HAPPY 91st BIRTHDAY GRAMMY SUE!

Isn't she too precious! Grammy Sue is the best! Can you believe she will be turning 91 on Friday! She barely looks old enough for her "pick me up" she has every afternoon!! We spent the afternoon celebrating! Lunch, cake and swimming. She really enjoys having the kids come visit! Our nephew Anthony and niece Guiliana! It was great to see them and Auntie Rose! We hadn't seen them in a long time and the cousins always love playing together!! We missed Uncle Dino though...
The kiddos and Grammy! Kids being silly of course! Grammy tried to get them to "look intelligent"! No such luck Grammy... It really was a special day-the boys are in button up shirts! Grammy must be extra special!!!
Aaaawwww.....We got there just in time for Joe to fix Grammy her "pick me up"... And it's nice to see that one of the "kids" looked intelligent!
Grammy always has a special stuffed animal for the kids when they come to visit! They sure love their Grammy!!

MR. INDEPENDENT!

Joshy has gone ALL SUMMER running laps AROUND the pool...he would not get in for anything! A couple of weeks ago he all of a sudden decided he loves the pool and now wants to be in there all by himself! No help from mom or dad!!! This was today at the community pool at Grammy Sue's!!! It actually looks like he's not enjoying it but really he is...the sun was in his eyes and I think he's tired of smiling for the camera!!!

HOMEWORK TIME!!

Not much exciting with us lately! Just trying to get into the groove of our school routine! School is off to a great start so far! Jake loves his teacher and is making some new friends in his class! Justin likes his teacher as well and is getting over the fact almost all of his good buddies are in another class! Jake won't officially start homework until next week but each day sits down with Justin to "practice" doing homework! Justin has quite a bit of homeowrk each night...50 minutes of math, spelling, language art then has to read for 30 minutes and write about it! Luckily he doesn't give us any grief about it! Joshy insists on doing his "homework" with the boys! He actually tried writing his name today!!

JUSTIN'S VERY 1st KIDS TRIATHLON!

Okay, so a couple months ago Justin told Joe & I he wanted one of us to get up with him before school to start running because he wanted to start training for a triathlon!! HUH?!?!? was our response!!! We don't know where he gets his athleticism from, certainly not us! My idea of excercise is DRIVING to the local Starbucks and DRINKING a venti mocha while CHATTING with my friends!!!! Anyways, we saw a sign last weekend for a Kids Triathlon this weekend in Davis and he wanted to do it! No, he had not started his "training" yet but he did a great job! The whole triathlon process was a bit overwhelming at first to me! He first started out with a 75 yard swim, had to go to the transisition area where his bike, helmet, shoes, shirt were waiting for him, took off for a 2 mile bike ride, back to the transistion area to drop off the bike & helmet and off on the last leg a 1/2 mile run! Despite waking up with head to toe hives (uuggghhh....) and being the 3rd to last to finish the swim portion, he made up for time in the bike ride & run and ended up placing 56th out of 276 kids! We were very proud of him! He did a great job! He finished the whole race (start of swim to end of run including the transistion stops) in 20 minutes 08 seconds! He is looking forward to his next one and will know what to expect next time!!!


To view Professional pictures taken at the triathlon cut & paste the following link http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=7411&PWD=&ID=16226467&FROM=photos&BIB=530



The start of Justin's very first triathlon!!! Getting ready for the 75 yard swim....GO #530 1 lap down, 2 to go!!!!

Now for the bike portion.... The start of the 2 mile bike ride....(Justin is in the white helmet & red shorts)
The home stretch of the bike ride....

Just finished the last leg of the triathlon and trying to catch his breath....
He's in the home stretch, getting ready to cross the finish line..... Showing off his participation medal.... I think he really wanted to smile but when you're 10 apparently it's not cool?!?!

