First Day of Summer

Today was finally the first day of summer break.  We have been counting down the days for awhile, and Davis especially was excited to have Landon home all of the time since his preschool ended before Memorial Day.  To celebrate, we planned to go to a fun park for lunch that is a bit away.  Unfortunately, as we pulled up, we saw signs that said the park was closed for the day since it was reserved for a private event.  Luckily,  Lori knew of another park nearby, so we headed over there instead.  It was a great park, and we had a lot of fun trying out the fun playground. 

 

Davis and Colton on the swing

 

James and Dallin on the teeter-totter, and James eating his sandwich.  For some reason, he wanted to eat over in the bushes.

Landon, James, Davis, Dallin, Austin, and Colton

After the park and naps, we came home, and the boys were begging me to set up the swimming pool we had just bought.  They were so excited and could hardly wait for me to fill it up.  The water was freezing cold, but that didn’t seem to stop them.  James kept saying “Water, Cold,” and shivering.  I finally made him get out when he couldn’t stop shivering anymore!

 

They each pulled up a chair to watch the pool fill with air

Testing out the cold water

I took a short video of James talking about the cold water.  It would have been even better if I had captured his look of shock as he went down the slide for the first time into the cold water, but this will have to do.

 

It was a great first day of summer.  Can’t wait for many more!

Baseball

Saturday was Landon’s last baseball game.  He had a great season, and we had so much fun watching him improve over the season.  He did so much better throughout the season, improving more and more with each game. 

 

After his last game, we went to pizza for a team party.  The coach gave each kid a trophy and a ball to have all of their teammates sign.  Landon’s coach talked about how he was the team’s most improved player, and worked hard to get better each game.  He always had a smile on his face and you could tell he enjoyed being out there!

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day this year, we headed down to Ashland.  Landon had Friday off of school, so Shane took it off as well and we left Thursday night.  We were lucky to time our trip to arrive just a day after Jake and Stacey had their third child, baby Maggie.  She is darling and it was so fun to see her and hold her!  We arrived Thursday evening, and we stopped off at Jake and Stacey’s place to say hi and see baby Maggie.  They had just arrived home from the hospital a few hours earlier, and Stacey looked great!

The rest of the weekend was filled with lots of fun because Dave and Liz came up for the weekend from San Jose, and Becky and Nate and their two boys were there all week before Nate started his internship in Seattle for the summer.  We were sad that Camille and Bryce couldn’t join us!

Friday, May 25th:

Friday was Jake’s birthday.  For his celebration, he wanted all the boys to go golfing, so they had an adventurous time golfing in the rain.  Meanwhile, Mom and I took all the kids to ScienceWorks.  It was a lot of fun, and not too busy!  Luckily, it’s not too big of a place, so we could keep track of all the seven kids running around.  The huge bubbles were a favorite as always, but they also had fun with the rocket that blasts off to the moon, the ball that blows up in the air, and the air blaster.

After ScienceWorks, the kids helped wrap and decorate 29 presents for Jake for his birthday.  (Well, Liz and Mom did the wrapping, and the kids colored)

That evening, we had a birthday dinner for Jake, complete with tri-tip (his favorite) as well as razzleberry pie and a peanut butter cup cake dessert that Stacey and her mom made that was delicious!  We had fun watching him open his 29 presents, plus a few others for his birthday.  He had some helpers as you can see!

   

The spectators:

       

We also got a few little outfits for baby Maggie.  Liz, Becky, and I had a little bit too much fun picking them out!

 

Saturday, May 26th:

They boys played a little racquetball in the morning, and we all played some tennis in the afternoon.  Shane and I weren’t too successful at playing together since James kept wanting one of us, but it was fun anyway.

After tennis, we had a weenie roast at the usual location, and a yummy dinner of hot dogs, fresh fruit, chips, and brownies. 

     

After dinner, we headed over to the grassy area to play a few games of boules. 

 

Nate throwing a ball, and everyone checking out the positions of their ball

   

A tired new dad, James getting a drink, and Ethan with his ball

   

Mom and Davis, Kallie with her ball, and Mom and Bennett playing baseball

Sunday, May 27th:

After church and a relaxing afternoon, we had a nice walk and then a delicious lasagna dinner on the back deck.  The kids had fun playing croquet and running around on the trampoline.

     

   

After the fun play time, all the kids had baths and stories before heading to bed.

 

James and Ethan – two Lightning McQueen buddies!

All the crazy cousins, except for Ryan and Maggie.  Uncle Jake always does great funny faces to get all the kids to laugh.

Reading some Clifford books before bed.

Monday, May 27th:

Jake and Shane are training for the Siskiyou Challenge 100 mile bike ride in June, so they wanted to do a practice run up the steepest part.  Somehow, they tricked Dave and my dad into joining them.  Here they are getting ready to go.

 

And one of them at the top of Greensprings:

It was a super fun trip!  We were so glad we could go.  We were even lucky when we got home to have a Memorial Day BBQ at a friend’s house, so we didn’t even have to fix dinner!  Thanks for a great time everyone!