DANI AND WADE TAKE A VOW

My cousin Dani (my mom's sister Karen's daughter) married her longtime sweetheart this past weekend aboard the Safari Rose at Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay. I loved how Dani showed so much expression in her eyes, how Wade looked mellow and peaceful, how their friends gave the event a spirited feel (they were a riot) -- but my favorite part was that they ended the ceremony by dancing to "You Shook Me All Night Long."

To the decades ahead of you, Dani and Wade -- Cheers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDAD!

I hope you make ice cream with the ice cream maker some day! Thanks for letting us have the kayak! Happy Birthday, Grandad. - Dane

You're a cute, cute Grandad. Grandad? You're a good Grandad. - Aubrey

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

LAST DAY OF SUMMER

It may not be the official last day of summer according to the solstice calendar, but since school starts tomorrow at Willow Creek Academy, it may as well be.

Dane returns, entering 1st grade with Ms. Lurie, whose specialty is reading (could she be any nearer and dearer to my heart then?), and AUBREY STARTS KINDERGARTEN!

Come 7:45 AM we'll ride our bikes in, drop Dane off at Ms. Lurie's, and then drop Aubrey off at Ms. Perez's. I'm incredibly excited for each kid -- and, yes, for myself (the time! the freedom!) -- but I have to admit my stomach is really upset today. Could this be psychosomatic? I like to think I'm tougher than that, but I'm probably not.

Aubrey has been such a great little partner over the past year, at my side for a lot of long, sweet days. And riding my bike with the trail-a-bike still attached after I've dropped her off (she's still not very interested in learning to ride her own two wheels) will probably feel weird.

As for the two of them, it's also been a great summer spent watching them grow and pal around. Things like that change a little during the school year, although hopefully not too much.

After dropping them off tomorrow, my friend Sharon is letting me sit in on her Bikram Yoga class. We'll see if 90 minutes of 105 degree heat and 40% humidity helps me keep things in perspective.

My plan for the school year will include a nice balance of part-time work at the rec center, lots of writing, volunteering in the classrooms, riding my bike for transportation, and maybe taking a fitness class a couple times a week.

Mick's plan is to keep charging through school, drumming up the kinds of patients and cases he needs to graduate (a lot of his class is frustrated and challenged by this these days).

I'll post FIRST DAY pix when I see Mick again and can download them onto his computer. He has clinic until 9 Thursday night; I leave for Tahoe the next morning for a couple days to attend my cousin Dani's wedding.

SATURDAY AT THE MUSEUM

Two Saturdays ago, we took the kids to the DeYoung's 10:30 AM children's art class. Mick studied in the cafeteria and I sat in on the docent tour/lecture and art project.

The topic was textures and patterns and symmetry. The first item we looked at was a thousand year old South American king's tunic made entirely of jungle bird feathers. You could barely tell they were feathers -- the texture was very flat -- and it was brilliant. The main color was yellow, with patterns created at the outer edge from blue, red, white and black "wave," triangle, line or square repetitions.

The kids' project was to cut colorful felt shapes and glue them onto a rectangular sheet of white cotton material in the symmetric pattern of their choice. Dane was done pretty quickly and not terribly engaged (I think he likes drawing or sculpting best); Aubrey took quite a while and cut out very tiny hearts and circles and triangles, and then accented with little pearl beads. All symmetrically, of course.

Afterward, we grabbed Mick and went outside to find the Sky room (not sure of its real name) where the accoustics allow for you to to hear sound purely -- where a whisper can envelop you if you stand in the center. (see photo above, taken when Maureen and Jackie visited)

With our packed lunches we headed across the street to the Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. We ate on benches next to the turtle pond, took a walk, played some frisbee, and finally headed home in the late afternoon.

Aubrey and Katie frozen in 'freeze dance' at Katie's Princess party on Saturday.

Momma? When I said goodbye to Uncle Kai I kind of felt like I was gonna cry. -Dane

If you get an error at the poll, click refresh way up top and it should work.

LAKE TAHOE IN JUNE!(She couldn't wait to wear the size 6!)

Rob, Dane's dentist.
We stayed at his family's cabin.

BADM STRIKES AGAIN

We didn't renew our Bay Area Discovery Museum membership this year since Dane was in Kindergarten and Aubs seemed plenty busy. However, we returned with friends Josh and Abby (mom, Camille) yesterday and shut the place down! We got there when it opened and we left when it closed (10am to 4pm).

