Gavin's baseball

This spring Gavin stepped up into the big leagues and played farm level baseball. He had a great time with all the guys on his team and all the gear that he had to wear. Even experiencing using a cup for the first time, which was also and adventure for Stephanie and trying to workout which way it goes.

Each player got to play all the different positions though out the season. Gavin got lots of hits and played catcher several times (even saving up his money to buy his own catchers gear), and he also pitched in one of the games. He did a great job pitching, even getting two strikeouts.

Gabbie's Birthday with Allison and Reilly

Gabbie had a great time with two of her best friends Allison and Reilly for her birthday. Gabbie had her first birthday sleepover and had lots of fun and even went to bed before mid night. The night started with pizza and little lovable stuff bears plus all the other giggling and stuff that three 9 year old girls do. They then moved onto a pottery store where they got to decorate they own little ceramic animals. Back home again for a movie and banana splits.

Gardening with DayDay

Before fathers day with the dads at work, all three kids got together and made stepping stones for our gardens. Stephanie and Danielle had their hands full with this craft project, but they all turned out great. Fathers day it self was doing lots of family activities; church, breakfast, Milwaukie's Sunday market in the morning. The aftenoon was spent doing yard work and finished with a BBQ at home.

Day Day loves working in the garden so she wanted to help Gabbie and Gavin work in our little garden. She also loves playing with the kids.

Lacrosse camp for Gavin

Well this week Gavin is having lots of fun at lacrosse camp. He's there with one of his best friends from school Ian. He has all the gear that they wear plus a mouth guard which makes it all that much more fun. He is already wanting to sign up for next summers camp.

Back to Blogging -- a summary of the last three months

Well after sometime away from the blog we are back at it and hopefully will keep everyone up dated. I can't believe that it has been nearly three months since we had an entry into the blog and specially since we have came back from our epic tour of Australia and Hawaii. Lots of exciting things have happened since that time and probably to many to list out. But the high lights are:
Tennis lessons for Gabbie and Baseball camp for Gavin when we first got back.
Back to school and the fire station for Stephanie and myself.
Gabbie getting her tonsils and adenoids out.
Start of football season, so Gavin and I heading down to watch the Beavers play. Both good and bad.
Start of 1st and 3rd grades for Gavin and Gabbie. New back packs, meeting up with friends after a long summer, all day at school and lunch for Gavin, new teachers and principal.
Starting of soccer season for Gavin, so far he had two goals, he is on a good little team of all 6 year old kids playing kids up to age 8 plus they only have 7 players and they play 6 on 6 some the kids get lots of playing time. Haven't won any games yet but a couple of draws but most importantly they have fun and play hard.
Decision to get a new dog. Chocolate lab born September 9th, will finally see them this weekend and get to take her home in the first week of November. Her name has already been picked out, ROXY.
New vacation home in Eagle Crest. We are actually headed up there today to check it out. Pictures to follow of the house, but it will be a great family vacation house.

Well I am sure I have missed a lot of other things that have occurred over this time, but at least this is a brief run down on what we have done. I will post picture today of the happenings of the last couple of months plus some of our Australia and Hawaii pictures.

July 23rd -- Botanical Gardens and a Ferry Ride

Today was spend getting up early and heading into the city for a day of adventure and site sighting. Our first stop was a walk through the center of the CBD in the heart of Sydney and looking at all the different shops. We continue our walk all the way across the city until we got to the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens. There we walked through the gardens and saw all the different plants. The kids were amazed to see thousands of bats hanging in the trees. There is so many that they are actually trying to get rid of them as they are destroying the trees. We then headed around the harbour front to the Opera House for a couple more pictures.
The next part of the day saw the four of us take a ferry ride across Sydney Harbour to Manly enjoying a nice scenic trip. Once in Manly we headed to the beach area were we enjoy lunch with the seagulls that Gabbie really did not like. After lunch we walked back to the ferry for the ride back across the Harbour to the city. After a quick stop to get the kids some ice cream to refuel before jumping on a train and heading back home.
Monday night the kids enjoyed dinner and a movie, while the adults got to enjoy a grown up meal. A beautiful home made dish of Chicken and Seafood Paella made by our sister in law Carol.

July 22nd

Sunday we headed off across Sydney after a late morning brunch prepared by my brother to one of my cousins houses in Cronulla. This is another beach community just 30 minutes south of the city. So we enjoyed a nice afternoon catching up with my cousins and his wife, and like all Aussie gatherings so far, we had good food, wine and beer.