Mariners Games

Well we have lived here in Seattle(Kent) for 6 months now and have not gone to a single Mariners game. Well that changed this week. First on Monday night the Snelders, Browns, Brittany and us went to the Mariners game. We sat in the upper deck, which actually wasn't that bad. The kids sure had a fun time and Dillon was so excited to get some "fuzzy wuzzy" (translation: cotton candy). Ironically, my secretary had tickets to the baseball game the following night and could not use them so she gave them to me. They were incredible seats! I was down on the field on the 17th row right behind the Angles dugout. I was so close to the field that when the players were batting I could see their eyes. So in two nights I went to two baseball games.

A crazy coincedence was on Monday night at the game, our family was sitting in the bleachers waiting for our friends to arrive and up the stairs comes Richard Bird, my old friend from high school when we lived in Boise. Ended up that he was in town on business so I invited him to the game with me the following night.

The Mariners have struggled this season and will finish the season with the worst record in baseball. They were playing the Angles both nights who, on the other hand, have the best record in baseball. Ther first night the Mariners lost 2-1 (which made for a rather boring game), but the next night they won 9-6. I secretly was hoping the Mariners would lose that second game because it would have been the first time ever in baseball history that a team with a payroll of $100 million lost 100 games.

Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle)

On Saturday we took our first adventure to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We ended up staying for 5 1/2 hour and amazingly the kids did wonderful...much better than their mother in fact! My highlight was probably the brown bear exhibit. We got there at the perfect time and were able to see one play in the water about 2 feet from us. Another cool exhibit was the night-time exhibit. It was a building that was dark with a little bit of light coming through. We were able to see some animals you would never be able to see during the day time. We also went to a birds of prey presentation where they had a hawk, falcon, vulture and an owl that would fly around us. The kids sure seemed to have an enjoyable time. Here are some of the pictures from our journey:

Labor Day Weekend

Well today is Labor Day and since we took a vacation last week, we decided to stay home. We have actually had a pretty fun morning. We woke up and went exploring Lake Fenwick, which is only about a mile from our house, but it feels like you are deep in the woods. It is a very pretty lake with a wonderful trail to follow. We also took the opportunity to pick ourselves some wild blackberrys that are very yummy. Here's some pictures of our journey:







After that we went to one of our favoirte places, Des Moines. We decided to walk along the beach instead of the pier and I'm sure glad we did. We found more crabs than we ever had! In fact under one rock I turned over there were probably 50 crabs ranging from the size of a M&M to the size of a tennis ball. Natalie also found s huge spiral shell that had some type of living organism in it. We had no idea what it was, so we left it on the beach. We will sure miss our crab hunting experiences when we have to leave Seattle. Here's some pictures:

Summer Trip to Boise

Well we finally took some vacation this year. We decided to go to a place we are very familiar with, good ol' Boise. Usually a trip from Seattle to Boise would constitute an 8-hour car drive, but fortunately my parents live almost half-way in the middle, so we were able to split the drive up. We left Seattle on a Tuesday afternoon and stayed at my parents house that night in Kennewick. Since our trip was during Kenzie and Dillon's birthdays, my parents took them shopping to Toys R' Us and let them pick out their own birthday presents. The kids loved that! Below is a picture of Kenzie and her birthday...cupcake!



The next morning we woke up and headed to Boise. We decided to stay at Jay and Leah's house, which was perfect. We basically had the entire downstairs to ourself. I had been nervous about the weather in Boise. I've become accustomed to the 70 degree weather here in Seattle and was dreading the 100 degree weather in Boise, however, the whole time we were there it never got above 85 degrees. It was beautiful! Natalie's mom flew in from Texas to be with us and the Murray's came up from Provo to be here to, so it was somewhat of a little family reunion.

The Olympics in Beijing were going on, so one of my favorite activities to do, was to bring one of Jay and Leah's TV outside on the patio and we'd all watch the olympics together. I think Dillon's highlight was riding the four-wheelers with his cousins Ethan and Eric on the motorcyle track they have in their yard.

I purchased Dillon a little fishing pole and we took it with us up to Black Canyon Resevoir above Emmett. He loved it! It was also a big hit with the cousins. Here's a picture of us all on the dock with our $10 Go Diego fishing pole.


On Saturday the 23rd we had a joint party for Dillon and Kenzie at the Walker's house. The Rupps, Murrays, Kyle & Jen, and our friends the Johns all came. Natalie and I purchased the food and had a BBQ. There was enough food to feed an army! I hope Leah and Jay are enjoying the plethura of Polish Sausages we left for them. The kids sure seemed to enjoy opening presents and spending time with their cousins. Here are some pictures of their party:





On the way home, again we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Kennewick and celebrated Dillon's birthday. Here are some pictures of that: