Medieval Times! i.e. The Night of Their Lives

Boomer's Disney Night

We had a great last night of vacation thanks to company from Uncle Ben and Grandpa and a Schamburg Boomers Ballgame.  The evening opened up with a foul ball that Ben caught and ended with a fireworks display that was better than some I've seen on the 4th of July.  So what if they lost...we had a great time and got an autograph.  I was so sad to see that night end knowing we would be getting on a plane early the next morning and leaving my family. 

Club Ball...New Jerseys

First Day of Preschool!!!

It went well!! 

Baseball Lessons

We love visiting the local batting cages.  They also offer lessons and we try and take the boys once every week or two for some extra practice.  Their favorite instructor moved and we were really bummed about it and worried that we would not find someone as good.  They tried out a new instructor who just finished playing college ball.  He turned out to be really good!  It's about 100 degrees in the cages but they still go back. 

The Second Day of Preschool, the First Day of Work and a Sleepy Boy.

SOCCER!!! (Mareea's First Game and Silly Kids)Ob

Deep concentration on the game going on here.  Sweet Mareea seems to be BFFs with her team after only one practice and one game. 

Mareea and Thea had their first soccer games last weekend and did so well.  For Mareea it was her first game ever and she was so very excited to play.  She scored 2 goals!!  I have no idea exactly how they happened, but amidst the mass of several legs kicking at that ball she managed to get it in. 
Thea also did great.  She scored (FROM MID FIELD!!) and worked her bottom off the whole time.  She moved up to the "big kid" field this year and it is literally 3 times as big as the one she was on last year. It was great fun to watch her play. 
The boys are being coached by Dan this season and they have won their first two games.  It's a little hectic for them.  They run from soccer to baseball or vice versa.  It's several hours out in the hot sun working hard.  They seem to love it though.  A rained out game ruins their day so I know they are having fun.  Hopefully I can get some more pictures up of the others playing.  I was mostly concerned with getting pics of Mareea because it was her first game ever! 

A Hike and an Art Desk

Notice the sweaty people?  Quote of the hike-(quintin) "All we need is a breeze and this would be awesome".  lol  There was a lot of humidity and no breeze.  There was, however, plenty of beauty. 

Hawaii shows its unique beauty even in the rain.  This was taken on the drive home from the Friendship Gardens hike.

For Labor Day we tried out a hike that a lady I volunteer with at AWANA told me about.  Friendship Gardens was a beautiful hike and a great workout...all uphill.  There were some beautiful views along the way.  We are not sure if we got to the top or not.  When it started to lightning we made our way back down. 
Mareea is sitting at our new art desk.  We bought this desk for Landon, and he used it for awhile, but it really is too small for him.  Over the long weekend I cleaned it off and moved it into the living room.  I got some courage and put out scary art supplies such as markers, tape and paints in labeled baskets and explained to the kids that they all need to be returned and that they are to only be used at the desk.  So far it has gone really well and Evangeline spends the most time there.  She loves to color whatever pictures I put in the basket for her.  I even ordered some new supplies to put at the desk.  It seems to keep the mess down and encourages creativity.  It's kind of funny though.  I was so worried about putting out markers and no one touches them.  Mostly just crayons. 

Landon's First Cello Lesson

We were very excited to have found a cello teacher right on base.  She's quite affordable and we were able to rent a cello to try this out.  One exciting thing is that she's teaching from the Suzuki book so I will know the songs and be able to help some.  I really hope this works out for him!!