end of our softball season and other ramblings...

We played our final church softball game tonight. Our team retained our 1st place standing with much help through the season from Big Daddy. He hit at least one homerun per game and usually more. While he was pounding them to/over the fence, I was in a bit of a slump this whole season and so frustrated with myself. I did finally hit a really nice one into the outfield tonight so I didn't end the season on a down note.

It has been a perfect day here today! It got down to 42 degrees last night so fall is definately in the air. We took the kids swimming today and we played some ball in the park across the street from our house.

While we were playing softball another bear loped across the park. This one was bigger but not full grown. The sheriff's department was following him and he went up a tree and then came back down and disappeared into the woods. Not sure what the sheriff's department was going to do with him if they caught up to him anyway.

I'll leave you with a great sunset...

little black bear...

We know that bears live around us in the woods and have heard of different sightings but we have never seen one around our house until today. Our house backs up to our church and I was over there today when this little black bear wandered up to the basement window. He was the size of a medium dog or so. He was very curious and you could tell he was checking things out. He wandered around and then back into the woods. He came back one more time and stood on his haunches before ambling off into the woods again! We never saw mama but know she was somewhere close! Cool, huh!!!

I have no pictures of this cute little guy because my cell phone had a full memory and by the time I deleted a few pics, he was gone.

cabin time

I wanted to share a few pictures from our recent trip to a friend's cabin a few miles north of here. Our friend Jim and Merrie have a family cabin that they invited us to a few weekends ago. The cabin is still charmingly old fashioned without running water or indoor toilet. It has a small kitchen, and room to sleep quite a few, as long as you don't need your own bedroom.

Dan and Jim enjoyed fishing off the dock and out in the boat. They caught some nice bass and northerns. The kids (7 of them) fished off of the dock and caught enought sunnies to keep us hopping trying to keep their poles baited.

We had a campfire and smores that night. The next day, we had biscuits and gravy (yum!) and we did more fishing and swimming before we packed it up and headed home.

Another broken bone...

As I was trying to get Macy's finger out of the toy gun it was pinched in, Levi sped around the upstairs corner to see what Macy was wailing about. He missed the top step and fell all the way down to the landing where Macy and I were. Levi's cries were not the normal, "I fell down" cries. He stopped crying and we went about our business. That evening at Bible study a friend who is a nurse looked at it and said it was swollen and maybe I should have it looked at.

Levi was not wanting to go to the doctor so we let it go a day before we finally decided that he should be seen today. Sure enough, he had fractured his arm just above the wrist. Thankfully, it didn't need to be reset and it didn't harm the growth plate so he was fitted for a really cool cast that is breathable and he can even swim in it. It even has a zipper on the bottom. His doctor said that was incase he stuck a lego or hotwheels down there! :) Sounds like this guy has a few kids of his own! :) We have to check back with the doctor in three weeks to see how it's healing.

Anyway, it was an eventful day! :)

Macy on the dock

Stick Boy

The kids had been busy on the driveway out front with some sidewalk chalk. I hadn't really looked at what they were drawing. Dan came home from work and he called me outside. "Co, did you see this?" I looked down and saw this "stick boy" on the driveway. We both cracked up! Apparently, Macy has been studying anatomy! :)

Summer, wonderful summer!

It's been quite some time since I've updated our blog...about 3 months. Once the weather gets nice, it's hard to spend time indoors.

We took a trip to Colorado to see family and to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday! We had a great time with both of our families. Two days before we were to head back home, there was a tornado that hit Windsor. Dan's parents, my parents, my sister and my Grandpa live in Windsor. We were in Estes Park at the time and heard several people talking about a tornado and then we found out where it was. It ended our trip to the mountains and we scooted back down the canyon to see if everyone was ok. My sister's house sustained the most damage but no one was hurt. My nephew was home at the time and he said it was an incredibly frightening sight. She is now getting her fence replaced, her roof redone, siding fixed and new backyard furniture as we found it's remains a few block over. We were incredibly impressed with how everyone pulled together to get the neighborhoods cleaned up. The Red Cross was wonderful with supplies and food for all the workers. We chose to spend the last day of our vacation helping to clean up around my sister's neighborhood. We were amazed at the devastation the tornado caused. My sister's house was in better shape than most others.

June brought our 19th anniversary and the triplets 5th birthday. We had a big party with their friends on their birthday.

Shelby played softball in May, June and July. This was her last year of coach pitch so she was one of the oldest girls on the team. She had so much fun. Dan and I really enjoy watching her improve over the season. Her team took second in the tournaments.

Dan's parents and sister Jill and Mik and Zane were here for the 4th of July. We had a great time boating, swimming, geocaching, playing softball, and watching fireworks.

Since softball ended, we are at the the point in summer where we slow down and have less places to go. If the sun's shinin', we can be found at the lake swimmin'. Shelby is an excellent swimmer - she seems to have to buoancy of her grandma Jo. Kylie and Levi are unafraid and will bail off the end of the dock around 100 times a day! :) Macy is a bit more cautious but jumps in unafraid in the more shallow water. We've also been doing a little fishing.

We figured out how to make great homeade ice cream thanks to my Dad's recipe and a ice cream maker from Mom and Dad E. Come for a visit and we'll make ya some!

Happy summer to you all!