I was lucky enough to take these adorable girls to the Royals game on Thursday night and the Royals won…bonus!  It was a great game.  You’ll notice I’m not in this picture for a few reasons.  My bedroom and bathroom are under construction and I don’t have access to my makeup or clothing.  YIKES!  Poor Morgan has been putting up with me digging through her drawers for clothes, showering in her bathroom, using her toiletries, and collecting piles of laundry in every corner of her room.  Sorry MoMo!  Thank you for letting me set up shop in there.  You’ve been super sweet and patient about it!  Needless to say, I looked like a wreck at that game so there was going to be no picture taking with me in there!  On top of that, it was SUPER hot…95-100 degrees I am guessing.  It was too hot for soccer-the club cancelled all the practices.  Thank you Aunt Jenn for looking after Reece, Jake, & Drew so I could do this with Morgan!

We picked up Subway and the girls set up a little tailgate while I camped out in the van with the air conditioner running.  I figured they didn’t want me hanging out there with them anyway.  They were so adorable in their royals gear and hair fixed cute.  I could take some pointers from these cuties!

I had to smirk when I saw all of them in converse and on their phones most of the game. This is just the life of a 13 year old I guess!

They all got dippin’ dots for their royals game treat and they were giving me trouble because I’ve never had dippin’ dots!!  Girls, I had so much fun and I’m thrilled to be able to take you for one last fun night out for the summer!  You girls are going to rock it in 8th grade!  XOXO

Our alarms went off at 6:10 this morning.  This is pretty early for summer but Morgan’s soccer coach offers conditioning 3 mornings a week at 7 am so we need to be en route at 6:40am.  Our house is pretty good about waking up in the morning with the exception of Reece.  She’s always a little different than the rest of us!

Today was the last day of summer conditioning and Jake has been wanting to ride his newly remodeled bike on the trails at Mill Creek Park.  Several weeks ago he decided he didn’t like his bike anymore and wanted a mountain bike so I handed Morgan’s bike down to him (with her permission).  He was begging me to spray paint it because it had a few pink & purple flowers on it.  I convinced him that it would not end up looking good so we decided to peel off all the stickers instead.  So now he has a nice plain white mountain bike!  Perfect!  Except for the fact that Jake is always striving to be a little better or spend money as quickly as possible.  Now we have added a gel seat cover and a water bottle holder.  He could use a new bike helmet but that’s going on the birthday list because I’m done spending money this summer!  Isn’t he cute?

I couldn’t actually believe these kids wanted to get up this early to go to the park but I was up for it because it’s a really cool park!  This is Reece as we pulled into the parking lot…

 

This little lady is in for a very rude awakening next Wednesday when school starts!  yikes! Soon she was up and running towards the park in the early morning dew.

It has high slides that were pretty slippery this morning so we have 3 very sore bottoms.  Check out this video clip…

Don’t worry everyone is just fine!  Here are a few clips of the zipline.  Super fun!

And this big swing is super cool too…

You may have noticed that Drew is sporting a new buzz cut.  Brian told him he could keep his hair long if he made a deal to actually brush it and style it.  He hasn’t been following that rule for sure so he got a buzz cut yesterday.  I personally am not strict on that rule but I do like him buzzed because it makes him look younger.  I’ll take him looking younger all day long!  I wish they were all younger!

I think Drew actually worked harder than the soccer girls did at conditioning.  He can run forever and ever.  So jealous!  He was pretending like he was the American Ninja Warrior on the rope climbing apparatus.  He loves that show!  I’m so happy to spend this morning with you guys watching you ride, run, and just have fun first thing in the morning before the heat sets in.  Here are the cute soccer girls…

Way to go team!  Maybe a nap should be on the agenda for later today…

 

We are trying to fit in some last minute summer fun list activities!  Actually, I’m embarrassed to say that we never made our annual summer fun list!  Maybe we will just go back and write down what we did instead 😉  Today we had a fun day out before Brian had to fly to Atlanta for work.  We had purchased discounted vouchers months ago for iFLY, the indoor skydiving facility newly opened in KC.  Today was the perfect day to do it since Brian wanted to participate as well.  I, on the other hand, am the biggest chicken ever since having kids so I stuck to what I do best, taking videos and documenting the occasion!

