The Adventures of Hunter & Cooper at Woodland Park Zoo

Tuesday, Kris and I took the boys to Seattle to the Woodland Park Zoo. We left around 8:00 AM and got home around 7:00 PM. It was a long day, but it was totally worth it. The last time we'd been to a zoo (Portland), Coop wasn't even 1 and Hunter was only 4. So it was definitely time to go again. The weather was perfect, the food was good, the boys walked all around the trails without complaining once, and all-in-all it was just a wonderful day. I hope it will be a day trip that we all remember for a long time.

Here they are in this little hut...I told them they were in jail. And they rode the carousel, which was huge!


Hunter's favorite...the jaguar. It was SO beautiful! Coop didn't want to pose for the picture though, because he didn't realize there was glass there and didn't want to turn his back on the animal...hahaha!

Coop's favorite...the elephants!


We laughed because we were saying this guy looked like he had his nose in the corner!

Other fun things were the brown bears, the otters and the reptile/rain forest shed.

Hunter was so cute, he had to read all the information on all the animals. Sometimes we wanted to quickly take a peek and move on, but there he was, standing at the information board just soaking in all the info. He is so smart! He walked all around with the map in front of his nose, and one funny thing he said was, "Okay. We're headed for the arctic fox next, so it's probably gonna get a little cold." LOLOL! I could not stop laughing. Coop was a real trooper. He desperately wanted to see his elephants and the giraffe, but they happened to be at the end of the loop. He was pretty patient, which is hard for him. I think the next time we go we'll have to drag Daddy along...we missed him!

Raging Roosters Season Comes to an End...

Yet another baseball season has come to an end. Our Raging Roosters had their last game last Thursday, and OH - MY - GOSH it was so hot! Dave got it into his head that we needed to have a pizza party after the game, so we bought six pizzas and had them delivered to the fields. We handed out certificates, and had pizza, Capri Suns, and cupcakes...all the things kids love. :)

The season went really well. Each time we left the fields, Dave & I would remark to each other how we thought the kids were really improving. Even the little girls who could barely hit the ball at the beginning of the season were hitting bombs during the last game! It made us so proud. Cooper even got to hit the last two games. The other coaches didn't mind, and he is so persistent when it comes to baseball, we just had to let him. He hit it really far, and ran around the bases and even slid into home plate. He was beaming the whole rest of the night.

Dave started pitching to Hunter over-handed, and I think he hits way better like that. He hit his farthest hits the last two games, and it was fun watching him run all the way around the bases, that huge grin on his face. I love to see my kids excelling in a sport they truly love. I guess it's just in their blood. Oh, and I have to say, we had the best looking uniforms of all the teams. We go for the bold colors, you know...gotta be noticed.

We had an extra certificate, so we made one for Cooper. It's hanging on his bulletin board in his room.

Hunter looking lonely in the outfield...

Orange shirts with navy blue script...a shirt I wear proudly, but Dave says he'll probably never wear again - haha!

Old Yard, New Yard

Dave has spent countless hours out in our backyard, and it is finally almost finished! Here are the before/during/after pictures...

BEFORE:

As you can see, there is a slope to the right. I have slid down that thing more times than I can count!

We took off the railing of our deck, because that was where the retaining wall was going to be.

This picture was taken from the top of our hill. Kora's sitting in the high chair talking to Dave - haha!

DURING:

Here, the wall has been put up, but as you can see, the caps need to be stuck on with mortar.

Dave's friends came and helped him cut the caps and mortar them on. It was a HOT day, but they were troopers.

The steps still need poured in this picture, but the dirt is pretty level, thanks to Dave's endless raking. And raking. And raking.

Next came the sod. It went down quickly, and the weather was perfect.

Steps look okay. It's nice to have them, that's for sure!

Those fence poles have since been cut down to a nice size. Dumb neighbors made that fence, then left the poles sticking up in the air like that! How tacky!

AFTER:

The view from the back fence

We are looking forward to planting shrubs and flowers along the fences!

The view from my bedroom door.

We are planning on having a "HOORAY, OUR YARD IS DONE" party soon. I can't wait for everyone to see it!

Long Time, No Blog!

Oh my goodness, people...it occurred to me today that I have been a terrible blogger! There have been so many fun things I could have blogged about, but I have been doing other things. These things include trying to beat some of you at Bejeweled Blitz and Farkle on Facebook - haha! No, but seriously though, we have been keeping ourselves pretty busy around here!

Hmmmm....so where do I start? I think I will just have to do one blog a day until I'm caught up, otherwise this would be a terribly long post! And even though it was almost a month ago, I really have to start with Hunter's last day of school.

He had a very wonderful teacher this year, Mrs. Aguilar. She was kind and patient and Hunter really loved her. I would have loved to go in and help a lot more, like I did when he was in Kindergarten, but since I had Kora it was kind of hard! He had a super year, got Student-of-the-Month for January, his report card was outstanding, and we are just soooo proud of him!

Coop always has to get in on Hunter's big moments - haha!

Hunter, Isaac, Alonzo

Congratulations, Hunter - you are a 2nd grader!