Hayes Turns 11

While we were in Ponte Vedra for our annual 4th of July week, Hayes celebrated his 11th birthday. Here are Hayes's thoughts as an 11-year-old:

Hayes started the day with a Krispy Kreme breakfast and later visited his favorite water park in Jacksonville Beach. Thomas and I cooked dinner for the Carrolls that night (we all take one night) and Hayes got to pick what we served - tacos - which was a first for a Carroll beach week.  We then celebrated with cupcakes, ice cream, and gifts for Hayes. 

That night, Wages read a poem he wrote for Hayes that is worth sharing: 

11 Years for the Rest of your Life

4’8” 70lbs

Hayes “hayeser” Carroll, just a kid from Atlanta

His clothes are designer, white x6 like a Panda

Today is his day, eleven years strong

I’ll give my thoughts on this matter with this little song.

Hayes has handles like Irving and a shot like Steph Curry

Be careful on defense or he’ll blow by in a hurry

“Are you kidding me?!” they will shout from the stands

“Hayes Carroll with the razzle-dazzle” scream his fans

But when he’s not driving or dishing or balling,

He’s playing on his iPad, I’m afraid it’s his calling

Yes, Hayes likes his iPad, no denying that fact

But he’s an 11 yr-old kid! Cut him some slack!

Think back to our youth, my how we’ve all grown!

Hayes is no different, he’ll come into his own

And as he kisses 10 years goodbye

I pray that he considers all of that which lies

Ahead of him in the decade that beckons

For these next ten years will go by in a second

Just listen to me, your wily, old cousin

For my second decade has flashed by like lightning

You go from Morris-Brandon to Westminster, my how exciting

A new chapter in your life, a chance to explore

All of your interests and inklings and much, much more!

You’ll find yourself changing, from elementary to middle

You’ll start to like girls! Good luck with that riddle

Playing sports will get tougher, so hear my advice:

Give every second your all, and don’t even think twice

Never quit, play your heart out, and always die fighting

And above all, it’s just a game, so if you lose, no crying

“Hayes, these next few school years will be so crucial,”

Is what your parents will tell you, but it’s not all that brutal

I say have fun, but study hard while you can

Because once you learn to drive, you’ll never study again

I will add, don’t go to school in a mental fog

Because if you do that for long, you’ll end up a Bulldawg!

You need to strive to be a Tar Heel, Yellow Jacket, or Demon Deacon!

But brace for bad sports teams because they sure have been weakened!

Last but not least, you must put God first

Learn to love the way He does, and develop a thirst

For Him, his Son, and their omnipresent spirit

If you give them your heart, they will always revere it

God’s love for you is greater than all

In all honesty, nothing else matters, not even basketball

Hayes, I know that this may seem like a lot

I mean, you’re only eleven, but I haven’t forgot

What eleven was like, I remember it clearly

I had a girlfriend, Sarah Beth, whom I liked dearly

I went to private school, battled hard to make sports teams

And I had to fend for myself because my dad wasn’t coaching

I knew that I wanted to grow up successfully

So I did what it took to study intelligently

I loved God like I should, and he loved me right back

He gets me through tough times and he picks up my slack

When I was eleven, you were only three

But you still sat at Georgia Tech games with me!

And here I am now, nearly ten years later

And I look up at you, as I read from this paper

I think back through the years, through things that I’ve done

And I can only imagine what great things will come

For you as you live out your next ten years

I pray you have laughter, deep thoughts, and even tears.

At the end of each day, as you lay in your bed

I hope you look back and don’t hang your head

Hayes, take pride in all that you do

As for all of us, your family, we will support you!

So Hayes, when we finally part ways at the end of this week,

And our lives resume their perpetual streaks

I hope that you take with you at least some of the speech.

By the way, sorry if it seemed like I began to preach

Hayes, you’re eleven now. You’re first ten years have been done.

And enjoy these next ten while you can, because there’s no telling what I have in store for you when you turn twenty-one!

Happy 11th Birthday Hayes!

Ben Turns 8!

On June 23, Ben turned 8!  He spent his day at Ansley Golf Camp (that actually took place at the Settindown course) and got to be the first in line for each of the games they played that day.  He then requested dinner at Mo Mo Ya (a Japanese hibachi restaurant) with a homemade chocolate chip cookie cake

 and ice cream for dessert.

Can you tell that he sucks on his shirt?  I think the red-edged collar gives away the fact that he drank red Powerade at camp!

He completed his Birthday Questionnaire that night and here are his responses as an eight-year-old:

Happy 8th Birthday, Ben!

Ponte Vedra for the 4th

~written by Eleanor~

Once again we spent the 4th of July down at Ponte Vedra Beach with the rest of the Carroll family. 

This week was full of board games, card games, and volleyball games. 

We also spent some time fishing and in the ocean. 

As tradition, we competed in the sandcastle contest, where our narwhal won "Most Creative". When the judges came over we played the Narwhal sing for them (found on youtube). 

That night we had our usual cookout dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs and hung out in the backyard. 

We celebrated the boys' summer birthdays all together one night and then we celebrated Hayes' birthday on his actual day, July 7th.

 We had a great trip, and I'll be sad to miss it next year while I'm at camp!

Eleanor Spends Three Weeks at Camp Greystone

written by Eleanor---

This year I went to Camp Greystone for 3 weeks. This was my last year at this session so I was one of the older girls at camp. On opening day, I actually made it to the bunk run this year which was a super fun experience. 

