Hayley's New Passion - The Rock Wall

On Saturday, June 26 after finishing up celebrating Trevor's 9th birthday we went to Pump it Up for Erick's 10th birthday.

Most of the party was in a Black Light room so I was not able to get any pictures. The few I did of Hayley climbing the rock wall were taken in the second room that had very low light so I had to use the flash. The room was not a dark as the black light room, but still couldn't see very easily. We were amazed to watch Hayley scale the rock wall despite not being able to see very well. Here are some pictures of our little climber.

You can see Trevor in this one too.

After about 2 times up the wall Hayley realized there was a bell at the top. From that point on she climbed all the way to the top, rang the bell, and pushed herself off the wall to come back down. Then she would climb right back up without taking a break. She must have done this about 4 or 5 times in a row. Sean and I were so impressed that her little arms could do all that climbing and so fast. Besides Trevor (one time) Hayley was the only kid that climbed all the way to the top and definitely the only one that climb at all that many times. We are going to look into Rock Climbing classes at City Beach for her.

Trevor's Birthday Sleep Over

Well, Trevor's Birthday Sleep Over got off to a great start.

Within the first 15 minutes of kids arriving a hard ball broke our back window. The 4 kids who were in the backyard when it happened, you know who you are, all said they didn't know it was a hard ball they were playing with. Funny thing though is that I leaned out the back door and in a louder than normal voice said, "You better be careful, that is a hardball." For some reason or another they don't remember me saying that, although Sean and my sister heard me say it. They also didn't realize that the ball they were pitching was a hardball even though each boy who was in the back yard has played baseball from 3-6 years.

I think their main problem was that the person batting was a lefty which meant the ball was going towards the house no matter what. If they wanted to play longer they should have pitched the HARD BALL to a right handed batter who would have hit it towards the fence thus allowing more play time. Oh well, it was truly an accident and we can just get it fixed.

Just a note: The boy who was holding the ball when I said be careful, despite them not hearing me say this, was not the one to throw the infamous pitch. He was pretty smart to let someone else throw it.

After all the kids arrived Sean, his Aunt Susan, my sister and I took all the boys to play Mini Golf. Since we had 11 of us, we broke up into two groups. Trevor, Erick, Benjamin, Dylan and Rhay were in the first group and decided they did not want to keep score or play by the normal rules. The second group was Sean, Susan, Karen, Xavier and Nick who did decide to play by the rules but didn't keep score. Well, just Xavier did.

Here is Erick trying to get his ball into the hole. It took some time, but he was determined. Erick's birthday is also June 26 like Trevor. I was glad he was able to join us.

The one problem with not playing by the rules is that you finish each hole really quickly and then leave your second group in the dust. I kept having to ask them to slow down.

Nick and Xavier taking a rest about half way through the golf course.

Here is Sean's Aunt Susan on Hole #10. She is used to playing with a hockey stick, but did very well with the golf club.

Dylan being silly as the rest of his group finishes playing Hole #11.
I think he got a hole-in-one on this hole.

Nick concentrating on hitting the ball so that is goes in the loop and comes out the other side close to the hole.

Aunt Susan was so much fun to have with us. She help Benjamin learn not to swing the club above his knees. One Hole #1 and #2 he almost took mine and Susan's head off. Thankfully he got much better as he played.

Here is the boys cheering, no I mean heckling, Aunt Susan as she tried to make it in the hole to win a free game of golf. They were so funny and she laughed. They all enjoyed having her go golfing with us.

After none of us were successful at the last hole for a free game the boys decided to roll down the hill. What cheap fun.

Boys will be boys.
I asked for a picture as we left the golf course and this is what I got.

Hole-in-one Update:
Dylan - 2
Trevor - 1
Nick - 1
Rhay - 1
Xavier - 1
Sean - 1

Avenue of the Giants

On Sunday, June 20 on our way home from my cousin Jan's wedding to Ben in Eureka we drove on the Avenue of the Giants. This is a 30 mile drive that takes you through the Redwoods along Highway 101 and has many places to stop along the way and walk among the awesome Redwoods.

What we could see as we drive through the Avenue of the Giants.

When we stopped at the first spot Sean took off running and climbed this tree stump. It was like a kid in a candy store. He was so excited to see the tree and climb to the top.

Although it was just Sean, Trevor, Hayley, Auntie Karen and I we were able to take a picture thanks to a small pile of Redwood branches and my quick feet. If you look close on the top of the tree stump next to Sean you can see Trevor and Hayley.

Although there are many picture of my bum (thank to Auntie Karen) as I climbed this tree stump, here is a nice family picture with an enormous Redwood.

The kids had fun climbing on top of the fallen trees.

Look how huge these trees are.
It was amazing to see and walk beneath them.

If you look through the hole at the back of the tree, really the top since it fell, you will see Trevor poking his head through.

Look how massive this Redwood is.
We look so small in comparison to how round its trunk is.

Thanks to Trevor and Hayley I was not stuck under the fallen Redwood for long.

Hayley climbing on the roots of this fallen tree. How cool is that.

It was so neat to see the fallen trees and imagine what it must have been like when they fell over. I bet this made a LOUD sound when it fell and split in half.

Just hanging out in the Redwoods.

It was so cool to just stand in one spot and look around at all the different Redwood trees. Some were still standing and were enormously tall. Others had fallen over but you could see how tall they used to be. Still others had fallen and landed on other trees causing one or both to crack/split apart.

During our drive through the Avenue of the Giants we were able to see some beautiful areas of the Eel River. Several times during the drive we crossed over the river and each time there was something different to see.

Trevor and Sean saw this tree from the road and had to go climb out on it. From the car it looked like one tree that had broke when it feel, but it turned out to be two different trees, one going each direction.

Here they are half way across the first tree they encountered.

And now out onto second of the 2 trees. This tree is more than double the length that you can see in this picture. Not sure which tree fell first as where the meet the first tree is split in half.

Of course, us girls were not gonna let the boys be the only ones to climb out on these massive tress. We just were much slower in our walk as it was a good distance from the ground. I was nervous climbing out there with Little Miss Hayley because she was so fearless and kept trying to go ahead of me and rather quickly too.

After we all took turns walking on the trees I decided the whole family should climb out and have Auntie Karen take our picture. This time I made Sean go with Hayley.

Lauren's High School Graduation

On Friday, June 11 we had the privileged of going to Lauren's High School Graduation. It was a very hot day, but we were so glad we could be there to see her graduate.

Here she is just as they announced her name and she received her diploma.

Walking down the ramp and on to the next journey in her life.
We are so proud of you, Lauren.