Ripon Sea Lions Award Ceremony

The 2009 Ripon Sea Lion's were undefeated this year! Rachel and Bret had the privilege of swimming with a group of talented swimmers. They worked hard along side their team, and significantly improved their strokes and times!

Bret receiving his participation award.

Boy's 11-12 team.

Girls - 13-14 team.

Rachel receiving her participation award.

Lilly - the cheerleader and future Sea Lion!

Bret received a trophy for Most Improved Swimmer for boy's 11-12!

Yeah Bret!

Rachel and Bret are looking forward to their first year of extended team. They'll be working on their strokes from now until October 31st!

Grandma's 60th!

Mom and her three kids - Amy, John, Melissa

Grandma, Papa and all the grandkids!

Amy's - Michaela, Jeremiah, Emily, Moriah, Josiah, Javan, Maia, and Maris

John's - Maekinzie, Nadalee

Melissa's - Rachel, Bret, Garret, Lilly

Campbell Cousin's Visit

Emily and the kids came for a visit last week. What a great time we had catching up on each other's lives, seeing how much our kids have grown, etc. No visit is complete without a meal to Taqueria! After dinner the Campbell's and Crew's killed some time at Old Navy and then headed to "Strike Zone" for bowling with the Sea Lions!

Here is the one and only boy table!

Little girls!

Big Girls!

Kelsey and Lilly - they were twins tonight!

Garret before his melt down!

Waiting for their balls. These girls were serious about bowling!

Ella, Bret, Carlee

Not sure what Blog spot is doing - but ok here are the biggest girls w/ two cute little boys!

In reverse order - for reasons only blog spot knows!!! Or maybe it's been so long that I don't remember how to blog anymore!

The girls used this on their second game. It was much easier - and kept their spirits high!
Here's Garret after his melt down. Sue let him play with her I - Phone. Technology will sooth any Crew male!

Aren't they cute! Thanks Emily for doing Lilly's hair!

A Day on the Lake

What a fun day on the lake with friends, grandma, an aunt and cousins!

I wasn't sure how Garret would react to tubing -but he loved it!

On the way home Lilly told us that tubing was more than fun, it was awesome.  In fact she didn't want it called fun at all.  It was too much more than that for her!

The big kids were a thrill to watch!  The boat picked up more speed and the girls loved it!

Martin and Sam - thanks for everything!

Sam is an incredible wake boarder!

In the early afternoon the kids switched to kayaks.

Lilly begged, and I relented.  This was a big mistake.

It was windy and she effortlessly moved across the lake.  Her big brother came to her rescue.

He and Madison worked to tie Lilly's boat to Bret's.  I was pretty impressed...

until it became clear that now Bret was in trouble.  He was able to get Lilly to shore and give her to me.  Why I didn't jump in the kayak, I don't know.  He was very confident that he could get both kayaks back to the dock.  But no, now Bret was much farther than Lilly had been.  I ran back to camp for help - yes, ran!

Martin and Sam to the rescue!!  Sue too!  Thank you Sue!

O.K.  silly computer deleted my last picture, but it's of everybody making it back to shore in the boat.  Thanks Yeomans for a special day.  It reminded me of my high school days on Lake Tulloch.  Glad my children were able to experience some of the same type of fun!  Looking forward to next year already!!

Plague or Blessing?

It's that time of year again (Summer) when the frogs invade.  Where have they been for the last six months?  These little guys have to eat something, and it's bugs, bugs, and more bugs!  Therefore I call them a blessing!  

They're tiny but they sure make a racket.  Maybe they are a plague after all.

Happy Birthday Garret

Garret had two days to celebrate his 8th birthday!  As we reminisced over the day he was born, words like rain, wind, stormy weather came to mind.  A far cry from the record breaking temperatures we've had the past two days!

Papa, Garret and the much loved, much wanted Nerf Sword!

They can finally have their duel!

Two swords, different colors, no confusion!  Thanks Papa and Grandma!

Yum!  This was Garret's request for Birthday Breakfast!  I turned it into a Sunday Breakfast Brunch with enough leftovers to make it to the actual birthday breakfast!  It was fun and delicious!

Present Time!

The school teacher in me couldn't resist another state and capital game!

Yeah!  If it's Nerf and it shoots - they love it!  This one is air-powered!  It makes enough noise to keep me out of site of target!!

Garret - will open this present...

anyway, he can!!!

Box cake - we weren't really hungry for anyway!

Sunday was a great day spent with Papa and Grandma.  Monday was school, but Monday evening we broke out in celebration again!  We ordered Pizza Plus and took it to Grandma and Papa's!  Garret and Lilly had their first swim of the year - in the freezing cold pool!  Rachel and Bret swam too, but they do that every day!  When swimming was over, and Wade had cut an old telephone pole down with the neighbor's chainsaw (must stay busy!) it was once more time for cake.  We enjoyed coffee cake this evening - yum!  The partying is now over.  I probably gained 5 pounds, but it was fun! 

It's nice to have an 8 year old in the house!  Garret is a special boy, we enjoy his intellect, his love for God, and his play by play computer game stories!!

Happy Birthday Garret!