Gymnastics!

All the good things, again!!!  The gym is prepping for the athletes to come back.  In preparation for them to return to the gym, they had us come up and pick up all their belongings out of their lockers, as they will not be using the lockers for a while.  Maddie received her bag of goodies, and instantly put on her grips and smiled EAR TO EAR!!!  She cannot wait to be back in that gym.  

They did move her up to level four for the next year.  So she will have some new team members, and some of her old team members will move up with her.  For now, the hours will be limited, as they are planing on coming back at a slow pace and with low numbers (smaller groups)....so Maddie's team will be divided into three groups, training at three different times, instead of all together.  But once we get this virus to go away, she will ultimately be at the gym for 16 hours a week!!!!  I keep checking in with her to make sure she wants to do this, and she keeps saying, YES!!!!  So, I guess we will keep pushing until she says, no thanks.....

It takes a special kind to be a gymnast, not just talent....

NOW Summer Has Begun.....BRING IT ON!!!!

First day of WCC junior programs!!!!  We have never been more thankful for this place than this year!!!  So grateful they are starting kids activities!!!

All the Fun Things.....

So we did a little something!!!  Had to travel out of St. Louis County to do it, but the boys got to play ball again!!!  It might have been some ugly baseball, but at least they got to play!!!  They'll get their groove back!  We short gamed a team, and then we got short games the second game.  

The MEME of the Week

I mean, seriously......

Take 2!!!

Well, that first outdoor playdate was so much fun, she decided she needed to host her own.  Maddie invited Molly and Luca over to play.  Molly already had plans with her cousin, but Luca was in!!!  They literally played in a bucket of water, water balloons, the trampoline, water guns.....just some good old fashion, backward fun!!!

Oh HAPPY Days!!!!

YEAH!!!!  She broke free!!!  Maddie got to see her BFF's!!  The McAlones invited them over for a swimming playdate.  On the way over, I had to prep Maddie.  I had to tell her, "now, don't go hugging your friends.....you will be safe, you are outside and that is safe, so do not worry......and if your friends accidentally hug you, don't panic or act scared of them."  UGGGHHHH.....what a crazy world we live in right now!!!!!  But she was so happy to see her people!!!!

Back to the Fishing Hole.....

Jack, excited to be dropped back off at the fishing hole.  Jack's starting to really like this whole fishing thing....

Emmeneger Park with the Brueggenjohanns

Jack, Maddie, and I met the Brueggenjohann's for one last romp before quarantine was over.  One last trail, one last hike.  We lasted a couple hours.....hiked, played in the creek, caught frogs.....

Biker Babe

Towards the end of quarantine, Peyton and her friends really room up biking!  They would bike around 15 miles a day, and she’d usually come home with one bike wreck story out of someone she was with, twice it was her!!  They ride to parks to ride trails, they go to parks that have creeks, they’d go get ice cream, play basketball....just hang out.  They were simply happy to be out of the house and with friends!!!  

Peyton got caught one day not wearing her helmet, I told her if I saw it again she’d be shut down.  The next time I saw her, she had it on, but not buckled.....baby steps, I guess.....geeze!! 

Jess Takes Up Golfing.....

Well, during quarantine, Jack and I were able to still play a little tennis with Karim at his neighborhood courts, but other than that, we had no other "sports" to do.  The golf course was open tho......so, I decided to take a few golf lessons and try to start figuring out this, oh so frustrating, sport!!!  I then got talked into playing in the Tuesday night Ladies League.  Sounds way more official than it is!!  We are all pretty bad, sometimes we finish nine holes and sometimes we don't, we play best ball, and count it success if we play a hole without losing a ball.  

It's been fun, and something that I will never have time to do again, once the kids get back in the swing of their things, but it's been a fun time filler for now......

Jack and Gabe.....Fishing FUN

Towards the end of quarantine, Jack and Gabriel started doing a little fishing.  They would mostly go to Des Peres park, and they would have pretty good luck!  The first time they went, Jack said Gabe would take his fish off the hook for him, but that Jack would hold the fish.  The second time they went fishing Jack said Gabe taught him how to get the fish off the hook.....maybe by the end of COVID this city boy will be able to do it all by himself.  HA!!!  His dad just shakes his head.....poor Mike!  HA!!

Annie.....LOVE HER!!

Jack Turns TWELEVE

Cannot believe it.....but it's true!  Jack has changed so much this year!!!  He has grown a TON, his attitude has grown a little too (he's still overall a super easy kid), needs to wear deodorant, sleeps until at least 10 every day, has an appointment to get braces put on, and has a face full of pimples......all sounds about right for turning 12, right??
He's the easy kid in our family.  He can play and get a long with Peyton, and he can play and get along with Maddie.  Never really complains about much, just sucks it up and does what he's told.  Works hard in school and is a perfectionist.....wants perfect grades and worries about if they aren't.  Loves his Xbox, loses his phone daily cause he doesn't really love that thing, still moves slower than molasses getting out of the house, loves tennis, basketball, and baseball.  He can talk sports with the best of them (current and historic), could care less about clothes or anything name brand, and LOVES his dogs!

Birthdays aren't really all that fun during COVID.  For Jack's birthday, we busted out of our bubble a little bit and went on a hike with the Rineys to Pickle Springs.  After the hike, we went to a state park and grilled dogs and brats, the kids played yard games, made s'mores, and then a storm rolled in and made us go home.

The park was pretty cool, Jack loved it.....lots of dangerous climbing.....right up everyone's alley, except moms!!!  I was a nervous wreck the entire time!!!  Once we got home that night, Jack did have a sad moment for a hot second.  I asked him why he was sad, and he said he busted wanted to have some friends stay the night for his birthday.  I promised him that once COVID was over, he could definitely have his buddies over to stay the night.

His favorite (and impossible to get) gift was a basketball hoop for the trampoline.  Maddie was not happy about it.  She said for her birthday, in July, she was gonna ask for the hoop to be taken down.  HA!!!