Little Man's Summer Spurs Camp!

Okay, peeps.

GOODNESS.

I'm a broken record when I start every post with:

1) an apology for radio silence, and,

2) excuses about our busyness.

Not only is it getting OLD (ha), but I'm pretty sure I have precisely three peeps (*waves at grandparents) who even follow this here blog anymore, and probably only sporadically, thanks to my now-intermittent posting. 

So....let's just do away with the excuses and start diving right into the posts since, in the end, this is really just a diary of my kiddos' collective childhood and an occasional way to work through whatever mental state I'm in. So I'm basically just apologizing to myself and my kids (who are the cause of the busyness) if and when they ever go back and read these posts, ha).

Now, LET'S DO THIS.

So...

Little Man participated in a Spurs Basketball camp last summer, thanks to one of his buddies who'd attended before and really enjoyed.

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/2025/07/little-mans-spurs-camp.html

It was such a fantastic experience that Little Man jumped at the opportunity to attend again over Spring Break when we decided not to travel. 

All that to say: this summer's round was his third at this particular camp (run by the Spurs organization), and he was ALL IN.

But...Little Man's best buddy (who originally keyed him in to this camp), just moved (so, so devastating), so Little Man had to go it alone this year, and I could tell it affected him from the get-go.

Not only was he so incredibly bummed to go it alone without his friend, Little Man was placed on a team for the camp with a bunch of novice players and he was having a hard time for the first day or so finding his joy and his footing when he was ready to play more competitively.

Then things got worse--UGH--and he pulled a hamstring and had to sit out for a two days. 

Honestly, at that point, I was like: great. Money down the drain. A happy camp that might now have a negative association. And poor Little Man, all disappointed when he'd been looking forward to this summer round for months!

But God pulled through for us, big time, and turned a negative situation into the most positive one!

While Little Man was out with this hamstring situation, his coach had to move a player from another team, to help boost their overall level of play.

So when Little Man was finally able to return, he had a new teammate who was a great shooter (like Little Man, himself), and the coach greeted Little Man the morning of his return with:

Have you ever won a championship during one of your weeks at camp?

When Little Man told him he'd made it to the playoffs before but not won, the coach bent down, looked at him and said:

Well, today's your day.

Needless to say, it was JUST the boost Little Man needed to finish the week of camp so very strong and engaged!

He was ecstatic to have another dedicated teammate, they did, in fact, make it to the championships, and Little Man had a whole new level of energy about it.

But that's when the best part happened.

They lost the championship (I know, I know, you're thinking: that's the best??), and Little Man showed such incredible grace and sportsmanship throughout the entire game series and afterwards that the hubby texted me saying we should be the proudest of Little Man that we've ever been.

He supported teammates.

He offered encouragement.

He played through the flair-up of his injury.

And when they lost, he consoled his teammates and acted with grace toward the victorious team.

I mean, amidst a summer--and, let's be honest, a season of life--that feels quite hard, this was such an incredible BOOST to my Mama heart.

While I was representing Chica at a simultaneous camp and performance she was having (more on that in a subsequent post) the hubby took Little Man for a celebratory shopping round to express to him just how proud we were of his character and behavior--not of any potential championship win.

When they rolled home an hour or so later, Little Man was so proud to show off these special shoes (thanks to some NBA player collab that meant a lot to him, but zero to me, ha), and shirt.

It was a happy, HAPPY outcome, indeed.

Over and over, this summer, I'm learning this lesson of taking the wins whenever and however I can get them, and this was most definitely an incredibly win, on so many fronts!

Okay...more catch-up posts as I'm able!

Happy Monday, peeps!

Over and out.

Horseshoe Bay 2026--250th!

Okay, peeps.

Trucking along with the catch-up posts!

When last (last!) we left off...

We'd completed our Canadian trip (complete with bday and illness)...

We'd returned home to maximize friend hang-time/project fun while schedules synced...

And then when quickly reached the day when it was time to decide if we were going to stick to the spur-of-the-moment, crazy, lake plans we made a few weeks ago when we had the delayed epiphany: Oh, hey, it's America's 250th; maybe we should do something to mark the occasion???

Best laid plans, amirght?

I remember the discussion when the hubby and I were like: I mean, we could do something for the 250th, but should we, after returning from Canada a few days prior???

Of course, we made the wise-unwise decision to just go for it. That's what summer is for, right???

