An only child

Parker was out of town in Tahoe last week with his friend Trever and Conner was on a backpacking trip with the scouts, so Calissa was an only child for a few days.  She seemed to like it!

 On Saturday after her dance classes, we headed to the Oakland Zoo for a few hours. It was so beautiful in Oakland.  Not too hot and a nice breeze! Here is Calissa posing with the flamingos. 

 My favorite animal of the day was this cute feller ... a gibbons.  He (or she) was having fun swinging around and around!

 The tortoise was huge!

 Dad and Calissa 

 Having fun at the petting zoo.

 We were a little surprised by the size of some of the goats.  I'm guessing they were safe, or they wouldn't be there.  Calissa had fun brushing this one.

 Calissa asked me to take a picture of these HUGE bats!  They were flying foxes.

 Here are some cute river otters. 

 Calissa and I with the giraffes.

 This elephant was walking down the path and eating a trail of food.  There were carrots in front of where we were standing.  It's really cool how they can pick up such small things with their trunks.  Calissa decided that she would like to have a trunk too. 

 Here was the sun bear.  She was moving too fast for me to get a really good picture of her.  She was so cute!

 We stopped off at the gift shop for a little shopping.  Calissa liked the butterfly mask ...

 but we bought her a butterfly hat instead!

She also went for a ride on the carousel on the way out.

We had a fun time together.  It was different only having one child, but we enjoyed our time out with just her!

A Day at the Lake

On Saturday, the Rossi's invited us to go boating with them at New Hogan Lake.  We were excited to go and met at their house at 8:00 am to head out.  Once we got there, Calissa was the 1st in the water.

 The water was warm (and muddy and rocky) where we were set up, but it wasn't too deep, so the kids had fun.

 Riley, Conner, Tyler, Chris, Parker and Kyle unloading the boat and getting ready to head out for some tubing.

 Teri getting our tent and food set up.

 The shore was not this empty several hours later!

 The boys went out on the boat first.  Here are Tyler and Parker soaking up the sun!

 Conner happy to be on the boat. 

 Parker and Tyler hanging on for dear life!  They wiped out pretty good a few times.

 Next, it was the girls turn.   

 Calissa and I went on the tube next.  We had fun, but after a while and several bounces, I couldn't hold on anymore and flew off!  

 Teri, Riley and Calissa went next.  Riley didn't last very long ... she got scared.

 Here is Cool Kyle ... enjoying the boat ride.

 Our fantastic boat driver of the day ... Chris!

 Calissa went out alone.

 She did great ...

 until she crashed!  She had fun though!

 We have no pictures of Travis!  He went on the tube with Conner and then did some water skiing later in the day. The guys on the boat were impressed with his skills!  (He's a little crazy, but what do you expect from athletic Travis?)  

 Calissa and Conner shared a tube 

 and then Conner went out on his own.  Chris bounced him around a little more than he did when Conner was on with Calissa.  I was proud of them for not being scared and just having fun.

 Teri did some water skiing and tubing too.  We also stopped out in the lake and jumped and dove off the boat for a while.  The water was beautiful!  There were tons of grasshoppers out in the water.  They were floating on the lake and hopping in the boat.  It was pretty funny.  On Sunday, when Parker was getting ready to drive home from church, we found one in the van!

Thanks Rossi's for a fun-filled day!  We really had a wonderful time!

4th of July Fun!

Monday, we got invited over to the Smith's house for a BBQ to celebrate Ben's 10th birthday as well as attend the Singing Flag with them.  I haven't been able to get the family to go to the Singing Flag in about 4 years, so it was a good excuse to get everyone to go!  We had our yummy BBQ, yummy cake, Ben opened some presents and then we walked over to the Singing Flag.

  Don't the boys look excited to be there?

 Calissa had a great time even if the boys didn't.  I enjoyed being there again!

 What's not to like with cheesy, feel good, patriotic entertainment ... and it's free!

The fireworks were quite slow and not as good as I remember, but that's OK!  I still liked it!  Thanks Smith's for inviting us!!

