Julia Turns 11

Julia turned 11. Sara went slightly overboard on presents. Leeann was in town again! And most importantly Julia contributed to her own birthday.

Birthday prep: piñata 

In addition to making her own piñata, Julia made rainbow Jell-O which we served with leftover ice-cream cake for the Gray's on the day after her birthday.  She also influenced several gifts while yard-sailing with Sara.

The piñata string snapped before the piñata broke so the kids decided that baseball was the best way to finish the job.

 

The plethora of gifts arrived only 2 weeks after a haul from Summer Santa

 

Julia's ice-cream cake 

Julia's cake featured a realistic REC/ADP soccer game complete with:

• 5 players wearing the number 10
• Most players within 5 feet of the ball
• Referee not paying attention
• Kids asking when they could eat treats
• One kid looking at bugs instead of focusing on the game
• Doug asking how much time is left

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!!!

Strong start to summer

School ended. Summer arrived. Sara and the kids got a fast start on the summer bucket list. It's going to be difficult to keep up this pace!

Sara and RJ golfing (Washington monument in back), RJ almost got a hole-in-one (then 2 putted)

Bradley came over a few times ... and drank some lemonade

An evening of basketball at the Gray's

Amelia and Julia on the trampoline (explains $200 quarterly water bill)

Haynes Point golfing was fun, so Julia came on the next HOT and humid outing

Squirrel 8 of 10 (pests came early to eat apples this year)

Julia took a turn making dinner (potato bar). Do you want some sass with that?

Selects hockey team summer pool party - super fun!

Dog sitting Teddy and Pup-pup during a showing of Max/Katie's house

Fathers Day with King Oil

Father's Day featured some awesome gifts for Doug and a trip to Baltimore to see Granddad.

What's an awesome gift? Pillows for family, $10 bills so Doug doesn't have to scramble around every Sunday morning, and approval for project Whitetail porch!

Kids and Doug played King Oil for 2 hours

Notes on King Oil game:

• Julia's land must have been home to the Texas Fire Marshall. She never had a fire
• Julia consistently drew cards with $4,000/well royalties.
• RJ's properties would have been better for farming than oil drilling

Busch Gardens, 2025

To celebrate the end-of-school we headed to Busch Gardens just like last year.  Key notes and take aways:

• Doug should have purchased the unlimited soda cup
• RJ and Julia should have gone for the unlimited meal plan
• Sara needs to remember to sneak gluten-dairy free food into the park
• Doug appreciated Ken (Francis's husband) as a roller-coaster buddy
• 10am - 9pm is a long day

RJ, Logan, Julia at the entrance

When we pulled up to the hotel, we saw Finn Carr sticking his head out of the car. RJ was excited to see Desi and Liam who were there for Tommy's and Liam's lacrosse tournament. 

RJ, Desi, Liam, and Logan hung out and rode nearly all of the roller coasters. RJ didn't say no to anything this year.

Desi, Liam, RJ, and Logan on Finnigan's Flyer

The Big Bad Wolf 2 was Julia's favorite roller coaster. We renamed it the Small Fluffy Puppy.

Three rides were enough for us to rename it the Small Fluffy Puppy 

Sara rams Julia (proof that Sara did something other than carry the heavy backpack)

Julia's sports wrap up

Julia played on 2 soccer teams and a volleyball team in the spring. For the most part Julia enjoyed hanging out with friends and competing. Winning over 30% of the games would have been more fun.

Volleyball

Girls 3rd-4th grade CYO volleyball team was a chance to hang out with friends. The fourth graders were getting the ball over more often towards the end of the season.

3rd-4th Grade Girls Volleyball Team

Volleyball game in action, May 31

ADP Soccer

ADP soccer was a more expensive option to the rec team. The team was assigned to play on the crummy Bluemont Park grass field most of the time. This resulted in several cancelled games so the season didn't end until June 8. Coach Olu was a welcome addition!

Team pic on a rainy last day (5-1 loss, but 5-2 win Saturday)

Rec Soccer

Need to get picture

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Late Night Pizza

RJ decided that we would start making home-made pizza at 7:40pm. Julia had a second dinner, RJ ate 1 1/2 pizzas, and Doug found a second-appetite so we only had a couple pieces left. 

Note for next time: the expensive bread-dough flour made all the difference with dough consistency and overall deliciousness. 

Late night (8:40pm) pizza on the porch.

Spring Hockey

The 16U league has some plyers that are as big as adults. Light blue had some issues this season (2 wins, 1 tie, 5 losses). RJ and #59 account for most of the goals.