Month of the Marlins

The summer (as always) has just flown by...We've managed to spend a little time picking blueberries at a friend's home east of Monticello.  On the Fourth of July, we traveled to Vicksburg to mark the holiday--as well as the 152nd anniversary of the Union victory there...  Vicksburg was a critical battle in the Civil War in the western theater, as it secured the Mississippi River for the Union.  After a long siege, the Confederates surrendered to General U.S. Grant.  As I'm sure most of y'all know with the recent Confederate battle flag flap, Southerners are proud of their resistance during the Civil War.  No clearer is this pride in the monuments that have been erected on many of the battlefields, including this one for Alabama troops at Vicksburg:

And I believe this was a monument to Texas soldiers:

The glory displayed in these monuments belies both the suffering of the soldiers (on both sides of this war), the trauma to the civilian populations of the fought-over landscapes, and, of course, the millions of people held in cruel bondage for centuries before.  Vicksburg had a number of park re-enactors on site, including this crew who fire a 12-pounder cannon for the crowds' benefit:

One of our other activities during this last month was the repainting of Stephen and Beth's rooms.  These two decided to swap rooms, so pictured below are Stephen and Beth in what used to be Beth's room, now painted blue for Stephen.

We had need to get new carpet in the kids' rooms for years, and this summer we decided to do it.  We figured we'd paint now and not risk ruining the new carpet.  I did this painting while Hope was in Washington, D.C. for a week with a group of 4-H students.  At least she came back to painted rooms!

Most of this summer has revolved around Kenny and Beth's participation on the Monticello Marlins swim team.  Both have spent the last few years honing their swimming skills with lots of practice and frequent meets.  Kenny missed all but one meet this year with his broken foot; even though he didn't practice as much as would have been nice, he still swam very well:

Beth also improved considerably, and got to practice (and compete) a lot more than Kenny:

 

 

At tonight's swim club party, Kenny got a medal recognizing his 5 years of competitive swimming (pictured above); Beth received one for her 3 years.  Stephen didn't join the Marlins this year, but he still got to have fun at tonight's swim party:

Hope returned from her DC trip just in time to put on a week-long 4-H conservation camp of her own, which included a fish fry:

We also took a pontoon boat ride on Lake Chicot, about an hour southeast of Monticello:

 

Yesterday (Saturday) we travel about two hours southwest to Ruston, Louisiana, to help some friends celebrate their daughter's birthday party:

 

MV's favorite present seemed to be her new bike:

Hard to believe that in about a month our kids will be starting school again--where has the summer gone?