The most exciting part for the kids was the new exhibit called "Joshua's Journey," a full-on wild west exhibit about a black cowboy. The kids could dress up in cowgear (I wish my camera battery had been charged): they had boots, spurs, chaps, hats, prairie dresses, bandanas, sombreros, and plaid western shirts galore. The kids could lassoo cattle from a wooden saddled horse and rope in the wooden calf. They could sit around a campfire next to a covered wagon and cook up supper -- there was even a triangle and spoon to call in the gang for chow. Overall, we probably spent 2-1/2 hours in there.

It was a gorgeous sunny Bay day, so we were lucky to spend the rest of the time outdoors at the play area. They searched for buried treasure in the "sunken ship," played Star Wars out at the stick maze (hard to describe that place), dipped their bods in the mock tidal pools, shoveled gravel in the gravel pit, and climbed up the crows nest.

The old standbys in the art room and train/fishing boat room were great fun, too.

Today we're home cleaning up because Uncle Kai and Jason Hickman come tonight for the weekend! They're going to an all-day concert in SF tomorrow with Mick.

Oh dear... apparently this blog's going belly-up.
Profound thanks to the third mystery voter... ;)

HEY, TAKE MY POLL! IT'S A NEW FUN FEATURE!

TWO FRIDAY NIGHTS AND A SATURDAY

Mick was given 2 Oakland A's tickets for Friday July 20th; we were also given 2 San Francisco Giants tickets for the following Friday.

The first Friday, Mick took Aubrey with him to the A's game. They ate their packed snacks, plus hot dogs, cotton candy, and Tic Tacs. Aubrey sang "Take me out to the ball game" the whole time, sat on her dad's lap, sat next to him, met the people in the rows near her. She sacked out happily and suddenly within the first 5 minutes of their ride home, after chattering wildly about how she drank Diet Coke and how that has caffeine and how she wasn't tired at all.

In the meantime, Dane and I spent a specially planned evening home. Earlier that week we'd bought "Dino Dig" from the Discovery Channel Store. Dino Dig is like the game Battleship, but with raptor fossil parts to discover in your opponent's grid instead. Dane was incredibly focused for 2 hours as we used coordinates to guess where the others' bones were. Afterward, we curled up on the couch and read books until late.

In both cases that first Friday, Mick and I reveled in how sweet each kid was -- doing something special with our undivided attention. The following Friday, we swapped kids and had similar fun.

Dane went with Mick to the SF Giants game -- along with his friend Jacob and Jacob's dad, Mike -- where the boys watched Barry Bonds hit his 754th homerun, leaving him just 1 homer shy of tying the record. (The boys were ecstatic, although I'm not entirely sure they grasped the actual significance of the momentus occasion.) They snacked, ate ice cream, talked about baseball, held up their mitts, and stayed for the entire game.

At home, Aubrey was beside herself with enthusiasm and plans for our evening alone. The week before, we'd bought a special craft kit (also at the Discovery Channel Store) and she'd been waiting patiently since then to delve into it on our special night. When the moment arrived, we sat around coloring and framing our artwork as she chatted happily about the markers and designs; then, we played Pokemon Yahtzee and Disney Princess Dominoes, and looked (and found) every item in the Find It - Incredibles book while we sat propped up in bed side-by-side for over an hour. Of course, we also painted our nails.

Mick and I agreed that while it's always fun to do things together as a family, there's so much to be said about spending time with just one other person, devoting all kinds of love and attention and interest to that person. We're definitely going to be doing this again with the kids.

That said, Mick and I also got to spend time alone recently when the kids spent a few hours one evening at our friends' the Neilsen's. Instead of trying to do a big bike ride or go out to dinner, I found a scrumptuous curry recipe online and we went to the market to pick up all the ingredients, then came home and drank wine together while preparing and cooking it all up. We threw on some Morphine -- a band we listened to a lot that first summer we met -- and spent a sweet, chill kind of evening together.

We spent July 4th with cousins and grandparents and Karen and Bonita and Amber and Heidi and Pete at Carkeek Park in Seattle.

It was a gorgeous sunny day; we potlucked, bbq'd, splashed in saltwater, waded through drainage tunnels, and, if you were Pete or Heidi, got special treatment by the birds perched on the branches overhead. (Hint: from a bird, rhymes with bird.)


