sports weekend

we were major sports fans this weekend, making three trips downtown for games.
it was quite fun.  it felt like we were on vacation.
just one fun event after another.

friday night we all went to the arena bowl to watch the rattlers in the final game.
the end of the game was crazy exciting, but we ended up losing in the final seconds.
they thought they had it in the bag.
but the other team caught a pass for a td in the last 2 seconds.
you never can be too sure, i guess.

the game was rather loud, and so john started to cover his ears after they scored.
they would fire off some super loud cannon.
smart kid, that john john and fast learner.

on saturday, chris took the kids to the dbacks game where they sat in the 15th row.
a very good family friend had given us these amazing tickets.
the first baseman, paul goldschmidt gave a game ball to andrew.
andrew and ella got on the jumbotron flexing their muscles.

sunday we were back at the ball park courtesy of the summer reading program.
right when we walked it, we ran into these guys...

this time the kids got on the jumbotron three times.
three times.  in one game.
it was my first time ever getting on, and i've been to a lot of games.
this is the only one we got a picture of...

they got on another time, holding this sign they made...

and the last time was for dancing to a song from madagascar.
it was such a fun afternoon and weekend to boot.
and a big thank you to my in-laws, they are awesome.
they fed us a delicious dinner after our day at the ballpark.
and a wonderful brunch before the game...
yes,we are truly blessed.

summer snapshot - week 9

we're lucky enough to have relatives with a cabin up in the cool parts of the state.
and they are generous enough to let us use it.
so, we drove home from lori's cabin just long enough to do laundry & shopping.
we packed up the car again a day later adding chris and our dog lady,
and spent some quality time together as a family enjoying the outdoors.

we went fishing a couple of times.
there are some beautiful lakes nearby.
here is john taking a break from eating his breakfast to pray in the car on the way.

this picture was taken right before ella fell into the water.
luckily we were able to use chris' long sleeve shirt for her to change into.

it actually looked pretty cute...tall dad's shirt  = cute shirt/dress for daughter...

wow, just look at that gorgeous scenery.
it is so beautiful and peaceful on the lake, we really had a lovely time there.

some father/daughter fishing took place too...pretty darn cute.

at the cabin, lots of baseball was played...

lots of atv rides were taken...

and lots of campfires were had...

the swing was also a big hit...

and lady really made us laugh with how scared she was of the dog run/leash thing...

tata even got to come up and go fishing with us.

he tore off the tails of the crawdads to use for bait.

 and he really encouraged christopher to hold one, which he finally did...

we really enjoyed hanging out with him.

here are a few shots of our second day of fishing/hiking...

john really wanted to hike around independently, which made me a bit nervous.
there were some really steep parts, but he really managed.
i was impressed and so happy he never fell!

we had a wonderful time, it was so nice to be out of the heat for a long stretch.

and we are so thankful to our relatives for sharing their lovely cabin with us.

now, only one last week of summer to post on!

first day of school

summer flew by, and here we are on the first day of school.
although the summer seemed especially short this year, i think everyone is ready and excited to be back to school.

christopher is in the 6th grade this year, and gets to be in the new beautiful building.
it houses the junior high classes and the new gymatorium.
he also gets to play school sports this year and be a part of some other exciting activities reserved for the junior high kids.

we had to wake john again and throw some clothes on him to make it out the door on time.
just like we had to last year.
those early mornings are the hardest to get used to after the lazy days of summer.

here's to another great school year!!