Summer, Pre Surgery

We started out the summer with Carter's first year of T-ball.  He was one of the youngest, barely making the cut off.  He'd never really played before so this was a lot of new experiences for him.

He was so proud of his team shirt and hat.  He loved to tell anyone who would listen that he played on the "Smithfield Blue Jays!"

Carter is left handed but come to find out he does everything EXCEPT bat left handed.  His swing was horrible and awkward and then remembering that Neil is also left handed, but bats right handed, we switched him.  He did much better after we figured out his swing.  

Trying so hard to remember to step while throwing.  Stepping with the wrong foot, but that will come!

Carter loved T-Ball and loves being on a team in general.  His little team only had 1 practice before the games started and so the games were a bit chaotic as no one knew what to do.  I'm hoping this year was the year to get his feet wet, and next year we can start on the intense training and learning!

T-Ball is a hard sport to watch, let's be honest.  But Jackson did great and found a friend whom he played with each and every game.  This 8 year old boy, Dame-It, as Jax called him (Damon), entertained Jackson through the entire hour games, 2 times a week.  

 T-Ball was also hard to sit through thanks to the extreme heat.  Sunglasses for everyone!

Jackson isn't really suppose to get his Central Line or dressing wet but we have decided to figure out a way around that.  Thanks to other parents who are more experienced than I am in dealing with these things, they taught me how to safely waterproof the sight.  Last year we dabbled in water activities and this year we are going full force.

 Jackson loved the new water park.  Until he got sprayed right in the eye!

Both boys love being in the water and love playing at the parks afterwards.

 We've been real swimming a couple times this summer and while Jax loves being in the water, it does make him a bit nervous to be fully submerged.  We're going to have to make up for lost time and try and teach him to be comfortable in the water, when until recently, he never even got to bathe.  He's never laid down in water or gone under water so we need to work on things like that.

 We all went to the Monster Truck show that came to town in June.  Both boys were in heaven.  The noise made Jax a little nervous but with his ear-muffs he sat and watched for the entire show.  He still loves to talk about the monster trucks and will tell you that "Monster truck tipped over" and "Motorcycles Jump really high."

 I sometimes wonder if Carter loves the monster trucks or the treats more.  It's a toss up.

We have gone camping twice so far and hope to squeeze at least 2 more trips in.  But each time I have forgotten to take my camera and I leave my phone off most of the time.

                                          
Our first trip was to City Of Rocks.  We all got a little sunburned this trip.  It was super hot during the day but freezing cold at night.  Jackson apparently doesn't have enough body fat to keep himself warm at night so he spent both nights cuddled up to me to stay warm.

The boys loved climbing on the rocks and we spent many hours doing this.  Neil even did some real rock climbing!

 Camping close to home, Smithfield canyon.  Both boys slept incredible this trip.  Straight through the night with no peeps out of either of them.

 Carter loves helping Neil with the trailer and getting it hooked up.  Takes his job very seriously.

The backyard pool is a great alternative when we can't make it to the big pools.

 Watermelon has been consumed in great quantities this summer by everyone.  This is a family treat we can all enjoy.

And we've all spent a little bit of time on our bikes.  Jackson is trying to figure out which bike/trike will best suit him.  

He can't quite figure out how to pedal any of them but hopefully by next summer he will have it figured out.

We tried to squeeze as many outings/fun things into June because of Jax's surgery in July.  Hoping to finish out the summer strong after surgery.