I met with some of my friends at the flagpole to discuss our schedules to get some classes together.

 

My cabin was cabin 10E, or 10 east. I was in the castle, which is a two story building with 7 cabins in it. I chose to have a bottom bunk because it was easier to make my bed, and my friend Mia was in the bunk above me. 

After my mom had left on Monday, we went down to the Pageant Court and took our cabin photo. After we took our photo, we had to go take a swim test and then we had cabin time. 

My schedule went as following--

Monday-Wednesday-Friday:

1. Cross Country
2. Knitting
3. Soccer
4. Waterpark
5. Synchronized Swimming
6. LUNCH/REST HOUR
7. Menagerie
8. Glass Beads 

Tuesday-Thursday-Friday:

1. Lacrosse
2. Metal Jewelry
3. Greystone Groove
4. Ceramics
5. Tennis
6. LUNCH/REST HOUR
7. Yoga
8. Zumba

Here are some pictures of my MWF schedule

Cross country was a super fun class. We ran around camp and on the last two days, we sped-walked around camp (pictured). Knitting quickly became my favorite class. Even though I started off terrible at knitting, I enjoyed the class A LOT because all my friends were taking knitting with me and it was actually relaxing. Soccer was a great class. I have taken soccer the past few year at camp, and this year I was one of two girls to pass intermediate! Waterpark is an all time favorite class of mine. I conquered my fear of the blob this year, which soon became my favorite thing to do at waterpark. I also went on the water trampoline, water mat, the "rocket", paddle boards, and "Mount Edith". Synchronized swimming was a fun class. I was awful at it because it required a lot of ab muscles. In the end, it was still a fun class to take. 

Menagerie was a class where you just played lots of games like kickball, wiffleball, jimball, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, etc. I had most of my friends in that class which made it very enjoyable. Glass beads was a hard but fun class. You had to melt rods of glass into beads that you could then wear after it cooled off. Sometimes, I would get burned but I still made some pretty cool beads. 

Here are some pictures from TTS schedule

Lacrosse was a last minute decision class, but it was still great. I didn't bring my stick, and the sticks there were trash (no offense), but it was still fun because I had my friends in that class. I ended up passing beginner. Metal Jewelry (not pictured) is an awesome class! I made a bracelet and a ring. I am a second year, so I had the choice to make either an I.D. bracelet, a star bracelet, or two rings. I ended up making an I.D. bracelet and a twist ring. Greystone Groove is a dance class with classic Greystone dances. I really liked groove. One time, our camp director, Jimboy, joined our class for the day. During Ceramics, I made a pot on the wheel and a lantern. My counselor, Rachel taught ceramics which made the class more enjoyable. Now, Tennis is an all time camper favorite class. The tennis director is named David Vinning, and he his sooooo funny! I was in a group with Selle James, Margaret Evans, Caroline Pickel, and Caroline Hagood (lucky, right?!). Anyway, whenever we had a ball thrown to us by the counselors, we would always grunt the name of a fruit when we hit it because we were trying to be like Serena Williams and grunt. It was a very very very very fun class.

Yoga was a class my friends convinced me to take. I'm not really flexible so it was a little challenging, but it was still a fun class. Most of the time we spent trying to push each other over or lying on our mats. Zumba was also my favorite class (along with knitting). It was called part of the fitness activities because we danced to really fast music without stopping. ALL of my friends were in the class and I had the time of my life. 

Every night at camp we have evening programs which are super fun activities you do with you cabin or with friends. Some are serious and most are like silly fun activities. One of our evening programs were cabin lip syncs, where each cabin had to lip sync a song and dance to it. My cabin did "Colors of the Wind" by Pocahontas. I wore a unicorn onesie because I was a wild creature. 

One night, we had Team Fires, where the evens and the odds gather with their teams and have like a small pep rally and then the counselors compete in small games. I was an even because I was in Cabin 10. 

Another day, we had challenge day. Challenge day is where all the campers compete with their teams in all their classes. On that day, the odds won. 

That night was the decade dance. The decade dance is when everyone dresses up and has a huge dance party under the dance tent. I wore a unicorn onesie but then I changed into a Wake Forest shirt. 

On Sundays, we have the option of sleeping late or running 3 miles around the track. One Sunday I ran, while the last Sunday of my session I decided to sleep in. One of our traditions is that on Sundays, we wear white. We also have a buffet dinner of leftovers. On our first Sunday, we had to retake our cabin photo because one girl in our cabin missed the opening day photo. After running, we then have church and Sunday school and then we have two hours of rest hour. After that, the rest of the day is a free period. 

One night, we had an evening program called "Protect Your Counselors". You went around to different activities and tried to protect your counselor from the program staff who were throwing colored powder and colored water at you. After you completed all the activities, we had a huge color throw out on the track. My cabin didn't really protect my counselor that well...

Also, one night we had a birthday ball/talent show. Everyone who had a birthday during camp was celebrated, and then we also had our camp's talent show that night. I was in the talent show with some of my friends. We did a skit called "Old McJimboy" because we all had animal onesies. Here are some pictures:

The last evening program of the session was banquet! This years theme was Peter Pan. The banquet theme is kept a surprise from all the campers during the camp session. It was super fun! My counselor played Michael, the little brother. 

Camp was a blast and I am looking forward to going for 5 weeks next year!