loved jumping off the side of the pier into the water.  Grandma got a couple of actions shots of that on her camera...but I don't have them yet.  I may have to re-post them when I get them. 

If it had been up to them, we would've stayed much longer...but after nearly 5 hours there...Kiara really needed a nap and we also enjoyed some air conditioning too!

I don't think she ate TOO much sand! :)  She did make some friends close to us that had potato chips...my girl and her chips and cookies.  Luckily the family was nice and didn't mind her invading them.

Beach days are over for now...at both lake and ocean.  I think next year will be even more fun when Kiara is a little more independent...or should I say when I am able to ALLOW her to be independent?  We know she can do it all on her own already!