And, yes! We finally met Weston! Here he is up close and delightful, in a photo with Auntie Anjie, and in another with Kai and Indi.






Note: Auntie Dana bought the cousins matching Independence Day outfits. See if you can figure out who matches! (Think gender; think occasion -- i.e. daytime, nighttime. You'll find both.)

That week we also met up with our friends the Malcolms and swam/bbq'd at Lake Washington. Pictured with the kayaks: the Malcolm kids and the Reynolds kids all sprawled out.

Oops.

The link for The Sun on yesterday's post should be
www.thesunmagazine.org. (I'll change it below, too.)

Check it out!

Publishing Update

I can't remember if I've made note of some of my fun recent writing news. In case I haven't: The Sun's 'Reader's Write' section published a piece I wrote about being kissed on the cheek by my Mormon pal, Buddy, in 9th grade -- and its unexpected, lingering effect. (My payment: 6 months of free issues!)

And now I just stopped by my library and it turns out a similar, longer version of that story was printed up in the Marin Independent Journal on July 29th. (Think: Bellingham Herald for all of Marin County.) I'd submitted it a few months ago and had forgotten it. And, evidently, the IJ forgot to notify me that they were printing it! The headline was "Making choices today that will affect your children tomorrow." It takes up the bottom half of page D-4, and it has a computer-graphic picture of two people kissing. (Interesting choice!) My librarian and another woman from my library book club saw it and they saved copies at the front desk for me.

Visit http://www.thesunmagazine.org to see the August issue of The Sun.
The IJ's website is http://www.marinij.com, but you can't pull up archived issues.

Still working on downloading family pix for future blog entries -- I really want to write more about our summer.

Snowballs in Summer?

Yes, that's possible when you're talking about the Snowball Effect. Piles and piles of potential blogs and pictures are gaining on me. I don't even know where to start now.

Just to check a little something off my list, though, I'll give a snappy update on life here:

*The kids are in Splash Camp every day for the next 2 weeks, with swim lessons and water play, M-F, 9 to 4
*I teach pre-schoolers at Splash Camp (circle time, arts & crafts) from 9 to noon
*Because I teach there, my kids attend for free -- that provides endless amounts of satisfaction and happiness
*At noon I come home and work on my application for Soapstone Writer's Retreat that's due to be postmarked August 1st
*Soapstone is a $3/day 2-week retreat -- I want to go there in '08. It's very competitive, but it looks amazing. (Check out soapstone.org.)
*At 4 I pick the kids up, and if it's anything like yesterday, they'll be wiped out. Ready to lounge around for a couple hours.

Things I know I still want to blog about:
1) The kids' trip to WA and their extended visit with grandparents/cousins
2) Our week home alone without them
3) The kids' flight home (yay!)
4) Our impressions of possible future living areas
5) The kids' other weeks at camp
6) Our fun Friday night one-on-ones with the kids
7) The kids' new art scrapbook albums

See how big that snowball's getting? I'll see what I can do...

SEATTLE = COUSINS
Days 4, 5, & 6

More about Puyallup

Mema and Poppa (a.k.a. Mom and Don) hosted a great bbq for us on Monday night. Gram and Gramps were already over from Yakima (thank you!), Vi and Gran came over from up the road, Aunt Laurie and Uncle John came over from University Place, and Peggy and Nick and Zack came down from Issaquah (a looooong drive in traffic -- and when you miss exits while talking on your cell phone...!)

The kids played like crazy in the yard -- some form of hockey Poppa made up with golf clubs and tennis balls and mini goals. Earlier that day, Dane and Aubrey made full use of the yard with underwear sprinkler running, tent crawling, and general exploring (it's a terrific big yard). Oh, and, of course, they made jam. (See post below.)

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of the whole gang (sheesh! what was I thinking??), but I'll post some pix from our visit last summer. Same people -- some are just bigger, some aren't. And nobody's sucking their thumbs anymore (usually).

Note: The picture with Patrick and Peggy was taken by a kid (sorry Patrick!); the sprinkler pictures were taken in Yakima.

*Sprinkler-running makes me really, really miss having a yard. Obvious note to self: Come July '08, we will have a yard...

ROAD TRIP - Puyallup, Day 3
Makin' jam with Great Gram and Mema

June 29 thru July 7
ROAD TRIP TO WASHINGTON!

