Summer Sports

Our summer consisted mostly of this:



And a whole lot of that:



Basically we spent a lot of time with sports this summer and new sports to boot. Jane and Mitchell thought they'd join in on a very popular sport in our little hometown: baseball and softball. I had no idea how seriously this town takes America's favorite game. Mitchell had had a brief t-ball session last summer, but this was essentially a new experience for the kids. This year they learned just what it was like to have practice and games at least three but up to five days a week for two months. But since we spent so much time hitting balls outside I suppose it was kind of a nice treat that we had to wear sweatshirts to three-quarters of the games because it was rather chilly well into July, although the consequence of this was that it made summer feel far too short.



But not to be left out, we had soccer as well. (I think we're getting to the point that there isn't a season that goes by without some sort soccer in this family - we have yet to see if William or Mitchell will be joining an indoor winter league but I'm fully anticipating it.) Mitchell had a British soccer camp, which I think may have been the highlight of his summer, and William played on the company team. For William this was his first foray back into playing for some time and I think he had a great time, when his body wasn't falling apart.

So all in all, the summer baseball sports were somewhat of a success but I think as we've headed into fall we've seen that the kids are falling into the things they really love. Mitchell is back at soccer with William coaching his team and Jane has started Irish dance and singing classes....and Luke is feeling bored because he thinks he needs to be in every sport Mitchell is into. He'll get there soon enough.

The Sabbatical is Over

After my brief, but lingering, sabbatical
Its time to once again become fanatical
And resume my role as family record keeper,
Instead of lazy journal sleeper.
So in that vein I commence to log
Our summer adventures on this family blog.......



So we last left off at Jane's 9th birthday and while that certainly was a highlight in our summer our adventures did not by any means end there. No, we went on to have many excursions including a trip to Yellowstone on the 4th of July. Now you might wonder why we went to Yellowstone instead of staying in town and watching the parade (which, by the way, I participated in by helping to build a float) or barbecuing or taking in the local fare on our first July 4th in this town where they take this holiday very seriously. Well, William was in need of a little more quiet and time away from our nice little town. So we headed off further into the tundra on a very chilly July 4th.



So chilly was our day that we encountered this:


But the hail (I know it looks like snow, but it really was only massive amounts of hail from a huge downpour) left us with few hiking options and even fewer animal viewing options. These large creatures were about the extent of what we saw:


But after a long day with lots of sitting in the car we did feel like we ought to return to warmer weather and get home in time for the fireworks display. And luckily William was able to catch a couple of pictures when Luke wasn't screaming like crazy and covering his ears because he was terrified of the fireworks because now we can remind Luke next year that he was actually outside of a car or building for a couple of minutes while the "explosions" were going off and maybe next year he'll be convinced to watch for a full minute before he screams and hides.

And with this first summer log on the family blog I must sign off to run Jane to an activity that surely will make it into the category of something we must record.

Another birthday adventure

Apparently I can't resist a birthday quest and this time it was Jane who was lucky enough to turn another year older and launch her new year with a poetic adventure. I think this quelled her disappointment with her lame mother who didn't host a birthday bash for her this year but instead invited her Grandmum to come and visit and celebrate with us. And I think she was pretty happy that she got to bake her own birthday cake....well, at least she did the lion's share of the mixing.

So we started the day with a very sick mother who completely forgot baseball and softball games but did not forget that Jane had changed her mind at least a dozen times about what kind of cake she wanted but by the time her birthday arrived she finally settled on an orange chocolate cake....and I must say that it was delicious! So we made her cake and prepared for lunch with her dad. It was at lunch that we presented Jane with the first clue in her quest:

Dearest Jane, never fret
Your special day will be fabulous yet!
So put a happy smile on
And leap on your way to check out the side lawn.

On the lawn she received her first present which Luke was so excited to give her that he couldn't keep the secret and I think, all in all, she's quite happy with her "Shamu" Barbie. I think she was particularly happy the boys didn't get her something "Star Wars" which they kept teasing her was on the menu. But not only did she get her first present, but she also received her next clue:

What a special girl you are
Your brother got you a girlie thing and not a boyish car
But let’s see what’s next, you might be surprised
When you search amongst the building things you need to have keen eyes

I think the lego box seems to be the hiding place of choice for Mitchell because when I asked him where he wanted to hide his present for Jane he was fairly adamant that the lego box was the only decent place to hide anything. So in the lego box she found a big package of Pick-a-boos, or whatever they're called. I didn't really know such a thing existed but Mitchell forced us to go to two stores to find them because he knew this was creme de la creme of girls toys and we were, after all, trying to find a very girly, not boyish, item for Jane. I should mention that this teasing about getting Jane boys toys was getting a little out of hand towards her actual birthday. The boys thought it was so funny that Jane was getting visibly upset because she was worried they might not be joking about having actually found a pink light saber for her. But instead they were very focused on girly things. And of course, in the lego box, she found this:

