Halloween

I figured since Halloween was a week ago I had better put the pictures of up the little bears.

Brother Bear was given a choice a few days before Halloween. You can (1) go to the Sounders playoff game with your dad or (2) stay home and go trick or treating. He chose option number 1. But would Sister share her candy? Yes, she would, but most of it gets sent to Papa Bears office anyways so it didn't really matter.

So that left Sister Bear aka Princess Tiana and I for trick or treating. She was quite enjoying herself. She loved going up to the door and ringing the doorbell. Always polite with her thank you before we left.

We didn't even wear a coat for trick or treating until the very end of the evening. It was a nice night. The best part was no rain, especially since the days leading up to Halloween had been very wet. A big thanks to Granny for making her great costume. We couldn't ever find a Tiana crown, so Sister said "I'll just wear my Cinderella crown."

Princess Party

On Halloween we went to a Princess Tea Party. There is a place in town that does princess birthday parties and also a princess preschool. Every once in awhile they have an open house. This open house featured princess was Snow White. Snow White read stories to the girls and then a handful of other princesses came out and all of the girls danced around and talked with the princesses. They had little mini cupcakes and cookies and juice set up for the girls. There was also an area to make a cute little mask. Some of the princesses sat with the girls and read stories. I didn't tell Sister Bear we were going to the party until right before and she was SO EXCITED. She ran all over the house saying she was going to go see Snow White.

More Soccer Fun

Brother Bear had a fun filled soccer weekend. First it was the Sounders game on Friday night. His team and a bye on Saturday so there was no soccer there. He had a busy football day on Saturday. Brother went with Papa Bear down to Oregon for football. He is the tee grabber for home games so he got to do it on the road this time. When he got home late Saturday night he told me all about the food they got on the bus. A bagel and banana when they got on the bus, a box lunch, after the game a pizza to share just with dad and a little baggie of mini candy bars.

On Sunday it was back to soccer. His team was invited to a training session at Starfire Academy which is where the Sounders practice. They spent the morning doing drills. Then a few of the Sounders players were there. The Sounders players walked around to the different groups and talked to the kids and kicked the ball around. It was nice because there were probably only about 75 kids there. Afterwards the kids were able to get autographs and take pictures. They also got a really nice gift bag from Dicks Sporting Goods who sponsored the event. The gift bag had a Sounders scarf, and Adidas draw string backpack, a huge Dicks water bottle, a key chain, and a wrist band in a Dicks drawstring bag. A big thanks to Dicks.

On Friday night Brother was introduced to the player in the picture on the bottom. Sunday he asked Brother if he'd met him somewhere before. After all of the soccer activity on Sunday, Brother had a birthday party at a laser tag place. He was definitely ready for bed Sunday evening.

Cool Night for Brother

Papa Bear called last night to say he was on his way home from work. He was early. Papa Bear has two friends who work for Chivas and they were in town playing the Sounders. He was able to get two tickets as a surprise for Brother Bear.

As Chivas was coming on to the field to warm up during pregame, Papa Bear saw his friend, Kevin. Kevin invited Brother Bear down on to the field with him for pregame. He got to help set up the cones and chase after loose soccer balls. He got to meet the the goalkeeper for Chivas, a few other Chivas players, and a Sounders player. He also talked to the Sounders coach who remembered Brother from meeting him at the UW game.

When it was time for Brother to go back up into the stands, Kevin gave him a soccer ball. Brother Bear made sure he pointed out to me that it said "official match ball" and that I knew it wasn't a replica ball, but a REAL ball.

He held on to the ball for dear life during the game.

Hall of Famer

Here is the reason we went to California last week.

(This info was copied from the Chapman website. I changed his name in the paragraphs.)

