June 1st Fishing with Smith Family

Jo and Mom met up with the Findtners and Smith family in Depot Bay for some family crabbing and fishing. Oma and Cole could not make this trip due to a baseball conflict.

The first evening we spent hanging out on the beach crabbing while cousin Sam and Jo did a little boogie boarding.

With a fire going the rest of us hung out keeping out of the wind,

and enjoyed visiting.

Jo fishing and Betsy casting a crab pot.

I have never seen crabbing done this way but it worked well, the Findtners have this skill mastered.

The following day a group of us headed out for some fishing in the ocean.  Jo and I armed our systems with some sea sick pills and were ready to catch our limit!

Jo's first cast and fish on, good start!

And then it was also THE END!

Jo and I go so sick that we could no longer fish and just tossed our stomach contents overboard and tried to lay down until the three hour trip was over. Yes, Gilligan's Island theme song went over and over in my head changing the words to match our fishing / sea sickness trip.

As soon as the boat pulled into the bay we were both fine again and sure wished we could handle the waves so we could fish.

Most of the family caught their limit and we ate fish for a couple days at home.

Thank you Family for a wonderful weekend and fish.

May 17th & 18th

Yes, still playing catch up on our blog and at some point it will no longer feel like work as I will be caught up and enjoy posting again with more current and fun stories.

In the mean time let me get back to what has been happening to the BS Family!

The kids had separate 11th birthday parties this year, a first for them.

Jo Party

Crimson, Karly, Jo & Simone

Jo's gift from us was a trip to paint ceramics with her friends.

This was an activity she has wanted for quite some time and now we have this beautiful ceramic unicorn decorating our home.

Back to the house for gifts and desert.

and then crashing in the living room for a night of giggling and secrets.

It was a very happy Birthday for Jo!

Cole Party

After pizza we headed out to have the party gift Cole has been asking years to have!

Paintball!

Ian, Sam, Gavin & Cole

The boys were a little nervous about paintball until they each got hit once or twice then they were all like "YEAH, AWESOME" and so on.

No fun here!

Ended the evening with a little ice-cream refresher at DQ and an over night stay.

Last thought: I found it interesting and or funny the type of gifts girls vs boys bring to a birthday party. Jo received pretty things and Pet Shops, basically the same types of gifts she has received over the past few years. Cole on the other hand got gift cards of money and or money. Guys are simple and like I guess, "Here, have money so you can buy your own thing." They both loved their days and gifts.

6th Grade Photo

Do they look alike or what?!

6th Grade!

MIDDLE SCHOOL!  OH MY!

(Yes, Doug in the window is quite sad.)

Have a GRAND Day Our Children!

All Of May.

OK, all of May except the kids birthday parties.  I'll get to those in a bit.

Lego Robotics

One of the teachers at the kids' school started a Lego Robotics Club and we were all over getting both kids signed up for that!

A parent is asking questions.

Once a week for 5 months, I think, the kids stayed after school learning to build and program these robots.  This being the first year at this school they didn't compete but did have a good time and learned a ton.

The girls programmed their robot to follow the black line.

Photos were from the Show n Tell time they had for us at the end of Club.

Lots of math involved which inspired the kids.  For a day or two...for math.

Is it Ying or Yang?

Just a shot of Xena sleeping in her big bed.

Jo finally outgrew her flip flops from last year and decided this cloth pair would be great to BLING out!

Must have BLING when you can!

5th Grade Track Meet

The kids competed in running, jumping and throwing.

Oma took the day off to join in the fun on this field trip.

All three came back energized and smiling.

(If I had been keeping up with our blog regularly I would have better stories.)

Happy 11th Birthday!

Birthday gifts from Gma Marie and Gpa Norman on the weekend before. 

Yard games for the family!  Looking forward to these for sure.  Don't know about the kids.  Is it really about them?

And on the 15th, they woke with smiles on their faces. (not)

And Cinnabons on their plates.

It was a busy day for us with work, school, Lego Robotics and Cole had his second day of 10U Baseball All Star Try Outs.

Sushi dinner the kids way.

Always delish!

Happy Birthday You Two!!

We ended this evening having to tell Cole that he didn't make the All Star team.  Hated to break his heart on his birthday but his team had a game the following day and his other two team mates did make the team.  We wanted him to be happy for his friends and be able to play without being to upset.  Major heart break followed by the typical process of tears, anger, sadness, happiness for his team mate, confusion, more tears and even determination for next year.

He knows what he was lacking for this year and stated he will be working on those areas to make the cut next year.  We hope so.  He sure loves baseball and works hard at it.  And as his personal hitting coach told Cole.  "More kids didn't even get asked to try out and you did".  That made him feel better too.

Garden - watching it grow!

Everything is planted including the strawberry boxes.

Now to water and wait.

Ruiz & Soccer

The cousins, Maggie and Lanna play a lot of soccer and because of soccer they travel to many places including England and Hawaii.

This trip brought them to Eugene where we got to enjoy seeing them play.

They sure have gotten good over the years!

Always great to have them visit.

Almost done with May!