I Play Ball!

Ball 2013. Tee-ball, baseball, sunflower seeds, sitting in the sun, picking worms, pitching machine, getting a hit, learning to throw, clapping, understanding a play and spending time with family and friends. What a fun season! Most nights we were split up as a family. Barrett would take one kid and I would take the other. They typically had games on the same nights, just 30 minutes apart, which would leave us running to separate fields and barely making the end of the other games. But we always had extra family come for support and had a blast enjoying the first part of our summer.

Emmitt enjoyed playing with his buddies. It didn't matter if they were on the same team or not, they had fun no matter what.

Emmitt and Andrew

Emmitt knows I have this thing for catchers. So when he gets a chance to strap on all the gear he makes sure I know it! He actually does pretty good getting the ball back on the tee. Most of the time with his glove hand, but at least he gets it on there for the next batter.

Two peas in a pod. Grae and Emmitt. When they weren't playing together, they were hanging out or picking dandelions at their brother's games. Parker and Noah were on the same team so it made for lots of Shikowsky/Olson fun.

Parker had his first season in Pitching Machine. The first few games were really a struggle for his team. Almost all of them were first year players. So the machine definitely took some time getting used to. 30-mph pitches flying at you isn't something you do everyday. He caught on pretty quick and really liked batting practice.

Parker really liked playing first base. He seemed to enjoy the positions that had the most action, but also were the most challenging. 

Last Game of the Season Team Photo
This group of kids is the die-hard group. They came to all the games consistently and finished out the season.

We had lots of fans in our little stadiums. Grandma Audrey and Papa Dave, The Riley family, and Papa Milo all attended some of the boys' games.

Emmitt has played a few years of tee-ball already, so this year he was able to work on improving his skills. He loved batting and running and of course picking up worms under every base.

My little worm guy. In tee-ball you can only advance one base at a time, which is just enough time to tip over the base, grab a few worms and finish rounding the bases. By the time he touched home plate, we would have a handle for me. 

We Are Junior Rangers!

 My boys really do love any kind of "aminols." They spotted these new additions at the Rainy Lake Visitors Center and scooped them right up!

They carried them around for part of their activity book. Making sure they could see what project they were working on.

 Parker quickly learned that there was more to becoming a Junior Ranger than asking for a badge and a stamp! His booklet proved to be a good challenge for him. Lots of thinking involved in regards to protecting our resources. I was surprised to hear that he's actually been listening on those hikes in the park!

Even Emmitt was quick to answer his own booklet's questions. His hand got sore at one point from all that coloring so daddy helped him out.

Filling in all those letters was a challenge. Here's me tracing one in the air for him to figure out. I was sort of refusing to give him the answers.

All done with his booklet and ready to be sworn into his new "position."

So cute to see this! The boys being sworn in by one of our outstanding volunteers.

And a round of high fives to make it final.

Really proud of his badge. He noticed right away that it looks like mom's. When I asked him if he liked being a ranger, he said yes! Then he followed it up with, "I want to be one when I grow up." I quickly asked him if he wanted to be a "police-type of ranger" or a "story-teller-type of ranger." He said a story-teller...well folks, we may just have a future interpreter on our hands.

Emmitt quickly noticed that his badge was bigger than Ranger Lowthian's.

On the way home we saw a couple of deer that "must have been here because we are Rangers now" says Parker!

It's official! Now we just need to start planning our National Parks vacations!

4th of July

Our Fourth of July was full of flags, food, family, friends and fun!

The boys got together with a few friends and decorated their bikes for the kiddie parade. They had a blast and were officially the big boys who helped the little dudes!

 Parker, Easton, Emmitt and Jasper

They rode together a majority of the parade. Jasper got side tracked by Grandma on the side of the road but the older 3 made it the whole parade. Lots of fun!

 The Girls. We worked our good sides, our not so good sides and in and out of birth order. We are just lucky we got a great shot of all 5 of us. It doesn't happen often!

 The Lepper Family came North for the 4th. They have a new family member, Cooper a black Goldendoodle. He and Bella hit it off good!

 Pete was a great big cousin during the kid races. I stood on one side waiting with the boys to start their race and Pete waited for them on the other end. He was so encouraging and rewarding at the end that it was priceless to see!

 Uncle Chris found this awesome hat for our little penguin man. He wore it the rest of the day! Even penguins like to slide on the slip-n-slide right?! Of course they do.

 Our new lounger chairs were a big hit! Multiple people kicked back and relaxed in them. Emma is famous for falling asleep just about anywhere. She managed to sneak a snooze in after lunch in a garage full of people visiting.

 We all enjoyed the refreshing water at some point! Even the puppies hopped in the cool water. Baby Drew managed to drink quite a bit of it too!

 Cousins from both sides of the family played together outside. Trampoline-n-Water balloon fights were a huge hit. If they don't break on the first try, they don't hit the ground, so it's just as much fun throwing them all over again.

 Great friends, Janet and Paula.

 Sisters Peg and Linda

 Auntie Tammy and Emma Rae

 Becks and Momma

 Jessalynn and Drew-man

 Debs and Becks

 Uncle Jimmy was "innocently" sprayed with a water gun and was off the deck faster than I've ever seen him move. He went right for the hose and got even with all the kids!

 They each have come up with a self cooling system.

 Uncle Bart stayed all the way through the fire works. He even got extra snuggles from the boys and made sure to bond with Emmitt over their mutual love of penguins.