The Best Time of the Year...

Weather-wise, that is. Not too hot; not too cold. Addy discovered the joys of playing outside this weekend. We played outside last night until we were filthy. Grandpa Doug gave us this sandbox and the kids are loving it.

Not pictured: Rhett and Kade. The boys had ridden the four-wheeler out the back to go shooting. I was told by Rhett that he shot at a stink bug and "some kind of bird that is in season." Great. Kade clarified for me. He shot at quail, it is in season, and he had free reign of a .22---It's better for mom to stay home.

Fish Tales

Bear Stories

Bear Hunt '08

This post will mostly be about how a man can tell their story and the woman can mess it up.
So Kade went bear hunting in Alaska last week. He and his good friend, Ben, came up with this plan at the first of the year. Now Ben doesn't have to answer to anyone and gets to do some pretty great things that cause lots of lingering ideas for Kade. I am sure it took careful planning and timing, but Kade approached me about the hunting trip. I personally consider myself pretty easy going, so the trip was on. Anyhow, the jist is that he left us for a week went to California to meet up with Ben, travelled onto Alaska, completed their supply list there and hit the ferry to head to Prince of Wales island for the big hunt. Kade doesn't say much, not that I don't try to pry for all the details down to what they ate for every meal (count yourself lucky Ben) but I think they had a good time.

Riding the ferry and pondering on the possible size of bears to be had.
Fishing. There were Salmon running and I was told they could even catch the fish with their hands so it really wasn't too exciting to fish.
The bear. Kade refused to go home emptied handed and they weren't seeing many bears so he went after this one. It turned out to be bigger than they thought. Something like 7' and a 20" skull (where the scoring comes from) and when they took it in it was the biggest seen to that point. And you can see from their expressions, they had a blast! So the bear is in the freezer at Ben's until we can get it turned into a fabulous rug for the wall, the top of the 14' wall. It'll be awesome:) And after reviewing the trip, it has been decided (assumed) that they will go again in 18 months on the spring bear hunt and stay longer. Good luck boys.

Meet the Sharks

Rhett started soccer. Earlier this year, we had a friend wanting to put together a soccer team. If we signed up early enough we could make sure our boys could be on the same team. At the time, Rhett thought soccer looked like "a hard sport with just a lot of running." He wasn't convinced he wanted to participate. They've finally started the season. He has had two practices and one game. After the first practice he asked me if we could sign up for soccer again. He loves it! He's not the most aggressive kid out there, but he is fast and loving it. They actually

won their game yesterday, but I am not sure they really keep track or tell the kids. It's just a lot of fun.

Rhett is number five. Important to note in case you can't find him in the game of three-on-three! :)
Coach Troy, Hyatt, Treydan, Grayson, Rhett and Brodie
A little of the action!

This is for you Kim.....

Our first one has started school and we now have to have a schedule. For some reason it gets harder to be up and ready to go when you HAVE to. Any other time we are up anyway with nowhere to go. At first Rhett was mad that he had to start Kindergarten soon. He thought it would be boring and "you just sit there all day!" But it turns out that he loves it. On the second day of school he told me not to walk him in. Sad day.

At Summer's End

We are so excited when summer gets here and the days are longer, but we also enjoy when it starts winding down and things get cooler. We found some great summer clearance at Target and the kids have been enjoying their new slip n' slide. Even Addy had no probably crawling into the water and getting drenched.