Beach 2017

For the first time in several years we made it to the beach this summer! One of Libby's relatives let us have their condo for several days. Briggs asked if we could get up early one morning and go watch the sun rise. He was ready this morning. It was cloudy, but he still got a pretty nice video. He shot for about an hour. We finally decided the sun wasn't going to poke through the clouds so we left.

 

The South Carolina coast is getting some beach renourishment this summer after Hurricane Matthew last year. The equipment in the background is part of that.

Backyard camping

 

The weather the past few days has been glorious, and quite unlike typical July-August weather. Low temps and low humidity have made for a delightful few days. Calvin often asks about camping during summer, which is tricky especially since a good combination of available time and agreeable weather is hard to come by. So I seized this opportunity: I asked Calvin if he would like to set up the tent in the yard, and he took me up on it. We set up the tent Sunday evening, and Calvin slept outside by himself. He said it was a little chilly Monday morning, but otherwise just fine. Monday we invited a friend, Tyler, over for Monday night. I decided to go for the whole camping experience by doing dinner over the fire pit. The boys had a blast. Tyler and Calvin tried to sleep in the tent but Tyler was too distracted by critter noises, and they finally came inside about midnight. I suggested to Calvin on Tuesday that it might be time to bring down the tent, and he asked for a third night. He stayed outside by himself again last night!After supper Monday catching marshmallows in the air got to be the big thing with Tyler and Briggs. They actually caught a few! We also learned that Tyler prefers gooey bits of carbon on his s'mores.

Ball, and more ball

It's been a couple of years since I took Briggs to watch the Braves play in Atlanta, and that was at the old stadium. I decided we should go again this year, with Calvin and see the new digs. We went to a day game on a Wednesday a couple of weeks ago. The trip down was a piece of cake. The trip back took forever. We were leaving at evening rush, and night-time construction held us up in SC. The game was fine, though Atlanta lost against the Cubs. The boys didn't really mind since they really didn't love either team. We spent some time roaming the stadium. On the way back we stopped for supper in Clemson, and took a drive through the university.

 

Early in the season, friends took Calvin to a Tourists' game. Somehow he got a coupon for a free package of 4 GA tickets for later in the season. We cashed those in this weekend. The weather was glorious, which is the only way I would have consented to a daytime game in the middle of summer. The Tourists lost, but the boys had a great time. One of the perks of day games is that children can run the bases after the game. Briggs and Calvin also stood in line to get autographs afterward. We used only 3 of our 4 tickets, so I gave one away to a guy in line with us. He couldn't stand it, and slipped me a few bucks as we walked in. I bought Calvin a mini-bat. Briggs snagged a fistful of balls during the game. Those were the items they got signed.