Redlands Serve-2013

One of the highlights of the summer for Katie is getting to help lead SERVE at our church. Katie was on the lead team (not sure what exact name they ended up with) which meant they did a lot of work to help the week run smoothly. Groups of kids from all over the US and Canada came to our church for a week and got to experience Southern California, work at different sites, worship each evening, meet other kids, stay up late, and have fun in general. It was a great week, without too many hiccups. We're thankful that Katie is able to use her gifts in these ways. 

 The "Fab Four"

 Kamryn helped with the sports camp at a local school and is seen here with a gold medal softball player who lives in our area.

 A highlight of SERVE week is going out to Huntington Beach.

Can't Beat a Day At The Beach!

Of course, beach camping involved spending a day at the beach.  We were really fortunate in that some other people from our church just happened to be renting a house just steps from the beach which they graciously offered to us as a shelter/ break area if needed. It was really cool how it all worked out with the group that ended up together, too.  A few families happened to be in the same spot for different reasons, so we all kind of hung out for the day.  Ends up every kid had a buddy too, which always makes for a more peaceful day for parents. Holes were dug, waves were jumped, turtles were inflated, babies were held, chairs were relaxed in, islands were boated around, sand crabs were captured, sun was soaked up, and much fun was had!

Beach Camping

We were invited to join some friends who were camping at the beach for a little get-a-way recently.  It was a great time of setting up tents, hanging out with friends, laying in hammocks, eating wonderful food, looking out over breath-taking scenery, and more hanging out with friends. Such fun!

A Tough Ending

I have mixed feelings in writing this post tonight.  Troy's team lost the championship game tonight in the super regions.  This means their summer All-Star season is over.  It's been a big commitment this summer.  We invested time, money, energy, and emotion into this endeavor.  There have been many miles driven, many uniforms washed, many practices attended, much time spent at batting cages, many late nights, some early mornings, some team drama, but lots of fun spent watching a great group of boys play the game of baseball with some great parents.  I asked Troy this afternoon who his friends on the team were and he said, "Mom, we're all friends." The team had a successful season.  It got a little more intense as the team advanced through more and more tournaments.  They never made it easy on themselves, but they pulled it out and came in first or second in most tournaments. Tonight the winner of this game was to advance to the "World Series" tournament in San Jose. Troy was pretty excited about this opportunity and took the loss (7-6) pretty hard.  But it was not to be.  Lots of lessons learned this season.  Not always easy or fair ones.  Lots of pressures to parent well through some of these life experiences too.  Now on to the rest of our summer...   

(I took these pictures at earlier games in Garden Grove.)   

Troy and his sweet friend, Ethan.