Fathers Day Weekend

We spend our Father's Day a day early, on Saturday.  Just because we are usually busy on Sunday's and we wanted Aaron to be able to just "relax" on Sunday.

We left about 8am, grabbed coffee and chocolate milk and drove a quick 2 minutes to the Bowl and Pitcher at Riverside State Park. 

Aaron and the boys have had "boy days" here before--hiking and exploring, but in all the years that I've lived here, I've never seen this part of our city.  It was pretty cool.  Lots of trails to hike, nooks to explore, and a breathtaking view, any which way you look.

Colton gathered hiking sticks for everyone and we set off on an unknown adventure.  We took trails that were marked and trails that deer and other wildlife had created for us.  We found an oooooold abandoned car that was rusted out and the kids explored inside of it.  We also saw a man-made shelter that someone had built, made of sticks and branches to keep the elements out.

Of course, Mr. Landscaper himself saw the basalt cliff and the shapes of the basalt on the side of the mountain are what they take out and carve into water features and decorative rocks in people yard---the hexagon shape.

After our hike, the boys had a t-ball game, followed by a church softball game that Aaron had, and immediately after the softball game, we drove to Avista Stadium for a baseball game.   The boys' school reserved a section so we sat with NWC students and parents and enjoyed $1 hot dogs, drinks, and ice cream sandwiches.

Good day.  Good day.

Dad and his boys, at the river

Thanks, Colton, for the hiking sticks!

What a cute kiddo.

The man-made shelter

The old abandoned car....we determined it was a VW Bug.

Hey!  Usually its the kids with the cheeseball grin!

Exploring and analyzing the shelter.

Here is the basalt rock.  See the shapes of the rock?  They take the rock out in sections and they come out as a column and they bore holes through the middle to make fountains.

Love me some ice cream!

YAY!  Gramma bought us souvenier bats!

It was almost as big as him!!  For only $1!

Mason, Parkers friend was sitting next to him :)

Beautiful night for a baseball game.  See that white shirt guy?  That's Aaron's dad!  They came too!!

T-Ball opening day ceremonies

Last Saturday we had the boys' opening day of t-ball ceremonies. This was a pretty big deal...bigger than I had thought. ALL of north Spokane tball, coach pitch, and older teams were there. Even Otto from the Spokane Indians was there :)
The announcer called each team and they all ran out behind their coach onto the field to be introduced. They sang the National Anthem and had some short speeches by the league organizers.
After the introductions were over we headed over to get our team and individual pictures. I snuck in and took one behind the photographer ;)
When pictures were over we drive up to Colbert to play our 2-inning game.
It was such a fun day that I have been anticipating since the kids were babies...SPORTS are here!! YAY!!

T-ball practice!! Go Yankees!!

Friday night was Parker AND Colton's first t-ball practice! I emphasized the "and" because Colton had been dying to be a part of a "team" for well over a year now.
It was so cute, he kept kind of "half-looking" around at Aaron and I and giving us a shy thumbs up with a quirky grin on his face.
We are the New York Yankees and 8 of Parker's schoolmates (not all in the same class, but the same grade and they all know each other) are on the team.
Practice started out with a pep talk from coach Ty and then went into a big circle of a meet and greet with each player saying their name and their favorite ice cream flavor :)

After that they went right into stretching and a short jog. Parker led the group running, the boy has a great stride that helps him run fast!

Taking grounders with Connor

Stretching their arms out

They then broke up into groups and had 3 stations with parents helping. Aaron helped the kids with fielding, while there was a hitting and throwing stations as well.
We got a lot of comments about how strong Colton's throwing arm was. Both kids hit well too.
At the end of practice we huddled and said, "gooooooo Yankees!"
And what practice wouldn't be xomwte without snacks at the end!!
See you at practice next week!!

He was SO SO EXCITED to be pracitcing on a REAL team!!

Running the bases

Asst coach telling Colton what to do for base running

Playing catch

Rounding 3rd

Colton gets ready to swing

Parker is "fielding"

Aaron's going to have a talk with the coaches about changing Colton's swing---he's got a NATURAL swing and they are trying to "mis" correct it---NOPE--not in our family!!

Got the grounder!

He swung hard, now he's watching it sail!

They had to throw their own ball as hard and as far as they could and then go and run as fast as they could to retreive it and bring it back

More stretching

Colton's fielding grounders

Aaron is teaching the boys the correct technique for fielding stance and hand position

Throw it Colton!

Being goofy

Darn!  I was a second too late---Colton had JUST looked at me "slightly" and gave me the thumbs up "I'm excited" gesture.