Days 1 & 2
Hertz hooked us up with a Toyota Highlander. We've made the trip before in a Taurus, but since we were taking a bike and some scooters, and since we were four (headed north) with a cooler and a bag of car games, we decided to go SUV. We kept it for the whole trip and it worked well to keep the kids way in back for the long drive.

Of course we heard some "Are we there yet?" questions, starting in Novato, 15 minutes north of Sausalito. But once we described our drive with visuals -- a sheet of paper held up to represent California, above it a box of crackers to represent Oregon, and above that, a box of cookies to represent Washington -- we got questions like "Are we off the paper yet?" and "How far up the cracker box are we?" When we finally announced we'd reached "the cookie box," there were big cheers from the back.

Above: pictures of our first night, where we got to stay in Weaverville in our friends the Roths' cabin. Weaverville is up near Redding, two hours south of Ashland, and it's in Trinity County. The area's arid with lots of redwoods and huge pine cones; the cabin was a little house with two bedrooms, a big deck and a hillside to explore. Dane and Aubrey loved playing there: indoors, they played with Josh and Abby's toys and a felt board our friend Emily sent with them, and outdoors they threw a ball over the deck and made the mad dash through the gate and down the hill to grab it before it got out of sight.

Strangely enough, Mick got a surprising bit of cabin fever there (perhaps because he was reading too many trashy mags -- see photo) and we left after one night (instead of two) and a hike in the red clay. I think he was just excited to check out some possible future hometowns in Oregon on our way north.

Of course, on our way out of town, we had to drink some good coffee. The Roth's recommended The Red House, which had good coffee and the sweetest outdoor patio ever. Lots of tables and lawn chairs under huge trees, and fountains with boats and cars to float or sink. The kids also watered their plants (a lot).

Music in the Fish Tank
Or, What Mom Thinks About When the Kids Are Gone For A Week

The bubbles rise. Water drips down. The fish swims low. He skims his belly against layers of pink rocks, all the same size as his eyes. He weaves his way through his plant, shimmying between the plastic stems, listening out of his fish ears – wherever and whatever those are – to the rhythmic trickle above him. Nosing his way along the edges, his fins and tail wipe at the glass. This fish swims a pattern known only to him – and, of course, to his friend, the ceramic carp blowing on the sax. For all his days, he’s under the same tones, the same melody, of that pleasant little trickle above.

I miss you, Dane and Aubrey. See you soon. XO, Mom

Camp Food

Dane and Aubrey have been making food in a cooking class at camp* every day. They've made banana-strawberry milkshakes, berry cobbler, banana pancakes with strawberry topping, and spaetzle. Every afternoon they excitedly recall ingredients and procedures for us.

Here is a "recipe" they created themselves this morning (Sunday) for breakfast. They wrote it down so I could make it myself sometime. Here it is:

two Rise Cakes crubld. - Ster it - Put serl in - Brown ShuGr - milk - razins - ster - then-eat-up.

[rise = rice, crubld = crumbled, serl = cereal]

Be sure to let us know if you try it. We'd have two very happy cooks here.

*Dane and Aubrey attend Mill Valley Rec Center's day camp 9-noon M-F. I work 9:30-11:30 with pre-schoolers at the camp, and in addition to my wages, my kids attend their camps for free. They're attending 4 weeks of this day camp, and 2 weeks of Splash camp in August, which will be from 9-4. These are fabulous camps and we are really, really lucky.

In other news, Friday night's Mama Monologues was a huge success. If you want details, email me!

Here's the flyer for the event I'll be attending tonight.
I'll be reading my mini-essay, "Moustache Revolution."

THE WRITING MAMAS SALON

The Mama Monologues Spoken Word Event @ Book Passage

Friday, June 22nd, 7-9 p.m.
Book Passage, 51 Corte Madera, Calif.
Event Info: 415.927.0960
Directions and Parking: http://www.bookpassage.com

It’s Mothers’ Night Out!

The Writing Mamas Mama Monologues Spoken Word Event @ Book Passage will feature salon members reading their personal essays and blogs about motherhood. Leave the kids at home, come for a laugh out loud evening, have some wine – girlfriend, you deserve it – enjoy delicious food at the Book Passage café, and share what motherhood is really all about.

Joyce Maynard, author of the best-sellers, At Home in the World, To Die For and Internal Composition, and mother of three! will be our guest celebrity Writing Mama! ! !

