June

June was full of camps and sports practices this year....and some usual summer fun too of course!  Nicholas started practicing with the high school cross country team at the beginning of the month - every morning 6 days a week 8:00-9:30 am all summer long (when in town).  Grace had daily Swim Atlanta practice 6-7:45 am M-F. Samuel attended the BT baseball, basketball and football camps in addition to playing Sandlot baseball and on the summer select Renegades baseball team.   Grace attended Challenge camp and BT Flag Football camp.  Nicholas and Henry attended Woodruff Scout camp.  Nicholas also went on his first ever mission trip with the SPC High School Youth group.  Grace and Henry also continued with their track season.  Our nanny from last summer, Olivia, returned and was a huge help driving everybody around to everything when Shawn and I were at work.

Grace's BT Flag Football camp

 

Nicholas graduated from the Alpha Crush Running Club - Thanks Coach Matthew for preparing him well for high school running!

our track runners :-)

Grace and Peachy love running together

Grace on the podium again

Father's Day

Henry grilled dinner for us all

Sam made him some nice paintings

Nicholas made a "everything about Dad" drawing

Grace made a "You Rock Dad" picture frame and delicious dessert

Nicholas and the teens - on the bus heading to Orlando FL for SPC Youth Group Mission trip

They spent each day doing heavy labor outdoor projects for a home for troubled teens

They started each day with mass and inspirational talks, and ended each day with lively spiritual activities

The final day they went go karting at Andretti's!!

Strong work guys!

Nicholas said this mission trip was by far his favorite part of the whole summer!

Grace and I started with NCL - National Charity League - this is a 6 year commitment to regular service (minimum 15 service hours per year each) and leadership training.  We have a host of varied opportunities available to us to volunteer for - we tried to get a bunch of hours in this summer - here Grace was excited to "socialize" the cats at this animal shelter.

Here we made pillowcases to send to soldiers or veterans

End of baseball season pool party

Summer Baseball

 Lots of baseball this summer........This summer Samuel tried out for an All Star select team for the first time.  He made it as an alternate on the 8U Roswell Renegades Black Team which means he practices with the team 2-3 days per week and plays in any tournaments there is a need.  This ended up allowing him to play in most the tournaments, which was a lot of fun for him.  He learned a lot and had a lot of fun!

Samuel also enjoyed a Braves game and pre-game ball signing event with his buddy Jack.

And, finally, as a family we all went to a Braves game on the Roswell Youth Baseball day, where Sam and all the Roswell baseball players got to parade around the field before the game and be announced.  

June held a lot of baseball fun!

Tournament on Father's Day - Sam gave Shawn a pic tile

For this team mostly played right field and catcher

So nice of Jack and his Dad to invite Sam to a Braves game with the pass to see the players and get signatures!

At the Braves game on Roswell Baseball day - parading around the field

Woodruff Scout Camp

 This year Nicholas again returned to Scout camp and for the first time Henry joined him.  They both had an absolute blast!  Henry earned his first 3 merit badges - First Aid, Mountaineering, and Oceanography. Nicholas earned the following merit badges - Oceanography, Search and Rescue, Geocaching, and Exploration.  In addition to earning merit badges, they also went whitewater rafting, mountain biking, did the polar bear plunge, both completed a 1 mile swim in the lake (BTW - we couldn't believe H took this challenge on his first year since he's not a big swimmer like N - but thanks to big brother's encouragement and Henry's passion to take scouts to a new level - they both crushed it!- we are so proud of you both), attended flag retirement ceremonies and troop dinners, and of course just enjoyed great camping!

Henry was "Captain" of the ship :-)

Conservation project

Thanks to beautiful Woodruff Scout Camp for another great year of fun and learning!