Camping at Grayland

We recently went camping at Grayland State Park over on the Washington coast. The weather wasn't as nice as it was last year when we went, but it wasn't windy and it didn't rain. Our campsite was great. We walked right through the grass and down to the beach. Another plus.....close to the bathrooms!

It was a lot cooler this year but the kids still played in the water. There were a lot of empty crab shells along the beach this year. Guess the seagulls had been getting plenty to eat. One day we went kite flying out at the beach. Granny bought us all kites. Sister Bear loved her Barbie kite.

We had a marathon day of cornhole going. Papa Bear practiced one evening by himself for about an hour. He's trying to be the King of Cornhole.

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!

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day Grandpa!!!!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day Granddad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day Papa Bear!!!!!!!!!!

Tutu

I made Sister Bear a tutu.

It was very easy to make....no sewing involved. I've actually made two of them. The other is pink,green and white. Granny made Sister one for her birthday but mine is nowhere near as

nice as Granny's.

But Sister said the one from Granny is her princess costume not a tutu.

Last day of school

Today was brother bears last day of school. We didn't have any snow make up days this year, so we actually got out of school when the schedule said we would. Where did the year go? It seems like just the other day we were buying school supplies for the fourth grade. Now he's going to be in the *gulp* fifth grade. Actually it seems like just the other day he was running around in a cape with a happy meal box on his head or so excited to see Buzz and Woody at Disneyland. Toy Story 3 would be the highlight movie instead of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Thomas the Tank Engine were the books we used to read. This year he read the whole Harry Potter series in 6 months. He's doing power point presentations on the computer, sometimes just for fun. His class had to have 75 AR (accelerated reading points) for the school year. Brother had 241.6.

Crazy Hair

Sister Bear has quite the rats nest in her hair when she wakes up in the morning.

When she was a baby she barely had any hair.

It was so thin I could barely get a little bow in it. People would ask if she was a boy or a girl. Hello people....she is in a pink stroller and wearing pink. A pepto bismol explosion.

I love her pretty curls.

I can't even use a curling iron to get curls in my hair. Mine is straight straight straight. Of course if it stays curly she'll probably hate it and want to straighten it every day.

Baseball

Brother Bears regular baseball season has come to an end. Brother spent the majority of the season playing catcher. The boys had a great time playing and all got along great! Papa Bear does a great job coaching the team. We had an end of season BBQ at one of the boys grandmas house. There was a huge field for the boys to play in. They all fit in the hot tub. Eewww a bunch of stinky boys. Each boy got a baseball signed by the whole team.