Well Russell will play his final game this weekend with his baseball team which means Brad will retire from team manager as well. Russell is hoping to be a sub for teams in the Fall and Spring and since he is just turning 13 this week he can play for U13 and U14 so we are hoping to still get some playing time. Soccer has elevated to a level that he needs to focus and will travel too much to be committed 100% to a baseball team. We made it work the last few years and somehow only missed a few games this year. To say we all love baseball is an understatement. It’s hard to walk away from a sport that he plays so well. If he wanted to we’d be letting him tryout for Majors level teams but the time has come to choose. Russell has worked so hard this year to get better at every position and loves making amazing catches in the outfield or getting runners out at first. His pitching has been great and his proudest performance was striking out 10 players on a Majors team with his fancy slip pitch.

I think Brad worries about what he will fill his time with…this is all he has known year after year. I’m hoping my house will be a little cleaner and my yard won’t be neglected.

Brad is feeling ok overall. He says he feels “meh.” Since he isn’t on chemo the sick feeling days are stressful. We can only wonder what the cancer is doing since we don’t have biweekly blood draws to analyze. Some days we can enjoy the luxury of denial and other days the stress of the unknown is suffocating. He is supposed to have a scan some time in August or September. They haven’t called to schedule it yet so we just have to wait. When you have cancer the absence of appointments is unnerving.

Brad’s parents are treating us to a trip to Florida which will be a nice getaway from reality and our busy schedules. Carter is working construction and has to be at work at 4am so he will especially enjoy his vacation. Whitney has about 10 jobs so it will be nice to lock her down for a week. Russell is super excited to go to Universal and see all things Harry Potter! He challenged Brad to read the first book so they now have all of these inside jokes that only HP fans would know. I’m just excited for everyone to spend time together and enjoy the beach.

Cheers to enjoying the rest of the Summer before everyone scatters again.

Happy 13th to this handsome boy of mine!