Ninja Games

We were thankful that Owen was able to participate in Ninja this year! He always has a good time and leaves sweaty and tired!! Mission accomplished!

Floor

Bars

Tumble Track

High Bar

Getting his medal

Strawberry Picking

We took the day off to enjoy strawberry picking during the school week. We were pleased with how easy the picking was and ended up with 3 gallons that didn't last very long once they got home! Strawberry bread, strawberry cobbler, strawberry-banana milkshakes, strawberries on Cheerios, and strawberries at all meals! 

The kids are always great about helping!

Easy picking!!

Their yummy treats never disappoint!!

 

Baseball

Owen  had mixed feelings about playing baseball this year after having a year off of not hardly even throwing a ball. He decided to play, though, and stuck it out through some fears and frustrations. At the first game he watched a teammate get hit by a pitch which put a fear in him that took half the season to push through and overcome. He progressed from saying "Again?????" when told it was time for practice or a game to even asking to go down to the field later in the season and having a good attitude about playing catch in the backyard or putting in his 50 swings a day. Chris got a video of him telling himself at the end of the season that he should play again next year. We'll see if it works! I can't quite call this a "highlight" video, but it does show his fear at the beginning of the season progressing into more comfort towards the end. He got better at watching the pitches and staying in the batters box and, with the struggle for good pitching at his level, was able to walk to 1st multiple times and even score a few runs for his team throughout the season. 

Willow came to all the games too and did a combination of watching the games, hanging out with friends who were also watching brothers, and this. 

 Owen showed interest in heading down to the ball field on non-practice days towards the end of the season. He even gave pitching a try!

Chris did an awesome job coaching! He put in a lot of time to planning out practices to maximize their time being active and practicing a variety of skills. He was encouraging, often seen talking one-on-one with the kids on their level. He was even professional when parents weren't, when other coaches were obnoxious (my word...not his), and when bad calls were made. I hope he'll stick with coaching regardless of what Owen decides!

At the banquet, Owen was a willing "observer" in the pie eating contest:

Garden

Chris expanded his garden this year (gotta get past that privacy fence the neighbors put up to block their view of it....argh!). He started by removing the Japanese Maple:

He built multiple raised beds and a fence to go around it (gotta keep out those deer and rabbits!):

The neighbors promptly planted more trees...hopefully they don't grow much bigger than that!

He's planted marigolds, snap peas, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, pole beans, butterfly flowers, potatoes, strawberries, apple tree, black eyed Susans, zucchini, squash, sunflowers, pickling cucumbers, cabbage, and cherry tomatoes. 

He always takes it up a notch with his garden gates!

It's been so fun to have salads each night from the garden as well as strawberries and snap peas. The zucchini are starting to be harvested too!

This little silky dogwood was given to Willow three years ago at school during an Earth Day assembly. Owen's red maple is planted in the backyard. 

 I love this stacked planter on the pergola in the back!