This time of year always goes so fast...

Spring break....graduation....summer camp....Lake Chelan...

I swear mid-May to July just flies every year. It happens the same way every time. Then once we get into summer time our schedules get crazy busy, every weekend full. Either camping, travelling or playing. We've already been to Lake Wenatchee and we're heading out to Lake Chelan on Friday.

Since my last post things have been crazy - but here are the highlights...

Quinn chaperoned a field trip to Mount Saint Helens with Nathan's 5th grade class. He had a great time hanging out with Nathan and his friends; but HATED the 2.5 hour school bus ride (both ways!).

Nathan graduated from 5th grade. He'll be heading to middle school next year. Seems strange to me. He seems so young to be making that move. When I was his age, middle school didn't start until 7th grade. Luckily, he's really excited about it all. The kids get to choose one elective and he chose band. He plays a wicked saxophone!

Garrett graduated from Kindergarten. He is beyond ready to hit 1st grade. Because he is a July birthday, we had him do Kindergarten twice. He's going to sail through with flying colors!

Garrett and Nathan are spending the days this summer at Camp Terry. It is a wonderful outdoor YMCA camp in Preston on the Snoqualmie River. This is Nathan's 4th year at this camp and Garrett's first. He was a little nervous; but it helped that his big brother and buddy Ben were both there. They are both having a blast!

We went camping at Lake Wenatchee. It was wonderful. Great weather, not too many mosquitoes. A freak no-rain thunderstorm kept us from fishing Saturday afternoon, but we had sun all day on Sunday. The boys both caught two, I caught one and daddy got skunked (he took it pretty well though since we all had fun).

On the Fourth of July we spent most of the day at Richmond Beach with Jeff, Ging, Owen, Stuart, Grandma Lorrie and Jeff's parents. The weather was great, food was awesome and other than Stuart accidently throwing a huge shovel full of sand right in Garrett's eyes (SO scary - I thought for sure we were going to spend the afternoon at the ER with all the people out there that had already blown off limbs and digits with fireworks!), but Garrett was SO SO SO brave. We had to pour water in his eyes for over half and hour just to get it all out. He went right back to playing the sand and water! Nathan spent the entire afternoon skimboarding. He's amazing. He did great. Especially since Richmond Beach is pretty rocky and not really made for skimboarding.

This weekend was pretty laid back. We went to a birthday party at the splash park in Redmond for our friends Terry and Winston's two boys, Spencer and Cooper. It was 91 degrees out and we stayed outside all day. Today has been off and on rainy and overcast. We've spent the day cleaning, doing laundry and getting ready to vacation next week.

We're heading out for Chelan on Friday. I'll have LOTS of pictures to post when I get back (last year I took over 700!).

Here are some pics of the last few weeks...

CAMPING AT LAKE WENATCHEE

Q cooking dinner. Camping food is my FAVORITE!


Nater and Garrett roasting hot dogs

Me and the boys

Quinn and his PBR!

GARRETT'S KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION

So sweet...getting way too big!

Garrett getting his diploma

Garrett and Nater!

Garrett and his buddy Ben

Me and Bubba

4TH OF JULY AT RICHMOND BEACH

Owie trying to skimboard like his cousin Nathan.

Sweet Stuey!

Garrett collecting shells - he picked up EVERY one he could find - including the dead crab parts.

Nathan spent the entire afternoon skimboarding - he was awesome!





Uncle Jeff and Auntie Ging

Stu and Garrett ate almost an entire bowl of strawberries and watermelon - a huge bowl!

Memorial Day weekend and the end of sports season...

We had a very busy Memorial Day weekend. We headed out Friday morning at nine for Glenwood (yes, we pulled the kids out of school - Garrett was very excited that he was getting to "skip" school.) Cousin Brooke came with us too. I think spending time with her was the boys' favorite part of the whole trip. We got to the hotel around 1:00 pm and then headed over to the Glenwood cemetery to plant flowers and wait for Sonya and her family to arrive. The cemetery there is always so beautiful and peaceful. We spent an hour or so there and then headed back with John, Sonya and the kids for pizza dinner. The next day was beautiful and we headed out the cemetery again (after an awesome breakfast at the cafe at the Shady Tree Inn). I couldn't believe it but ALL of Quinn's brothers and sisters made it. They haven't all been together in one place at one time in over 5 years! It was great. We spent a few hours together and then had to head out.



When we got home we headed out to a few local spots to take senior pictures for Brooke. They turned out beautifully.


