Life MORINteresting: All In

Alright, friends and family. Here we are. I am completely eating my words of, "We will never do travel sports." and it's to a whole new level. We are all in. Like ALL in. I don't know if we can be any more in. It is a hustle. There is planning, scheduling, FUN, prioritizing, relying on others, missing things, losses, wins, and every emotion in between. BUT our kids are loving it!! And so that means, we are ALL loving it.

Ben was asked to coach, not assistant but to head coach our 8U Rochester Raptors team. He was excited to commit as long as he can coach Drew and his team moving forward and he can! So this year, 8U. Next year Ben will coach 9U (with Drew) and so on. So Ben is all in...Head coaching our Rochester 8U travel team! This travel team also hybrids with 8U Little League, so Ben is coaching the River Bandits team too.

Drew is playing on the Raptors and River Bandits too. And since then he has made the Little League District team (Ben also coaches). So if you can follow my random stream of thoughts, Drew is on 3 teams. Ben is coaching all 3 teams. And we are loving it!

Luke is still all in with his Elite travel team. Less tournaments overall this summer because us families are all saving for the big 12U Cooperstown, NY week long tournament.

Ellie is rocking on her travel soccer team and has worked her way to be starting right/left defender, gets pulled into midfielder and striker, and plays most of the game if not the entire thing. This girl has lung capacity!

This is where we are at. Gamechanger, Team Snap, GroupMe are now our new best friends. So is our wash machine. And one side of our garage is filled up with all the gear. We embrace it and don't frame it as busy but abundant. :) These years sure are numbered and we are here for it!

Number 4 on the Raptors! Drew gets played in lots of different positions still. In a tight game he will mostly play 2nd and catcher.

Batting for the Bandits!

We nap when we can!

Luke has his lawn business booked for the summer! He is in charge of mowing 5 lawns each week. Luke, can I borrow some money?!

Elle had a blast at her 5th grade camp at Camp Michindoh in Hillsdale, MI!! I was so lucky to get the 3 days/2 nights off work to be a parent chaperone on her trip! We had so, so much fun! My friend Hannah and I were with another great Mom and the sweetest group of girls.

The best part was being with Ellie in her own element watching her sparkle with her peers. Due to COVID and then me working fulltime on the same calendar, I haven't had the opportunity to chaperone or volunteer for Elle's class. By the end of this trip Ellie and I had made so many memories together and with all of her friends. One of my favorite moments was just walking to breakfast and all these little 5th graders saying, "Hi, Ms. Morin!" and Ellie looking up at me with a big smile feeling so proud. Oh, my heart.

Getting packed up and ready to leave from McG! (Ellie and Riley)

On our way!

Our group.💜

At breakfast.

Large group.

Learning how to build a fire with different materials.

Building shelter.

Songs at the campfire!

We did all the cabin awards, just saying. We had a really great group! My heart melted for this girl dad who couldn't stay with his daughter because obviously he had to stay in a boy cabin and wow.

The best principal ever, Mr. P., showing Ellie how to shoot a bow and arrow!

Here you can here him coaching Ellie.

Finding water things. (I have no idea 😁 )

Our group walking to or next session. Love Ellie and Riley...They have their arms around each other. Friendship rocks.

Onto Mission Impossible!

Then the hoedown at night! This created so much excitement, drama, and anticipation because it was known as "the dance" and who was going to dance with who?!

Ellie had a blast!

Before getting on the buses to get home, the kids played a 5th grade competition of this song thingy. Watch it unfold with Ellie...I love the cheers and the hugs at the end.

The bus ride home was so long...4 1/2 hours on a school bus stuck in construction and traffic. But Elle and I know how to make the most of this time. :) We were happy and exhausted after a fun-filled 3 days!

I have been getting a lot of Q time with Luke and Elle! With Ben coaching Drew's team, I am running with Luke and Elle to a lot of their games and practices. This is part of the give and take of it all. So, I'm leaning into loving being this parent for them.

Luke and I at a tournament in Canton! We tend to have a lot of tournaments here.