Summer Recap Part Four - Grayland State Park

e end of July we headed out to the WA coast for a camping trip with some friends. We've lived here for four years and I had never been to the beach. Our neighbors told us about this campground. It books really quickly. We were lucky and managed to get a site because someone had cancelled. The weather was perfect. It was super hot at home-104 degrees the day we got home. So the weather at the beach was perfect. Our friends have kids the same age as us, so both brother and sister had someone to hang out with.

Summer Recap Part Three

Ok, so I didn't quite get recapped as quickly as I wanted to. I need to get it in gear because soon it will be Halloween, we've got soccer going on and so much more to write about.

In July my parents came to visit for a few days. Can't wait til they retire and move here from California. Plus, then we can have free babysitting! Woo hoo! While they were here we hit up the zoo, the Ballard Locks, and Papa Bear and I got to go to the movies. We saw The Hangover.

Summer Recap Part Two

Brother Bear spent the summer playing baseball. This was the first time that kids pitched. Usually it was machine pitch. He was pretty excited to get a chance to pitch. His team was made up of a majority of the kids from his Blue Jays team. We had six months of baseball between the regular season and summer ball. Sister Bear had a good time running around with two of her friends. They ate, colored, ran around and had a good time watching their brothers.

We had great weather for summer ball. It was nice to be out in shorts and not bundled up like we are for some of the regular season games.

Summer Recap Part One

Well, it seems like just the other day I was going to post about the last day of school. Obviously I never got around to it since I can now do a post about the first day of school which has come and gone.

The Bear Family enjoyed a nice summer at home. We didn't go out of town this year, just a few local campingtrips. The first camping trip was a last minute trip to Lake Easton. We had never been to this campground before. It was a nice campground, just a little close to the freeway.

Sister Bear did a great job camping. Way better than last year when she split her face from running into the truck and spent most of the weekend crabby. Brother Bear and Papa had some serious horse shoe games

going on. We enjoyed hot dogs and smores, yummy!

Zoey

Our sweet little Zoey was hit by a car almost 2 weeks ago. We have been keeping busy which helps, but when we are at home you think she should be laying by you or outside waiting to come in. One of the hardest things is seeing her sister who lives up the street. They were almost identical. She became one of our family quickly and we miss her. Zoey was cremated and her ashes were scattered up at Mt. Rainier. We planted a tree in the backyard in her honor. That way we can always remember her

.

BLUE JAYS WIN!!!!!!

Well us Blue Jays moms can relax now....the boys won! We played the Reds this morning. During the season we never got a chance to play the Reds because our games always got rained out. Today we got to play down at the Elks field with an actual fence and a pitching mound(still machine pitch though). It was a good game, the Reds put up a fight. We had two things in our favor though, 1. if we were the home team so we could bat last and drive in some runs and 2. if we lost we got to play again because it was a double elimination tournament and we hadn't lost yet. The games are 6 inning games. Going into the bottom of the 6th the Reds had tied it up 15-15. Nail biting time. We get two kids on base. Up comes a kid who has gotten so much better this year! Last year I think he got two hits all season and this year he gets at least two hits a game. It would have been so cool for him to get the hit to bring in the run but he got out. Next up to bat is Brother Bear. He got a hit and they tried to throw it home to get the runner out but no such luck.

Blue Jays win 16-15!!!!!!

Going to the Championship

Blue Jays win!!!! Going to the championship game! It is a double elimination tournament and we haven't lost yet. So, if we lose the game in the morning we get to play again later in the day. But if we win.....game over!!!!

Go Blue Jays

Brother Bear is busy playing baseball right now. They finished 2nd this year. First and second place teams get a trophy from the league, so the boys are excited. Last year they finished 2nd to last! They won 4 games last year and one of them was in the end of the season tournament. Quite an improvement!!! Brother made a great play the other day at shortstop. A diving catch. I thought the ball was going into the outfield. Definitely a top 10 play of the day for ESPN. They play again tomorrow night and if they win it is off to the championship game on Saturday.

Florida

I figured I had better get the update up about our trip to Florida before the month is over. The beginning of May we headed out to Orlando for a few days. Papa Bear was presenting at a conference and he wanted the rest of us Bears to tag along with him. We took the red eye flight out on the Monday. I think the only person who really slept was Papa Bear. I heard him snoring in the row behind me. Sister Bear dozed. She was kind of stuffy so I think the pressure was bothering her because she fussed in her sleep most of the way. We got off the plane in Florida and boy was it hot! Sister was in her fleece pj's for staying warm on the plane. Got our bags and headed for the shuttle and off to the Walt Disney Dolphin Resort where the conference was. After we checked in, we checked out the hotel grounds....made sure we knew where the pool was and headed off to lunch at ESPN zone (I like the one at downtown Disney in CA better). Filled our stomachs and headed back for a little rest. Brother could barely control himself so I took him down to the pool while Papa and Sister slept. Eventually they came down to join us for awhile. When we were done swimming we got ready for dinner and headed out to Downtown Disney for the evening. It was nice, there are shuttle buses that take you everywhere for free.

The next morning we got up early and headed out for the Magic Kingdom. We could buy our tickets at the hotel so we didn't have to mess with that when we got to the park. When we got there they hadn't opened yet so we got to see the big song and dance they do in the beginning. Brother was pretty excited because we did the parent swap since Sister couldn't go on the big rides. The parent swap let him go on things twice, and he only had to wait in line once! I liked Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain better in Florida and I thought the Pirates of the Caribbean was pretty weak. It was kind of weird to go inside to wait in line for It's A Small World. We headed back to our hotel about 2:30 because Papa had a meeting to go to. While he was in his meeting the kids and I went swimming and had some dinner and then we all went back to the park for some more fun.

The rest of the trip was spent at the pool. We went back to Downtown Disney again. It really is a big place. I took Brother and Sister to ride the monorail one day. In Florida it isn't a ride at the park like it is in Disneyland. There it went from some of the resorts to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. The kids did pretty well for the time change and being so out of whack with sleeping. It was a fun little family trip.

Socks

Sister Bear and her friend Laci needed new socks. So last weekend Tami and I decided that we would do a little craft project. It is much cheaper to buy a bag of toddler socks, but they do not come with the skid proof markings on the bottom. Tami and I decided we would make our own skid proof socks. We bought some fabric paint and socks and spent some time decorating the bottom of the socks. You just had to let the paint on the socks dry for 72hrs and then they could be washed and good to go.