He wanted to play with Logan Taggart after school, but Cynthia and I decided
that was a little much for the first day so they will play on Wednesday.
They have a soccer game tomorrow night.
Raleigh might be headed for a career in engineering. He’s learned some pretty good ditch-digging skills from his Shippen cousins at Bear Lake. (Had fun doing this with Gabe and Porter Gardner, friends from Kirbo’s ward.)
It was fun to see Charlyn Maughan and her 4 kids at the lake. She looks great and she has beautiful children. Her husband is a dentist in Pinedale.
We’ve had fun with Kirby and Andrew swimming at the PAC, relaxing on the shore of Fremont Lake, riding in the boat, watching Dora (Kysa), playing the Wii (Raleigh) and Halo 3 (Raleigh and Andrew), and playing with Poot (Kysa and Shay). I thought I’d post some cute pictures from the trip.
Nothin' better than swimming at the Rupert Pool with your cousins. (This is the artistic rendition of the photo--the crosshatch effect in Photoshop--wanna frame this one for the girls'
Raleigh is really growing up. Yesterday he had the Schaat boys over, Henry and Holden, who are 3rd and 6th graders. On several occasions he reminded them that they needed to say “thank you” and while having a good time and laughing a lot, he acted pretty mature for a 1st grader. He finally decided to take the time to learn to tie his shoes this week, because (he said) his kindergarten teacher said they needed to be able to do that in the 1st grade. He was also playing catch with Ty last night, and figured out how to catch the football on the run, with only the porch light on. I seriously didn’t recognize the kid—he was catching it so well, even diving to try to catch it. Then he’d get up and want more.
Raleigh has started playing a lot of h-o-r-s-e on the driveway with his dad; Ty is good about dealing with Raleigh’s temper when he loses. I think it’s pretty funny that Raleigh fully expects to be able to beat Ty. (Ty does play left-handed, but still!) But enough about basketball, it’s SOCCER SEASON! Raleigh has had a couple of soccer practices and has his first game on Tuesday night. His coach is Brian Rocknack, who is a really good coach and has a son named Austin on the team. His friends Logan Taggart, Landon Merzlack, and Eli Ames are on the team. He’s excited for school to start on the 31st. His teacher is Mrs. Bird and Logan is in his class. Not sure about other friends yet. We know Brennan, Landon, Taryn, Drew, and Ryker are in other classes. A couple nights ago I took Raleigh to Sports Authority to get his soccer shoes. Ty was home with the girls, and it’s always nice when I get to take the kids on errands one-on-one. No stories from the trip to the store—it was just fun to spend time with Ral. (The picture above is with Eli and Ryker at the Arctic Circle Chukar's night. Ral is holding the ball he pitched.)
Raleigh is an inquisitive kid, (sometimes to my dismay!), and he’s particularly interested in current events and politics. A few weeks ago CNN was reporting on Obama’s report card at 200 days into his administration. Raleigh was glued to the tv and then followed me downstairs to watch me vote on the desktop computer. Then he told me to vote on my laptop; he was very adamant that I HURRY UP and do it because Wolf Blitzer was counting down the time until the voting closed. He is inquisitive and engaged in the things that he does.
Raleigh is also very open to trying new things. From the hot air balloon ride in July to throwing out the first pitch at the Chukars game last week, he doesn’t shy away from opportunities that require some courage. He was nervous about the hot air balloon ride, but he trusted that everything would be fine and not once did he complain or hesitate once he decided he wanted to come with me. He NEVER hesitated when Gretchen and Dave gave him the chance to throw out the first pitch, and I for one would have been a little nervous. What did he do? He stepped up there are threw a strike! The catcher never even had to move his glove. I was so proud of the way he carried himself as he walked out onto the field and did his thing. There wasn’t any nervousness or neediness. Just a happy kid who was about to do something really cool. If there ever was a picture of somebody savoring the moment, it was Raleigh out on that mound.
Raleigh loves his garden. He checks on it multiple times a day and often comes running in the house to tell us, “Mom/Dad, you GOTTA see this!” He’s pretty excited about the pumpkins and zucchini right now. When his friends come over it’s the first thing he shows them. We don’t live on a farm, but I’m glad he’s at least getting the gardening experience here in suburban Idaho Falls. And thank goodness we can spend time on our grandpas’ farms in Paul and Menan.I went to the temple this morning instead of to the office as we got the horrible news last night that Ron, Jed, and Jordan Mingo went down in their small plane en route to Washington this weekend. We are all praying for their families. Information is available on this blog: http://wherearethemingos.blogspot.com
When I got home from the temple I really wanted to do something fun with the kids and Shay said, “I go swimming!” So we went. At his request Raleigh actually went to Eagle Rock nursery with Sue and then she dropped him off at Apple. Kysa swam width-wise across the Apple therapy pool and back today. Woo hoo! She’s trying to catch up with Raleigh.
I thought this was a classic from Gifford:
It is about that time of year again...
Mari likes to take pictures to the point of nausea (for everyone else at least). I guess if you take a million of them though you might actually get a half-dozen that are pretty funny. Perhaps the funniest part about it is that Mari was just showing me the pictures before I noticed and there was no coaching involved.
Right Guard...
Place Kick Holder...
Quarterback
Receiver
Long Snapper
"I thought we were playing basketball!" ...
As I was tucking Shay in tonight (which includes brushing her hair with my fingers and rubbing her back), she said, “Mom, bathroom!” When I picked her up she said, “Take me outside to pee on grass!” (She did quite a bit of peeing on the grass with Kysa and Addie while playing in the backyard at Tallan’s house.) YIKES.
