Camp in the City 2016

For the third year in a row, our church hosted Camp in the City. Reese was super excited about attending again and Sam was excited that he got to go for the first time. Saturday night after Sam's final summer baseball game, four counselors arrived at our house to stay with us for the week. We had boys again this year and it was so much fun.

There is an app that you can use to follow pictures that are taken each day at camp. It is a fun little way to check in on the fun that your kids are having.

Our friends had boy counselors at their house again this year as well so they brought them over to our pool and we cooked out together Monday night. The kids think this is the best night of the week. They all play in the pool and have a blast.

One of my favorite parts of the week as well! I just love that our kids have these guys to look up to.

This picture was on the app and it is one of the kids favorite games they play at camp. This picture has three of our boys in it and two of the boys we met at our pool Monday night.

During the week Hayes got to have a lot of fun on his own too. We went to White Water, the zoo, had lunch with Lance, and he had a play date twice with his best buddy!

Wednesday night Reese and Sam had a swim meet. We decided to have them swim in the first half so I picked them up from camp and we had a few minutes to kill with ice cream at CFA. Lance took our boys and Hayes to get BBQ for dinner.

More pics from the app...

Thursday night the church hosted dinner for the host homes and all of the counselors. It is a fun night of getting to visit with everyone while the kids are eating pizza in childcare. Matchy-matchy...

Thursday night we took the guys up to the ball field after we got home from dinner at church. Lance had a blast pitching to them. They all seemed to have fun playing as well. 

Friday night the counselors got to our house a little bit later than normal because they had to pack away and clean everything up at the church. Once they got to our house, we fed them dinner and set up the blow-up movie screen outside. We watched Zootopia and made S'mores. It was definitely a fun last night with them.

 At the end of the day on Friday, they have a closing ceremony. They show the parents some of the fun they had during the week and some of the things they have learned. They also give each kid character cards that describe each of them. I love that they can accurately describe my kids in three words after just one week with them. Here is Reese with her counselor whose nickname is "SnowJoy".

Sam's counselor actually ended up being one of the boys who was staying with us. They usually try not to let that happen but there were several boys his age who were also hosting boys in their homes. So Sam just got to be the lucky one. His counselor's nickname was "Rock and Roll". 

Bright and early Saturday morning they pack up and leave. We made a big breakfast for them and then snapped some pictures. We made some great memories with these guys and were really blessed by having them in our home.

Hayes, being the man's man that he is, loved every single second of having so many guys in our house. He wanted his picture with this sweet guy. All of the boys were so kind and fun with each of our kids. We loved getting to know them and learn a little bit about their lives and who they are becoming.

We had Reese snap a picture of Lance and I with the boys because we never get to be in a picture with them...this was the best we could do. Ha!

It was another fun year of CITC and we can't wait to do it all again next year!

Baseball All-Stars

Sam played in-park all-star baseball again this summer. To be honest, we didn't think they would ask him to play this summer because he had a rough spring season. He picked up a really bad habit while swinging and just wasn't playing all that well. When they asked, we were surprised but I am so glad they did. The season was only a couple of weeks long. They practiced for about two weeks and then had one tournament that started this past Tuesday and ended today. His coach was amazing!! He was so patient and kind with the boys, he taught them plays they needed to make and how to make them, and most importantly he was able to correct Sam's swing. Sam hit almost every time he was up to bat. During spring season he struck out almost every time! This summer really boosted his confidence in his ability. He played second base, some outfield, and on the pitcher's mound.  He had several great outs while playing second base. They played games Tuesday, Wednesday (which he missed due to a swim meet) and Thursday night. They won Tuesday and Thursday but lost Wednesday.

This morning at 9:00 his team had to play the team they lost to on Wednesday night. They played great and ended up winning. But since it was a double elimination tournament, they had to play that same team again. So they had a ten minute break and played another game. Both teams were so tired but they came out and played a hard game. Sam's team ended up losing the second game so they were the runner-ups in the tournament. We were so proud of how hard they played though!

Hayes wants to be out there so bad!

A little pow-wow to fire them up.

Sam's team named themselves the Avengers so these three wore their Captain America shirts to cheer him on.

After the final game the team headed to DQ for some blizzards.

It really was a great season and I am so glad Sam got this chance this summer. Now we wait for fall ball!!

Swim Team

Reese and Sam had their first swim meet of the season last night. We ended up having a delay due to a thunderstorm that rolled through right as we were about to start warm-ups. The meet started 45 minutes late but we finally got it going. They were pumped and ready.

Reese swam her first IM ever. She was sooooo nervous. I don't know that she has ever swam a 100 before. She did great though and we were so proud of her when she finished. She was mostly excited that she didn't get DQ'ed. Sam did great in all of his events and came home with all blue ribbons (he was in the second heat of each event so maybe that will get him bumped up to the first heat).

Hayes was ready to cheer them on! He did really well for his first meet (all last year we got a babysitter for him). Lance took the boys home after the first half and I stayed with Reese to finish up her events. We were home around 11:00 and ready for bed!

This will be a fun swim season!!