The Rockets played their last regular season game on November 12. The team grew tremendously during the year – even those of us relatively new to soccer could see the improvement. They finished undefeated and happy! Click the picture to see more from this game.
Daniel’s team, the Wolverines, played in a tournament called the Rec Cup, for recreational league teams. They won their first two games of the tournament, but then were eliminated by an excellent team from West Seattle. Daniel played hard, and the whole team played well, albeit in a losing effort. It was a beautiful day and the field was excellent, so we got some good pictures to share here.
Daniel & David proved to be fully self-sufficient in the pumpkin carving department. Considering that I (Randy) really do not enjoy the carving (well, the messy part anyway), it was great to just supervise and watch the boys put their artistic talent to work. The pumpkins came out great and the boys cleaned up their mess completely! Great job, boys.
We also included a couple pictures from Halloween! Randy took the boys around the neighborhood while SJ stayed home and greeted the trick-or-treaters. Many of the Karshner kids come to our house and it’s so fun to see them! D & D had a great time, but no time to count the loot tonight as it’s a school night…. Note: We got the costumes three weekends ago and David had to literally squeeze into Iron Man!! We’re thinking another week and it won’t fit at all! He is growing like a weed!
After the pumpkin patch, we put on our warm clothes and went to Wild Waves / Enchanted Village for Fright Fest, where the rides are open at night. Daniel & David spent a lot of time at Wild Waves this summer (with Sary-Jo), so they were good guides. We rode on all their favorite rides, including the Timberhawk roller coaster and the Ring of Fire. We had a blast! Click the picture to see more.
We took the boys to the pumpkin patch, where we made it through the corn maze, went on a hay ride, shot some gourds in the sling shot and bought our pumpkins for the year. The weather was great and we had fun. Click on the picture to see more.
We went to Karshner’s annual Karnival. There were volunteers everywhere, with kids playing games to win candy, cupcakes & other prizes. There was a good turnout and everybody seemed to be having a great time. Here are our pictures (click the picture to see more).
Randy’s mom and dad took us out to dinner for Randy’s birthday. We went to one of our favorite restaurants and had some great Italian food. MacKenzie and Devan were also with us and we had a very enjoyable time. The pictures aren’t quite up to our usual standards because we hadn’t yet thought to set our phones to high resolution (and, of course, we didn’t think to take a camera). Still, we had a great time!
Daniel’s team had a bye week so the coaches arranged for the team to play against the parents and siblings. Because of their advanced age (compared to all the other parents), Randy volunteered to referee (a slightly less physical role on his birthday) and SJ took some video and photos. We had a great time and the kids learned that they come by their skills naturally. Nobody kept score, but I think the parents might have won.
The boys were able to participate in another cross-country meet at Bellarmine Prep School, running the same one-mile course that they had run two weeks prior. The race had 71 third- through fifth-grade boys in it. Since he had run a mile before, Daniel decided to set the pace, and he set an aggressive pace. Although he had run hard, and there was a steep hill near the end of the course, he still had enough energy to sprint to the finish with an impressive margin over the second-place finisher. David found himself in a battle at the end and was able to sprint to a very satisfying third-place finish. Each one of the boys shaved 16 seconds off his previous time. Daniel finished in 5:40 and David in 6:10! We caught a little video (below), including the start, middle and finish of the race. And of course there are more pictures – click on the one above.
The Puyallup School District always schedules two in-service days in October. Because SJ was not planning on attending any workshops, it was the perfect four-day weekend for Janel and Dad to scheme a much-needed surprise get-away. SJ doesn’t like surprises and she didn’t want to be gone on Big D’s birthday, so when the surprise was sprung just days before departure, she resisted. However, Janel and Dad worked their magic and insisted it would do wonders to recharge her very worn out batteries. THEY WERE RIGHT!!!! The four days included:
The best part, however, was just spending sweet time with Janel talking and laughing and just hanging out – no laundry, no cleaning, no cooking, no homework, chores, or disciplining. Great, great weekend!! Can we do it again next month?!!
