Happy Campers

 The girls just got back from one of their favorite weeks of the year - camp week at Camp Grady Spruce! This was their fourth year to attend (should have been fifth, but COVID), and they were excited to be reunited with some other returning friends. 

It was "Island Paradise" week. While the girls are without electronics, we're lucky enough to receive hundreds of photos from camp each day. We look carefully through them for glimpses of our girls having the time of their lives. The pictures tell the story! Not pictured: Emma stayed up on water skis for nice, long rides. She was also "Camper of the Day" one day, which was announced at evening campfire! Sara earned her fourth "rag" for leadership. She's pretty proud of those!

When we picked them up, the girls were tired with barely-there voices. While they were ready-ish to head home, they were also sad to leave. Lots of hugs and exchanged phone numbers with new friends. That's the sweet spot, I suppose.

While the girls were gone, Steve and I enjoyed our free evenings after work. We spent a couple of those at the dog park and hitting up some of our favorite spots. We also celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary! We had a day date with some shopping and lunch, followed by a couple of sweaty rounds of Popstroke.

After we got the girls home and a couple loads of laundry in the wash, we celebrated with a dinner at old faithful, BWW. They had lots of good stories to tell and we enjoyed every last detail. Happy campers all around!

Other Summer Stuff

While Colorado was a summer highlight, we've had plenty going on - from the normal to the exciting and everything in between. As it should be.

The girls spent an afternoon helping me set up my new office! Sara said she likes my old one better; Emma likes the new one. Either way, it's where I'm stationed and I'm excited about it!

I'll never be sick of having a pool. Even though it can be a headache (an expensive one at that), I just enjoy it so much. I love seeing the girls enjoy it, too. Not as many cannonballs and jumping contests these days, but still fun!

Jim only goes in when the heat absolutely necessitates and not of his own volition, but he always wants to be out there with us.

Emma found a pepperoni roll recipe that she wanted to try for us. She said the finished product didn't look the way she wanted it to, but they were delish!

We also recently spent an evening at the Rough Riders game. This was a make-up for the Mother's Day rainout (two years in a row!), but it worked out because we went on a Friday night and got fireworks.

Sara's team headed to UCA cheer camp - this year at Great Wolf Lodge.

We went on the final Saturday to see their performance. Sara doesn't like this picture because she said she isn't standing straight, but what you can't tell in a still photo is that she was moving, yelling, and doing her motions. She looked amazing!

Sara was really disappointed that she didn't get All American this year, after earning it the last two years at camp. I was sad for her, too, because I know she wanted it. She said that her coach told her, "You know you belonged up there, I know you belonged up there..." Her tryout was great, so it was a disappointment, but just not her year. Character building, right? As co-captain, she led her team at camp to win JV gameday and also the highly coveted "banana" spirit award. This was a huge win for the Plano West program!

Sara led her team in a "west side-best side" chant after winning the banana, and left camp with a huge smile and hardly any voice. So proud of her. We got in the car from camp and headed straight to Colorado!

While Sara was at cheer camp, the rest of us went to an FC Dallas game with Emma's soccer team. Always a fun time!

The girls sat on one side of the stadium, parents on the other. I caught up with a group midway through the game for this one dark photo. They had a great time!

Emma and I also went to see "Inside Out 2." It was really good - highly recommend. So many connections as it focused on the emotions of a teenage girl. It was good for both of us.

We also spent time packing for CO while Sara was at camp. This is how Jim handled it ... (He stayed with his neighbor besties while we were gone and had a vacation of his own, so he was just fine!)

Since CO, we've been busy getting the girls ready to go to CGS next week. They always love this week of summer, and are excited for "Island Paradise". I feel like I've made about a thousand trips to make sure we are camp ready ... here's hoping.

Sara spent most of this past week in New Braunfels with a friend and her family. We missed her on our first holiday without her, but she had a great time seeing a new place, floating the river, and exploring antique shops. Meanwhile, more kitchen time for Emma - cookies and pasta.

And her annual soccer signing day! We are super excited that she's staying with the same coach and largely the same team, but they're joining a different club. Besides uniforms and a few awesome new players, not much else will change, which is great. The team had their signing party at Whirly Ball, which was super underwhelming to the point of laughable, but we're looking forward to the soccer year!

We celebrated the 4th at our normal East Plano parking lot. We had an awesome fireworks show and really pleasant weather.

I asked Sara to send me a 4th picture, and this is what I got:

So Emma returned the favor:

Geeeeeeeez. 😆

Sara got home today from her get-away, and we have tomorrow to finish getting everyone packed for camp. Emma is mostly ready - and super organized, of course. We'll make the drive to Possum Kingdom Lake on Sunday and wish them well for a super fun week!