JOSHY & CHEETOH

It seems like lately it's been all about Justin & Jake, so I thought I'd give an update on my other "kiddos". I don't think Joshy even realizes he's got mommy to himself for 3-1/2 hours now that Jake is in school. I think all he realizes is he only has me to boss around! At least he acknowledges when he gets his way that he's "spoiled rotten". It's actually kinda funny when he says it about himself..."Joshy spoiled rottten???" Then laughs hysterically.... He absolutely LOVES Cheetoh and likes to be the one to take him potty. Cheetoh is getting so big already! He's adjusted quite well to our crazy household! He's only had a couple accidents in the house (thank god!!!) and overall a good puppy! He does tend to take things and hide them!! Luckily we found his hiding spot...under our bed! At least it keeps the kids from leaving their stuff laying around everywhere!!!

JACOB RILEY'S 1ST BASKETBALL CAMP!

What a week Jake has had! Between soccer practices, starting Kindergarten and his very 1st Basketball camp he's got to be pooped! He had a great week at camp and loved it! His friend Taylor was there as well and they both did an AWESOME job! Watch out DYB!!! After all these years of watching Justin at camps it was really weird that it was finally Jake we were watching! It hardly seems possible!! He really did a great job and loved all his coaches! I must say the UC Davis players were quite patient and did a good job with these 4-7 year old kids!!


Taking the shot...
Jake & "Gunrock" the UC Davis mascot. I'm still trying to figure out what the heck kind of name that is for a school mascot!!!!
Jake & his buddy Taylor! Taylor was ON FIRE at camp this week!! Getting ready to take a shot from downtown!!
The "NBA Finals". THey actually announced all the players just like the real thing! It was very cute!! Jake is #4 giving Coach Ari a high five!

Jake looking for someone to pass it to... Getting into the action...
Woohooo! Just made a shot....
Warming up....
Jake's thinking... Hey kid you're going tohe wrong way!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Well, today was a big day for us! Jake started Kindergarten and Justin 5th grade! It's so hard to believe Jake is actually in kindergarten! He had a GREAT day-loved his class, loved his teacher and made some new friends! I think he's going to have a great year! He was escpecially thrilled when his big brother walked by during reccess and actually acknowledged him!! Justin also had a good day! I REALLY can't believe he is now a 5th grader! Crazy!! He loves his teacher also and despite his buddy Bryan being his only good friend in the class I think he will also have a good year. I asked him if there were any cute girls in his class and he of course looked at me like I was crazy and said they are all pure evil!! hhhmmmm....5th grade is sure going to be interesting...human development...ugghhhh!!!!!!!!



Getting ready to leave the house for their big day!! Aren't they cute!!! I told you you won't see them in button up shirts very often---not even the first day of school! What's a mom to do?!?!?!
Justin settling into his desk in his 5th grade class!!!!!!!!!

Jake in his Kindergarten class with all his new classmates!! Getting ready for the big day!
Jake ran into his friend Baylee just before school started! He was so happy to see a familiar face! And an AWFUL CUTE one at that!!
Circle time....

LAKE ALMANOR!!

Well, Joe was able to take the weekend off so we headed up to Lake Almanor to visit with my cousins again! We had a great time!! Uncle Pooh and Antonio (his girlfriend Michele's son) came up for one night and Logan and Zachary were there as well! And of course Momo!! We hung out, ate, went to the beach, ate, went boating, ate, rode the golfcart, ate, played tennis and golf, ate and took in the concert at the beach! We were wiped out when we got home! We all had a great time and Kelly & Brian are the hosts with mosts!!

Here is their cabin they bought at the end of last year. They have put alot of work into it and it looks GREAT!!!! It's an awesome place!! The three bucks who stopped by every day to visit!

Justin was OH-SO-CLOSE to getting up on the wakeboard! His arms were getting tired and the water was getting choppy but I know he could've gotten up if he had tried one more time!!! I bet if he was on a smaller wakeboard (at least one that didn't weigh more than he did!!!!) he would've popped right up!!!

What a stud!! Joe got up his first try on the wakeboard! He did quite well I must say!! He was even riding the waves! No flips yet though!

Nice guns.....
W-I-P-E-O-U-T!!!!!!!!!!!