Pair of Chapman greats to be inducted into Hall of Fame
ORANGE, Calif. – Chapman University and the Donald P. Kennedy Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will host its annual Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony and banquet on Saturday, October 2. Two of Chapman’s all-time greats will be enshrined: men’s soccer All-American Papa Bear’96 and men’s golf pioneer and former PGA professional Sandy Galbraith ’69. The banquet, which begins at 5 p.m., will follow a welcome reception and precede Chapman’s home football game against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges at 7 p.m. at Wilson Field.

Papa Bear '96: As team captain and starting goalkeeper he led the Chapman men’s soccer team to its first and only appearance at the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1995. He was named to the Umbro Select Senior All-Star team that year after allowing just 16 goals in 1,900 minutes and earning nine shutouts. Bennett was the starting goalkeeper for three years from 1993-95 and earned All-West Region honors twice. He is still the Chapman record holder for career shutouts with 26. He stayed on staff at Chapman after his graduation, becoming an assistant athletic trainer and head women’s soccer coach (2000-03), leading the Panthers to the NCAA playoffs in four consecutive seasons.

I think there were a handful of other stats that weren't listed on the website that were announced during the football game when they presented Papa Bear.

Saturday night we went to a nice dinner at the university. Brother Bear was excited to wear his suit. Sister Bear was excited for the mini My Little Pony toy in my purse that she was going to get. I had bought her a little toy to help keep her occupied and QUIET for the ceremony. After the dinner and award ceremony we went to the football game. At halftime they had all of the Hall of Fame Members (old and new) on the field. Papa Bear took Brother down with him. A proud Mama Bear moment. Sister Bear liked showing me that her dad and brother were down on the field. After the halftime announcement we went on to the side of the new athletics facility that is the Hall of Fame wall. There the plaque with Papa Bears name on it was unveiled.

I am very proud of Papa Bear for this honor. It was a nice weekend to share with family and friends.

Quick Trip

Hard to believe it was a week ago that we were in California.

There was rain in California and everyone said we brought it with us. No, we haven't had any rain in Washington. While we were in California we got to eat at some of our favorite local spots (Watsons and the Sugar Shack).

We saw friends who we haven't seen in a long time.

Grandpa and Papa Bear took Brother Bear golfing for his first time. He had a great time! We hit the swimming pool at the hotel a handful of times. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the pool and water playground at Granny and Grandpa's. There was thunder and lightening. So instead, the kids settled on a walk to the park with their cousins.

What, Where, Why

This little girl asks A LOT of questions!

"When am I going to go to dance class?"

"When is it going to be Wednesday? Is tomorrow in the morning?"

"When are we going to go on the airplane?

"When is Thursday? Is it in the morning?"

"What time is my dad going to be home?"

"Why do I need to take a nap today?"

"Why can't we go out to lunch today?"

"Where are we going today?"

"What am I going to wear today?"

"What are we going to do today?"

And they go on and on and on..............

P.S. That is a chocolate milk mustache she is sporting.

Cool Day for Brother Bear

I think that the above picture was the highlight of Brother Bears weekend. Not the two goals he scored in his soccer game that they won 4-1. Not being on the sidelines helping his dad at a football game that had 6 overtimes. Not the fish and chips dinner at Claim Jumper.

It was saying hello and having his picture taken with Sigi Schmidt who is the coach of the Seattle Sounders. We had gone up to watch a soccer game at UW and the coach of the other team was Papa Bears soccer coach many moons ago. At halftime we moved to a little section of bleachers behind the goal so that Sister could run around and play with her toys without dropping them into the unknown far beneath the main bleachers. After the game was over with we were waiting so that Papa could say hello to his old coach. Sigi Schmidt walked by and Papa and Brother said hello to him. He took a picture with Brother and then sat down and chatted while he waited to get onto the field. After a few minutes he said goodbye and off he went.

Soccer Days

We had a small break in between baseball and soccer. Now we are full swing into soccer. Practice two nights a week and a game on Saturday. At practice I try to see how many times I can get Sister to walk around the track before she goes over to the playground. Our record so far is 5. This way I have two tired kids after practice. So far Brother has played in two games and his goal total is 6. He had four goals in the first game with a hat trick in the first half. His team won 6-1. The second game he had two with one being a PK and they tied 3-3.

