Happy Retirement

Just wanted to send a shout out of "Happy Retirement" to my mom. Today was her last day of work. Woo hoo! Just another month and then my dad will retire. Then as soon as they can sell their house they will move up to the Pacific Northwest!

The Lake

Last weekend we went to Eastern Washington with some friends to the lake. They have a vacation place in a trailer/mobile home park. It is right at the lake, you just walk or drive the golf cart down. We would get up in the morning, have breakfast, gather our belongings and then spend all day down at the lake. Down at the lake we would bbq hot dogs for lunch, enjoy ice cream cones and sometimes go over to the playground to play.We would stroll back up to the trailer and make dinner and hang out before bedtime and then we'd start all over the next day. The boys also spent a fair amount of time fishing. Sister Bear was in heaven with the two twelve year old girls with us who paid alot of attention to her.

Out at the lake we would float around on the rafts. Or paddle around in the canoe.There was a dock you could swim out to and jump off of. It was nice because the shore was grass and had shade trees to help keep you cool since temperatures were in the 90's.

Western Washington is definitely much greener and prettier than Eastern Washington. Eastern Washington is hot and dry. The lake we were at was in a canyon that hundreds of years ago used to be part of the Columbia River. On the drive out we even passed windmills that reminded me of Northern California

It's Over

Well another season of Cal Ripken Baseball is over with. We didn't win the championship this year but that is ok. The boys had a good time playing together. When the regular season was over with a handful of the Angels went on to play together on the 10 Year Old All Star Team. We played in a few tournaments and had a handful of Thursday night games. The All Star season ended this last week with the Cal Ripken 10 Year Old State Tournament. We had two very long, hot days. One of the days we were at the field from 9am until about 8:45pm. We set up our easy up tents out in the trees past center field. Papa Bear and a sports trivia game made up for them. The boys may have only won one game but they enjoyed playing together. The last game they played was the one they won. Brother Bear got a really good hit which scored two runs. He was also on base when one of the players on his team hit a grand slam. Pretty exciting, especially since we'd never had a home run before!

More Baseball

Well, we had one weekend baseball tournament where it was pouring rain and probably 55 degrees. The next weekend our baseball tournament was sunny and warm.

We had a big break in between games. Parents brought their easy up tents and we bbq'd and hung out in the shade between games. The River dogs played 4 games and came in 3rd. I think Brothers favorite part of the tournament was they each got a medal. Sister Bear was quite the trooper. All day out in the sun and no nap. She fell asleep in the car on the way home with a pen in her hand.

Old Friends

The week after school got out my bff, Shannon, from high school and her family came to visit us. Shannon and family were on a 17 day road trip and stayed with us for 5 days. She has two kids Max(8) and Kate(4). The kids all got along great.

Sister Bear says that Kate is her best friend. Sister Bear pretends she is texting and talking to Kate on her cell phone. Brother Bear and Max came up with all sorts of movie ideas.

We hit up a Mariners game, Pikes Market, the zoo, Northwest Trek, Toy Story 3, and while we were at a baseball tournament they headed to Mt. Rainier.

This is the day we met in high school (Spring 1987). I was fairly new at the high school. I had probably only been there a month and it was the second half of the school year. Someone introduced us because they thought we looked alike. These outfits weren't planned.

Here we are 23 years later!