Staying Busy

Well, we are definitely managing to stay busy so far this school year / fall.  We're about halfway through each of the kids' soccer seasons. 

Kellen's group practiced 2 nights a week from August through September, with the games starting on Saturdays in September.  We're now at 1 practice per week, and games will go through October on Saturdays.  Kellen has been having a great time this season.  He has managed to score a goal in each of the first 4 games and he is pretty excited about that.  We've got a great group of kids and families for his team.  I hope to get some pictures of Kellen's soccer before the season is over, but I'm not able to take them since I'm coaching and Danelle is often with Kristin at one of her games.  We'll have to get one of the other parents to take some photos and share them with us. 

Kristin is also practicing two nights a week, but she is playing more games.  She has averaged 3 games each weekend so far.  Her skills have really come on with all the games and she is having a great time.  It poured rain today and they played on through the rain and mud.  What a site.

The kids are also having fun in school too.  They like to go to school everyday.  Kristin had her 10 year old checkup last week (all is well) and was bummed to have to miss a couple hours of school in order to go to the appointment.  Kristin will be starting Girl Scouts here again in a little while, and Kellen is going to check out Boy Scouts this year.  Not sure that will stick since they haven't found a troop leader yet and Danelle and I just don't have time to take on any more as far as leading and coaching goes.

Oh, almost forgot.  We signed Kellen up for hockey today.  It starts next weekend and goes through March.  You know, because we didn't have enough else going on!  He is all set though, as he just lost another tooth!  You'll have to ask him the story of how he lost it.

Birthday Party with a Pink Limo - No Joke

Kristin got to attend a birthday party for a friend from softball that shares the same birthday.  The party included a ride in a very large pink SUV limo... no kidding.  They rode this to lunch and mall for a scavenger hunt.  They then got to spend the night at the girls house... outside in tents.  :)  What an experience at such a young age.

Just plain crazy!

Kristin and her friend Natalie ready to go to the party.

Pictures from Bend

Kristin and Kellen at the top of Pilot Butte with the Blue Mountains behind them.



Kristin, Bernie & Kellen at the top of Pilot Butte.

The family at the top of Pilot Butte.

Just a small portion of the 360 degree view from Pilot Butte.

Summer in Oregon

Well, it has been a crazy fun summer in Oregon.  We kept busy, that is for sure.  We'll try to catch up with some posting and pictures.  In the meantime, here are some of the fun things we did:

• Softball went through the middle of June for Kristin
• 4 soccer tournaments for Kristin
• Kellen's Tball (coached by Daddy) went through early June
• Practice for Kellen's fall soccer (coached by Daddy) started twice a week in early August
• Oma and Poppa came to visit in July
• We took a trip to southern Oregon to see Crater Lake for the first time.
• Lot's of day camps for the kids - soccer, dinosaur camp, girl scouts, a few others I can't recall just now...
• Watched a couple games of the Little League World Series of Softball live at Alpenrose ballpark. It is hosted in Portland and the semis and the final were on ESPN2).  Danelle and Kristin got on TV.
• Started a project - a new garden planter bed - a work in progress.
• Birthday parties.  Kristin's party was a Hawaiian theme at our house.  The kids also attended a bunch of birthday parties.  Two of the parties that Kristin attended involved a ride in a limousine (really).
• A trip to Bend to visit Kristin's godmother Bernie, who has relocated to Oregon from the Midwest. 
• A trip to Black Butte Ranch with some good friends.  Black Butte is a laid-back 'resort' community in central Oregon. 

I'm sure there was more... back to school next Tuesday!

Barley and Hops = A Good Time

About 3 years ago, the Portland market lost our only minor league baseball team.  The Portland Beavers were a AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.  This year, minor league baseball returned in the form of the Hillsboro Hops, a single A short-season affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

This past weekend, the new team introduced their new mascot: Barley.  Here is Kristin with the new mascot.

It was a fun atmosphere and they did a good job with the new ball park, which seats about 4,000.  A far cry from the Beavers' 15,000 seat venue (which is now home of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns professional soccer clubs and seats closer to 18,000 after renovations), but it is still a great ballpark.  We'll probably go to another game.

Camp

Last week Danelle and the kids went to Girl Scout camp at Camp MountainDale.   Danelle worked the camp as a troop leader, so Kellen got to go since there is a special 'unit' for boys who are sons of the troop leaders.  They all had a really good time.  It was a day camp for the most part, though Kristin did get to spend the night on Thursday night.  One of the camp traditions is that they don't use their real names during the week; everyone chooses a nickname to use.  Danelle was Freckles, Kristin was Torpedo (also her softball nickname), and Kellen was Roadrunner.  It was fun for me to hear them describe their days and use the nicknames of the other camp participants.  Kristin made a good friend over the course of the week - her name is Gummy Bear. 

They played fun games, learned silly songs, made armpit fudge, and did a lot of hiking.  Kellen made a marshmallow shooter out of pvc pipe.  He also told me all about how his favorite part was playing in the 'river'.  The photo here is Kellen and his river.  ;-)  The photos were provided my Kellen's unit leader.  Danelle wasn't able to be Kristin's unit leader, and unfortunately Kristin's leader didn't take pictures during the week.  She still has some great memories though!

Is it Really Almost the End of June?! Really?!

Wow, where does the time go?  For April, May, and the first half of June, we had something going on almost every evening and weekend.  I coached Kellen's Tball team.  Actually, Danelle coached too.  She was one of our two 'bench bosses' that kept the boys in line while they were on the bench waiting for their turn at bat.  Then there was softball, which Danelle and I both coached.  And of course soccer for Kristin, which goes year round.  Softball and Tball wrapped up by mid June, so now we're just down to Kristin's soccer schedule.

Kellen had a great Tball season.  We started pitching to the boys mid season.  Kellen wasn't sure about it at first, so we made a deal that he could hit from the T until he turned 6.  After that, we pitched to him and he did a great job.  He swings left handed and it looks like he will have a smooth natural swing like Kristin does.  Kellen's favorite position was probably catcher (just like big sister).  He and his friends seemed to have a great time this season and it was very rewarding to coach.  The team surprised me with an autographed baseball signed by all the boys on the team.  I keep it on my desk at work. :-) 

Kristin is a pretty phenomenal softball player.  It was a lot of fun for Danelle and I to coach her and watch her play.  She was a great leader for her team in addition to being a great player.  She only struck out once all season, and that was because her silly coach (me) told her to 'swing at the next pitch no matter what.' And of course the pitcher went from throwing perfect strikes to throwing one in the dirt about 2' in front of home plate. Kristin was great in the field too.  On the last play of the game this season, Kristin was playing shortstop.  The batter made a pop fly and Kristin hustled to get under it, called for it, and then caught it.  Then she caught a base runner not tagging up and doubled off the base runner by hustling over to touch second base for the unassisted double play.  It was a fantastic way to end the season.

The kids finished strong academically as well.  We enjoyed going to Kellen's kindergarten graduation at the daycare kindergarten program.  Kellen went to public kindergarten in the afternoon and went to daycare kindergarten in the morning this school year.  He will certainly miss his daycare teachers and friends, but we are excited to now officially be done with daycare.  Kristin will be going in to 5th grade in the fall.  Can you believe it?  It will be her last year of elementary school, since the middle schools here start in 6th grade.  I think she is both excited and nervous about entering her last year of elementary school.