June 2024

We started the month off in Sandusky, Ohio at Cedar Point. Brinley's team was playing in a tournament for the second year in a row and most of the team wanted to play at the park. We rode most of the roller coasters that the park had to offer before heading home. Jennifer spent the day working and found a little public library to keep cool in. 

I think besides softball these girls just really enjoy spending time together. We also went bowling as a team and ate at the local Mexican restaurant. 

Jennifer and I celebrated our 17th anniversary in Ohio during the tournament. It is hard to believe that we have been together now for over 23 years and married for 17 of them. 

The kids also decided to take a dip in the chilly waters of Lake Erie. A few of the adults, myself included decided to play a little beach volleyball. Only problem was that we didn't have a volleyball. Playing with a kickball proved to be very difficult at times. Kennedy and Reagan have become two of Brinley's best friends on the team.

Landon's rec ball tournament started and he received the game ball on one of the nights. You can also see him sporting his new cross necklace that his mother and I got him for getting baptized.  

Brinley's team had a one day tournament in Georgetown. They were excited to wear their new jerseys that they got. 

Landon's first travel ball tournament and we got to play against one of our friends and former teammates, Levi. These two are usually two of the smallest kids on the field, but have the biggest hearts and drive for the game. You get one of them on base and they will usually steal the rest of them. Always good to see the Green's.

I got so excited to find out that both kids would be playing in Georgetown tournaments. Unfortunately, the kids played at two different locations. It was also a mess because Landon's tournament was going on at the same time. Our schedule for the weekend was crazy. Brinley played at 8 in Georgetown, then Landon and I left to go to his rec ball game in Lexington at 1 pm. They won which meant he would play the next day. Then had two games in Georgetown at 6 pm and 8 pm. They won one and lost one which meant they were put in the silver bracket. On Sunday they came and won the silver bracket in the morning and then lost their rec ball game in the afternoon. 

Landon's minor league rec ball came to an end. Landon and I were both a little happy that we didn't win the last game because he would have to miss the next couple of games because of church camp. He didn't want to have to miss any games. This was a great group of kids and they definitely had a lot of fun together. 

After a weekend of games we celebrated with some ice cream!

I went to camp to spend time with all the younger patients and their siblings. A couple of the girls thought it would be funny to paint my face at Arts and Crafts time. I had no idea what I looked like until I got out my phone and snapped this picture of myself. 

Next up for the kids was heading to CIY Mix with our church. It is a church camp where Southland takes all middle school students. It is in southern Indiana. This is Brinley's second year and Landon's first. I believe that he was a little nervous about playing, but once he got inside he spotted a friend, Kirt which I think made things better. 

Jennifer and I didn't know what to do with ourselves with the kids gone. We however decided to take advantage of not having to have anyone watch the kids and we went on our alphabet dates. Jennifer chose a D date. We played disc golf and then went to dinner at Drake's. 

Next night was my pick and we went on a J date. We went to Joe Balogna's and then came home and did a jigsaw puzzle. Jennifer lost interest in the puzzle, but did come back to help me with the last piece. 

Church camp doesn't allow you to take any electronics with you to the camp. So, we only had to rely on pictures that popped up on the social media pages. I believe this is the only photo we saw of one of our children for the entire four days that they were gone. Looks like Landon was doing ok!

The A date was so nerve wrecking. We had appetizers and then we did art together. There is a viral trend going around where you try to paint your significant other. It was extremely hard to do in my opinion. I made Jennifer out to look like a cave woman and she made me to have an extremely tiny head. All in all we had a lot of fun.  

The last date night we had before the kids came home was a B night. We played board games (blokus, bites) with my baby brother and his baby. Taylor and McKinley said that they wanted to help in the fun and said they would provide the food. They understood the assignment and we had BBQ - brisket, baked beans, bread, banana pudding and even some of Taylor's homemade blueberry muffins. 

The kids came home and we were very excited to see them. They both said that they had a lot of fun and were excited about going back the next year. Landon's counselor for the week, Mcgee, came up and said how extremely proud of him that he was, and that he was a good young man. Brinley told us that her favorite part of the week was the worship. Made my heart extremely happy. We also found out a few days later that Brinley decided at camp that she wanted to take the next steps in her faith. I could not be more proud of her decision to follow Jesus. Now we just need to figure out when we can get her to be baptized. 

The night the kids got back from church camp was also the night of the Luau for Life. We had an awesome event out at Talon Winery and we raised about $14,000 for our Survivor Picnic that we will have later this year.

Nora came to her first Luau for Life and the Heflin girls enjoyed getting to spend some time with her. Brinley has been terrified of Nora and is slowly working on getting more comfortable with her. 

I was sad that neither kid had a tournament on Father's Day. I would rather be at the field than sitting at the house. So I made the kids go out and get a little bit of work in with me as my gift for the day. 

I happened to arrive at McKinley's house at the same time they were about to take Taylor to work one morning. I got to ride along and sit next to my little buddy Nora. 

It had been an extremely long time since we had been to the movies. We finally had a night with no sports so we headed out to the movies to watch the new Inside Out 2. It was a great movie and it reminded me so much of Brinley. If only I could hear all the different voices in her head to let me know when to push her and when to give her space. 

Landon's team got gifted an opportunity to play in Elizabethtown at the Cal Ripken Experience. This is a tournament that usually cost almost $2,000. Grandma and Grandpa made the trip up to watch him play in two games on Friday night. They went 1-1 on the night. The next day we came back and the Slam finished pool play with a total record of 2-2. On Saturday it was so hot and the kids were playing on turf which makes it even hotter. They had to play 3 games in a row because tournament play started immediately after pool play ended. Our kids were gassed and it showed in the tournament game. A team that we beat in pool play took advantage of us being exhausted and whooped us 20-1. It was a really fun experience getting to play some tough competition. It really showed us that we have a pretty good team. 

Brinley's team had their end of year party just a little early. It was a combined end of year party and baby shower for the coaches Anna and Drew. The kids had a blast on the slip and slide and in the pool. The biggest hit was trying to get on and survive on the watermelon float. It was a good time with the Rampage family. 

Our financial advisor had an event to thank all of the people that use his services. It was at Kroger Field and they had a guest speaker Bush Hamdan, the new UK Offensive Coordinator. Jennifer and the kids had something else that they wanted to do, but I really wanted to hear what he had to say about the upcoming season. It was fun to hear and it got me even more excited about the upcoming season. 

We started the month on a softball tournament with amusement park fun. We ended the month doing the exact same thing in a different state. Brinley's team had a tournament near Santa Claus, IN. Her team went to Holiday World the day before the tournament started. We spent most of the time in the water park riding all the water slides with the Kerr's. 

Brinley's team wanted to send some love to Ellie's mom who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. They girls wore special jerseys in her honor. The girls started off pool play great and went 2-1 on the day.

These three boys were in charge of keeping the scoreboard. They enjoyed it most because the booth they were in was air conditioned. They also had one little incident that the boys had no idea what to do about. A young female umpire came up into the booth and apparently needed to change. Instead of asking the boys to leave so she could change she just told them not to look around at her. The boys were so upset by the event. Thankfully they told Brantley's grandma who then went and talked with the umpire about how she should have handled the situation with the boys.

Tournament day and the girls showed up big in the first game. We had a wait in between games so we again hung out with the Kerr's. The kids played so card games and tried to stay cool. The girls made a good run but lost in the semifinal game.