Thursday, September 30, 2010

I Had A Playdate

My friend had a baby so I asked her if I could come over and play and she said yes. Little E slept for most of our playdate but I had fun...




Monday, September 27, 2010

Rite of Passage

Or maybe we should call it, "Rite of Passenger." Fine, I'm probably the only one laughing at that but someone has to laugh at my ridiculous puns. The Nissan was recently sold to another human willing to take on it's repairs and quirks and in its place appeared a motorcycle. A Suzuki Boulevard that Joel now uses to commute to and from work. Noah decided, much to my pleasure, to join the Festival Choir that will meet for one month, before school, culminating in a performance in November. Well, my crazy work hours means that getting up an hour early, even if only for a month, would just about do me in. I asked Joel to take Noah to choir practice before heading to work and he agreed. With Joel commuting on 2 wheels instead of 4 we decided to go ahead and let Noah ride too. The sales clerk at the Pro shop gave me an odd look when I asked to see the inexpensive youth riding helmets. He hesitantly asked, "what do you mean by inexpensive?" Now I know that good riding helmets are not cheap but what I didn't want to be shown were the radio equipped, blue tooth enabled, gold plated, near extinct Peruvian animal lined, can turn into a small shack to provide shelter kind of helmet. I just wanted a good helmet to protect my boys head. Anyway, we got the boy a helmet and when we got home he and Joel went out for a test ride. Noah was taught how to properly put on and fasten his helmet, how to help Joel as a passenger (what to do and what not to do while on said motorcycle), how and where to hold on, where to put his feet, etc. Soon enough they were on their way and Noah did great! Nothing like a ride on Dad's motorcycle to start off your school day! I am wondering what other before-school activities Noah may sign up for now?

Oliver watching closely so when he finally gets a helmet and a chance to ride with dad, he too, will be ready to go!

Noah giving me and Joel the thumbs up.

And they're off...
...and there they go.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Introducing...

So my sister started to tell me about this 7 year old dog that needed home and she was thinking about giving him one. Only problem was when she asked her hubby if she could get another dog he said, "NO!" What??? I can't believe he said no and I can't believe that she let him say no. Okay fine, what I really can't believe is that she asked. Just kidding, sis, I love you! Anyway, she told me about him and then sent me an email about him. I forwarded the email to Joel thinking he would say, "NO!" and talk me out of it but do you know what he did? He said, "I can't talk you out of something that I don't want to talk you out of." Then he asked, "Are you going to get him?" What? Wait! This isn't going how I planned, I'm not supposed to be falling in love with an obese 7 year old dog that is as cute as cute can be. I'm not supposed to be thinking that it's the right time for us to have another dog. I'm not supposed to be contacting the wonderful foster mom and asking questions about said dog. What is happening? On Friday, I told my sister to give me the weekend to think about it and that I would call her Monday to give her my final answer. Yup, called her that night and said we'd take him. Marilee, the foster mom was kind enough to keep fostering him for another two weeks. We were leaving for camping and then school was starting, I was afraid he wouldn't get the attention he needed the first couple days here if we went and got him immediately. Joel took the boys to the Tri-Cities to meet up with Marilee (she lives in Spokane) a couple weekends ago and picked up the newest member of our house. He has come in and stole all of our hearts and become a great addition to our pack. He is a 7 year old Corgi, crate trained, house broke, walks well on leash, etc. He has a bit of (whispering so he can't hear me as he sits by my side) weight issue. Figuring he has about 20 pounds to lose before he is a healthy weight and we are working hard on that. Okay, okay, without further ado, introducing...

Shooting Stars Hoodoo Shep
Shep is what we call him,
and Shep-a-doodle-doo,
and Chubba Bubba,
and sometimes Lo-Lo because my sister has a Pembroke Welsh Corgi too and he is really cute and his name is Lloyd but we call him Lo-Lo and we apparently forget that this is our dog and not hers.

This is me playing with my camera and newest subject for me to take pictures of!
Sniff-Sniff

He walks great on the leash, we all take turns walking him.

The boy likes his belly rubbed.
Go on, give it a good rubbing, he'll be your friend forever!

Nope, not cute at all!

Hahahaha! Silly dog!

We found that he likes to play soccer with the boys.

Such concentration, shouldn't be surprised by that at all, he is a shepherd after all.

