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

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!