The last weekend in July was the end of the year baseball tournament for Kade's league.  The coaches put them in the hardest bracket, which put them against the toughest teams from the other leagues around the area.  Didn't phase them, they walked away with 1st place without batting an eye!  Another fun summer of baseball is in the books!!

Mason and Kade's teammate, Bennett, goofing around between games.

Medal time!

Awhile back I mentioned the team was nominated for team of the month on a local tv channel.

Anyway, they got $150 as a team, to spend at Scheels.  Here they are receiving the goods!

A water bottle, Big League chew, and a baseball.

Although it looks like he hit the mark, Erik wasn't sneaky enough so Chad got out of the way too quickly and barely got a sprinkle on him.

Mason also received a first place medal for being such a dedicated little brother.

The next day Kade went fishing with his friends Kelton and Tyeson.

And brought home a keeper!

Lucky for us, Grandpa Ranger was home so he could come out to clean and cook the fish.  Actually, we got a 2 for 1 because that meant he was able to help Erik and his brother Mike install our new microwave.

This picture makes me giggle every time!

The boys enjoying a little bite of trout.

Mason loved it, Kade wasn't a huge fan.

The boys tried their hand at playing in a 10U baseball tournament this summer.  It didn't go well.  It was one of the hottest days of the year, in the 90's by 8am.  They lost 2 games in a row and were done within an hour and a half of starting.  

Kade didn't care, it just meant he got to spend the day on a boat on the river with his buddies Tyeson and Charlie!

That night we watched the Eyota Days fireworks from the back of our gator.  

I'm quite certain Erik caught a UFO behind Kade's head...just kidding...kind of.

As if signing them up to play baseball against kids 2-3 years older than them wasn't bad enough, the next day we signed them up to play basketball against kids 2-3 years older than them.  We just considered this a weekend lesson in losing!  

More Eyota Days fun!

Mason and Violet running the obstacle course

You know what's awesome?  Having a mom on the team who is amazing at taking pictures.

Yep, my friend Melissa hooked us up with some fantastic pictures again!

I think I'm only about 3 weeks behind on pictures/blog posts!  That's not bad considering we've been so busy this summer I can't remember the last time I sat on my couch (and that's not a joke).  

For Eyota Days, the town celebration, there was a kid's track and field night followed by the pedal tractor pull.  The boys participated in both.  I can honestly say that because Mason DID run in exactly 1 race!  Mason is not a fan of running, not even a little bit.  He can hardly stand to run all the bases in baseball, so lining him up on the track to race other kids?  Yeah, to say that's not his jam is an understatement!  I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he lined up on the starting line. But here's the proof!

He's the kid in the black shorts, backwards hat, in front of the dad in the blue shirt.

And there he is!

He's running!

But that was it.  

50 yard dash.

Candy at the end.

Mason's running career is complete.

Kade, on the other hand, ran most of the races.

And, like every other year, took second in all of them because he just can't seem to beat his buddy  Tyeson!  I'm pretty sure he's going to stick to baseball.

Kade in the gray shirt, on the right, and Tyeson just a step or two in front of him in the blue.

Now this is what Mason had been waiting for, the pedal tractor pull!

He decided he wanted to get 2nd because he already has a 1st place trophy.

However, things didn't go according to plan...

I thought this was quite possibly the cutest picture of Mason I'd ever seen.

That is, until, this picture showed up in the paper!!

Our little champ took 1st place!!

His cousin Isaac also placed in his age group.

Not to be out done by his little brother...

Our big champ came home with 1st place too!