This place is pretty awesome!  But pricey so it is for special occasions only – especially if you are taking a big group.  You make reservations online for a flight time and you need to arrive about 45 minutes early to go into a classroom and learn what to do.  Then you suit up…which is adorable!  I don’t think it’s terribly comfortable…the goggles are super tight to the face and earplugs are not fun (according to my flyers).

Once inside the chamber, the instructor takes you on a 1 minute test flight and then you do a second flight where you go up a little higher and fly around in a circle with the instructor.  It’s pretty cool to watch!  However, I’m still not sure I’m ready to suit up.  Jake is my timid/reserved child and he said it wasn’t scary so I trust that.  The rest of them are total dare devils, particularly Morgan, Drew, and Brian.  Here is a video clip of Drew’s 1st flight…he was the first one to go in the group.

Here are a series of video clips from the 2nd flights in this order: Drew, Reece, Morgan, Jake, & Brian.

And in the end, the instructor shows off his skills a bit.  Austin was awesome!  Although, I think the most talented beginner flyer in the group was a grandpa…pretty cool!

I’m very proud of you flyers…hope you enjoyed your summer fun day!

 

I couldn’t help myself, I had to take this little guy as soon as I had a chance to hit his new driver.  For those of you that missed my earlier post…he slept with it on Saturday night the day it arrived in the mail.  He’s obsessed.  Anyone he comes in contact with gets to see it (whether you want to or not!).  I’m surprised the mailman hasn’t gotten a glimpse of it yet.  Just act enamored with it if he happens to get a hold of you…

On Monday morning I had a little time between shuttling kids so I took him up to Falcon Ridge Golf Course to hit balls.  It was the cutest thing ever!  Here’s a video clip of his very 1st hit on his ‘new-to-him’ Callaway Big Bertha driver.

The ‘ting’ sound of that new driver hitting that ball was music to his ears!  Here are a few more video clips.  He was so funny…”did you get that mom….I crushed it”

Drew Boo you were crushing that new driver and I am absolutely the happiest person in the world that I got to take you and witness the ‘crushing’.  You are going to be awesome on that golf course buddy.

As we were about to finish his bucket of balls, a carload of adorable boys piled out calling out “Drewy.”  It was none other than big bro Jake and his buddies!  They were having a guys day out for Grady’s birthday and coincidentally showed up at the same driving range as us.  We really weren’t trying to crash their 10 year old party or maybe they were crashing ours!?  Happy Bday Grady!  We decided to stick around for a bit and hit some more and do a little bit of chipping and putting.  Jake swiped Brian’s new range finder and clocked Drew’s drive at around 115 yards.

Drewy, I loved spending time with you this morning.  You are the sweetest.  Anytime I get some alone time with one of my kids, I enjoy it immensely.  Keep crushing it guys.

 

Does anyone know that Reece wears glasses?  Well technically she is only required to wear them at school.  Needless to say, we haven’t had them on all summer!  We had great intentions of reading all summer but that hasn’t happened.  Shhhh…don’t tell her 1st grade teacher! yikes!  Last summer when Reece had her physical, they suggested we make an eye appointment for her.  We did that and I’ll never forget how crazy it was to watch her struggle with the eye exam.  She couldn’t see well and we didn’t know it!  So she picked out the most adorable kids glasses ever and she wore them her Kindergarten year at school.  At least I think she did most of the time.

