So, I realize I have not "journaled" for the ENTIRE summer. Things have just been nuts, but that's nothing new. We have had a great summer, and I thought I'd catch up just a bit.
We've, as usual, been very occupied chasing Jacob around to various baseball games, and in July, we traveled to Florida for the USSSA 14 & Under World Series, and to say the least, we had a blast! Jacob's team (which did not have a great 
track record with tournaments up to this point) not only won their 1st game, beating the Florida all-star team, but went on to win 2 more games, and ended up finishing 6th out of 11. The team was especially excited to have beat a team from Kansas City who had actually placed higher in the Missouri state tournament. They went WAY beyond anyone's expectations, and really had a great time. We stayed at Disney at Pop Century resort, and managed to find an awful lot to keep
us all busy when not at baseball games. I'm including some pictures here. Before heading to Orlando to the tournament, we decided to extend our vacation with some days with our friends the Rist's at the beach at St. Petersburg. We had lots of fun hanging out on the sand, digging up sand dollars with our toes, and just generally having a fun time. Susan Rist and I decided we definitely should not wait so many years between vacations!The rest of the summer has been full of more baseball, including Sylvia having a GREAT first season playing baseball herself, and various work activities, swimming at the pool, vacation Bible school, and playing in the band at church. The past 3 days I had the privilege of participating in a terrific leadership workshop as a part of the vision committee at church. It was sponsored by Willow Creek church in Chicago and was simulcasted to Ridgecrest Baptist here in Springfield. It was extremely motivating and inspiring, and really sparked my excitement for the future of Schweitzer. We are so blessed to be a part of such a vibrant church family.
Now here we are in August, and school is a mere week and a half away! Jacob is getting very excited about getting his learner's permit after his birthday on the 25th, and has already started studying the driver guide. Sylvia will start 2nd grade and will start back to ballet class very
soon. She has really gained her confidence in the water, and has been jumping off the diving board. Quentin Rist really got her started on that during our vacation.It's hard to believe the summer is almost gone, but it will be nice to get back into the swing of fall. I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with this thing, but then again....well, we'll see!
