Enjoying the View

Eric took the boys tonight to go to the neighbors house and check out the view. It was a very pretty moon tonight.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uCP5mBe38J9xzHKG8

Joss' Birthday Party

We had a great time like always at Joss' birthday party. The kids had a blast and maybe the adults too.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zTSrwyTxsXxcRUnB9

They Work Hard For The Money

This year money has been tight. We had a yard sale earlier in the summer to raise some spending money so we could do some fun things this summer. I let them know all the fun things we were saving money for, so they were willing to dig through their toy room and look for things they could part with. They did raise $72 from their items in our yard sale. They did not sell everything. I didn't want to put the items back in their toy room. So before we took them to Grannies I let them try to sell the items online and also out in our driveway. They have also been doing a lemonade stand as well. They have raised a fair amount of spending money to use for different events and sports camps. Now Tommy needs to raise money for fall ball baseball. So they are out again trying to raise some money. Neighbor Lucian has also been out there some of the time. They don't have a very long attention span sitting at the table, but they do like having spending money. You gotta work hard for the money.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C4ChZMYhkiRownwU9

Tommy Lives and Breathes Baseball

Most days Tommy is doing baseball, talking baseball or thinking baseball. Today he was pretending to hit the pitch from the opposing team while watching JP bat for the Mariners.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6hpfYQob5WqZXVFN6

Wrestling Camp in Tacoma

The boys did a wrestling camp just across the ferry in Tacoma this week. There were a handful of Vashon kids that went together. We did a rideshare with our teammate Walter. The boys especially loved eating out afterwards while waiting for the ferries.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UutC5Hm5bM17Brdk6

And Still Chopping

The boys don't usually run the splitter. Eric let the boys do it for a little bit today. They are usually moving rounds or stacking split wood. I am usually the one running the splitter. Eric is usually running the chain saw. Many cords of wood split and delivered. Still have more to go.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AxhvF27gLAdDPJBU8

Wes & Emily's Wedding

Wes and Emily got married this weekend. My parents had the rehearsal dinner at their house Friday night. There was some good BBQ going on.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jgXUCBFZ8973ymvE7

The next day we tried helping with the set-up. But about all we were good for was get ice, ice and lots more ice. The wedding was a very cute nerdy wedding. The was some Star Wars, a little Indiana Jones and a lot of Princess Bride. "Mawige is what bwings us together today."

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yxJdCZQUayWinMYM8

Strawberry Festival

It was a very busy Strawberry Festival weekend. We had Pam with us visiting from Ecuador on Friday night. We went to the ice cream social and checked out the hydroplane exhibit at the heritage museum. Then we went to the beer garden and ordered take out pizza and listened to music. The boys went across to the street at the park playing wiffleball. 

Saturday we got up early to work at the Burby Fun Run making sure people turned the right direction on the road to raise money for the wrestling program. Afterwards we went to the parade. It was a long parade this year compared to the previous year. They boys ended up with way too much candy. I just started giving some of theirs away without them knowing. We hung out around Festival for a while. We looked at the booths were the boys picket out gigantic inflatables with their money. And we went to the park again. Tommy played wiffleball and Jake checked out the cool lego exhibit. We got big slurpees from the slurpee truck because we were melting. And then decided it was time to find a place to cool off. We took the boys to Pop pop were they could use their left over coins they had from the last time we were there. And Eric and I went Colvos to relax for a bit. Then we headed home to get some rest and food. We came back to watch some more music while the boys played in the park again.

I stayed home on Sunday because I was feeling under the weather. But Eric and the boys went up to see the car show and the reptile lady which they said was really fun. Another great festival in the books.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xH7WPAiHQ7LjkwZD7

Senior Pen Pals

Jake has been part of a fun project at school this year. He had a pen pal with a nice lady from the Senior Center. He wrote her letters. They had a picnic and played chess together. They got their picture taken together. And then we went to Pop Pop on First Friday to see all of the pictures on the wall and to take a group photo. She was such a sweet lady. And you brought me back all the letters he wrote so that he could keep them together. She let me in on a little secret. Jake wanted to teach her chess, so they did play together. But she said that she and her friends had a good laugh about it because she hates chess. Her late husband used to play and always tried to get her to play but she never wanted to. After we took our group photo they played some games at the arcade for a while, had some ice cream and even ran into a big pig in the street.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NeymCn3Vqm9PoKZK7

Homerun Derby & All Star Game

This year was much anticipated by our family. I went to the all star game in 2001. I had multiple people on phones and computers to make it happen and only managed to get seats in 2 rows apart. So no matter what I was going to make it happen this year. To be able to afford it this year I sold most of my season tickets. Fortunately the Mariners had a great season last year so my tickets sold pretty fast as soon as I posted them.