To learn more about The Writing Mamas Salon, contact: Dawn Yun, dawnyun@ writingmamas.com, 415.233.2483 or visit http://www.writingmamas.com.

Price: Suggested donation: $10, all profits donated to charity.

Please pass this invitation along to friends and family, and enjoy a Mama’s Night Out!!!

Somethin's rotten in Marin City.

After my previous morbid post, you probably think I'm speaking figuratively, but I'm not. This time, I'm being literal.

I've scrubbed my bathroom, where I first noticed a rancid smell -- think dead rat, dead cat, dead neighbor. Then I smelled it in the kitchen, so I scrubbed under my sink (ew!), re-garburated the garburator, loaded all my dishes up and ran them in the dishwasher. I picked up anything on the living room floor, I lit candles in the living room and kitchen, I sprayed a little Pledge on the bookshelf. (Well, really, just one shelf -- there's obviously nothing dead up there, so why go to the trouble? I just needed to spray something clean-smelling.)

But that rotten smell's not going away.

On my way up from my fifth trip to the laundry room (I know now it's not my stinky laundry) I got a clue. New guy coming out of the apartment under mine.

"Hey! Are you one of my neighbors?" I say.

"Uh, no," he says, holding a plastic bag behind his back. "No, I'm just living here for a little while."

Thought nothing of it at that point, said, "Well, hey, I'm your neighbor upstairs," and walked on up.

Now I'm suspicious, though.

Maybe HE'S here to dispose of the dead body.

If it's still smelly tomorrow, watch out -- I'm all over it, fella.

DISTURBING NEWS

Dear Friends,
I'm sad to be posting this.

Trust me, I'd rather be writing about Tahoe and Father's Day and the first day of summer camp (and I will), but instead I find myself needing to write about our home.

In many ways, I've loved living in Marin City. The weather's gorgeous, a terrific bike path is minutes away, the library's across the street, and we live among a friendly and diverse community of people. Our neighbors are of different races, religions, economic status, and abilities -- and I've loved that Dane and Aubrey find such diversity normal and good.

However, I never EVER want them to believe violence and violation are normal, and, quite frankly, this is an aspect of Marin City that infuriates and terrifies me.

Remember my post about the Iranian woman who was mugged? Since then, there have been several muggings -- of men, women and teens.

Remember my post about Dane's bike being stolen? Well, I hate to say it, but a kid broke into our garage just 2 weeks ago and rode off with the replacement bike we'd purchased that week for Dane. A man in the parking lot saw it happen, called the sheriff, and within minutes a sheriff was at my door asking me down to my garage to file a report. (Good news: I told one of my favorite little 4th grade boys about it and he was on the lookout for it. Two days later, he found it on the lawn across from the library, banged up but fixable. He is NOT a suspect. AT ALL.)

A local pastor was recently picked up at 3 a.m. wandering around drunk, with a crack pipe in his jacket. To his church's credit, they held day-long and night-long vigils in the community (I could hear them from my balcony), focusing on the sickness of addiction, reminding each other to look out for each other: If it could happen to their pastor, it could happen to anybody.

Marin City needs help.

There's more evidence that would make you sick to your stomach, but I'll just include this final piece.

This ugly, evil event seems, unfortunately, to represent the risk of living here. It fits with the reputation Marin City residents have tried valiantly to overcome, but, honestly, haven't.

In spite of all the love and kindness and goodness found in the rest of my neighbors and our friends at Dane's school, such an assault weighs heavily on me. In spite of the huge list of reasons I could give for living here, I question my standards of safety, and try to assess my ability to keep us all safe here for one more year. There's an ominous, scary tone to such a statement; I can only hope that by articulating it, I can come up with a good solution.

Of course, it all begs the bigger question: What needs to be done to make it safe here? What needs to be done that's not already being done? And can it be done while my family's here?

FYI: Marin City is a very small place -- it feels smaller than most amusement parks. This beating took place just two blocks over from our apartment.

Peace,
Anjie

***

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

MARIN BOY HOSPITALIZED AFTER BEING BEATEN WITH BASEBALL BAT
Diana Walsh and Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, June 18, 2007

(06-18) 12:33 PDT MARIN CITY -- A 13-year-old Marin City boy remains in the hospital with serious head injuries after he was beaten with a baseball bat, allegedly by another 13-year-old who now faces an attempted murder charge, authorities said today.