A year has already passed and as we gear up to send this little cutie to 1st grade, we had her annual eye exam.  It was absolutely brutal!  Our optometrist earned her pay today!  She skips letters, says the wrong ones, and gets frustrated because she is asked to read so many lines.  UGH!  I have already told Brian he gets to experience the next appointment.  It’s hard to describe unless you are the one in there.  Each time she says a letter wrong your stomach clinches in knots!  Here’s a video clip of part of her exam today…

TIP:  If you have trouble viewing the link in your email, try viewing the blog post https://conleycrew.wordpress.com/ in your browser on your computer vs. your phone

In the end she determined that her vision is actually slightly better but astigmatism is worse and we really need to keep on top of things with her teacher.  She could have tracking issues…we need to pay attention to skipping letters or words when reading.  And she struggles with switching from near to far vision (so copying from the board could be troublesome).  Both of these things could require vision therapy in the future.  Oh I hope not….Morgan did that for a period of time and it was NOT fun.  For now, she told us to try to do mazes and dot to dots with one eye covered and draw lines and circle letters in magazine text (basically vision therapy exercises).  Some of this could be from not wearing glasses all summer.  Her eyes need to adjust to being corrected on a consistent basis.  But she gets to keep her adorable little glasses and some new lenses should be arriving soon before school starts and we’re hoping for the best.

As you may remember from some of my very first blogs or journal entries as I like to call them, Reece LOVES gymnastics!  This summer she joined the Mini Twisters team at KGDC and trains two days a week for 2 hours.  Pretty impressive for 5&6 year olds!  I’d probably fall over after after 20 minutes of what they do in that gym!

Our household is enjoying watching the Rio Olympics but Reece is particularly obsessed with watching women’s gymnastics.  I have to admit, it’s one of my favorite things to watch too.  Sure wish I could watch on my big TV in my family room.  But I guess I’ll have to settle for watching it in my bedroom since we had that accident last week that left us TV-less.  A stick accidentally hit it and broke our 58 inch plasma TV at the hands of Reece.  Oh well, it’s just a TV and to be fair, Drew broke one in that same location with a ball 6 years ago when he was 2.  Apparently we have a little bit of bad luck in that department.  I’m wondering if we should just cover up that hole with a piece of art and call it a day!

Back to women’s gymnastics…they are incredible aren’t they!?  Reece is so cute watching so intently.  Who knows…she could be headed down that path one day.  Dream BIG Reece!  You are a very talented gymnast and you can do anything you set your mind to!

XOXO,

Mommy

P.S. I’m in the process of a big master bedroom remodel so that’s why the surroundings are bare and curtains are piled up.  Hope to update my journal as it progresses!

I’m so proud of this group of soon-to-be 5th grade boys.  They competed in a basketball tournament at Drive5 Sports this weekend and brought home 1st place medals!  These cuties are so fun to watch and we were expecting it to be pretty rough since they’ve had a few months off.  They proved us wrong!

Here’s a short clip of one of the games…

Somehow it worked out that Jake made all 4 games despite the fact that he was also competing in a soccer tournament this weekend (COPA KC).  So with a total of 8 games in 2 days, his muscles are screaming!  That’s a lot of running and physical exertion in 2 days time!  Especially coming off that 3 day golf tourney.  This crazy guy would not have it any other way.  The more sports the better for him.  Since Brian was traveling this weekend, I had the pleasure of accompanying Jake to all of his games.  I know that sounds sarcastic, but actually spending some alone time with Jake is an absolute joy.  I packed up what seemed like a weeks worth of food and drinks, triple checked our packing of uniforms and sports equipment, left the house at 7:30am, and never looked back.  He is giddy with excitement when he has a sporting events so he’s a blast to be around.  When it’s just the two of us we get plenty of time to review the plays and the ups and downs of the games without interruption.  Morgan, on the other hand, was not having so much fun at home with Reece and Drew.  She had been up all night at a church lock-in so her patience was not at its peak.  Yikes!

Jake, I absolutely loved spending time with you this weekend and so proud of your willingness to push through exhaustion and always try your best.  Go Ravens!

The soccer games did not go quite as well but they managed to pull out 2 wins out of 4 games.  There were a few players missing for this tourney due to end of summer vacations. This is a newly formed team due to the age changes adopted so there are going to be some growing pains.  This Fusion Academy team consists of players that have 2005 birthdays.

Jake and I managed to make it back home to grab Morgan, Drew, and Reece, refill our snacks and drinks and ventured out to Swope Soccer Village on Saturday night.  Morgan is on a newly formed team of girls that have 2003 birthdays.  This was her first game of the season with her new coach and new team.  These girls killed it…they won 7-1!  For Morgan and for her fan club, this is thrilling because her teams the last few years have struggled to win very many games.

This little lady is part of her fan club…Reece and her itty bitty’s.  If you see this girl set up on the sideline, you might want to consider moving right on past and find another spot!  She tends to overtake the area with her loot.  And since Morgan’s coach wanted them there 45 minutes early and the the games are long, it takes a lot of ‘stuff’ to entertain.  Heaven for bid she actually WATCH the game. 😉

Morgan plays Defender for her team and it’s not the most glamorous job but she played the whole game and I loved watching her.  I never miss a minute unless I have to.  Her team has been meeting 3 mornings a week at 7am for conditioning!  MoMo, you go girl, I love your positive attitude and I think this in my head a lot and don’t tell you often enough, but you are absolutely beautiful…inside and out.  Can’t wait to watch you this season.  love you #8.

On a sad note, one of her teammates fractured her wrist in the game.  That is not the way she wanted to start the first game of the season and she was in a lot of pain.  We hope you get better soon Kennedy C!

We pulled in the driveway at 9:45pm and after 14 hours of sports madness, I made it!!  I’m feeling pretty good about this.  We didn’t run out food, no emergency trips back home for forgotten uniforms or equipment, on time or early for every game, SUCCESS!  The only hiccups were having to extend Drew’s grounding for 2 days and no time for showering.  Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

On a side note, Reece broke our main TV in our family room by accidentally throwing a stick at it this week. This is a very expensive accident!  And Drew was not handling himself well either so the punishment is no TV and no playing with friends.  This is quite a challenge.  I haven’t seen TV for days (which is not unusual for me) but for kids in the summer time, it’s a little traumatizing.  Hoping a lesson is being learned here.  right kids!?

 

This is a very interesting choice for a snuggle partner!  Drew’s new driver arrived yesterday and he had been VERY ANXIOUSLY awaiting its arrival.  In fact he skipped our golf lesson on Thursday afternoon because he didn’t have it yet and he was distraught about it.  Too bad because we had a very fun lesson out on the course (minus the fact that it was a million degrees outside).

Soon to be ‘Uncle Bob’ came to the rescue on Saturday by cutting it down and applying a new grip.  I told you he’s a master golf club fixer!  Thank you Bob for making this little golfers day!  As you can see he is obsessed with this new driver and decided to go ahead and sleep with it.  Love it that he has this much excitement and let’s hope his new Callaway will treat him well!

You are just too funny Drew Boo, love you to pieces.

 

 

Holy cow…this is it…the final round!!  This is what it all boils down to for them.  Are they going to improve on how they ended in last years tournament or fall down a notch or two on the board?  Jake for sure has the nervous and excitement jitters and wore his favorite outfit.  Never underestimate the power of a great outfit to set the tone for the day.  You look so great Jake!

Another day of ups and downs and a couple amazing shots.  Apparently I missed a chip in on #2.  I was dropping Reece off at gymnastics and missed the first two holes…darn it!!Bob came to the rescue and fixed Jake’s driver overnight and brought it to the course the next morning. Thank you Bob!  Jake of course showed up early as he always does to hit some balls off the range and practice chipping and putting.  He’s VERY dedicated to being the best he can be at all of his sports.  It’s just in his nature.

Unfortunately, He had a bit of a meltdown on #5 with a quadruple bogey.  Yikes!  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him have a hole like that.  Luckily on this part of the course, the gallery is quite far from the golfers so I didn’t have to see up close how he was handling it!  I didn’t see any hats, water bottles, or clubs flying.  Actually, I’ve never seen him do that.  Whew…that would be embarrassing!  My sweet boy ended up shooting 35 for the day with a 3 day total of 100 which earned him 4th place in the championship flight.  You rock Jake…so proud of how you handle the heat, the pressure, and 3 days of intense mental focus.  Last year he finished in 6th place, with a total of 113, so I would call this years tourney a definite success!  You earned this cool trophy buddy…display it proudly!  And maybe Papa deserves a pat on the back  or at least an honorable mention for teaching you to read your putts both directions.

This is a group of incredible 10 year old golfers…SO FUN to watch you guys!

Overall Age 10 Results:After day 2 totals, Drew had moved up a bit in the standings and teed off at 12:20pm.  Jake sticks around all day at the course and watches Drew some but most of the time he continues practicing over on the range and chipping and putting greens.  He’s a die-hard.  He’s also a die-hard eater.  I think he may be on a first name basis with the concessions staff.This little guy on the other hand does not listen to Papa and refuses to read his putts from both directions.  Oh well, he’s only 8, we’ll give him some time to decide when he might want to take advice from Papa.  Or from Dad…he repeatedly told him to get a different tee because it took him FOREVER to tee up his ball!  It was so funny to watch! Drew’s round had its ups and downs too and unfortunately it was extremely hot and a lot of waiting on the course today.  The pace of play was pretty brutal.  But he made some great shots and never got super down on himself.  He didn’t end the tourney the way he wanted to with a final round of 45 and a 3 day total of 128.  He took 6th place in the championship flight.  This is the same place he earned last year and he was hoping to move up on the board.  However, I went back to see what Jake shot when he did this tournament at age 8 and he shot a 131, so there you have it…SUCCESS!!

Drewy, you are too hard on yourself!  You are an amazing golfer…never underestimate your abilities!  And remember…this year you were hitting from the back tees, the same ones the older boys hit from, so you rocked it!   We are SO PROUD of everything you accomplished this week!!  You display this trophy with pride too buddy…you earned it!Overall Age 8 Results:We had an absolute blast watching you play this week and hanging out at the course.  We are already marking our calendars for next years tournament and can’t wait to do this all again.  Thank you boys for providing so much entertainment!  And a HUGE thanks to Morgan who took care of Reece for 3 straight days so she didn’t have to endure the heat and long days.  You are a life-saver MoMo!  P.S. even after three straight days of nothing but golf , Jake decided to play another round of golf with Bob after we returned home.  Like I said, die-hard.  Jake, as long as you are having fun and you have the time available, I say go for it!

 

 

 

 

 

For the past 46 years, the Everett Vinzant/John Cosnotti Memorial Junior golf tournament has literally hosted thousands of junior golfers on the Sykes/Lady Overland Park Golf Course.  Vinzant & Cosnotti were local golf pros who established and funded the tournament to make golf available to youth and grow the game.  I’ve heard that many of the current participants are the children and grandchildren of past tournament participants.  Pretty cool!

Day 2 arrived and outfits had been laid out the night before – Jake & Drew were ready!  Jake played very well on Day 1 so he was ready to do that again and Drew was definitely going for a better score.  Today was going to be his day to play great an he was excited.  After the standings came out, the boys had similar tee times from Day 1.

Jake had his ups and downs on the course and seemed to be recovering nicely on many of the holes.  And as usual there is a backup that occurs on hole number three, so the groups end up chatting and hanging out together.  I wonder what they are talking about?  Knowing all these boys, they are probably sizing up each others scores and doing the math on how they can move up on the leader board!

On hole number 4 he hit his drive off the tee box and it went way off course.  We couldn’t figure out what the deal was but as he approached us in the gallery we realized the head of his driver busted off upon impact.  That would definitely cause your ball to go off course and at the very least would rattle you!  He amazingly salvaged the hole for a bogey.  That was impressive, Jakey.

Overall, we had a great time watching Jake play and his score for round 2 was a 34 (3 strokes above his score on day 1).   We had a blast today and we could tell you were having fun!

Drew Boo is so stinking cute, we think he should be the champion on that fact alone (Jake too actually).  However, that’s not exactly how it works.

Today, Drew was playing much better or I should say, more up to his own harsh standards.  We saw very little sulking and he was having fun!  Much more enjoyable to watch today!

This little cutie shot a 39 and made friends with the caddy like he usually does….meet “Shirley” (I personally thought she was a little strict…she did not like her golfers to stray too far from her!)

Way to go Drew Boo!!  So happy that you played better today and most importantly, you had FUN!!

Thank you Bob (another golf super fan and master golf club fixer) for coming out to support Jake and Drew today!