Somewhere in this house
As quiet as a little mouse
Sit some things you’ll want to read
Look closely where the dust tends to breed

It took her a while to figure out that this was in a book shelf and even longer to figure out which bookshelf. But she finally found it and found the books from Grandmum and of course she had the books read within a couple of days. But before she could read books she was off to continue the quest with this as her clue:

Swishing, swinging
Happiness this is bringing
Check out of doors
Above a place you do your chores

Jane has been dying to start tennis lessons, unfortunately she hasn't started yet because of conflicts with her softball schedule but we'll get there this summer especially since she now has a lovely new racket. And she had a new clue:

Listen to this, listen to that
Rat-ta-tat, rat-ta-tat
Think of where you might hear sounds
When you you’re up instead of down

Ah, an iPod. Jane thought she was in heaven. I think her actual words were "this is the BEST present EVER!" which made me a little worried about her next gift because there was still one to come but made me feel good again that maybe she was forgetting her foul mood of several days because of the lack of a party. So on to the last hurrah:

I wonder where this all leads to
From 0 to 9 you just grew, grew, grew
And now we’re off on a Grand Excursion
So seek out the thing that takes us on this happy diversion

And what, you might ask, was this great excursion?

A trip to the Playmill theater in West Yellowstone to see

So we headed off in the afternoon, Jane, Grandmum and me, to see the show and what a great adventure we had......even Jane thought so. And I should hope so since she loves the music to "The Secret Garden" and has every song memorized. My favorite part of the show was every time Jane leaned over and whispered that "this is my favorite song!" And the music hasn't stopped since we got home.

Bad, Bad Weather

So the weather has been pretty miserable in our tundra home, but my slightly growly feelings on the matter have been soothed just a bit because the weather hasn't been great in our old neighborhood, either. Regardless, once school is out summer is supposed to have begun and we're supposed to be enjoying pleasant if not down-right hot days in the out-of-doors. I guess it doesn't really matter, though, because starting quite early in the morning and taking place all day between thunderstorms is the kids latest obsession, hobby, activity-when-they-don't-fight: baseball/softball. I never in my wildest dreams thought this sport would occupy hours of the kids time but frankly I'm quite grateful for the time-passer. And the kids are having a great a time prepping for their games.
And while they have been busily occupied honing their new-found skills, I have been busy honing my quite imperfect sewing skills. Mitchell is a true middle child; he thinks he has been given a raw deal in much of life. Although I only made a quilt top for Jane and then tied it and I've done nothing for Luke, Mitchell felt his room needed spiffing up and that should come from a cowboy quilt. So I finally made it. Its nothing fancy and you really don't want to look close because of an unforeseen difficulty (i.e. a problem with the binding because this was originally intended-as requested-to be a duvet cover) but it is a cowboy quilt and I actually machine quilted the thing. I guess we all have to have a first try at things and this was mine and hopefully my next attempt will be much more professional but currently Mitchell feels quite loved and special (although you'd never really know it because he doesn't smile in pictures and claims to not know how to) because he's the only who has a new quilt. And for those of you who think I'm now turning into a true Idahoan, it's not true. I've just momentarily found a new creative outlet.

Another year older......

William had a birthday. And according to Mitchell he is OLD! So happy birthday old man! But really this post is another attempt to rectify my poor journaling efforts over the years and really record the happenings of our little family. So, again, Happy Birthday old man and because old age is setting in and you might forget the great things we did for this birthday here is the play-by-play.

We let William sleep in. At least as long as we could allow because we had an agenda and as any good Anderson knows agendas are key to enjoying quality, scheduled, organized and properly planned activities. This, of course, was instilled in us by our loving father who would print, bind and send in the mail (even if you lived in the same house as him) the agenda for family events. While I didn't print and bind the agenda for William's birthday I had made specific arrangements based on a certain time table and it was definitely time to wake William at a little past 8. Quite decadent really, to sleep past 8am.

So as a good Anderson, I was beginning to feel a little nervous because William felt he needed a shower and food and time to wake up properly but this was not in the agenda and he was slowing us down. So we tried to hurry him along without being too overbearing and finally he made his way to the kitchen for his gifts which consisted of a number of things the kids had picked up from the Dollar store. He was really quite good-natured about the lack of anything fancy and in fact thought he had figured out we were taking him on a great adventure, which in fact we were, but not the kind he suspected. He actually though he found a theme in our Dollar store finds and assumed we were taking him for a water adventure when in reality we had thought nothing of that sort of theme and we were just grabbing items we thought were funny or odd. Maybe he was really hoping his birthday wasn't going to be filled with cheap plastic water guns and he was hanging on to the hope we had done something else for him. Which we had as evidenced by the next package produced by Jane. He was going on a scavenger hunt, or rather he was undertaking the Silly Billy Quest of 2009 and Jane had just presented him with the first clue.

