The past two weeks Hannah and I have been working hard
on our mad-swimming skills....

The first week was very chilly/cloudy,
but this week the sun has been shining high!

Makenzie has been super patient and helpful!

working on back floats...

front floats

back strokes....
and front strokes...

and conquering fears!

mixed in with just the right dose of fun/rewards to keep us going...

summer fun-times !

there's more ahead....

A day too good to be true....

Before I elaborate on our fun-fantastic weekend,
a disclaimer needs to be made.

I cannot claim any of these pictures as our own,
but am indebted to our fabulous friend,
Melanie, who is a impressive photographer
(amongst many many other above-and-beyond traits)
who so bravely brought her camera along with us
to capture the events of our day.

So, here is the story of the day in the life
of these well-worn shoes!

This past weekend we had
one of the most glorious days of the summer...
of the YEAR!

We returned to our much-loved Peninsula State Park in Door County
for a memory-making day with our friends, the Gunnells.

We packed up the wee-little ones
in their appropriate travel accommodations -

gave a pep-talk to our young lads


and ladygathered the masses,
(yes, you are counting correct....7 kids and 4 adults)
and we were off!

Leading this troop 4 miles down (and 6 miles back)..
YES..that is right, these amazing little people bicycled
their little legs 10 MILES!

There efforts were definitely rewarded,
as we spent much of the afternoon at Nicolet Bay
enjoying park fun,

quick break for lunch...

followed by water fun,





(and sun)

shells,


and sand fun...

we couldn't have planned a better day!

Here is what daddy had to say about it
when it was time to wrap it up and head home...

and we all concurred!

T-ball debut

Tonight was my FIRST-EVER T-ball game!
You could definitely say I was pretty excited!

(thank you to all who were patient
hearing me talk about it continuously for the past 2 weeks!)

(that picture was taken right after I got my
much-anticipated red shirt ("jersey")

We began the night with warm-ups....

which were extra-special
because daddy got to be a hands-on-dad/coach

after field practice, we came in for batting practice....

(here I am, watching and learning....)

followed by a little one/one instruction

(looks like I'm placing my shot,
but really just letting coach know
I understood which direction I needed to run :)

I was feeling confident, and excited, and ready for the "real-deal"


Hannah and Elijah pulled up their seats...

ready to cheer on our team!

Elijah really got into it - trying to be "one of the team"

I think batting was my favorite part.

but thought it was thrilling to learn about
the defensive party of the game too!

despite Elijah's apparent
"I'm so done with this baseball-watching thing",

We all had a great family night and couldn't be more proud
of the optimistic, team-oriented attitude of Noah,

and the positive, learning environment
that we experienced for our first organized sporting event
in our community!