A future player

Luca is ready to play next season!  He is getting pretty good at hitting the ball when it's pitched to him. 

Nice hit!

A season is complete

She can't wait to play coach pitch softball next summer.  Tee ball is a wrap!

Cousin Love

Flour Gal's adorable post season cupcakes!

Paddle Boarding

I took the kids to the Cherry Creek Reservoir yesterday to paddle board.  None of us had done it before and because these two are budding beach dwellers (both telling me multiple times a day that they are going to move to Hawaii as soon as they can), we decided to do it.  Mia had her own paddle board, and Luca rode with me.  It was much fun.  It's so meditative and quiet out there on the water.  Luca sat at my helm,alternating between standing and sitting.  When he would sit, he would lean over the side and drag his finger in the water, leaving a little trail.  When he would stand, he would balance and mimic my rowing.  Mia is a natural and figured out the patterns of rowing: backward to forward to reverse and vice versa.  Paddle on the right to turn left.  Paddle on the left to turn right.  We sometimes would end up far away from one another and one of us would gesture with a thumbs up.  Mia scooted off her board at one point, leaving her oar on top.  I called over, "You ok?"  She pulled her tiny tan body up onto her board like a pro and said, "Yeah.  Just wanted to feel the water on my skin." 

These are the moments of summer I will so miss. 

Mid Summer

We went hiking at the Garden of the Gods and it was so fun.  My friend and I sought each other out as hiking buddies because we thought that the whining would be much less with more kids.  We were right!  There were almost no complaints!  These four were awesome hikers!

A pit stop for an apple break. 

Mia with her softball glove. 

My babies. 

The kids set up a lemonade stand and made over 4 dollars.  They were thrilled.  They spent their money at the pool on an Orange Crush soda and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. 

This is what "adult swim" looks like.  These two fish jump out and lay and prepare their strategy for when they hear the whistle announcing "kid swim" again. 

iphone update....

These two put on a production and had their makeup done by the one and only Lyla. 

It's embarrassing to admit how often we hit our favorite ice cream spot.  All too often. 

He can be so charming.  I had to crop out the mouth full of food he was showing me when I asked him to smile.  So, in this shot, he's charming from the nose up. 

Going for a pop up.  Look at that sky.  I love Colorado afternoons. 

Flying High

This is how we spend some of our time during the summer. 

A swimmer's Tale...

Swim team season is officially over.  It ended tonight with an all team banquet and awards ceremony.  Mia was awarded the "Spirit of Homestead" award for her age group.  The recipient shows the spirit of the kind of athlete that we all love to watch: determined, kind, competitive but also concerned about her teammates.  A good friend and a good swimmer.  The coach commented that this tiny swimmer swam for two weeks with double swimmer's ear and never complained once.  She loves to swim so much that she just didn't want to face the fact that she might have to take a few days off to heal. 

These are some of the awesome coaches for Mia's team.  These young women are phenomenal...all former homestead swimmers and now college gals gearing up for the next chapter in their lives. 

Mia made it to finals this year with her freestyle relay team!  Here they are the morning of finals with their coach, Ellen.  Mia is the second from the left.  She's the smallest on the relay team but with a lot of heart.  She is a joy to watch swim. 

The night before Finals, the coaches drove to each finalist's house to tape a sign on their garage. 

Prepping for her 25 meter backstroke event. 

The kids had "Fun Day Monday" every Monday at practice.  They knew they got to play around with the coaches, jump off the diving board, goof around, and be silly.  They looked forward to this day and developed such a sense for separating their work outs from this special fun play time.  It's so fun to watch these small little athletes learn what it means to hone a skill and compete.  They began to understand that it takes hours of lap time to get good.  None of them every complained about the effort that was asked of them.  It was truly remarkable. 

A pensive shot at a meet. 

Mia developed such tight bonds with a lot of the swim team.  They competed twice a week, Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings, plus practice every day.  When you spend this much time with a group of people, they all become a summer family of sorts.   Mia and Luca got used to staying out way past dark on Tuesdays as I helped clean up after the meets.  I would find them with remnants of snack bar foods hiding under tents made of towels with other swimmers waiting for their parents. 

I hope these kids stay tight throughout the years.  They all seem to understand that at the end of the day, at the end of a meet, the most important thing is friendship. (Mia is second from the right.)