We were penny pinching for months, including not doing birthday parties, not going out on to eat or to the movies. All of the time I was telling the boys they had big things coming up to look forward to. That was a tough thing for them to do, but I think it was all worth it. The boys had an amazing time. One they will always remember.

We were pretty worried about the cost of everything that was at the game, but we did dodge one cost. We got free parking. We saw it as high as $90, but I heard it went as high as $125. We got there super early both days so that was one less thing we had to worry about.

I took Tommy to the Derby. It was Jake's choice as Tommy got to do the red carpet on Opening Day. First I took Tommy to Playball Park over at Lumen Field. It was a lot to figure out and I didn't quite understand how it all worked so we got there too early. Apparently you had to have a Capital One card to get in at 9 to see Brett Boone. When we found that out we got in the line by ourselves to wait an hour. A nice couple for somewhere across the country was nice enough to bring us in with them.

We were so lucky because we got to see Brett Boone and get a picture with him. We would not have done that otherwise. And we got a picture with the poster that he signed many years ago. We then went to do all of the events. There were so many. Picture opportunities, games, prize giveaways, and homerun derby's. And yes, Tommy beat me on the first homerun derby that was pitching change-ups. But I smoked him on the second one that was with the VR goggles. Tommy did the draft announcement which he seemed to think was really cool. Then he won a All star game ball after we did the Chevy speed pitch and biking race. Then we went out to do the velcro wall and get in line for the autographs. I tried to reserve a spot in line for the autographs, but it seemed to be full the second it opened. By the time we got to the line it was super long. Tommy didn't want to stay in the line. Right before we were going to leave a guy came up to us and asked if we wanted to come to the front of the line because his friends couldn't be there for the reservation. He said he remembered seeing us earlier with our trident (which I made out of a pool noodle and tape). So we got an autograph from Felix Hernandez with the authentication stickers. One on a ball we had and one on the new all star ball Tommy just happened to get. So lucky. Then we went out onto the football field and did the pitching and batting cages. We went back inside to see a roundtable talk by some former Mariners. And we got an autograph from Rick Rizzs on our homerun poster. Now I am going to have to add a "Holy Smokes" to my poster.

Tommy could have stayed all day. But I told him we should head over to the ballpark when it opened to see batting practice. We saw all the players walking around and chatting. Retired players showing up for TV appearances. We came really close to getting an Ohtani autograph. Then we took a walk around the stadium to look for something for Tommy. He raised $70 at the yard sale we had a couple weeks ago, so we went to go find him one of those big chains we had seen on TV. It was $38, but he loved it. And then it was showtime. Boy was it a great show that Julio put on. A record 41 homeruns in one round. It was too bad that he couldn't finish it for the win, but it was so exciting to see.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rwoc3fafGucU3jJu8

Then the next day I took Jake early to go to Playball park. We weren't able to get in early this time. The people had already got in. But that's OK. Jake had a great time. I already knew all the places to go this time. He was really looking forward to the velcro wall which we did. But his favorite thing ended up being the biking races. He kept wanting to do it until he could win. There was one faster car than others. I did it with him twice but was exhausted. So I made him do it the third time on his own. And his prize was a $100 gift card at the MLB shop. Pretty cool prize. He did most of the events that Tommy did, although we did not get an autograph that day. We went and checked out the museum pieces which had some pretty cool old items.

Then we headed over to the ballpark. Jake had a great time at the game. I loved it when the crowd started cheering "Come to Seattle" when Ohtani came up. It was a little annoying how much people kept getting out of their seats. It made it hard to watch them game. We were really hoping Julio would have a gave winning homerun instead of a walk. But at least he didn't strike out to end the game. The buildup to it was really exciting though. It was an exciting and exhausting 2 days.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j6dsEppZJWfuJPoK7