As the summer was underway, Connor immediately jumped right back into school mode by taking an online course to meet his fine art requirement for high school graduation. We didn't know it at the time, but AP Art History would soon become his worst enemy and the primary reason Connor didn't get to experience much of any summer fun at all. Poor kid! Pictured below, his last day of junior year in happier times, HA!
During some of his rare periods of down time in the summer, Connor took advantage of meeting up with a special friend. One of his favorite people from his junior year of high school was a precious kiddo named Lachlan. Connor and Lachlan were assigned as buddies through the Peer Assistance & Leadership (PALs) program, Connor's all-time favorite experience throughout high school where juniors and seniors provide mentorship to kids at neighborhood elementary schools. Connor immediately connected with Lachlan during their weekly sessions and was happy to meet Lachlan's family and have some fun hangouts during the summer. So sweet!
In other random summer news, Jeff decided to give golf another chance earlier this year and started joining his buddy Bob in Cypress regularly for golf outings. The more he golfed, Jeff continued to improve and began envisioning himself spending a lot more time on the course with Bob's big golf group. It was always up and down, but he set a goal for himself and kept chipping away at his score week after week.
Sometime in late spring, Connor became obsessed with little rubber duckies and began collecting them for various friends. Before we knew it, Kaitlynn was into the little ducks too and in the summer I continued to find little rubber ducks everywhere. Kids are just weird sometimes!
As Kaitlynn approached her summer birthday, she continued to grow and mature in all-things-teenage-girl. She was suddenly into makeup, skincare, clothes, and hair products and wanting to build her collection of lotions and potions like all her friends. Jeff was always an easy target to take her shopping to find just the right product or scent.
Another activity that kept Kaitlynn busy during the summer was the volunteer work for our National Charity League (NCL) chapter. Each summer we try to get in as many volunteer hours as possible to avoid the chaos during the busy school year. Our favorite activity is helping out at the Cinco Ranch library by working at the summer reading desk helping patrons with prizes and crafts. She even roped in her friend Allison to help us a time or two.
Kaitlynn's tumbling and cheer classes and activities also kept her busy during the summer. As she attended workouts and tryouts for her next season of competitive cheer, Kaitlynn set a goal for herself to improve her jumps and began working on her stretching and jumping everyday. She made tremendous progress and her coaches noticed the difference within a matter of weeks. We felt so proud of her dedication!
As Kaitlynn prepared for an upcoming week of summer camp, we made the trip to White Oak to stay with MeMe and GrandDaddy. We tried to help them load some new furniture in their living room but it turned into quite the fiasco with nausea, injuries, and furniture parts all over the floor. Luckily it all worked out in the end, but I doubt they'll be asking for our "help" again anytime soon, ha!
As for me, I kept busy during the summer with regular household activities along with my usual workload. In honor of the huge vaccine rollout project I worked on in 2020-2021, I was invited with my colleagues to stay at our owner's new lake house in East Texas for a weekend of relaxation and reminiscing on our successful work. It was a nice time with some ladies I really love! From there, I drove to Dallas to spend some time in our office and hang out with my favorite work besties for a new tradition of dinner and catching up. I feel so lucky to work with such wonderful women who have become precious friends!
When I returned from my Dallas trip, Jeff took off for California to reconnect with his Mom and Dave at their place for a long weekend. He was so happy to see them after a long absence and even help out around their home with various projects. They enjoyed the visit as well as some great meals during his stay.
And finally, what better way to kick off our 2023 summer than with America's favorite pastime - baseball! Of course, most of America might turn up their noses at our hometown Astros team (haha) but our family loves the Astros and the rare opportunity to see a game in person at Minute Maid Park. We bought tickets for a game with a fun Alex Bregman World Series ring giveaway - so cool! We had a great time and Connor was even able to get a photo with his favorite local "insta-lebrity" called Sexy Marco. So fun!
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