But in reality, when the suitcases still hadn't been unpacked from Canada, the heinous possible-flu, very serious respiratory complications were still dragging a few of us down, and we were kind of dealing with household emotional upheaval (tweens/teens...need I say more???), things felt a bit different.

In the end, we absolutely could not pull it together to leave town for the first night of our three-night lake stay, and just had to delay, then throw caution to the wind--and quite literally throw random crap in yet another suitcase--and just go for it..

But, do you know what happened????

We, quite possibly, had a lighter and slightly happier last-minute, spur-of-the-moment, unplanned few days away than we did during the ultra-planned, highly thought-out Canadian trip.

Equal parts frustrating and miraculous--and most definitely a topic for that Bigger Picture Travel Right Now post...for a later date.

Anywho. 

We did the lake.

We were hellishly hot and in the water and on the floating obstacle course (!) and in the boat and on the tubes, and playing putt-putt and eating food, and on the dock watching fireworks, and...we needed it. 

Badly.

And, now. A picture explosion!

Oh, wait! The most important thing to note: CODA GIRL CAME ALONG!

Yup, Our plans included a pet-friendly condo on property and our fur baby quite literally lived her best life over the holiday weekend.

She was high as a kite, a frantic explorer, the charmer in every venue and the cranky-pants overstimulated toddler at times, and it was the best.

After 637 Barre classes, I thought I was in okay-ish shape, but a giant, floating obstacle course is always there in a lake in South Texas, ready to humble you. ;) 

The second full day (the official holiday) involved much more of the same: sun, swimming, obstacle coursing, Coda girl's first boat ride, and all the patriotic flair!

Oh! And in the most coincidental, It's A Small World occurrence...we'd just unloaded from our boating/tubing and were inside at the marina when all of the sudden, Chica started shrieking. One of her closest friends was there, too (as she has a lake house just down the road from where we were) and the odds of them seeing one another--there, of all places--was just wild! And so fun. :)

After all the fun in the sun, we got a teeny-tiny bit cleaned up for a much-needed meal. 

As a side note: I can't say enough happy things about seeing about a thousand guests across a giant lakeside resort, all clad in red, white and blue--loud, proud and obnoxious! SO happy and festive. 

If my panning and packing had been even better, I would have gone even bolder.

As it was, I was glad we'd managed to bring anything patriotic in the slightest, ha.

You better bet I was super excited when we took a small TV break before fireworks and watched a special episode of one of our favorite streaming shows and I realized I had the same headband as a beloved character, ha.

Fireworks on the water (the reflection doubles the awe-factor!) without the pesky grass??? 10/10.

I'm so grateful we threw caution to the wind and went for this last-minute lake excursion.

Especially since life has returned to extra-hectic now that we're home.

But...more on all of that, later!

Happy Hump Day, peeps!

Over and out.

Friends & Fireworks!

Okay, peeps.

When last we left off with our catch-up posts, we completed our Canada trip--including a Chica birthday celebration and a tank in health for Yours, Truly, and made it home a little worse for the wear, but grateful for a few days so stay put.

I intended to take time to mentally and physically regroup, but...summer always (always!) has others plans. 

We realized Chica and one of her friends were about to be ships passing in night; on opposite schedules and opposite weeks of commitments/free time, and if we didn't connect the two of them, stat, it was going to be far too long between hang-outs.

Plus, we just needed a general pick-me-up, so we hauled the friend over to the house and spent hours and hours of baking, projecting, movie watching, and just general cup-filling.

As a parent, it was one of those days where I didn't sit for about seven hours, swooping in after every step of chaos and creativity to clean up some substantial messes and to re-set for the next stage of fun. And, yet, it was also a cup-filling kind of day. The kiddos were happy, snuggly, giggly, sibling-y, and just generally so happy to be together that it made it all worth it.

Talk about a baking attempt/baking fail, ha. It was supposed to be Chica's belated, beach-themed bday cake, based on some Pinterest inspiration.

In actuality, it was a bit of a Hot Mess Express...but in a very happy, silly way, ha.

Luckily, we still had painting and crafting to divert attention, and it was hours and hours of happy creating and movie-watching time.

The school year can take so much out of kiddos--especially in the teen years, when classwork is substantial, the stakes feel high, and the "free" time is minimal. 

We do our best of fill the friendship cups to overflowing during the summer, and it helps to sustain through the trickier months.

We've done a pretty decent job of finding windows and pockets of time and have high hopes for much more in this second half/downhill slide of summer!

More catch-up posts, soon, peeps!

Over and out.