Rockstar Summer

Just because the soccer season wouldn't officially start until the end of July didn't mean the girls lacked opportunities to play. Reese got to play with a couple of different teams in 3v3 tournaments. The fields are smaller and the pace is fast. She loved it.

Callie's 5th grade promotion celebration seemed to continue well into the summer. Her friend Addie convinced her mom to do a girls' trip up to Columbus, Ohio to visit her grandparents and cousin. It seems odd that 11-year-olds are already doing girls' trips, but this is an especially tight group.

From what we understand, Addie's grandparents took them on a tour of Columbus and The Ohio State University. And they sealed the deal with a visit to the best ice cream place in town. The girls had such a great time that on the whole ride home they talked about where each family could take these girls for a visit when it was their turn. Callie tried to start selling California or Connecticut - that's a commitment that we are not quite prepared to make at this point.

Summer soccer continued in earnest with another 3v3 tournament for Reese in Winchester on a very hot day. In fact, Reese and her teammates made good use of the cool-down sports towels that were stored in a cooler full of ice.

All of their efforts paid off when they swept through the tournament and won first place. Their coach Tyler bought them all Gatorade from the gas station up the road as a reward. Reese and her friend Mary were quite proud of their medals as well.

And here's the whole crew. All but one of these girls was going to be on Reese's team for the year, so this tournament was a great opportunity for them to bond and play together.

As crazy as our schedule may seem we do have down time every now and then, which provides the opportunity for a bit of randomness. Sarah had a fun photo shoot with Reese and captured this picture that seems to highlight Reese's personality - a little attitude, a little confidence, and a little free spiritedness.

While Sarah continued to hold down the fort in Lexington, Kentucky, John was able to make a quick visit to Lexington, Massachusetts while he was at a conference in Boston. He was able to spend a night with his great friend Amit who has known since the very first days of college. They don't see each other often enough, so every visit like this one is special.

2019 marked Reese's first summer sleep away camp, and she was all excited to go. It made it especially fun that she was going with her friend Ella and they were going to be in the same cabin. And since this was Ella's second year she could show Reese the ropes.

Among the ropes was showing up about two hours early to make sure they could get checked in and score a top bunk. Reese got her bed set up pretty quickly and saw no reason for John to hang around once everything was tucked in and hung up.

For sleep away camp you always wonder what you are going to find when you pick up your kid at the end of the week. As impossible as it may seem, Ella and Reese both had bigger smiles than when we left. Although we got a lot of great pictures from the camp website throughout the week it was great to give Reese a big hug and confirm that the smiles we had seen were the result of an incredible time.

The summer fun continued with a variety of play dates and other get togethers. This picture is from a play date Reese had with her friend Zoey where they got to test out Zoey's new pool. It's always good when you are known as a trusted pool tester.

Callie's friends Harper and Kennedy had another great birthday party over the summer. This year's activity was at a place called Color Chaos here in town. It's a spin off of the breakout room - the girls had to complete a challenge in a room in order to get to the next room. And in the very last room they played a video game that sprayed colors all over the place. Clearly they all had a great time.

Then it was time for Callie's second sleep away camp of the summer. She was going with her friend Emma Jane and as you can see here they were pretty excited to get the week started. It was Emma Jane's fifth time at this particular camp, so she couldn't wait to show Callie what it was all about.

And as it turned out, Callie had the same counselor at this camp that Reese did when she went a couple of weeks earlier. They both loved their counselor Julie and Julie adored both of them. It was a great fit all around.

For the last camp of the summer the girls went to a tennis camp with their friends the Stones. Callie and Reese had already been to this camp before, but having Mary Kate, Miller, and Maddie there made it so much better. The parents also enjoyed the set up because it lent itself nicely to a shared carpool between the families. And just like that, summer was over. Too bad we didn't do too much.