Little Ballerina

I recently signed Sister Bear up at the parks and rec department for a dance class. It was supposed to have started last Monday. The Friday before I got a phone call from the parks and rec department. Class was cancelled due to low enrollment. Did I want a refund or to roll my registration over to the next session and see what happened? I would roll it over but it isn't for a few months. Try explaining that to someone who was so excited. I needed something NOW! I found out about a dance studio nearby that offers a My First Dance Class and it doesn't cost a fortune. We went to try it out on Wednesday. Boy was Sister excited! She went right out and joined the other girls. And she didn't talk during the class unless she was asked a question! I didn't know that was possible.

After class we went home and changed her clothes and ran to Borders for story time. Sister was quiet for the story...but talked to the girl who reads the story the WHOLE time she did her craft.

Didn't I Just Take Him to Kindergarten???

Didn't I just take this kid to kindergarten? I swear it was just the other day I dropped him off at school and when the kids went in to class, I walked back to my car with teary eyes.

Now he's a 5th grader! He eats for about an hour when he gets home from school. And look at those feet. He looks like a puppy with big feet.

Another Retirement

The reason we went to California at the end of August was to be there for my dads last Sunday. He was retiring after 43 years in the ministry. There were three people who were baptized on Sunday. I thought it was special that Brother Bear was one of them. After church they had a big luncheon honoring my dad. My grandma flew in to town and my uncle and my cousin and his family were there as well. I was glad that the kids could see their great-grandma.

The police department also had a luncheon for my dad.

He had been the police chaplain for many years. Sister got a little scared and didn't want to go into the room with all of the big tall policemen. There were some very tall ones too! Brother was very excited to show my the vending machine that Granddad used to always take him to when they would go to the police station when he was little.


Now my parents are going to move and live near us. Yeah! Sister keeps asking when she can go stay at Gramma's house by herself. She wants to go and spend the night with just them.

Elmo's Flying Fish

While we were in California we went to Sea World. The last time I was at Sea World I think Brother was 3 years old. They have since added a Sesame Street area that had three rides for the very small. The Abby Cadabby ride was like the tea cups at Disneyland.

Before the ride got started, Brother was spinning the wheel super fast which resulted in a very spinny cup and some super dizzy kids.

There was also a watery roller coaster ride in addition to the Shipwrecked Rapids ride that Brother was too small to go on the last time we were there.

We saw a handful of shows. There is a new show called Blue Horizons which has dolphins, costumes and dancers flying from wires.

We saw a Sesame Street 4-D show which is probably on You-Tube because the guy sitting next to me was filming it.

And of course we saw Shamu.

Brother wanted to sit down low in the soak zone, rows 1-16. We sat in row 13. I was still completely soaked from the Shipwrecked Rapids ride that I took him on.

We had a great time seeing the shows, riding the rides and seeing all of the animals. Brother's favorite part was the Atlantis roller coaster and touching a dolphin. Sister's favorite part was Elmo's flying fish and Shamu.

Thanks mom and dad for a fun day!

Angel Game

I meant to post while we were in California but I just didn't get around to it.

Brother, Sister and I went to California for . Unfortunately Papa Bear couldn't go with us. Football and all of the other sports had started and they think they need Papa to take care of them.

We went to an Angel game while we were there.

Our tickets were pretty good, we were up in section 426, front row right after first base. But this is where we sat instead.

I have a friend, who I used to work with, who also ushers at the stadium. He works down in the diamond club. Whenever we come to the game I stop by to say hello. He told me to go get my party and come sit down here. Well alrighty then! During the game Brother told my dad, "Granddad, our seats you got us were good, but these are REALLY good!"

15 Years!!!!!!!!!!

This is what we did 15 years ago today.

Aren't we cute!?!

I like my tan line