7th grade camp, end of baseball season, 17th anniversary

june has been june-ing hard over here. whew! let's get caught up. 

 in preparation for our roap trip in a couple weeks, i thought it would be fun for everyone in our family to color in a map of the states they have visited. thatcher and i are sitting at 37 and 38 respectively right now and i'll be adding utah as my 39th on our trip! azalea has been to 16 and ashford has been to 11. we realized we went to quite a few states with azalea before ashford was born. he'll have to catch up. ha! here's my map: 

last tuesday ashford had his final baseball practice of the season (for real this time). we also found out his team would be playing fritz's team in the championship game on saturday. eek! 

wednesday marked 9 years of living in seattle for us. i don't even know what to say about it anymore. a decade ago, i never imagined we would move across the country, much less stay this long. friends in minnesota don't even ask us when/if we think we will move back anymore. at this point i can't see my kids not finishing out their school days with these classmates they've known since kindergarten. i'm so thankful for technology to keep in touch with our friends and family back in minnesota. and that we have the flexibility to go back for many weeks in the summer to soak up time with everyone. i know as we enter these teenage parenting years that part is going to get harder. last but not least, thatcher's job here has been a huge blessing for our family and his career and seeing him do what he loves has been worth it all. 

in the morning i had to get azalea and simone to school at 7:00 am for their 7th grade camp sendoff. it's a 2-night camp on the olympic peninsula. i'm so excited for them and i love that their middle school does this each year. right after that i headed to ashford's school for his class play "the stinky cheese man." ashford was mostly part of the stage crew, but had a couple small acting roles too. it was a really cute performance that the kids directed themselves. 

arlo came over to hang out with ashford after school and then rebekah joined us to go out for dinner because both big siblings were away at camp and the husbands also had plans. it was perfect! we walked down to 'hattie's hat' and sat outside. then we walked over to 'sweet mickey's' candy store for the boys and 'salt and straw' ice cream for the moms for dessert. yum. 

thursday evening, ashford and i hung out at home with thatcher and we all watched the movie "the benchwarmers." 

friday in the late afternoon azalea returned from her 2-night camp. louise and i picked up azalea and sisi together. their bus got a little delayed, so we stood around outside the school chatting with the other parents. they were both bubbling with excitement when they got off the bus. they had a great time and azalea said it was way more fun than last year (it was a different camp). i'm so happy she had a good time.

 an hour after that was ashford's end of season party at the 'ballard smoke shop' (a restaurant, not a smoke store). they had burgers and fries, beer for the parents, and an arcade to keep the boys busy. it was such a fun night. his coaches did a little award ceremony, which was funny and sweet. and we presented the coaches with thank you gifts as well. 

saturday morning we hung out at home. in the afternoon, ashford had the championship game for AAA baseball against fritz's team. he was a ball of nerves going into it. i think all of the boys were. it was almost 80 degrees, which is the hottest game of the season. ashford's team fell behind almost immediately and at one point the score was 1-7, but then they started making a comeback. unfortunately, in the end they lost 6-8, but it was such a good game. ashford got an RBI single, which was fun. i am so thankful that this season turned out so well. you will remember we were feeling discouraged from being put on a team where we did not know anyone, but it turned into the best season ever and we are so sad it is over. 

as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, i had told ashford he could have his friends fritz and trent over for a sleepover that night. thatcher made the greek chicken pita sandwiches and the boys played at the park and played video games. it was really hot on our third floor (where the bedrooms are) when it was time to go to bed, so no one slept well that night. 

sunday was our 17th wedding anniversary. wait til you hear how romantic our day was ;) thatcher got up early to go to the property to do some work. i got up with the boys and made cinnamon rolls and bacon. after ashford's friends got picked up, it was me and the kids all day with no plans. i decided to take them to 'palermo's' for lunch. it's a pizza/pasta place in our neighborhood that we've only tried once. it was delicious. we relaxed at home the rest of the day. it was beautiful weather and i spent a lot of time reading on the deck. at one point, azalea fell asleep on me on the couch. which is heaven when your baby is 13 and never does that anymore. 

when thatcher got home in the evening, we had leftovers for dinner, watched youtube as a family, and everyone went to bed early because we were tired. 

the kids have two weeks left of school (with one day off next week for juneteenth). no more baseball or soccer, but plenty of school activities coming up!