All Stars

The regular baseball season is over for Dawson, but he was chosen as one of the players to represent his regular season team on an All-Star team (above). The tournament was 2 days long...3 games, and 2 weeks of practices before the tournament. Pretty hardcore, for a 6 yr old. He had a blast, and wasn't even one of the good players. (I don't know what some of those parents are feeding their 6 year olds. Some of them were amazing!) Dawson did great, better that I have seen him this year out on the field and did some really smart base running. He is super fast...maybe you should all start referring to him as 'Wheels'.

Tourney Bracket

I guess this begins early on. Nothing I can do about it, other than laugh.

He played a lot of 2nd base, and seemed to like it there a lot. He also chose #1 to wear...maybe instead of Wheels we should call him Sweet Lou?

Wheels getting ready to go.

The final championship game was under the lights at 9pm at night. (It was a LATE night for a bunch of 6-7 yr olds and the second game of the day for us!)

The fans at the final game.

Sock Check...to make sure he keeps the Brandon Inge look going.

They didn't win the last game, but runner-up isn't so bad.

Two Parks for the Price of One, Twice the Fun...

A Michigan's Adventure trip with Grandpa O, Kim, Taylor, Cassidy, Kelsey, Jack, Sarah & Emily, on a HOT HOT day...turned out to be pretty fun, and very exhausting for the kids. (They slept VERY well on the 3 hour trip home...after driving 3 hours to get there, and spending all day, having tons of fun on roller coasters & rides and playing in the water park. There was only one minor mis-hap with a mean boy in the water-park, otherwise the day was a success! Don't get me started on the story about the mean boy. I was NOT happy about it.)

No pictures from the water park, but here are some from the few hours we spent in the main park before we started to melt.

Surprisingly, Jamie LOVED her first real roller-coaster ride, and it was a pretty big one. I was shocked, and worried she wouldn't survive, but look how happy she was after it was over.

Jamie was very bummed that she wasn't tall enough for the rides that the other kids got to go on, so Grandpa and I stood in line for a while to take her on the Ferris Wheel.

Beach, Sun, Lake Michigan, Eating, Biking, Snacking, Family, Drinking, did I say eating...could any thing make for a better vacation?

The Vacationers

I think I could take sunset pictures everyday and not get bored with it.

It is only a matter of time, until it isn't cute to take pictures of sandy bums. But for now, I can.

A lot of 'soup' making happening during the week.

My favorite quote of the week from Rachel: "Uuggg what a disaster!"

No comment on the naked kids all in one pool.

Daniel chillin.

These 2 decided it would be a good idea to get married.

Grandpa taught Dawson how to sand surf.

We celebrated Josie's 1st birthday on vacation also. Happy Birthday Josie!

No more teachers, no more books....

...actually, Dawson was pretty sad that it was the last day of Kindergarten. He said to me on the way to school "Do I really not get to go to school anymore? I like school."

Let's see how long that attitude lasts.

For the last day of kindergarten, all rules were off...the kids had a party on the front lawn of school, with water fun, face painting, games, and more. They had a blast...then had to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye. Now, we get to do it all over next year with Jamie!

Dance Recital

Jamie's year of dance came to a close with a recital this weekend. It was super cute and the girls did a great job! They did it on a big auditorium stage, with special lighting, and stage makeup and everything. They were so proud of themselves.

Storm

We had some pretty major storm action here, over the weekend. We were out of town during the big one (hail, tornado, etc.) and it ripped through the streets right next to us. Our house, however, was completely untouched (thank goodness, or unfortunate - depending on how you look at it.) We also never lost power, like most of the neighborhood did. Trees landed on houses, trees uprooted sidewalks, powerlines everywhere, big mess.

Here are some sights, after things had been cleaned up (cut down away from the street) a little, from a couple streets over: (pictures were from my phone, sorry.)

See the sidewalk, it's in the air.

This tree went right through the middle of the house on the left (it has now been cut apart).

A while ago....

A while ago, we decided that it would be a good idea to date .....

*Circa 1999*

Then we decided, it would be good idea to get married.....

June 1, 2002

Now, 8 years later, we are way more tired, way more out of shape (and by we I mean Janet), and have way more wrinkles. But, those were still good ideas. Happy 8 years!