Zoo and the Troll

One of our favorite things to do is go to the zoo. This time we went with the Thorpe's and the Sam's. We had a great time. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Our best animal shots of the day.
I love this picture. During lunch they hid behind a table and I snuck up on them and got this shot.
I love this girl so much. She takes great pictures. Of course she is quite the poser.
Oh to be a kid again. They love to climb on everything.
Even when she is mad and grumpy she takes a great picture.
Blake and Cate! Climbing of course.
Blake giving us his best tiger roar.
Meagan and her best friend Jaylyn.
Blake standing like a flamingo.

We also went and saw the Freemont Troll. The kids loved this. They climed all over him. Here's a little history about the Troll.

The Fremont troll has been lurking under the north end of the Aurora bridge since 1990. He was sculpted by four Seattle area artists -- Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter and Ross Whitehead -- for the Fremont Arts Council. The head-and-shoulders sculpture is 18-ft. tall.
The shaggy haired troll glares southward with his shiny metal eye -- a hubcap? In his left hand, he crushes an old style Volkswagen beetle (which originally contained a time capsule of Elvis memorabilia; removed after the car was vandalized and the California license plate was stolen). There are plenty of places to pose, and interaction with the troll is encouraged.

The community pays tribute to the troll every October 31st with a mobile "Trollaween" party, starting under the bridge and wandering to other funky art sites and events in Fremont.

Finally!

I thought I would start with what most of our summer consisted of. BASEBALL! Between week night season games and weekend tournaments we watched a lot of baseball. Here are just a few of the many.

Maple Valley Hurricanes

We traveled all over Washington State and Canada.

Dallin played short stop, outfield, and pitched.

I love watching and cheering for my kids.

Dallin was the lead off hitter and had the second highest batting average on the team.

I think Dallin alone went through 20 cases of Gatorade this season.

The famous Incredible Triple XXX Burger!

I don't know where this kid puts his food. He ate that thing in about 10 minutes, plus a large fry and large root beer.

I don't even know what to say!

Meagan and the girls.

Blake loves to be with his big brother.

It was a great day for skiing.

Meagan and Blake getting some pool time in between games.

What's better than an afternoon nap in the sun.

Even Blake got some game time.

It was nice to have some down time between games.

SLEEP AT LAST!

Yes, we still have four kids. Hannah was in Canada with family. And sorry, I lied. Maybe a little more than a few. Stay tuned, more to come.

Coming Soon!

I have to say having a new camera that takes great pictures is a little addictive. So for the last couple days I have been going through, I'm not kidding, thousands of pictures. I will spare you all the thousands and just post a few, but who knows how long that will take. So hopefully, Coming Soon!

The End!

I can't believe it's over. It went by so fast. Now maybe I can get something done. The one thing I will remember from these games are the stories of adversity that many of the athletes overcame to not only win, but just to compete in these games. If they can do it, so can we in whatever we are striving to do in our lives. It was the most amazing opening ceremonies I have ever seen. If you didn't get a chance to see them, I highly recommend you do. I'm sure you can find them on youtube.

I few of the most memorable.
Nastia Liukin becoming the third American woman to win the gold medal in the all-around gymnastics competition.

The Redeem Team making up for previous failures by U.S. Olympic basketball squads, defeating Spain 118-107 to secure gold for the first time since 2000. I love this picture. I assumed all the coaches received gold medals also, they do not, so each player gave theirs to Coach K. US Men win gold in beach volleyball.
Michael Phelps tying Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics by the slimmest of margins, beating out Serbia's Milorad Cavid in the 100-meter butterfly by one hundredth of a second. I remember watching the prelims for this race and thinking to myself that this race will be the biggest challenge. I was nervous and I was sitting on the couch, I can't imagine how he felt. All as I can say is INSPIRATIONAL!
It was great to finally see her get the GOLD.Natalie du Toit pulled herself onto the dock and waited for someone to bring her prosthetic leg. She stretched out the other leg, the one she didn't lose in that horrendous motorcycle accident ,

and chatted with an official about the first open water race in Olympic history.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh celebrating after becoming the first team to repeat as gold medalists in beach volleyball.The U.S. women's basketball team winning its fourth consecutive gold medal while running its winning streak in the Olympics to 33 games. U.S. swimmer Eric Shanteau swimming in the men's 200-meter breaststroke after being told by his doctors a week before the U.S. trials that he had testicular cancer.

Bryan Clay joining the likes of Bruce Jenner and Jim Thorpe as Olympic decathlon champions in an event that an American has won 12 times in 22 Olympics but only twice since 1976. Dara Torres losing gold by an agonizingly slim margin in the 50-meter freestyle. At the tender age of 41, Torres was outtouched by German sprint star Britta Steffen. U.S. men's volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law had been stabbed to death at a popular Beijing tourist site. The team would rally in the wake of tragedy, winning a gold.Some pictures from the closing ceremonies.

See you in London 2012!