Sporty girls

Josie playing 6th/7th grade volleyball

Tilly walking out with the visiting team at a CU game and doing a little stretching with Chip

Isa playing 8th grade volleyball

Josie getting ready to perform at her first dance convention.  Here is a video of the dance.  It's not great quality and I have no idea which one is Josie but you can get the general idea of what she does.

A few shots of Isa playing soccer

Finally, Tilly playing soccer with her team

Summer Softball

 This has been a pretty good year for Mae's softball team. 

They have travelled, but not too far. These pictures are from a weekend tournament in Morro Bay.

 The beach, rock and town are beautiful.

John has been going to most of her tournaments this summer, but I was lucky to go to this one.

We had a great time, lots of good food, a little bit of shopping and good games.

This was another tournament in Camarillo. 

It is really hard to get action shots. These were taken from the 3rd base line.

I wish I could stand behind the pitcher, but that would be really scary.

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Mae is currently in San Diego for the California State Games.

I'll report back on the results later.

Catching up

 I looked back through my photos and I found a bunch that I need to share.

Above is Lucy (and a boy in her class who couldn't keep his wig on) in her class play, The Brementown Musicians. It was a fabulous show, great music and funny lines.

Mae was in Treasure Island a few weeks later, but I forgot my camera. Argghhh.

She was amazing. Lots of lines delivered with an accent and good timing.

 It was an epic year for wisteria. 

 I took lots of pictures, both with and without people.

 It was also an epic year for cauliflower. 

This one weighed about 9lbs and took 3 meals to eat it.

Good thing we all like it.

 Yep, scootering in a wedding party dress.

She would have been wearing heels if she had them.

Mae has been super sporty, she played basketball and softball again this winter and spring.

This is the only picture I took of either sport. I kept thinking I'll bring my camera next time, and before I knew it, it was over. Aarrghh!

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We also had a visit from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Carol, a few volleyball tournaments, an anniversary (15!) and a birthday (44!) and I don't have pictures of any of that. 

All were thoroughly enjoyed, lots of dessert (not at vb).

Going, going, gone...to Washington!

 Mae's All-Star softball team was quite serious this year. They practiced 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours! They played in 10 tournaments. And they qualified for regionals in Spokane, Washington. Here's a link to the teams that are in this tournament. Above is Mae batting and John coaching 1st base.

 Who's on second? No, Whats on second. No, Mae is on second!

They won this tournament in Santa Maria, CA two weeks ago. 

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So far, their record in Spokane is 1-1 and they're headed to the double elimination round this afternoon. 

Go, Mae, GO!

Triathlon

Last weekend the Estling kids participated in the the Tri-Harder Triathlon.  It was a huge success, everyone had a good time!

Eat. sleep. play softball...

 That was our Saturday last weekend, minus the sleeping part! Mae's team played in a tournament about an hour south of here and they had to be there at 6:50 AM! Early day for the drivers and spectators, too.

Their final game in that same tournament was at 8:15 PM! That is one loooooong day of softball. But, her team is great (although they didn't do well this time) and they have a lot of fun. 

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Night games are tricky for the photographer; and the little sister.

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Henry's team did well, losing in the semi-finals last weekend!

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John also did well last weekend, losing in the finals of the annual Father's Day Tournament! He played 11 games, which I think is more than he's played all year combined! 

We wanna pitcher....

And we've got one! 

Henry is on the 12 year old all-star team and is either pitching or at 1st base. He loves his uniform and gear bag almost as much as he loves playing. He got caught in a pickle (rundown) last game between 2nd and 3rd and ended up diving (safely!) back into 2nd. The uniform got pretty dirty ( I wish I had a picture of that-even his face was dirty!). Something about infield dirt makes it immune to washing machines. So I hand scrubbed his shirt and pants to get them back to brand-new-white. That is the first time in 6 baseball seasons I have ever hand washed anything. Why are there no brown uniforms? White? C'mon. Really?

Ball playing

 Another season of softball has come to an end. Mae's team was pretty good, they had the best record in the 10&under league and came in 2nd in the tournament. She did an amazing job behind the plate, catching nearly every inning of every game. It was so cool to watch her work with the pitcher, throw runners out at second and catch an occasional foul ball. 

 Henry's season is still going, a few more games I think. He, too, is having a great year. His pitching is fast and in control. When he isn't pitching, he's playing 1st base. Lots of action there!

His team is doing so-so, about .500, but they're having fun.

Triathlon

The kids participated in a Triathlon last weekend in Morristown. They had a blast!

Pre-Tri breakfast

Izzy trying to wake up for our 7:20 departure.

The crew.