The suspect, who also lives in Marin City, will appear in juvenile court today. He was arrested early Saturday on the Drake Avenue in Marin City, where the beating took place, said Marin County sheriff's Sgt. Keith Boyd. The suspect's name was not released because of his age.

Boyd said police who responded to a call of a boy bleeding from the head about 4:49 a.m. Saturday found the bat on the street. The victim was taken first to Marin General Hospital, then to Children's Hospital Oakland after his condition stabilized.

The boys know each other, Boyd said. He would not elaborate on what the motive for the attack might have been.

On Sunday, a woman who identified herself as a cousin of the victim said the boy's face was badly disfigured and swollen. She said that he had been conscious when she arrived on the scene and that he had been able to talk to paramedics.

But she added, "I was crying so much, I didn't understand what he said.''

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, said the boy was on a ventilator at Children's Hospital Oakland.

Boyd would not provide specifics on the boy's injuries other to say he was seriously injured.

Garvin Williams, who lives on Drake Avenue, said the two boys were friends and that the incident was not gang-related. "Both of them are good kids; nobody really knows what happened,'' Williams said Sunday as he sat near the blood-spattered concrete where the beating took place.

Shelia Jones lives in a unit just a few yards away, but said she heard nothing until paramedics arrived shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday.

"It's a tragic thing. Two kids' lives have just been destroyed," Jones said.

Jones, the mother of three, said the incident made her think about moving.

"You come out your front door and CSI is here roped through your front yard. That's too close for me,'' she said. "You don't know if you are going to become a witness or a victim."

JUNE 13 - LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

You say goodbye...

And I say hello...

AUBREY'S MERMAID

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF YEAR NUMBER TWO!

The above sentence should be written in bold, gigantic, swirly lettering. I can't do that on the iMac, though, so let me repeat:

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF YEAR NUMBER TWO!

That's right, after Mick completes his final final at 4pm today, he'll be a THIRD YEAR dental student, a SENIOR at University of the Pacific School of Dentistry.

What that means for the short term: After today, he'll have a 4-week break before school starts again on July 9th. During that time, he'll lounge around a lot, skateboard and kiteboard and bike and maybe even surf, head to Tahoe with us for a long weekend, and take a road trip up the coast with us looking for potential new home towns for that June '08 graduation date. He'll also do a 1-week rotation at a dental clinic mid-June, which will free him up during the school year to have more school clinic time.

What that means for the long term: We're entering YEAR 6 of our 6 YEAR PLAN! (3 years of pre-req's at Western, 3 years of dental school.)

So of course:

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF YEAR NUMBER TWO (a.k.a YEAR NUMBER FIVE)!

The Sluggers

Dane and Aubrey have been meeting with their t-ball team, The Sluggers, for the last couple of months. They play (2 at-bats, no keeping score) on Wednesdays from 4-5 and on Saturday mornings, 9-10. After the Saturday sessions, Coach Jack gives them donuts. (See pictures.)

Coach Jack has been volunteering here for 21 years. He coached the parents of some of these kids. He makes coaching look easy, with the way he splits the kids up for the field or to bat, and how he lets them each take a good couple smacks at his aluminum bat before they swing at the ball on the "T." It's pretty fun to see the huge satisfaction a kid has when s/he makes that bat sing. (And, yes, Jack's brave -- imagine letting a 5-year-old swing at a bat you're holding near your body.)

A few times I've begged Jack to let me take a nap in my van during practice, but he's made me the official assistant coach -- and Mick's helped coach a few Saturdays and even a Wednesday. That means we get to play catch, make sure they stay behind Coach's red duffle bag while a teammate is batting; it means that in the field, we remind them to stand in a ready position instead of picking grass or sitting on the cones used for bases. Oh yeah, we also have to encourage them not to fight each other for the ball that four of them want to pick up and throw to first base.

Pictures:
#1 - Xavier, Aubrey, Jaylen, Dane and Coach Jack in background
#2- Aubrey and Jaylen in front, Terrance and Dane in back, Jack in background
#3 - Aubrey and Dane
(We have more pictures to add when I can download onto my computer; we should also be getting official team pictures soon.)

THE (IN)FAMOUS ROPE SWING

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I wish I had a third hand.

-Aubrey, trying to tie bow and flower on Care Bear's ear