A day at the beach

One of the benefits of going to southern California for Melissa's softball tournaments is...visiting southern California. Jason and Yvonne farmed out the boys a couple weekends ago and took Melissa to San Diego for five games over two days at a college showcase tournament.

Games were done early the first day, so we went to Torrey Pines State Beach and enjoyed great weather, a quiet beach, and some hiking trails through the Torrey Pines Preserve. On the way home, we stopped at Mad Madeline's restaurant to sample the cheeseburgers that were voted "California's best." There was no argument from us.

A day at Springs Preserve

Jason's company held its annual picnic this year at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, a relatively new complex of museums and outdoor exhibits at the natural springs where Las Vegas (Spanish for "the meadows") got its name.

We all had a great time. It's a fantastic place to visit, and we all found something we enjoyed -- a movie on Hoover Dam, an indoor flood, games, hands-on exhibits, playgrounds, lunch in the Wolfgang Puck restaurant -- and even after several hours we hadn't done everything we could have.

Happy Halloween/Nevada Day

Halloween is also Nevada Day (insert your own joke here), so the kids get to celebrate Halloween at school the day before, then take the 31st off as a state holiday.

Carson and Dylan dressed as cowboys on the 30th as their school celebrated Nevada Day.

Then, on the 31st, Carson went as a Lego (his favorite toy), Dylan as a ninja (or, as Levi calls him, a non-ja), and Levi as Dash (his favorite Incredible).
Colin, with the all the numbers on his shirt, went as...wait for it...someone you can count on (ba-bump-ding).

Pirate names

In case yer thinkin' of hittin' the high seas in search of treasure, ye don't want to use yer real name. Our crew went to an online pirate name generator to get proper pirate names:

Cap'n Bobby Skullcracker (Jason)
Cap'n Snookie Caraway (Yvonne)
Mad Molly Henke (Melissa)
Dirty James Beckett(Colin)
Mad Brutus Mosby (Carson)
Cap'n Diego Firebeard (Dylan)
Bloody Raja Haynes (Levi)

Give it a try and let us know yers -- if ye dare. Arrrrrrrh!

Where did September go?

It's hard to believe our busy, crazy, September is over. To recap....

Carson turned 11 on September 5. He is now officially a Boy Scout. He went on his first campout, and received his Arrow of Light.

Colin turned 12 on September 21. He was ordained a Deacon by his dad and passed the Sacrament on his birthday.

Levi turned 4 on September 24. He thinks that he should automatically go to school now. Don't four-year-olds go to school? (He was thrilled to get a white shirt and tie like Colin -- a sure sign he is getting bigger.)

Colin, Carson and Dylan finished up another baseball season. All three played well, learned a lot, and had a good time. But, after four nights a week at the ballpark, we look forward to being home a few nights a week.




September being over, however, leads us to a busy October. Melissa's 18-and-under fall softball season has started. She will be playing in tournaments for the next five weekends. Three of those weekends will be in Southern California, and a final one in Phoenix. Can you think of any better places to play in the fall?