Home Field Advantage

Sammy played his last games of the (travel) season today. The Buccaneers started off strong, winning the first three games. They were the number 1 seed going into the play-off rounds. That's not surprising with this kid pitching~




Sadly, they lost the first play-off game to Elmhurst :( Sammy and the Bucs still had an awesome season. More importantly, they had a lot of fun!
And Mary even found toad~

Fair Weather Fan

We stopped by the County Fair today. It was raining, so we didn't stay as long as usual~
Mary with a giant frog (toad?) ~
Just like her brother, she loves the tractors~
And we always love the pig races~
Believe it or not, the corn husking never gets old, either~

If it walks like a duck~

That's a big truck~
There was this young performer who juggled, etc... Sam was called up to be his assistant~
Pretty cool~
We love this guy every year, too~
Mary could have spent all day on the tractors. Because it was raining, she really didn't have to wait her turn~
Where does our food come from?
We ran into our friend, Sonnet (love her name!) - she had entered some beautiful photographs in the fair~
The county fair is one of the suburbs' under-appreciated events. It's affordable, with lots of fun, and educational, opportunities. It's worth checking out!

Slammin' Sammy

I know I sound like a broken record, but Mary has to sit through a lot of baseball games. She's a good sport, though, and always finds ways to entertain herself~
Sam had an amazing game today! He pitched two perfect innings (all he's allowed to pitch per tournament rules), hit a grand slam, and a three-run homer! Here's our MVP~
Grandpa and Pam met us at Rooster's to celebrate~
Mary is a ham~

Cloud Cover

There were some really beautiful, low lying, clouds in the sky this evening~
Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau

Practically Perfect in Every Way

Six Flags

Charlie and a couple of his baseball pals went to Great America today. I believe it's impossible not to have an awesome time there (if you're a 12 year old boy) ~
Sam and Aiden went, too - no one threw up, so that's always a plus. I am so glad Scott is willing to take them (we get free passes from a reading program) - I really, really don't care for amusement parks (I'm trying not to say "hate").

Perfect 10

Mary has been admiring Jen's nails for a couple of years now (we see Mrs. Barnick at Upward basketball and baseball). Today Mary had her wish granted with a mini-manicure at the baseball game~

Ready to Play

Charlie's travel season has begun. It's going to be a short one for him, because he is going to Honeyrock at the end of this month. But he'll play as much baseball as he can before summer's end~
Sam had his own game today, but was able to catch the last part of Charlie's~
Bossy pants~
I love this kid~
Travel season is hard (a lot of running around), but as Scott always says, "It's worth it!"

Harry Potter

Charlie and his friend, Jarrod (and Jarrod's cousin), were at the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, tonight. This is something I've never done (nor had the desire to do), but I'm glad he has fun with it. He went to part one's midnight release, as well. It was a little strange going to bed, going to bed knowing that he would be coming home in the wee hours of the morning.
He loved it, and we plan to see it together once it's at the cheap show :)

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. ~Chinese Proverb

Our power flickered out shortly after we woke up today. After about four hours, Scott ended up buying the last generator around for miles on his lunch break (we have a freezer full of meat and a refrigerator full of insulin). We spent the day at the pool, and Mary loves to perform, wherever she is~

Tonight we had Sam's baseball team party. It was a lot of fun, but our power was still not on when we returned home tonight. Lucky kids had a bath by candlelight~
Any time is a good time for a rousing rendition of Mary's favorite song~

Just before we had resigned ourselves to sleeping in the smothering, muggy heat for the night, our power kicked back on - 12+ hours later. I love modern life, especially when it's 90 degrees out.

Domo Arigoto

Mrs. Roboto~
Mary has her annual Holter monitoring this weekend. She was happy, then unhappy, then finally happy again, about having to wear this contraption. It helped when I told her she looked like a robot~

And The Rockets Red Glare

Once again, we were lucky enough to spend the 4th with the Bishop Family. They have a ton of people over and it's always a blast ;) Mary enjoyed the water balloon fight~
The Bishop's live just a half block from the perfect firework-watching spot~