Cubs WIN!

Last week we had the amazing experience of watching an Oakland A's vs. Chicago Cubs game with 132 of our closest friends:-)  A dear friend, Jerry T, from church organized a group of us to attend a game in Oakland.  We were all surprised by the response.  It was a great night to introduce Kathryn to her first major league baseball game.  And we were further surprised that we could cheer on our Cubbies to a WIN! It was a fireworks night as well so we stayed to watch those as well.  A late night but well worth it.

A whole row of transplated Cubs fans!

Andrew and his friends were divided in their loyalty but not in  good will.

More friends to share the night!

Swimming Lessons 2013

The kiddos made great strides in swimming lessons this year!  They enjoyed every minutes that they were in the water.  (Getting out wasn't always fun but. . .  we experienced our first lesson in the RAIN!  Yes, we had rain in Ripon at the end of June.  Not a regular occurrence.)

Summer Fun with Flubber

Saying Goodbye to Pake

WARNING: This post contains extreme amounts of pictures -- probably only of interest to family:-)  Read at your own risk.

What a week!  Last fall, we were posting a similar post about rushing off to spend time with family as we said goodbye to a special man.  This week we took a marathon road trip to Oregon to see family we hadn't seen (ever!) and celebrate the well-lived life of Lloyd's 98 year old grandfather.  The kids did great and made lots of new friends with the cousins' kids.

Kids with Nene & Papa

Kids with Uncle Egbert and Aunt Anna!  Andrew now has a favorite uncle in Alaska.  (Don't tell him how far THAT road trip would be.)

The House!  Pake's house has seen so many generations and celebrations.

Visiting - the best part of getting together.

Tea time - of course!

Pure silliness

Pake's Kids: Chris, Anna, Arlene, Douwina, Egbert

I think silliness is inherited!

Sisters!

Family from Canada

People, people, people

Grumpy face!

Making friends

More Canadian relatives - but they also brought a sister from the Netherlands.

Shoot or pass????  I had no idea my kids liked to play basketball!

More Locks, More Love!

 After months of begging, I finally gave in:-) Obviously, I had a much hard time than Anika did in thinking about cutting off her locks.  She was so excited that, on the first week of summer break, we had Becky come over to chop off her hair for Locks of Love.  She was able to donate 12 in to Locks of Love with an additional 2 inches or so to trim and even.  Grand Total: 14 inches less hair.