Soccer Has No Off Season

Turns out that Oliver thinks soccer is, "awesome cool!" Up here in Clark County soccer is huge and pretty much goes year round, there is no off season. So after taking the summer off, Oliver is back at it again. His coach this time around is Coach Nate and they decided to call themselves the Black Cats. If you feel like coming out to watch a bunch of 4 1/2 to 5 year old kids kick around the ball here is his game schedule: 9/25 @ 11am, 10/2 @ 1pm, 10/9 @ 9am, 10/16 @ 9am, 10/23 @ 9am. All games are played at Fisher Basin Park, 601 SE 192nd Ave.

Picture day...sneaky shot from over the photographers shoulder.
Determined to get the ball!

I don't know what he's doing but it makes me smile.

So does this one (chuckling), I think he was playing goalie at the time and had just cleared the ball.

Passing it forward.

Just another action shot.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Weapons

During the summer the attendance at the Kanthak Karate school tends to go down a bit. So during those few months they turn their attention from the basic karate techniques and focus them on weapons, the Escrima stick to be exact. Noah loves the stick/weapon training and at the end of summer, before the classes return to normal, the kids are rewarded with a Star Wars themed party. They trade their sticks in for light sabers, dress up if they want, turn out the lights, turn on the black lights and have fun!!

Group photo, warming up,
Mr. K even let Oliver participate, Mr. B showing off,
shot of the kids on the mat, group light saber salute.

First Day of School

Just a couple of quick pictures from the first day of school...well, first day for the boys anyway. School actually started the week we were camping. Noah missed the first 3 days and Oliver his first 2 days. They didn't seem to mind too much. Noah is in fourth grade this year and Oliver is in Pre-Kindergarten.

Noah looking soooo happy to be going to school.

See, still happy but don't let him fool you, he really likes school!

Oliver making fun of his brother and not smiling.

But don't let him fool you either, he's more than happy to be headed to social hour!

More Camping Pictures

I have quite a few pictures but decided to just grab a few to share, the ones of my boys that make me smile.

I was trying to teach Oliver the scary face technique with the flashlight. This was the best we could do.
Noah, smiling by the fire.

Sun finally shining on our tent city.

I really have no idea how people play in this cold water.

Love his reflection in water coated sand.

This makes me laugh...heads tilted the same way, same foot forward.

Walking with my Ollie-man.

Footprints

Bigger footprints

Brothers

Beautiful

Camping

Finally getting around to posting some camping pictures! Of course, I am going to mix things up and start on our last day and I will work my way back to the first day...just trying to keep you on your toes! We went back to Honeyman with the Pyryt family again this year, it really is a great high density campsite for families. Our trip started out wet! It was raining when we arrived, nothing like trying to set up camp in the rain - yuck! We quickly became tent city and hunkered down for a couple of days until the sun finally came out. We still managed to get in our walks, bike rides, Junior Ranger activities, trips to the dunes, trip to Hobbit Beach and lots of time around the campfire. On our last day, we packed up, took a few last minute pictures then headed out. We decided to stop at the Oregon Coast Aquarium on our way home. We also had one unexpected stop on the way to the aquarium!

My favorite picture of the Pyryt kids at the Needle.

One of the better family pics of us. I am either frustrated with Oliver or listening to Steph ask me a question about the camera.

We were headed towards the aquarium and just happened to be looking at the ocean. I saw something then said, "I think I just saw a whale!" Joel quickly turned the van around and pulled into a lookout point. We stood there and watched the whale spouts for a while. It was incredible.
The back of one of the whales.

A spout, this is what I saw from the car.

Love taking pictures of the jellyfish at the aquarium.


SHARK!

Cheese!

This boy is always good for a laugh.

Growing up so fast. Love my boys!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Annual Kanthak Karate Water Fight

The annual water fight and picnic happened again in August. The entire Kanthak Karate school and their family and and friends are invited to come and enjoy the end of summer blast. The turn out this year was kind of small but it was still a lot of fun and everyone got WET. A few of my favorite pictures from the day...

Looking way too dry!
Mr. B locked and loaded.

Group photo before all the water wars began.

Noah and Mr. K soaking each other with the Water-Zookas.

Mr. K always wears his SpongeBob shorts for the water fight.

Kenny and Noah showing Mr. B how it's done.

Oliver was in the middle of it all too.

Mr. B getting back at Noah.