This week was also the end of soccer and baseball for the boys. They both had great seasons. Nathan played with older kids, on a bigger team and a much larger field. The loved getting to play forward but his sweet spot is midfield. He did great and had so much fun with the new team. Garrett played his first year of coach pitch baseball and loved it. He wasn't a big fan of the T. He is a slugger. He makes contact on the first or second pitch every time. Today he sent one way over the second baseman's head far into the outfield. His favorite position to play is third base. He loves when he gets to throw the ball all the way to first. Part of me is sad that spring sports are over but I'm SO happy that our weekends are free now for camping!!! We're heading to Fish Lake the weekend of the 12th, and back to Glenwood for fishing on Father's Day weekend.



And...we FINALLY got the new sport court in!!! YAY!!!! It turned out even better than we expected. We still need to get the fence put up and some fill dirt and bark work done around the borders of the court but it is awesome. The boys love it. Yesterday and today they spent the entire afternoon going back and forth between basketball and the water slide. What a GREAT weekend.


Nathan also had a solo in the 5th grade concert this week - "Oh Susanna"! He did GREAT! He wasn't nervous and belted it out perfectly and in tune!

A beautiful day...

We all slept in. Late breakfast. Sunny morning. Doesn't get any better than that!

Nathan had a flag football game at 1:00 pm. The game ended in a tie, but shouldn't have...long story! Nater had some good plays and it was a really fun game to watch.

Afterward, Quinn headed to Finaughty's with the guys for a quick beer while the boys and I played basketball in the sunshine and ate chocolate chip cookie dough!

Then, to cap off a wonderful, beautiful day, we went fishing again at the trout pond behind the police station. Nathan caught a HUGE one. And, believe it or not, Garrett did not cry from jealousy (as he did the day before when Nater won a fishing rod at the fishing derby) he was truly happy for Nathan and is sure he'll catch a big one tomorrow (which I hope he does or I'm sure the tears will come!).

Home for pizza dinner, then root beer floats and popcorn during Hotel for Dogs! A wonderful, wonderful day. Life is good...

Highlights from a busy week....

Nathan and his team won Battle of the Books at CVES for the second year in a row - two time champs!!! They'll get to compete against the other elementary schools in the district on Friday. He and his friends have worked really hard for this. I hope they do well.

Garrett had his first baseball game of the season. He got a hit every time up to bat. The coach put him at 3rd base because he's the only one that can throw the ball all the way to first. He had two GREAT stops, tagged third, and then hauled it all the way across to first base. It was beautiful.

Nathan had soccer games on Thursday and Saturday. They won both and Nathan played great. They are undefeated so far and lovin it.

We got approval from the ROA to put in the sport court and work begins on Wed. The boys are psyched!

As we do every year, we woke up at 6:00 am Saturday to go to the Snoqualmie Fishing Derby. The NW Hunt and Game club stocks the trout pond behind the police station and opens it up to fishing for 6-14 year olds. Both Nathan and Garrett caught their 2 fish limit within 20 minutes. Garrett caught the biggest fish of the four but unfortunately he did not win for his age group. Nathan did and won a new fishing rod. This led to massively hurt feelings for his little brother who was sure that someone just forgot to put his name on the winner's board. Many, many, many tears! It was heartbreaking. In between sobs he said "I want to be happy for my brother, but I just caaaaaaan't!"

I'll get all the pics posted tomorrow!

Mea culpa...

I have a new found respect the hard work and commitment it takes to maintain a blog. I guess I should say "regularly" maintain a blog. Or, I guess I mean routinely maintain an interesting and CURRENT blog. I read several blogs regularly and realized that I obviously take for granted all of the work they put into it.

That said....

Here is what we've been up to over the last month (or two!).

BASKETBALL:

This is the boys' favorite sport by far. They both did great this season. Nathan's team played up a few levels. They had to play hard every single game. Playing in this league meant to was able to play with all of his friends vs. the random team placement of the local rec league. He had a blast!

This was Garrett's first season of basketball and he did great. Took a while to get the hang of it but once he did he was insane. My favorite was when they'd get the ball on offense Garrett would haul down to the other end of the court, stand right under the basket with his hands in the air and scream "PASS" "PASS" at the top of his lungs.

The boys are totally hooked now. They loved it so much that Quinn picked up a basketball hoop for them at Costco. They play out there rain or shine every day after school and for hours on the weekend. We don't have the best driveway for basketball because of the slope, so we're putting a sport court in at the front corner of our property. I can't wait. The kids are going to love it! Perfect timing for summer.

