Roc's Hike, March 2014

 

While hiking we came across a pile of bones.

Kids and their picnic lunch.

Emma and Porter came with me on my hike.

We found deer tracks!

Playing in the water on our way to the falls.

We also found dog tracks!

Little Illinois falls.

The calm before the fall!

This is how I knew that we had hiked long enough, Porter sat down and refused to hike anymore.  Although when we got into the car and he found out that we were going home he immediately wanted to hike some more.

During our exploration we found a cool cave to provide some needed shade. 

 

Roc is now working on his Bear in Cub Scouts.  Today we got multiple achievements and arrowhead points signed off including hiking and photography.  We also read some tall tales on the way up to the falls and during our lunch had a discussion about faith so we had a productive day in terms of scouting and a fun day for everyone.  We were all going to go and make it a fun family day but as we were getting ready to go Calvin decided to have an episode of vomiting and diarrhea which ruled him out of a day away from civilization especially going to a place with no bathtub.  So Stacie got the short straw and stayed home with Calvin (truth be told I don't think she was overly excited about going to the woods to go for a walk while trying to keep track of Porter and Calvin).  Early on in our exploration Roc discovered a pile of bones that he was fascinated with (hence the picture above).  I had a difficult time not making up a story about the bones to scare him but it was so early in the day I figured it would not be good to scare him or he may refuse to go on the rest of the hike. We ended up going on two hikes.  The first was  a mile and a half down to the Illinois River, we were following a trail to the falls but the trail had been washed away so we took the opportunity to play in the water instead.  We made a second attempt to get to the Little Illinois River Falls and we were rewarded with our effort by making it to the falls the only issue was it was very steep and rocky with cliffs so we had to admire from a distance.  If it would have been warmer we would have all loved to get into the water.  It was amazing that Porter walked 98% of the way without complaining.  We walked between 4 to 5 miles over rocks up and down hills and Porter lead us most of the way with his faithful walking stick at  his side. 

Roc's Basketball Season, Winter 2014

Top Row: Ryan, Owen, Sa-id, Ethan, Josiah
Bottom Row: Sam Raiden, Roc, Andrew

The team at the Pizza party at the end of the season.

 

Roc had another fun year of basketball this year.  Ryan also got more involved by coaching the team.  This year we had a ruff start with only 3 boys signing up to play basketball.  Stacie did some serious recruiting to find enough players to get a team and then she had to fight with the Boys and Girls Club to put us on the schedule after they originally took us off because of the lack of players.  When the dust had settled we had only had 2 practices before our first game against one of the better teams.  That first game was a difficult game for the team but after that and after a few more practices everything started to come together and by the end of the year the team was playing some great basketball with their last two wins of 48-12 and 52-8.  At halftime of our last game they turned the score board off because our boys had such a significant lead.  Roc did particularly well this year.  He became one of the leaders of the team, making calls and directing people on offense and defense.  Roc also continued to improve on his skills, one that he is exceptionally good at is setting a high screen.  In several of the games I felt sorry for the player guarding our point guard when Roc was one of the wings.  Roc would come up to set the screen and the player would not see him and run right into him (even though Roc was set and the other player had all of the momentum, the other player would usually end up on the floor).

 

Fun with Calvin March 2014

Calvin was playing tug-a-war with Ryan and Ryan decided that it would be funny to put the ends that he was pulling on up Calvin's nose.  Now a lot of people would blame Ryan for sticking the tube in Calvin's nose but I blame Calvin for allowing the tube in his nose.  Or probably more appropriate would be to blame Stacie for thinking it was so funny that she wanted it done again so that she could get pictures (not one but multiple pictures).

A day at the beach, March 2014

One of our favorite pastimes is playing at the beach.

 

Ryan and the kids coming back from looking for shells.

Ryan and the kids continuing their exploration of the beach. 

Obviously the best way to see what is at the bottom of the bucket!

 

Finally, a warm day with no sporting activities, sounds like a perfect day to go to the beach.  We packed up and made our way to the coast for a day trip and some fun in the sun.  What a good way to get away for an activity that everyone enjoys.

Emma's Basketball, Winter 2014

 

 

 

Emma was given the opportunity to play basketball this year on the 5th and 6th grade basketball team for Rogue River.  Emma did good, especially considering it was her first year of playing basketball on a team.  She has attended basketball camps before but they usually work on individual skills which is significantly different then playing on a team.  Emma was mostly dedicated to defense and usually played defense even when she was supposed to be playing offense.  It reminded me of the story that my 6th grade teacher told us about the young player that he had that he gave specific instructions to stay with his guy, after a few minutes he was looking for the player and found him standing in a defensive stance in front of the player that he was assigned to guard even though that player was on the bench.  It was exciting for Emma but at times she was a little intimidated by the other girls.  One game we were playing a great team with only 6th graders and they played hard physical basketball and were up by 20 points or more. Emma played in the first quarter and did not go in the rest of the game.  After the game the coach came to talk to us and he told us that he asked Emma to go in throughout the game and Emma (who always sat right by the coach) would tell him "No, I am fine right here,"  The coach then laughed and said that he did not blame her and figure that he would not have wanted to play against those girls either.

 

Roc turns 9, Febuary 2014

Roc always chooses to go to Tarasco Inc. for his birthday dinner. It is one of the few restaurants in Rogue River.

Calvin being Calvin!

Emma making faces while Roc was taking pictures.

The real reason why Roc always chooses Tarasco, because of the sombrero and the fried ice cream!

We were all glad Seattle won the Super Bowl especially Stacie, it made buying birthday gifts for Roc that much easier.

Roc was bugging Stacie to get jerky for months, so if you bug mom long enough guess what you get for your birthday.

Roc choice for his birthday cake was a peppermint ice cream cake with an oreo crust that Stacie had seen on Facebook.

Even Porter, who does not like cold food, dove into the peppermint ice cream cake.

 

 

 

 

New addition to the family, Febuary 2014

Coco Puff the black and white mantle Great Dane Puppy in the middle.

Calvin really wanted to touch the puppies.

Mom and Dad of Coco

 

 

We decided to adopt a new puppy, a black and white Great Dane puppy that we (the kids) have named Coco Puff.  There were 7 puppies, one girl and 6 boys.  Stacie and Ryan both voted for one of the spotted puppies but all the kids wanted the girl, so guess who won the vote.  It is funny that we went from owning one of the smallest breeds (a Poodle Chihuahua mix) to the largest breed.  The kids loved the parents of Coco.  Both were really friendly and interacted well with our family.  Coco will officially join us on March 26th. 

 

Porter turns 4, January 2014

Porter chose to go out to Olive Garden for his birthday.  If you can't tell Porter has a mouth full of grapes that is why he is making such a funny face.  He is trying to keep his mouth shut so that the grapes don't escape!

His mouth is still full of grapes but he must of got one or two down because he can at least smile now.

It is funny how innocent Calvin looks but we all know better.

Porter and his birthday haul.

Roc executing a photo bomb!

It was a fun birthday for Porter.  He is at the age where he is able to really take it all in and understand the event.  I think he learned from Calvin's Birthday so when it was his turn he was very precise on what he wanted especially with where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner and what kind of cupcakes he wanted and no one complained about his choices.