A Weekend Full of Hoops

We took a little weekend get-a-way to Spokane, Washington this weekend. It was a fun little vacation for all of us. Mike, his two brother Jason and Ryan and a good friend of ours, Reuben were involved in the BIG Hoopfest Tournament. Now, when I say BIG, I'm not joking . . . . I believe the numbers I heard were4,600 teams, 24,000 participants, then throw in the fans there to watch them! The tournament was 3 on 3 half court basketball. They blocked off many blocks in the downtown riverfront park area and had courts set up all over. The crowds were crazy!! No motel was vacant in a 30 mile radius.






The kids enjoyed the motel. We had a great place with lots of little extras. They loved to swim with there friends, Ethan, Kate and cousin, Logan.


My girls crack me up. The love to show off for the camera . . . can't you just hear that Madonna song playing . . . "Strike a pose there's nothing to it, Vogue . . ." In this picture we were just getting ready to leave for our first day of Hoop Fest and they are showing off there new clothes.


















Grace just adores her friend, Kate. Kate LOVES shoes and I think that is starting to rub off on Grace, of course never could she compare to Kate. At some point during the morning, the girls decided to switch shoes and wear each others shoes for the day. They are so cute!


















The men were kind enough to let me snap a picture as they were shooting around and warming up . . . although it was around 100 degrees so I don't know how they could of gotten much warmer. ;)





Now, this picture is missing Ryan . . . . he hadn't arrived yet and later on in the morning, my camera decided it had had enough and threw a little hissy and stopped working, so I didn't get to catch many pictures.



Like I had said before, it was very hot, so I let my kids take advantage of the beautiful fountains that the riverfront area has to offer. It was a relief to them to cool down. Although I would like to note two things;


1.) Hoopfest was AWESOME!!! They were always giving my kids FREE Otter pops to help them stay hydrated and cool down. THANK YOU HOOPFEST!!!


2.) Reece brought only one pair of shoes to WA., his water shoes (you know those special shoes that are all meshy and have soles). He must of known that his mom would let him run around in a fountain and he would need those shoes. Way to be prepared Reece!

Even Maddie got into the fountain . . . . there is a long story behind that, but I think I'll just keep that for another time.



Hmmm . . . . I wonder how many kids peed in that fountain . . . . EWE!

Monica bought the kids these huge shaved ice cones. They LOVED them! It was too cute too because we were short a spoon so my girls kept taking turns feeding there little cousin Logan bites. Such little mom's in training.
Can you see this kid's little red hot faces?
I kept spraying them up with sunscreen so they wouldn't burn. Note - not a great idea to spray kids with sunscreen in the park when other kids are running around and making dust clouds. The dirt just comes at you like a magnet and sticks there for days after.


It was a super fun weekend! Many fun memories and new jokes to share. I even got to live a little live Mario Kart. . . . . my years in training served me well. ;)
We ended up leaving a day earlier than originally planned. Of course our trip home turned into a little adventure. I missed a interchange and didn't realize that till we were 60 miles down the road. Thankfully, I always keep my big map book in the trunk so after a few minutes, Mike and I plotted out a new route to get home. It was actually a lot of fun because we got to see a beautiful part of Washington and we only tacked on an extra 30 minutes to our drive. Our car drive consisted of many movies for the kids, lots of car dancing (oh yes, I busted out some moves while driving) to my happy songs, and a bunch of talking. Car trips ROCK!
I wish I could of taken more pictures and gotten some of everybody! We are all planning on doing it again next year, in fact, we have all booked our rooms today for Hoopfest 2009!

9 Years Later . .

9 Years Ago . . . .
Today . . .

Today is Mike's and my 9 year anniversary! How time has flown by! I always say that is seems like Mike and I have always been together but then it feels like we just got married last week. It has been a packed 9 years. We have had three kids, bought two houses, went through a strike at work, comforted each other through 5 close family deaths, bought 5 cars, gone on countless road trips, got flooded in in the middle of Napa Valley (our most notorious worst vacation ever but still so funny!), remodeled a bathroom and a kitchen, re floored a great room together, had 5 dogs, 5 fish, watched our roof fly off during a 139mph windstorm together, laughed at each other many times, snuggled in to watch many a movies, stood strong together when our kids tried to pull a fast one, and my oh my, how this list can go on!!! It's been a fun 9 years though at times pretty rough, it has been wonderful to have this man to go through it all with. The Lord has blessed me with Mike. How incredible he is. He is an involved father who loves to hang out with his kids. He is a patient husband to endure my many mood swings and ideas. I'm looking forward to many more years and adding more to our list of things we have gone through together!

Waterslides

There is nothing my kids remember most from their California trips than the Water Park. All year long my kids talk about all the fun they had the last time they went. This past year they have told me all about the HUGE slide that only big kids can go down because of a size issue. It's the scariest and most daring of all water slides. Now you have to understand that my kids are not afraid of water slides. We have taken them to another indoor park (hey, this is Oregon, it would never get used if it was not indoors) and Maddie and Reece would both go down by themselves on this other very big slide. So these two are not pansies when it comes to water slides. They love a good water slide. But this particular water slide near Grandma's must be quite the slide because my kids have talked about this slide for a long time and how scary it is.


