Fourth of July trip, Part 1 (two more to come I think)

Okay....so I know I said it would be the next day...but it's me we're talking about here! So here's the first batch of pictures from the fourth. We drove up on the 3rd and stayed through the 8th and we had a blast. Every year for quite sometime now, my parents have a big 4th of July party at their place. They have the space for lots of people and a great view to see fireworks that we purchase, as well as the people across the Canal. We spent the 4th hanging out with family..you know, weed-eating, mowing the lawn, decorating, playing games, and of course fireworks!!! We went up with our friend James (yes, three James's and one Rebecca) in his truck and it only took us 12 1/2 hours to drive there. We must have been in some sort of weird time flux because that's the fastest we've ever made it up there-and we stopped for breakfast & dinner! Now the exciting part for the boys was the fireworks and for our friend James, the burning of the garbage:) I think we went down to the Indian reservation (or The Res as we call it) at least five or six times between the lot of us. We got so many fireworks....it was quite the show.

This picture is of Jamie & Gabe (his 3 yr. old cousin-Rachel's oldest boy)






Jamie decorated cupcakes for the party--with a lot of frosting & sprinkles! But of course, everyone ate their cupcake that he decorated special for them.






My dad looking cool in the 4th of July top hat.





My sister, Rachel & her husband, Mike.











James and a weird 4th of July headband--making a weird face. I think he kind of looks like a deranged character from Fraggle Rock.






Now, a weird photo of Jamie. And no, I have no clue what he's doing!
















James getting ready to BBQ with my dad's BBQ gloves---his welding gloves!







James & Brody (Rachel's youngest boy, just turned 2 but man is he huge! Almost as big as Gabe)


The view from my parents deck--this was the sunset on the 4th. It was so beautiful...I really miss the great views & the woods.



Well, that's it for today. I will try my best to post again tomorrow with some photos of fireworks and from the evening of the 4th.
Take care.
-Becca

Here they come....

So having spent a sufficient amount of time procrastinating, I shall now begin with posts from pre-vacation through to present day. This post is just of Jamie. I know, most of them are just of Jamie. But since he's gone for three weeks now, and I was feeling a bit lonely, I decided this is devoted to my boy! I took all of these pictures right before we went on vacation to Washington. And for some reason, he was all about having his photo taken...nevermind the fact that he's in the bath! So, without further ado, Jamie in the bath.












Jamie & his beard--he was making an 'old man' face



































He decided he needed his goggles in the bath--then he practiced his side breathing for his freestyle stroke!





He also tried practicing his freestyle stroke, but that didn't work out so well-he ended up hurting himself and decided he would just practice breathing.




Lastly, I am posting this video of Jamie in the bath. It's not very interesting I guess, but it shows his personality and it's fun.
My next post shall start with the beginning of our vacation. Oh, I forgot to mention-Jamie went to Summer Bible Camp the last week of June and had a great time. He even made me a fabulous foam visor with 9 foam crosses on it--2 of them are sparkly--and a J. It reminds me of a bingo hat. :) But of course, I wore it the day he gave it to me-even if I looked absolutely silly! The last Friday in June we got to go to an Oakland A's game with our friends, Jim & Lynda & Ault, and some of their family friends. So here's a few pictures from that day as well.

Jamie & our friend Jim









Father & Son






Jamie wearing Ault's sunglasses (you can see he brought his mitt-in case a ball came our way)

















Jamie wanted a picture with the A's elephant--and since he had to wear his Mariners hat to the game, the elephant covered up the logo in the photo! It was quite funny.