SNOWBOARDING:

Quinn went on the annual Corbis catskiing trip in Fernie. The conditions were even better this year and the group of guys he went with were really fun. He loved it. He also made it to Sandpoint with his buddies.

Conditions locally this winter have been hit or miss. Quinn and the boys haven't been up as much as they'd like. These are pictures of Garrett's first snowboarding trip ever. He got a new snowboard from Santa and had to wait over two months to get up to the mountain. He's a pro. We did get to go up tubing this year though. I love it. Q and Rian in Sandpoint

Nater tubing!

I love this pic. The guys on the chairlift in Sandpoint.

Gater tubing!


FLAG FOOTBALL:

Quinn is coaching Nater's 5th/6th grade flag football team. We lucked out and all of his friends that signed up are on his team. Our families are all really good friends which will make for a fun season, especially when the weather warms up!

SOCCER:

Nathan chose spring soccer over baseball this Spring. Baseball's way too slow for him. He likes the fast paced games much better. He gets his baseball fix by helping out with Garrett's baseball team. His first soccer game is this Saturday.

BASEBALL:

This is Garrett's second season of baseball. He's on the Diamondbacks again. We had our first practice yesterday and he did great. He's a slugger. He's also the joker on the team. They only get two more practices and then it's straight to games. Should be interesting. Especially since we've moved to coach pitch!

TRIPS:

I went on my annual trip to Lake Chelan for Scrapfest, a three day scrapbooking crop at Memories by the Lake. I look forward to this every year; and even though this trip was interrupted by a massive migraine I still had fun. I got over a dozen pages done and won a $100 gift certificate so overall a great trip. Here are a couple of my favorites...



We also spent a few days at Great Wolf Lodge during Spring Break. Always fun.

Quinn travelled for work a lot over the last few months; but he's hopefully done for a while until a trip to New York this summer.

MISCELLANEOUS:

The boys were hit with a nasty, knock you down flu in March. The real flu. High fever for days, coughs, aches and pains. Nathan had a three year perfect attendance record going. He was SO bummed he had to stay home. Garrett on the other hand was begging to stay home even when he started feeling better. He'd much rather stay home with Mom.

Superman is in the house!

A couple videos of Nater and his friend Drew dunking in the backyard...

Snowboarding

A few pics of the boys' first snowboarding trip of the season. They've both been dying to get up. The conditions have been horrible this year and Nathan chose to play basketball instead of doing the snowboarding bus. So, between busy schedules and not enough snow in the mountains we didn't get up to the Pass until February. Garrett got a snowboard from Santa this year so this was his first attempt ever. He was so excited. He did GREAT!!!!! By the end of the first hour he was making turns and had mastered stopping. Granted the incline was pretty flat but his confidence was awesome. He was begging to go on the chairlift! We did the magic carpet for about 2 hours while Nater rode Little Thunder (and by "we" I mean Quinn - I was taking pictures!) We took a break and Garrett and I went into the Lodge for dinner while Quinn and Nathan went on one of the longer runs. Then Nater joined us in the lodge while Quinn took a few runs at his speed. We had a blast and the boys begged to stay longer. We're going over to Mission Ridge next weekend so they won't have to wait long to go again.

I wanted Arizona to win...

Our week was pretty busy. Lots of activities for the boys, plus Quinn was in New York for two days. He hates travelling so he squeezes as much business into as few days as he can. It was a successful trip for him...but we're glad he's back.








Yesterday was another crazy busy basketball day. Luckily only two games though. Gater at 8:30, then Nater at 1:30 but all the way out in Edmonds. The Rebels did great and hit half time tied 10 to 10. They lost but this was definitely our best and closest game. Nathan had a really cool in the air defensive play toward the end of the game and played really hard. Even better, the school had a huge and very cool kinda old school playground in the back - they even had a merry go round...so awesome. Since we were already in the north end we met Grandpa Steve and Grandma Kay for dinner at Red Robin. We even ran into Lisa Barry and her mom. We had fun!

Garrett and I went on our annual shopping trip to the Bellevue Arts store with Grandma today...but made it home in time for the Superbowl. Garrett picked out some fun toys (even though we were there for art supplies - he did buy some clay). BUT, then he saw the holiday decorations section (all 75% off) and he was NOT leaving without buying the huge snowman hot cocoa dispenser. It was originally $80 and we got it for $20 but man it's huge, and all my Christmas stuff has already been put away. Where am I gonna put this thing!