Camp, Baseball, Swimming, Diving

Neither Leanne nor I are very good about taking pictures or videos so we end up with a lot of memories without the evidence (I guess that may be a good thing). Anyway the kids were involved with a lot of things that we don't have any pictures from. For example . . .

Kyle played baseball. This was his first year in the Majors and it took a big adjustment for him. He went from playing 3 years in infield positions (catcher, 1st base, pitching) to playing outfield and sitting out part of the game (ouch!). We kept encouraging him and letting him know that it was only because he was the youngest on the team and next year will be different. None-the-less he still had a blast and a good season. He had a couple good catches in the outfield and it took a bit but his batting by mid-season was doing really well also. No home-runs this year though. That was another bummer for Kyle.

Jessica was on a summer swim team. She had a lot of fun with that and her times were certainly improving. She placed well in many events and some of the relays she was in took first. Individually I think she placed 2nd a couple of times.

Kyle took Diving lessons this summer. Of course he loved it. He's pretty good at back-diving now.

Both the kids also went to camp this summer. Kyle was at the regular (dorms) camp while I led the Jr. High Wilderness camp. Jessica (since she is now in Jr. High) was at camp with Leanne and I. Camp is always great! We had 33 Jr. High students roughing it in the wilderness without electricity or water. It was an awesome week and I really believe that the students had the opportunity to grow in their faith. It was really cool having Jessica with us this year to.

4H & The County Fair

Once again Jessica was in 4H this summer. This year she chose to do "Dog Obedience" and "Cake Decorating."

This was the 2nd year for her and Jack. During her showing she got a bit of a surprise. The judge told her to take Jack off leash and do the routine. She had never practiced with Jack off leash and had never been told by her "coach" that she would have to. Jack did pretty good (although he did attempt to go through the fence at one point). The strange thing is no one else in her showing had to take the dog off the leash. Oh well she still did great!

This year they also had a costume contest for
the dogs. Jack was dressed as a Hershey bar.
Jessica wore a Hershey Jersey. When it
came time to judge everyone was declared a winner!

Her cake decorating came courtesy of her Grandma. Grandma Purdy has been decorating cakes for years so she agreed to teach Jessica. She ended up getting "Reserve Grand Champion" and therefore would have a cake to enter into the State Fair.

Her cake was a beach theme.

Kyle didn't enter 4H but he still participated in the pig wrestling at the county fair.

Myrtle Beach

I know ... it's about time! Well better late than never I guess. I'm finally posting about our Myrtle Beach trip. This summer our vacation was spent with my parents and my brother's family. We all shared a condo at Myrtle Beach. Without a doubt it was a wonderful vacation that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Here are a few pictures.

The 3 bedroom Condo

The Beach. We had a wonderful view from our
condo. We even watched dolphins swim up shore
2 of the mornings we were there.

The condo also had three swimming pools,
2 hot tubs (which I spend a good deal of time in)
and 2 lazy rivers.

I think Jessica's favorite thing on the beach
was getting creative with the sand.

Kyle was all about fighting the waves.

My Dad and Keith buried Jessica while Kyle
and I were swimming. Then they placed a
bucket on her head. When we came back
I told Kyle to pick up the bucket. He jumped
when he lifted the bucket and their was his
sister's head.

Jessica and Kyle had a blast with
their cousin Alex. They love him tons!

We went on a "dolphin watch" Basically
we followed a fishing boat and watched for
dolphins feeding behind it. We saw several.

Mom and Dad

Leanne and Dawn

Alex, Kyle, Keith and Me.

We called Jessica "Hollywood" as she
kicked back with her shades on the
corner of the boat.

We went Jet-Skiing one day. Keith drove with
Jessica riding. I drove with Leanne and Kyle
riding. It was a blast! I did flip it once when
I cut behind Keith to jump a wave. I came
down broadsided into another and we all
went over. Keith finally figured out that
we were not behind him any longer and he
came back to find us. We were just getting
back on. Fun stuff (maybe not for Leanne)

We also went parasailing. That was kinda cool!
Leanne really liked it.

I got a little queasy when I was waiting on the
boat for our turn. So it wasn't the most thrilling
experience for me. But I'm still glad I did it.

I just don't handle bouncing around on the
waves without any air movement.

We stopped past a place called "Alligator Adventure."
Mom insisted you did not have to pay just to walk
around and look. We did pass through a turnstile,
but no one was there. After thinking about it later we
are pretty sure that somehow we were supposed to pay
and we didn't. We may have inadvertently "snuck in."

I've never seen so many alligators in one place!

Family picture

Everyone

It was a big drive. But we had a wonderful trip.


I'll post more about the summer in the
next few days.

From Jessica: PB+J Newz

Me and one of my friends were really really really
bored one day and decided to make a news show
here is the very first PB+J Newz show. See if you
can guess what PB+J stands for. I'll tell you at
the end of this post.



This is the second official PB+J Newz show



Thank goodness you can delete on digital cameras.





BTW this is what PB+J stands for: My last name is Purdy (P). My friend's last name is Becher (B) and we are both named Jessica (J).