That's all for now--I shall begin the massive posting and photos tomorrow.
Take care-Becca

Army man picture

As Ruth pointed out, I forgot to ad the army man picture of Jamie! So here it is, nice & cropped :)

All Star Weekend

Okay, so as promised, here is a run down of the games this weekend and then some photos. Jamie's first game was Saturday at 9am vs. the All Star Royal Blue team. Jamie's Red Sox teammate Colin, was on this team. Jamie played in right field and got quite a few balls his way. One was hit to him and he fielded it, then threw it to first base and got the third out of the inning! He was so excited that he did this little happy gallop into the dugout-it was really cute...and his coach joined him for the gallop. Batting for this game was good. He went 2 for 3. His first at bat he nailed one to the shortstop, who happend to be Colin, and he caught it! Jamie was a little upset, but recovered quickly:) In the second inning, our team was on the field and the bases were loaded with no outs. Their batter hit one toward our short stop--he caught it (amazing enough...but wait) then ran to 2nd base to tag out the runner who had taken off, then he threw the ball to home where the catcher tagged out the runner coming in....a triple play! In Peewee baseball! It was insane and awesome--I don't think I've heard louder cheering. So here are a few photos from the first game. Some are courtesy of my friend Ruth, who rocks at taking good photos. It was neat that their whole family got to see Jamie--he was particularly excited that Elisha was there. So I've included a couple of pictures of Bethany & Elisha, because they're so cute. Oh, and the neat thing was Jamie got a jersey with his name embroidered on it & a number of his choice--he chose #51, just like Ichiro!
Check out this picture Ruth got of Jamie grabbing this ground ball--this is the one he threw to the first baseman & got the third out.






























Bethany













Elisha













Jamie with Elisha & Bethany







So now, on to the second game. It was today, Sunday at 11am. We played against the All Star Navy Blue team for first place. Jamie got to play right field again and did good. He also went 2 for 3 again, and popped out at his first at bat again. His third at bat was really good--he slammed one into the outfield! We ended up going into the bottom of the sixth tied 16-16. We ended up getting a run, and they called the game at 17-16. We won! All the kids were excited. It was a blast. After the game, all the kids (on both teams) got certificates from JOBL for making the All Star team. I, of course, got plenty of pictures. So now I shall add a few more pictures for your enjoyment:) Jamie had a great time this weekend and loves baseball second (behind school, according to him). Oh, and I'm including a picture of Jamie in his 'army gear'. He got all dressed up, then battled the forces all the way up the stairs for a top secret mission--to get the dirty laundry! :)














Our All Star team (the red one) and the Navy Blue team we played for the championship today.


James & Jamie with his certificate.

1st Place!

So Jamie's All Star team won their game today 17-16 and got first place for the tournament. It was really exciting--I will be posting pictures later tonight when I have time, but I wanted to quickly jot this down!

Awesome Hat

So I know I already posted today, but James just got back from Vegas and he got Jamie a sweet hat. Here is the video. If you can't tell, it's a Seahawks hat that lights up! Awesome!

Okay. Take care everyone.
-Becca

swimming lessons...and a couple of photos

So, Jamie started swimming lessons this week (for two weeks) and I was afraid it was going to be a catastrophe. Before lessons started, we took a dip in our pool and I swear he forgot every single thing he learned last year. He could hardly stay afloat...and as a result, he was convinced he was going to drown his first lesson. And then, miracle of all miracles, he didn't! In fact, he loved his first lesson and now he loves going to "swim school". Today they started learning the breast stroke & got to jump off the diving board for Fun Friday. He has four more lessons next week as well as Summer Bible Camp every day. It's going to be a busy one! So I'm posting a video of Jamie practicing his "pencil kick" as well as a couple of photos of him in our pool. Now I know the video is probably boring as all get out, but it was a significant improvement from just a couple of days ago so I had to post it. Plus, I haven't posted a video in forever. I will get one of him reading soon--promise:)













































This is of Holden, my friend Erin's little boy. He's adorable and has the best smile (which Jamie seemed able to coax right out of him!)











I couldn't resist taking this photo one night. It's Jamie & his Build-a-Bear Tom. He loves to cuddle with this bear. Although he still goes back to the old faves--Elmo & Cookie Monster (with their plastic eyes with teeth marks & holes). Today, Jamie had his quiet rest time in his room and I listened to him tell Tom the story of Goldilocks & the three bears. It was really cute. He was very animated, if you can imagine.



Jamie's All Star games are this weekend, so I'm sure I'll be posting with pictures and/or videos from that soon. As always, take care.
-Becca