In all there were only six clues but each one took bit of time because most of them required some sort of physical activity before he got the next clue. For instance, the first clue:

Stand up.
Sit down.
Spin yourself all around.
Do a little Irish jig.
And go and find the biking rig.

Ok, so this didn't really require too much physically except for his Irish jig which was actually a bit lacking, but we let him move on anyway which was a good thing because it took him a while before he figured out that the next clue was in Luke's bike trailer. This clue, however, took a little longer to accomplish, although not as long as William initially thought when he assumed we would be riding our bikes to Provo which is not a distance I want to undertake with our kids this year. At any rate, clue number 2 put us on our bikes on our way to visit our true-blue friends, the Chandlers:

You might think there are easier forms of transportation.
But this is a task of my own creation.
So use your legs and pedal away
To the place where we saw the Cougars play.

They were gracious enough to give William his next clue without making him dance but he did have to mount his bike again, this time heading to the kids school.

Morning breaks and the day takes you here
A place where there is someone dear
Who smiles and jumps and runs away
But returns again at the end of day

Run, Jane, run. And run she did! She ran half-way around the school before she stopped to give William his next clue which required an interesting ride home before a rummage through any spot in the house he could think of that might have had "creativity" associated with it. But the place he should have thought of first was finally the last: the lego box. After all it is where the kids spend hour upon hour creating "creations" which they then line up on their dressers and count how many they've made.

Home again, home again jiggedy jog
On the way back play a little leap frog
But don’t forget when you dismount
Find the place where creativity counts

The lego box yeilded this:

Rocking is a form of expression
And in this place we faced a little regression
So go there again and repeat your previous action
And you might find a clue if you don’t get caught by the distraction.

From here we had a bit of a drive ahead of us to visit our youthful friends who like to help us old foggies relive our younger years by playing Rock Band. So thanks to the Powells, we played. And although Lisa talked about making William play on the expert level and not giving him his clue until he passed, she really didn't have to worry. We failed on the easy level. But perseverance finally paid off.

Since we live in the tundra where the weather is fierce
And the cold, through your clothes, simply does pierce
You should look for the thing that brings warmth to your soul
And makes you complete when you’re ready to roll

After thoroughly disecting the clue on the way home and a search through the house, William finally finished his quest.


We'll see if we can top it next year.

Chapter Five: Redo

Well, we had to do it. We had to go back to Sea World. We simply could not leave this trip without thoroughly checking out the place that has left Luke slightly maimed even three weeks after the accident. And this time we left without needing to find a hospital so that in itself was a success. But really we had a great time. Except that Luke absolutely freaked out when he heard the announcer at the Shamu show say that we were in the splash zone and we should plan on getting wet. So he screamed and screamed and screamed and covered his ears which seems to be his latest response to any uncomfortable situation until he and I moved up a few rows. As it turns out, William was our only family member to get a little wet, okay more than a little wet, in the splash zone and Luke thought that was pretty funny. I guess he thought he had a hand in his dad's dry demise because he still runs around the house chanting "Shamu, Shamu," the call for Shamu to splash the audience.

We had been told that the very best time to visit the polar bears was first thing in the morning. So we prepped and planned the night before so we would arrive at Sea World promptly at opening at 10am. And we did. Showered, packed, checked out of our hotel and arriving at Sea World three minutes prior to 10.....an hour after it really opened. Apparently the internet isn't always right! But the polar bears were slightly active (they were moving, that's something!) and it was definitely worth the effort to arrive early in the day. Particularly because the later in the day, the more, I don't know, "ghetto" the park started to feel. But we loved the shows and we loved the animals and Jane and Mitch loved the Shipwreck Rapids and Wild Arctic rides. Journey to Atlantis, however, was a little much for Jane and when Mitch saw just how wet we were and listened to how drama Jane described the ups and downs he wouldn't even consider it.


All in all, we had a great trip to San Diego and the kids are still talking about the adventure and they've been wondering why we don't live there (why don't we live there?) and we are ready to go back!

Chapter Four: Legoland and the Greatest Day Ever!

Ahh Legoland! We finally made it! The pinnacle of the trip in the children's eyes. And it lived up to the expectation. Our day at Legoland was nothing short of fantastic.





















































































On a quick sidenote, despite the pain in his mouth, Luke had a great time and refused to eat any soft foods past 11 am. For lunch we tried to convince him that it would be great to get an ice cream cone, but he insisted that he had to have pizza at Legoland. So he nibbled his pizza and didn't chew on his wound and didn't complain....as long as he was loaded up with motrin.

But back to main thought. We arrived just as the park opened and stayed until it closed and I think the kids could have played even longer. It was great. So what follows are snapshots of the day, and because this is the only scrapbooking I accomplish, it's a lot of snapshots.