Happy 16th Birthday!

Tyler turned 16 on Thursday. As usual, Danielle gave him a couple of her gifts before school. We had pizza delivered to school so he could celebrate with his friends at lunch. We went out for dinner at his usual birthday favorite...he drove. Then we came home for presents and cake.

Tyler "requested" a chocolate and white cake with chocolate and white icing and "something cool" on it. I told him the only "cool" cake they get now is the back to school cake because I don't have enough creative energy left to come up with anything else. This earned me an eye roll and massive sigh.

4 alternating layers of chocolate and white cake, covered in chocolate frosting and then white frosting. The 16s are melted jolly ranchers I poured into my fondant mold. Silver candles and a light up "happy birthday " sign. That's all the "cool" I could muster.

 

 

In hindsight , I think he felt a little bad about the way in which he made the request. He told me multiple times how much he liked the cake and how much he appreciated everything I did.

I didn't have as much of a problem with him turning 16 as I thought I might. I guess I've had some time to warm up to it since he's been practicing his driving. That seems to be the significant part of turning 16. When I hugged him goodnight on Thursday night, though, it hit me that he'll be 17 next year. 17 is almost an adult. I'm glad I have another year to warm up to that.

Softball Camp

Now that Danielle is in 8th grade, it's time to start thinking ahead to college recruiting if she's hoping to get a softball scholarship. It seems early, but according to some, we're actually a little behind, especially if she's hoping to go to a D1 school. I don't think Danielle really knows where she wants to go to school yet. She just knows she wants to go to college and she wants to play softball while she's there. Getting a scholarship to do both would certainly be a bonus.

We are kind of looking at this year as a warm-up for getting serious about the recruiting process next year. Softball camps are one way you can get your foot in the door at a school. Danielle isn't to the point where she's only selecting camps at the colleges she may want to attend or emailing the coaches to introduce herself beforehand, but she is going to go to some camps this year to get the experience and to further improve her skills. She attended the Elite Softball Camp at the Ohio State University yesterday. She was there for 7 hours with only a 30 minute break. She loved it!

She looked very good yesterday, and had a really good experience. Afterward another player's dad, who was a travel coach, approached Danielle to find out how old she was. He was disappointed she was a year too old for his team. Of course, she's already committed to a team, so that didn't matter. It's always nice to be wanted, though.

Here are some pictures and videos from yesterday.

Intro by the head coach and organizing the girls into teams for the day.

See that green dot in centerfield? That's Danielle. At tryouts and things like this, she tries to wear something really bright or neon to stand out. It works, you always know where she is and she's easier to remember.

Each team played a one hour game at the end of the day. Danielle had a beautiful slap between pitcher and short that made it to the grass on her first at bat.

This was her 2nd at bat. It was even more beautiful.

Running home. She had an amazing catch at left field, too, but I didn't get that one on video. It was pretty spectacular. Parents in the stands clapped.

She had a great day! It was a tiring day, too. She was in bed by 8pm. I didn't get a good look at her before work this morning. When she came through the lunch line today, I laughed when I saw her eye black tan line. :) She's attending another college camp in a couple weeks. I hope it's as good an experience as this one was.

Today's Pic

Today's Pic

Accessorizing

It lasted all of 2 minutes. Then we had to take it off and open the windows because the "new car scent" was about to make us gag. Lol!

Resisting Temptation

She tries so hard to be good.

She just watched it. Very closely.

She loves butterflies. Well, she loves eating butterflies. She tried to resist.

But it fluttered all around and taunted her. Thankfully she's usually a little too slow.

Our Monarchs

This has been a great summer for monarchs! We started off in early May with over 30 caterpillars before I even had much milkweed. I had a lull through June and part of July, and then the milkweed was hopping again. I brought 4 caterpillars in and they all successfully eclosed. They happened to all be females. Then I found another 20 caterpillars and eggs. I divided those up with a coworker who has taken an interest in monarchs. She has milkweed but didn't find any eggs or caterpillars this summer. She has 8 that are currently in their chrysalises. I have 9 pearly-green pods hanging in my enclosure.

My milkweed looks bad. I have used so much of it to feed the caterpillars I had inside. The milkweed bugs, aphids, and extreme temperature changes have taken a toll on the rest of it. This is what my tiny milkweed patch looks like right now.

It's pretty pathetic. But...I found 14 more caterpillars on it yesterday! And they are good size, too!

I would bring them inside to help increase their chance of survival, but the milkweed is too buggy to bring into the house. I have had between 60-70 caterpillars this summer, though!! These caterpillars that are changing to butterflies now are part of the "super generation" of monarchs that will live 4 times as long as usual so they can complete the migration cycle to Mexico. Maybe next year we will consider tagging the ones we release so we can see just how far they make it!

A Golden Ending

A Rainy Day

A gray day led to some beautiful photo opportunities yesterday.

 

 

 

 

Our "New" Car

Ron has spent the last couple weekends taking Tyler "new" car shopping. We've tried to avoid saying the car is Tyler's, but he will be the primary driver until Danielle can drive. (And then they can fight over it.) He will need a car to drive once he has his license. We wanted to get it sooner rather than later so he could practice maneuverability and take his driver's test in it. Car shopping isn't fun. Used car shopping on a budget is even less fun. The constant rain today didn't help, but the boys finally found a winner.

It's a 2007 Hyundai Sonata. It's in great condition, new tires, etc. The mileage is a little high, but that is to be expected in the price range we wanted. I drove it for awhile tonight and was very impressed with how nicely it handled. Hopefully it will be a safe, reliable car for Tyler. He's pretty happy with it.