August: a blessing and a blur

I'm a bit behind in blogging again, but it's fun to upload these pictures and be reminded what a blessed and busy summer we had.  August is our only month free of baseball, so that is always when we do our summer travels.  This August was so much fun, but we packed in a lot of fun in a short period of time, so it went by like a blur!  Here are the highlights...

Summer wouldn't be complete without doing outdoor chores :)

And this chore was actually fun for the boys.  They went on a thistle-picking adventure and they picked over 100 of them in one day!  They had fun counting them when they were finished and finding out which one was the tallest :)

I wish I had that much fun doing MY chores! :}

Nathanael had a very special event in August when he was installed as a altar server.

I love how our church takes this role seriously and trains the servers for a week or more.

Nathanael was happy to get trained with some of his best friends from school.

It was also very special that Joseph was one of the senior servers that got to train his little brother :)

I now have 4 out of 5 sons trained to serve at the Lord's holy altar,

 and it makes my heart nearly burst with joy!  :)

The next big event in August was our vacation to South Dakota.

First, we went to the Black Hills and stayed at beautiful Sylvan Lake with some of Paul's family.

Here are our boys with their Minnesota cousins.

We were on a hike to the highest peak in South Dakota, 

although the name of the peak is now debatable :)

It used to be called Harney Peak,

but in recent years it was changed to Black Elk Peak,

which apparently caused some local controversy.

Our family at the highest point (7,244 feet about sea level) in South Dakota:  

Harney Peak or Black Elk Peak :)

The hike was 7 miles round trip and was a lovely way to get some exercise 

while getting amazing views of the Black Hills at the same time.

This is a beautiful shot of the Black Hills in the background. 

In the foreground is a pole containing "prayer flags".  I don't totally know what this tradition is all about, but I think the Lakota Sioux still come to this peak for religious ceremonies and prayers, and it must be part of their tradition to tie these flags on this pole and a few of the trees nearby.  The Lakota call this peak Hinhan Kaga (Making of Owls), but it was officially renamed recently for a Lakota Holy Man named Black Elk, who received his "great vision" from this peak in 1872.

Our little boys and their cousins floating on Sylvan Lake,

while Michael (wearing red wayyyy in the distance) is fishing.

Another shot of having fun at Sylvan Lake.

A peaceful shot of Sylvan Lake in the evening.

We stayed at very nice cabins right by the lake,

which we highly recommend and hope to do again someday.

One big highlight of our vacation for the little boys was Reptile Gardens :)

This place is a zoo full of snakes, alligators, crocodiles, spiders, and other fascinating/scary reptiles

(all the creatures my boys love and most normal people hate!) :)

They really enjoyed watching this Alligator show...

After the show, they were able to touch a baby alligator named "Fluffy."

Isaiah picked a stuffed animal alligator from the gift shop and named it "Fluffy" too :)

This photo was taken during the snake show, which was also fascinating.

I don't remember what kind of snake this was (perhaps a Kingsnake?), but I remember it was very poisonous, and I was amazed at how calm the snake trainer was!

After the snake show the boys were able to touch a big python

(or perhaps it was a boa constrictor...I'm not very good at discerning snake varieties) :}

Dominic just informed me it is a python. :)

This is a Giant Saltwater Crocodile named "Maniac."

He is 16 feet long and weighs 1350 pounds.

He is one of the largest crocodiles in captivity in the world!

I think this scary snake is called the Horned Viper.

Nathanael with a giant tortoise.

Two sweet and gentle souls :)

Our family at Mt. Rushmore.

This was as close as we could get to the famous monument because it was under construction :(

Bummer.  But we did get to eat some of the famous ice cream near their gift shop.  Yay! :)

South Dakota's state motto:  Great Faces Great Places :)

After a few days in the Black Hills we hopped in the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We were only able to spend a couple of days there, but the days were filled with sweet memories to last a lifetime!

It's tradition to go to Storybook Land and it never gets old no matter how old you are!

Would you stick your head in a lion's mouth for a drink of water? :)

Even the little tea cup ride was fun when you have a brother who spins it at Mach 5 the whole time! :)

And of course the boys did lots of fishing with Grandpa!

The boys were super excited to catch a huge Northern Pike!

Joseph caught the Northern Pike and I bet he will remember it forever!

Nathanael pondering the circle of life :)

Michael helped Isaiah catch a giant carp!

Lots and lots of card games were played in 2 short days! :)

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Thank you for making our summers so special every year!

Your home is always the "highest" highlight of our summer. :)

Totus Tuus, 
    ~Maria

3 teenagers in our house---oh my!

Hard to believe, but Dominic turned 13 this July!  Now Paul and I are outnumbered by teenagers in our house.  How scary!  :)  Actually, it's pretty wonderful and I am blessed to be the momma of three handsome and holy teenagers. 

