A Day At "The Shore"

My dad owns a small, vacant, waterfront lot that he inherited from his father. It's been in the family since my grandfather was a young man. I grew up launching our rowboat, fishing, picinc-ing, camping, etc. on that property. You can't build a house there; it won't perk and there's no drinking water available as far as I know. The neighbors who live there have been there so long, the current building/zoning laws don't apply to their existing properties, but they can't add anything, and the area is getting a bit rundown. It doesn't have a beach; just a stony boat landing that ends where the gooey, mucky, muddy creek bed begins. At high tide, you might have 4 or 5 feet of water on top of the several feet muck (in other words, don't try to swim too far; you might wind up stuck in the mud). It doesn't sound like paradise to many people, but it sure was to me. I spent every possible weekend down at The Shore up until I left for college, and have visited it only a few time since.

Yesterday, finally having a day with no sports, recitals, youth group activities, or unavoidable chores to attend to, our whole family spent the day at The Shore, with Grandmom and Pop (afforementioned owner of said property). The temperature was upper 70's. Humidity was gone. The breeze was just enough to keep the bugs away, but not enough to disturb the water in the creek.

The whole family had a blast. Grandmom set up the picnic area and got the fire going before we even arrived. Pop got the kayak and the rowboat (the same one I grew up in) ready. We kayaked, rowed, fished, and ate hot dogs. No one could even find time or reason to argue (excpet once when Tyler thought he got hit in the head too hard by an oar; he wasn't, but he was offended anyway). He are some pictures of our (almost) perfect day.

Here's Alex in the kayak.	And Kenzie.
And Tyler.	Even Vicki.
Pop, Bekah, and Connor getting rowed by Alex.	Pop, Bekah, and Connor getting rowed by Alex.
The 17 inch Large Mouth Bass that made my day!

Champion!

Tyler's all-star team had their championship game tonight. They won! Here's Tyler with his trophy. Think he's happy? Too bad the major league Orioles can't do as good as this one.

Tomorrow starts another round of softball tournament play in Salisbury. Tay and Ty's regular coach-pitch team will finish up their season back home. Connor's team is still in the end of season tournament, but they now have one loss. One more and they're out, and done for the season. Connor is pitching tomorrow. I know he'll do well, especially since I won't be there. He always does well, but seems to do exceptionally well when I miss his game. We're also waiting for results from his soccer tryouts for the travel league. He's played travel soccer for several years, but took the past year off, for various reasons, and wants to get back into it. He's an extremely good goalie and defender so I don't doubt he'll get the job. If (when) he does, he'll have to choose between baseball and soccer next Spring, since travel soccer is year-round and will conflict with baseball in a major way.

And Now, For the Sports:

As you may have guessed, with all our kids, weekends can be consumed by childrens' activities, especially sports. Our kids play, primarily, baseball and/or soccer. That'll change a little bit this coming Fall with the addition of flag football, but we'll deal with that when it comes. This time of year is especially interesting because, as the baseball season nears its end, tournament play begins. Tournaments always carry a little more weight than the regular season because this is where the rules change so that they match "real" baseball more closely, and the score counts. Winners move on, losers go home (which has its own appeal at times). the exception is travel ball (like Kenzie's softball), which is played at the competetive level all the time. I have to admit that these games are more fun to watch because of the added suspense caused by the fact that 'these games count', and they eliminate many of those stupid 'modified rules', which, in my opinion, only serve to confuse the kids by training them the wrong way to play the game. The bottom line is, I try to get to as many of them as I can, whereas I don't mind so much if I miss some of the more boring (ok, there, I said it, boring; it's sad, but true; who likes to sit there for two hours watching some kids daydreaming in the outfield, while the coach spends forever trying to hit each kid's bat with the ball), regular season games. Ok, enough introduction.

Tyler was chosen for the All-Star team at his, Coach-pitch, age division. His first all-star game was yesterday, at 9:30 am (be at the field at 9:00 am). Kenzie had a softball tournament in Easton, basically the home field, only half an hour away. She had three games, 9 (be there at 8), noon, and 1:30. Connor's dividion also started their tournament yesterday. His game was at 1:30.

My day went like this. Up at 7. Vicki takes Kenzie to her field at 7:30. I take Ty to his game at 9. I have all but Alex and Keary with me. Alex kept Keary at home until later. After the game we rush Connor to a friend's house (also one of his coaches) so he gets to his game on time. I rush home, pick up Alex and the baby, and head to Easton. We arrive about fifteen minutes late for Kenzie's game; luckily they are also running 15 minutes late. I watch Kenzie's second game, and spend a small fortune on lunch at the concession stand. I rush back to the Island, heading straight to the park to help coach Connor's game. We are 30 minutes late; luckily they were 20 minutes late starting; didn't miss much. After the game, we come for showers. Vicki and Kenzie arrive home, and we go to church. I'm assuming everyone grabbed something to eat for dinner as they got hungry beause I don't remember making anything.

This was a crazy day, but worth it. Game results: Tyler's team won! Championship game under the lights on Friday night. Kenzie's team won 2 out of 3! Their first win on the season; very cool, except her head coach was at a wedding in Seattle. Connor's team won! and advances in the tournament!

Now it starts again, as I head out the door for day 2 of softball.

Kenzie Summary

May 19: Softball collision. She complained briefly about her arm hurting.

May 20: Her best softball game of the season; no pain complaints.

May 29: Awoke to excruciating pain in right shoulder. Got Xrays that evening. Doc said probably not a fracture, but to get orthopedic's opinion.

May 30: Orthopedic Dr said it's fractured; come back in three weeks.

May 30 (later that day): We aren't convinced it's fractured, based on the original xray. Called for third opinion.

June 2: Third opinion, by Orthopedic specialist, was that it's not fractured. Throw away that figure-8 strap and sling. But, may be bone infection. Get blood work, bone scan, and MRI.

June 4: Blood drawn. Test results forwarded to Dr.

June 6: bone scan and MRI.

June 7: Dr. can't find anything wrong with her shoulder/collar bone. May be a pinched nerve. Come back in 30 days and check it again.

June 7 (later that day): Vicki locks her keys in the car. We're very relieved that's the biggest problem of the day (so far).

This Is Going To Get Me In Trouble

We have a weekly, local paper, called 'The Bay Times". In it there is a guy named Bill Evans who writes a weekly commentary that is almost always hilarious. Although I disagree, almost completely, with his politics, I have to admit I find him very funny. You ladies out there might not agree this week but, since he had me laughing out loud when I read this, I thought I'd share it.....I just read excerpts of this to Vicki, and she didn't seem to appreciate the humor the same way I do. Oh, and Kenzie's doing fine. She just had the dye injected for her bone scan, so they are going shopping at the mall while the dye circulates.

WOW

Vicki's Blog expresses our excitement about Alex and his acceptance and exceptional placement in classes at his new high school. I just needed to add my praise for Alex,as well. Again, when we started homeschooling four years ago, Alex was entering 5th grade, testing at 3rd grade in math. Four years later, a private, Catholic school placement test places him in Honors Algebra 2. WOW.

God has led us through this journey, and all credit goes to Him. I never would have dreamed of doing this on my own, and I thank Him, and pray that He continues to carry us through this homeschool experience. He has answered my questions concerning the continuation of homeschool for the rest of the kids. Despite the many failings that result from our human weaknesses, with Him we will continue to be successful. We only need to 'bend' enough to do it His way.