Your curly hair

Dear Brit,

We had such a busy weekend!  This entire summer has been and will be filled with baseball games and tournaments.  Three of your five brothers are playing baseball.  Two of them on competitive, traveling teams.  And the other brother is coached by BF which takes another level of family commitment.

So Friday night we had the unusual privilege of having a night without baseball games.  It was FANTASTIC.  The best part of it all was that this weekend happens to be our city's annual festival, called Derby Days.  It begins with a parade on Friday evening and is complete with a carnival with all the rides you would expect.  We all gathered together and watched the parade with BF's best friend and his kids, in the unusually hot temperature.  Thankfully this year none of us were marching in the parade, which made it tolerable.

The entire time we were watching the parade march by, the boys kept begging to leave and head straight up to the carnival.  They were very certain that they were missing precious time that could have been spent riding rides!

So the parade ended and we made our way up to the carnival. And that is when the fun began!  Rather than explain, I will just provide photo evidence. 

Then came Saturday.  I went out of town to a tournament with D and his baseball team.  BF and the other boys stayed behind so they could host Trent's 10th birthday party at the roller skating rink.  From what I hear, it was also a great success, despite the fact that your brothers are not very good at roller skating.  I wish I would have seen video!

D's team played two games and we got back home by evening.  D and LanMan wanted to go back to the carnival so we dropped them off (the other two were with their mom) and BF and I went to dinner.  He had just completed a long bike ride and run, because he is training for a few triathlons that he has planned for this summer.  All of that training made him hungry, and I am always game for dinner out!

Sunday brought more baseball games for D, but this time his dad took him and LanMan because it was Father's Day.  So, BF and the other boys and I decided to spend a couple of hours shooting clays at a local shooting range.  It is actually in the same town that your dad teaches in.  A small place, but beautiful shady scenery.

I had never shot a gun before (never wanted to), but while we were out there, BF and your brother convinced me to try.  I wasn't very good, but I tried several time.  Once I even hit the target!

As you will see from these pictures, BF and your brother look totally confident as they shoot.  Me on the other hand, not so confident.  A bit awkward would be more like it.

He was SO BORED! Can you tell?

After the outing at the shooting range, we headed to BF's uncle and aunt's house for a fish fry.  BF's parents were there, as was his cousin and his daughter.  It was a super fun evening of family time and good food.

Now, here is my favorite part of the entire day...  

While I was sitting in the kitchen with BF's mom (your grandmother) and BF's aunt, we got talking about hair.  And the conversation turned to how curly and blonde you are right now.  Apparently BF's hair was just like that when he was your age.  I told them mine was curly and very blonde too, and your brother LanMan had ringlet curls just like yours.  It appears you were destined to have curly blonde hair, coming from a gene pool like that!

BF's aunt kept looking for a photo to show me his hair at that age, but we never could find one.  Probably archived deep in a cedar chest somewhere.  Even if we didn't find what we were looking for, going through the old pictures was fun and educational, since I am new to the family.

But the reason I loved the conversation was that when we talk about you like that, it almost seems like you are there as a part of us.  And because my heart so desperately wishes that you were with our family, especially at get togethers like that, the fact that we at least talk about you makes me feel like you are still considered one of our family, even if you are not allowed to join us.

So we finished off our Father's Day weekend by coming home and watching a movie.  As happens more often than not, I fell asleep on the couch curled up next to BF.  With our favorite photo of you on the table beside us. 

Before I end for today, wanted to share with you one other thing that just happened this morning.  I emailed a new picture of you over to BF.  It was one that he had not seen before.  Before you read his response, I need to explain to you , he and I always tease each other because we are so different.  BF is careful and calculated (he's an accountant you know!) and I am carefree and silly, which is why I am in marketing.  With that, here was his response...

I love that picture, those wild blonde curls are so cute…….they just say “Wild Marketing Girl”! J Although I would like to think that some part of me is in there……….maybe she will be a Wild Marketing girl that can run! J  Love you!

Yes Brit, we love you very much.  And we are proud that we are a part of you, and that you are a part of us.