 On the 4th we had a ward breakfast.  Got to love Jack Campbell!  He gave us our patriotic address that morning.

 The scouts raised the flag.

 Presenting the colors.

Parker was the caller and Conner helped.

 This was a funny moment.  They unfolded the flag and then Adam tried to hook it on the flag pole, but it was too high.  He jumped a few times and then Ethan took over since he's the tallest!

 It's hard work getting the flag up that pole!

 After a yummy pancake breakfast, it was time for the bike parade.

Calissa was our only participant this year from our family.  It's always a good reason to get the bike out and make sure everything is working!

That afternoon we went to see Brave with the Smiths again.  Our whole family enjoyed the movie.  We also enjoyed the trip to Cold Stone after the movie too.  The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging out and catching up on "American's Got Talent."  What's more American than that, right?

I'm really thankful for all those who serve to protect our freedoms!  We are very blessed to live in a free country and I'm proud to be an American! Happy 4th of July!

Parker's Driving!

Yikes!  Parker is driving.  He went out on Monday for his first behind-the-wheel lesson.  I wasn't too nervous to send him out.  He came back two hours later and his instructor (a former Police Officer) said he did an exceptional job and to just continue to practice with him.

Who knew how scary it would be to get behind the wheel of the car with my very mature 15 1/2 year-old son?!  Oh my ... I told my husband that I was either going to have a stroke or a heart attack driving with him.   I'm so afraid he's going to hit the cars parked on the right side of the road.  I've told him that he's doing a good job and the problem is all mine.  I think he believes I'm a little crazy, but even after a week I'm doing a little better!  (He's doing better too!)  Travis and I drove with him to the bank on Wednesday.  He and Travis were getting out of the car and I was still in the back seat as the car was rolling backwards because he forgot to put the car in park!  (It was pretty funny!)  We've scheduled his 2nd driving lesson in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully it will get easier as he gets more practice driving (and I get more practice breathing deeply and relaxing)!

Conner the All-Star!

Conner was chosen for the 4th year in a row as an all-star for his baseball league.  We are really proud of all of his hard work this year and all the years that he has played!  Usually the 12 year-old team starts about two weeks after the season has ended.  This year, they started only one week after the season ended, so they had very little time to practice.  It also was the week that Travis and Parker were going to be gone.  They would have to win several games for them to even get a chance to see him play.

 Here he is in his clean uniform ready to head to the first game.

 #2 ... Conner Burr!

 Announcing the players.

 The Little League Pledge and National Anthem.

 Conner was excited to play catcher since he didn't get to play it at all during the season. 

 He caught several innings the 1st and 2nd game and made a great play at home for an out during the 1st game!

 Here he is up to bat.

They played Continental, at our field for their 1st game on Tuesday and lost 6-1.  They didn't get killed and played them pretty good, they just couldn't get any big hits.

 Game two was in Walnut Creek on Wednesday and they played Pinole-Hercules.  Conner got to play catcher again that night.  However, he was having some problems with his left thumb (which is probably sprained and pretty swollen).  It was hard for him to catch and hit, so after a couple of innings, he came out to ice it.  They won that game 17-14 and Conner got on base and scored.

Game three was again in Walnut Creek on Friday night against Pittsburg.  Conner played 2nd base because his thumb was hurting too much to catch.  He made a couple of great plays at 2nd base that night and they won 9-5!  Conner got to be one of the captains that night.

Game four was on Saturday in Walnut Creek against Lafayette.  Lafayette had won our division last year, so our chances weren't great.  The game wasn't until 1:00 pm, so Travis and Parker got dropped off on their way home from Southern California so they could catch the end of the game.  Conner played 2nd base again and had a nice stop and out a 2nd.  Lafayette was just too good of a team for us to continue winning though and we lost 11-1!  Concord made it to the top 8 teams out of 15.  We were proud of these boys and Conner especially!  (The two teams we lost to were still in it to the final three teams, so they lost to some great teams!) Conner is not sure he's going to continue playing next year in the Junior Division, so it might have been his last Little League game ever!  If so ... you were always an all-star to us Conner!  Congratulations on all your years of playing!