A few days ago I get this crazy phone call from Madison. She is talking non stop and I can not understand quite what she is talking about.
"I did it!"
" . . . really fast."
" . . . up really high."
These were a few things I was able to pick out of what she was going on about. She was so excited and talking so fast.
"That's awesome, Mada!" I say, not quite sure as to what I was so excited about, but obviously a huge accomplishment had occurred.



Well as it turns out, Madison had gone down this infamous water slide. I imagine her face was much like Reece's was in the picture above. How brave of my little girl to go down the slide that was so scary to her. I don't have any pictures of her going down, but none the less, what a great memory for her!

How to Tell if She is a Mommy

As I posted earlier, my kids are in California with my parents getting in a little G&G time (Grandma and Grandpa for those of you who haven't had the first cup of coffee yet). The following little tidbit has been relayed to me and I thought it a little insightful as to how the world is seen through the eyes of a 5 year old.

My kids were in the grocery store with Grandma Gayle stocking up on the much needed sugar cereal and other such junk food that they don't get to eat at home, when they ran into some friends that they have met while down there. There was a young girl, Grace and her older sister Sophia, who is in 6th grade, along with there mother. Of coarse being the ever social butterflies, my girls run over to talk to the two other girls. My mom knows the family and made a comment on how much Sophia has grown. She is now standing taller than her mother. They finish talking and all go there own ways to finish up there shopping.

Madison comments to Reece, "Wow, I didn't know Sophia was a MOM!"

Reece perplexed looks over to Maddie and says, "What? She is not, Maddie!"

"Yes, she is Reece"

"No, she isn't!" Reece replies

"Yes she is Reece! She is taller than the Mom. Besides, how do you know, Reece!"

"Because Moms carry purses!" Reece knowingly states.

Madison contemplates that comments and looks around, "Oh."

I guess that hard piece of evidence was enough to win this argument.

Taking the Kids to California

As many of you know, I'm originally from California. My parents, brother and his family along with most of my extended family, all live down there. So once a year, I take the 16 hour long drive down to my parents house for a little visit. In recent years, my kids have been going down and staying by themselves for a small portion of the summer. This gives them such a great opportunity to get to really know there grandparents. Of course they get quite a bunch of time with there cousins as well. It kills me to leave them there but I do it so that they have that special bond with there grandparents and there grandparents do not become these strangers they hardly know. Family is very important to us. :)

Right now, my kids are down there and staying for the month of June. I've received a few videos and pictures from them. It makes me miss them all the more. They are enjoying playing with there cousins, having breakfast with there great-grandparents, going miniature golfing, visiting parks and playing video games with Gramps.

As for me, I've had some awesome time with my husband, it's reminded us what it was like when we were first married. I have worked on unpacking those moving boxes from a year ago, cleaned out the garage, will be cleaning kids bedrooms, painting, and some much needed sprucing up outside. . It's been great to get some projects done, but I still find myself thinking, oh, Maddie would love to help me plant this bush or what perfect weather for Reece to ride his bike. I miss my little ones! I miss there hugs and silly things they say. :)

Gracie's 4th Birthday

Grace had her birthday in May. My baby turned 4. Where did the time go? I had all three of my kids so quickly that time has simply slipped away. Every birthday I like to go through that child's scrapbook of there birth. Each pregnancy so different and each delivery an absolute miracle and totally amazing. How blessed I am to be given these precious little ones to raise.

I am reminded of the bible story of the woman who prayed for a child and promised to give that child back to God. In an essence, isn't that what we are to do? My job as there mother is to raise them how God wants and to be continually giving them over to God. Something I struggle with on a daily basis. Do I let my child go to this camp or on that trip? I wont be there, how can I protect them?! Yet, I am reminded by that small voice in my heart, to hand them over to God, they are in His hands. Of course I'm not an idiot and let them go play in the highway and say, "Oh well, they are in God's hands." I believe God has given me a brain and some common sense to use as well. :) Anyways, as a mom, this is my struggle and one that I am dealing with that I thought I would share.

On topic of Grace's birthday . . . . What a fun day! Grace was given a day of no chores! Maddie and Reece split up her To Do list and what fun it was for Grace to give directions to them for a change on what they need to be doing. Grace was truly a princess as she sat at the table and Maddie took her plate to the sink.

Grace was surprised with a Princess birthday cake! She loved it and when I put it out on the table she just couldn't walk away. She was so excited over all the princesses on the cake. The best part was the princesses were toys she got to keep when her cake was all gone. Even the top little castle piece was a picture frame.

Her Aunt Krista, Logan, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Morgan and Grandma Debbie all came over to wish her a happy birthday. Gracie felt so special and loved. She was delighted to receive all the fun ponies, Polly pockets, clothes, princess blanket and a fun doggie sprinkler for summer time!

Happy Birthday my darling girl!