Like a typical teenager, Dominic wanted a device to listen to music for his birthday.  So we got him an MP3 players so that he can listen to the radio and a few of his favorite 80s songs that he downloaded from Joseph's iPod :)  Honestly, I wasn't too excited about the idea at first, but it has turned out to be a win-win deal because he will happily do chores for me if I will let him listen to music. I'm usually happy to oblige.  :)

But unlike a typical teenager, for his birthday party he chose to celebrate with his family and not with his friends.  I felt deeply honored and touched.  A teenager who still loves to hang out with his family.  I'm going to embrace this while it lasts!  :) 

On Dominic's actual birth-date, he requested the Pizza Ranch for supper.  We all enjoyed the delicious food, and the 3 youngest had a blast playing video games in the arcade room.  Then, once the crazy baseball season was over, I told Dominic he could have a party and invite friends over to our house or to the indoor trampoline park in town, but he said he just wanted to have a water balloon war with his family, along with Little Caesar's Pizza and some cheesecake for dessert.  I can't think of a sweeter, easier birthday party that any of my kids have ever had!  It was fun for the whole family and I sure hope Dominic felt loved even though everything was so laid back. 

Here are the birthday highlights:

Happy Birthday, Dominic!

You are one very gifted and talented and loved little boy

--who isn't so little anymore!

A LEGO genius, 

a robotics whiz, 

a ravenous reader,

a lover of languages 

(even Norse and Ancient Greek!)

Sometimes your brain and energy are out of this world,

but I know God will use it for great good.

I love you more than all of the cheesecake ever made!!!

Love, 

Mommy

 

For the Love of the Game (we give up our summers) :}

Summer is here, and for our family that means a whole lot of baseball.  Four out of five of our boys play ball, so it's become a major part of our lives and will continue to be for quite some time it seems.  That means we do more sitting on bleachers eating sunflower seeds than we do sitting around a campfire eating s'mores, but it's a good life and I wouldn't trade it for another!  :)

Nathanael's season ended first because his age group plays in the Spring.  He loved every minute of it and his older brothers had fun being his "personal trainers."  This was his first year of "player pitch" rather than coach pitch or machine pitch, and it turns out that he really loves pitching.  It was quite a feat for 7 and 8 year olds to pitch in the strike zone, so there were many, many, maannny, "balls" and subsequent "walks" each game.  But it was so fun to watch the kids become more and more confident as pitchers and hitters as the season progressed.  Nathanael's team only had 2 wins the whole season, but they had fun and learned that baseball is more than just about winning (it's mostly about the snacks after the game) :)  Here are some highlight photos of Nathanael's season:

Aren't these pin stripes the greatest!?  He wore them for every game because it made him feel like a Yankees player :)  He likes the Yankees.  His favorite player is Aaron Judge.

Yay Natey and team Buffalo Wild Wings (aka "B-dub-dubs")  :)

Joseph and Michael both made it on the same Legion baseball team this year, which was a HUGE blessing to our family---a lot less dividing and conquering and a lot more being together as a family to watch the games.  The season started out a big bumpy for Joseph because he had pneumonia right when the season began and it took a awhile for him to regain his strength.  He also sprained his ankle playing basketball in our driveway, which caused him to miss a practice or two.  But even those "bumps in the road" were good life lessons to remind the boys that they are not invincible, and sometimes things don't go the way you had planned.  I hope their setbacks will never discourage them, but rather help them place their trust in God's plan above their own.

Joseph's positions this year were pitcher and outfielder, but pitching has always been his passion.  Michael also was a pitcher on the team, but mostly played 3rd base or short stop.  Thankfully, one of the dads has a really nice camera with a gigantic telephoto lens and is constantly taking pictures at the games, so I am able to share some really neat photos of the boys in action:

Love this picture!

Great form, great curls, great kid!

I can't believe this catch was captures on camera!  

("Thank you photographer J.B. for taking these great shots!")

Definitely going to frame a few of these for Michael!

For the last tournament of the season, the team decided that everyone should perm their hair!  What a hoot!  So I bought a home kit and gave Michael a perm.  At first I thought his hair was going to be too short to fit in the curling rods, but I somehow made it work and it turned out great!  

This is how Michael's hair turned out :)

Joseph already had natural curly hair, so he decided to straighten his hair with my flat iron for the tournament to join in the crazy fun. 

 Not sure if this picture shows it very well, but he looked like a frizzy 80's rock star---

it was hilarious and hideous all at the same time! :)

Is that Eddie Van Halen on the mound?!

And here is one of the boys' teammates with his crazy perm and other craziness going on

in an attempt to bring their team good luck during the final tournament :)

Unfortunately, the perms and other antics didn't help the boys win the district tourney,

but at least they had fun! :)

All in all, it was a great year, with a great group of young men!

Eager to see what next year holds for this team.

May God guide and bless each of them!

And last, but not least, little Isaiah made his baseball debut this year!  And he loved every minute of it!  This year was "machine pitch" baseball for his age group, which is harder than it sounds.  Sometimes the machine pitches too fast, sometimes too slow, sometimes it's in the strike zone, and other times not even close.  But Isaiah did awesome and almost always got a hit off of the machine---thanks to all the practice and training with his older brothers :)  Here are some highlight photos of his first baseball season:

Aiming for the fences!

He looked so professional in those pinstriped pants!

On a mission to score!

"Hmmm, I feel like I'm missing something..."

(maybe it's the hat that he left in the dugout) :)

Staring down the pitcher with a smile on his face :)

Good form... Even lifts his front leg to step into his swing like the pros do :)

Isaiah is in ready position.

Daddy is coaching in the distance.

Isaiah's teammate is playing in the sand :)

Well done Isaiah and team!!!

What a fun Spring and Summer filled with baseball!  But now I'm grateful that we have another month of summer to go do some "other" fun activities!