Football - with pads

Football with Pads started on Monday; the conditioning was over. Dallin's team picked up where they left off. BUT, this year they have him in a new spot that he likes better - Linebacker.

McCade was pretty excited about his pads. Andrea was amazed they make pads that little!

This is McCade taking his first tackle. I was waiting for tears and whining, but it didn't happen. He really 'took it like a man'.

This is McCade delivering his first tackle. He thought it was great fun.

The coaches are still trying to decide where to place everyone, but so far it looks like McCade might be a Running Back. Good thing he doesn't mind being tackled!

Dallin had the first big injury of the year. He got his helmet locked with another helmet at practice. He didn't even complain; the coaches didn't know he had this massive goose egg until after practice. They have both become good little men (at least when it comes to football!)

Danielle!

Pigeon Rescue

Okay, so the pigeon has now found a new place to live. Shane's cousin raises pigeons, so rather than just give him an express ticket to heaven, we decided to hand him over to an expert. The problem was - we had to catch him first. That doesn't seem like a big deal; catching a pigeon that cannot fly, but it was quite the adventure. There was a lot of screaming, funky dancing and general laughing was 'herded' the pigeon into a box.

We took him over, and found out he was just a baby and probably broke his wing when he jumped out of the nest or was hit by a car as he was learning to fly.

It is nice to have him out of the garage, and to know an expert has control of his fate now. Taking care of 3 kids is enough for me!

Danielle

Fouls in the Garage. . . again

Remember the chicken incident? Here we go again. . .

This is the pigeon that has decide to live in the garage. What is it with fouls and my garage? I also have a group of digger bees that have decided to live under the concrete slab out the back door. I don't want to kill them; they are good Bees. I think there must be a sign somewhere inviting strange wild creatures to come live on our property!

Maybe that is how we got the kids. . .

Danielle

Here we go! Football!

So Monday I dropped Dallin off at Football Practice, then took McCade to his and stayed to watch awhile. It was pretty funny, and I expect to have a great football year! McCade has no inhibitions, and Dallin is determined to be more aggressive. So here we go!

On the first day; here is McCade doing his High-Knee runs.

His Butt-Kicker runs.

His Karaoke footwork.

Backpedaling (running backwards).

Sprinting. He always runs like this; looking sideways. He would be faster if he looked forward as he ran!

Dallin doing sprints

Catching the ball. . . well, almost catching the ball.

He spent a lot of practice like this. I wasn't sure what was going on until later when he

BARFED

all over!

I guess he spent most of practice feeling dizzy. He didn't eat well that day, and it was hot; he learned he needs to take better care of himself the hard way!

Danielle

The Last Day

The last day must have a ton of fun packed into it, right? Our day began at the Wild Animal Park. We hiked down to the tram; I like to start there because it is bang for your buck; lots of animals in a short period of time! On the way there we passed the Lions; it was

FEEDING TIME!

wicked cool. . .

They were loud, and fighting, and you can't see but the Male was not letting the females have anything. Greedy guy. . . Tacey was a bit concerned!

McCade was hot & grumpy.

Dallin was his usual agreeable self!

We stood in line, but not too long. Shannon, Tacey & Andrea had fun together.

Grandma & Grandpa.

Okay, so I imagine myself a photographer. I am not; but I am trying. I like this picture I took of this flower, so you get to enjoy it too. I would like to point out that I have done NO editing to this picture, this is how it came out of my camera!

So, Shannon was squeezing water at Tacey, so Tacey did it back; but things didn't go as planned because the water didn't hit her AT ALL! So she immediately tried again! This was the result!

Good thing Shannon has a sense of humor!

On the tram ride we saw tons of animals like Cheetahs

Rhinos pretending to be rocks, or rocks pretending to be Rhinos; I am not sure which!

Vultures

Wilde beasts

Giraffes

Yea, can't remember what these guys are called. But he looks pretty fierce in his mask! Maybe I will rename them Zorro Antelope.

I LOVE the Wild Animal Park!

and it is easy to see why.

I have been spoiled by both the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park my entire life. I cannot even CONSIDER another Zoo; they all look mean to me after the amazing care they take of the animals at these conservation centers.

The kids wanted to take their grandparents to their favorite watering hole; I've posted pictures of this place before.

Tacey was not as excited about getting wet as she had been in recent years.

Even Dallin looked a bit unsure, but McCade was already drenched.

Tacey liked to help him get wet by holding him under the bucket when it dumped. There are no pictures, but the NEXT time the bucket dumped I jumped in and held HER under. Everyone laughed very hard; even Tacey (which surprised me since she is a moody teenager!)

This is a good look for Grandpa!

And of course, there was ICE CREAM!

And Bat ears as we left; we had a very long drive the next day. And Grandma had BBQ Chicken and Potato Salad at home; YUM!

It is always sad to see it end, but Football has become a priority!

Danielle

Only Two Days left for 'Family' Vacation

After we dropped Shane off at the Airport, he was tied up in Las Vegas for a few days. During that time I let the kids be sick; I figure you can't fight a losing battle. He finally was able to return Thursday Night. So that left us two days. We started Friday at the beach.

One day, I am going to take a vacation with Just McCade to a beach resort so we can body Board and sit by the water all day for an entire week! He's my child who has the same deep love for the Ocean that I do. I really crave hearing the waves as I wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. I really miss the Ocean. . . Now that he spent so much time at the beach; McCade has the same cravings. We could be there all day and all night.

His wave skills were greatly improved!

Yep, he's definitely my kid.

Tacey did inherit the 'I want to always be tan' gene; I think I am the only one in the family that got that one!

Dal had fun too. . .
Then we stopped by to say goodbye to Pama at her house, then visited Big Grandpa & Grandma Jo while she was in the hospital.

That night the girls went one direction, and the boys went another. Shane, Dallin, McCade, Scott and Grandpa went to the PADRES game in Petco Stadium. They had a BLAST!

Andrea, Shannon, Tacey& I went to see the touring company of my favorite musical - In The Heights. Okay, I will be honest; I saw the Original Broadway Cast, and this cast was not at that level, but they were still very good, and the story still made me cry.

Andrea took this picture inside the Theatre; she immediately got into trouble. HAHA!

And McCade, well his fondest wish came true at the game. I gave each of the boys $20.00 and told them to spend it however they wanted. McCade has ALWAYS wanted a foam finger - and he FINALLY GOT ONE!

Danielle