Brett's softball and baseball highlights

Brett played softball for his second season with the Blazing Stars (Special Olympics).  This year, Bryan got recruited to help coach.  Unfortunately, his only tournament got rained out, but he had fun at practice!

Brett also had a couple of other opportunities to enjoy America's pastime. The Twins put on a baseball clinic for youth with disabilities.  I don't have pictures because Bryan took him.  It was organized by Twin's personnel and put on at the fields of a local highschool (not Target Field).  Brett got a t-shirt and bag of loot. The second clinic was put together in partnership with the Beautiful Lives Project and the Saints.  It was at CHS Field and run by the actual Saints front office staff, coaches, and players.  The day was beautiful, the atmosphere was comradely, and the participants were fast friends.

To make the day extra memorable, Brett made the news story with a great hit and interview!

CBSNews

We have an author in the house!

Last spring, Lydia entered a short story young authors writing contest and was one of the winners!  As a winner, she received editing mentorship from a published author to polish her work.  All the winners' stories and poetry were then put together and published in a book!

In August, the Society of Young Inklings hosted a virtual book launch party.  The authors are from all over the country!  We had a small celebration to celebrate Lydia's success.

Lydia received two copies of the book - one for herself and one to donate.  It was sorta intended for her school, but her school from 7th grade was literally a pile of rumble.  Since our friend Bonnie worked for the local library, she helped us get Lydia's book into circulation, so it can be checked out!  It can also be purchased on Amazon!

Writing is something Lydia likes to do with her cousin, Audri, who was a book contest winner in 2021.  It's a special way they can connect over the miles.

Happy 13th Birthday, Reggie

For Reggie's birthday, we celebrated with cheeseburgers and cake at home and then while we were in Green Bay we went to a virtual entertainment center.  Reggie was granted the 13-year-old privilege of having a smartphone and life hasn't been the same since...

Reggie was 5 ft 7 and 127 pounds. He still has braces; we've been doing that for 2+ years now.  His favorite junk foods are kitkats and muffins. While sports consume most of his time, he does well in school and enjoys playing percussion in band.  Out of the five of us, he is the most social.  He's not one to draw attention to himself, but people are drawn to him and he has a natural ability to connect with all sorts of people.  I consider myself both blessed and challenged to be given such a responsibility as guiding him into the man he is becoming.

all the other summer things

Our first summer in Woodbury turned out to be pretty great.  We had a nice balance of structured activities and leisure time. 

The very first weekend, Brett and Reggie went on a youth retreat with our church.  Thanks to Covid, I'm pretty sure this was Reggie's first overnight stay away from family and it was both of their first overnight youth retreat.  They had a lot of fun!  Lydia went on a 9-day RV trip with my parents and her cousin Audri.  They went to see the Creation Museum and Noah's Ark.  She made a lot of special memories with her grandparents and cousin.

Bryan and I took advantage of an empty house and drove to Milwaukee to attend a Brewer's game!  When we got back, we took the boys to a Saint's game, which is now a minor league affilliate of the Twins.

When I took the boys to Albert Lea for a baseball tournament, Bryan and Lydia had a weekend at home.  They took a bike ride to try out the ice cream scene in Woodbury.  Lydia approves.

Reggie did strength and agility training at the high school.  We met someone connected with the highschool wrestling program at a youth tournament last spring and through that connection Reggie was invited to weightlift with the wrestling team.  Bryan and I have a joke when Reggie gets a little restless at home.  We tell him to go to practice - ANY practice! Lydia did a couple of volleyball camps.  We also had some new beaches, parks, disc golf courses and fishing docks to check out.  

We spent July 4th at Papa and MeeMaws.

We took in a couple of Twins games, and another Saints game.  We seemed to have a knack for choosing the rainiest nights to go.  

We went to Family Night in Green Bay after two years of not going.  Reggie celebrated his birthday in Green Bay.

We went bowling, to the zoo, and to the science museum.  Bryan and Papa did a golf tournament and dinner while the kids, MeeMaw, and I did a "mini-golf tournament" and ice cream!  We "cooperatively" made a quilt for our new cousin.

Our city has a really fun annual carnival and it is at the park by our house.  Bryan and I enjoyed the Taste of Woodbury Tent while the kids hung out with their friends.  And we topped it all off with a day at ValleyFair.  Before we knew it, summer was coming to an end and we were getting ready for new schools.  I really do love summer.