Baseball 2010

Baseball season has started and boy was it a hot one. Hunter had the first game at 9:00am and it felt like it was 100 degrees. Joe and I decided to "age" him up to the 9-10 division this year. He would have still played coach pitch at 8 and we felt he was ready for kid pitch. He played great. He played short stop for today. There were a lot of walks and pass balls, not much hitting but the pitchers are just learning. His team won, 12-6. In this age group, they get to go to the playoffs so we can finally keep score. Brody had a game at 10:15 so I had to leave Hunter's game early to get to Brody's game. Of course, after I left, Hunter got to pitch one inning. He is not much on words so all I got out of him was that he did okay and no one scored. I think my friend was able to get pics of him pitching.






Brody had a great day hitting. I had to be fast to get his picture because once the ball is on the tee, he hits it. No one volunteered for catcher (it was too hot so I don't blame anyone) so Brody raised his hand and did the job. Although you can't take off the mask, he did a great job at stopping the ball. Of course, his favorite thing about the game was the snack after the game!


Brody doing a dance after getting to second base. I wish I would of had the video camera.

Summer Trip 2010

Well, the surprise went off beautifully. The boys and I flew to the states to surprise both sides of the family with a little help from friends and family. Our adventure started off in California with a visit to my good friend, Kim. We hung out with her and her 2 boys for 5 days. We were able to see our old neighbors, The Shaws, and see our old house. We spent a lot of time in the pool and watching Wipeout. Trent and Travis got my boys hooked on this show so I am now trying to figure out what day it is on in Okinawa.
Hunter and Travis jumping
Hunter, Evan, Wyatt, Brody
Muscle Men

After CA, we flew to MI where my brother in law, Les, met us at the airport with a car seat for Brody. We went over to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Pete's house where we stayed for 5 days. They took up out on their boat for 2 days and the boys were lovin' it. That is all they talk about. They both got to tube and ski (although skiing didn't go very well) and got to bond with their cousins. I'm sure Stephanie and Ryan are enjoying the peace and quiet they get now that the boys are gone.
Brody trying to ski
Hunter trying to ski
Hunter unsure about the tubing speed (telling Uncle Pete to stop)
Hunter and Uncle Pete driving the boat

We left the Klahns to go to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. It was a lot of fun and the boys were pooped every night. I think they spent almost 2 hours playing in the fort then running down every 5 minutes to get the Big bucket dumped on them.
Great Wolf Lodge Room
Lazy River
Big Bucket dump (boys are in the middle)
After the dump
Climbing in the Fort

Then it was on to the Harju reunion where we were surprising my parents. The boys jumped out of the trunk of the car and surprised Nana and Opa. Everyone was moved to tears. Of course, I left the camera in the hotel room so there are no tear stained face pictures. We spent a week with my family and then we over to GR to surprise Joe's.
Hunter muddy after following Uncle Les too close on the quad
Hunter, Kadin, Brody in the golf cart
Hunter on Uncle Les's motorcycle
Arch Rock on Mackinac Island- Brielle, Hunter, Brody, Kadin
After climbing Castle Rock


Pete brought us in by boat and Nora and Julie jumped in the water to greet us with their clothes on. Then we spent the day in the boat tubing with the cousins. Unfortunately, the well broke at the house so doing laundry and taking a shower looked like a 3 ring circus.
Galvin Grandkids
Hunter kayaking
Brody kayaking
Brody hugging cousin Ryan goodbye
Cooper, Brody and Hunter tubing

We are finally back in Okinawa. We just had a Tropical Storm go through so there was lots of wind (gusty at times) and lots of rain. It has finally past and the sun is out today. School will start on the 30th for the boys but I have PTO meetings the week before.

Update on Joe: He is going to CA in Sept. for a case that he has been on for awhile. I think the are finally going to end it but i don't know. He will take his 2 weeks R&R in November and then will finally be home in March. We will not know our next duty station until Feb./Mar. time frame.

Aquathon

The first aquathon of the season was tonight. Both boys did the 1st race of a 400 meter run, 100 meter swim, 400 meter run. I did not run because I wanted to take pictures and I have a chest cold. Hunter won his age group with a time of 6:01. He improved his time by 1 minute compared to last year. Running is not his strong event but he made up for it in the swim. Brody also won his division with a time of 8:43. He was able to improve 20 seconds as compared to last year. He got a little confused in the pool and started to do another 25 meters but realized that he should have gotten out so he turned around. He was able to make up some time in the run. Brody is more a distance athlete where Hunter is more of a sprinter. They both had a good time and got blue ribbons for their efforts.

When we got there to sign up, there were a few people who came up to me and asked where Joe was. When I told them that he would not be here, they would laugh and tell me that now they had a chance at winning. I think the 13 year old that was the overall winner of the longer race would have given Joe a good race.
The boys and I before the race

Game faces

Hunter's first run

Getting out of the pool after swimming 100 meters

Putting shoes on with wet feet is not an easy task
Brody before the race

The first lap, heading into the pool

In the pool doing 100 meters

Climbing out and trying to find his shoes

Getting the shoes on

Heading out on his last 400 meter run

Finishing strong

A sprint to the finish. You can see Hunter in the background, he went back to run a little with Brody.

Almost forgot to tell everyone, Brody lost his 2nd tooth the other day. He is now working on number 3!!

Hunter goal kick

Last one, I promise. This is from soccer season when Hunter scored on a penalty kick. No, that is not be screaming on the video.

Video...Finally

Okay, everyone who is not on Facebook, I hope you can see this video. He is swimming against older kids but did very well. There is an aquathon on Tuesday (run, swim, run) and I told Brody I would get him on video. Enjoy.

Summer Swim Season

Coming off the starting blocks.

It is that time of year (again) where Hunter hits the pool. He will tell you he doesn't like it but I think he really does! He is still in the 8 and under group for the awards but can compete against any age. The lane assignments are based off of times, not age. In one of his events, he was swimming next to a 48 year old and the other side he had a 13 year old. Yes, I could have swam at the meet because I swim Masters but who would have taken the pictures?
Doing the Butterfly.

More fly


He swam butterfly for the first time. It was a 25M swim and he did it in 28.90. Then he did the 100M freestyle in the time of 1:33.76 and then the 50M free in 42.22
All of his times were good and he seemed pleased with them. Next week is an aquathon for both boys, I'll be sure to take pictures.
Coming strong into the wall (finishing the fly)


The boys and I are going camping the week after the 4th with some friends. Then we are going to try and Space A (space available) to Guam. We picked Guam because there are always lots of flights going there, it is still a tropical island and they have stores like the states. I think the boys will just be happy to get off this island.
Doing the 25M kick board. All 10 and under have to do this event.

Joe and I will celebrate our anniversary on the 26th. It seems like he is always gone somewhere on our anniversary! The boys and I will go out to eat and then see a movie. They tell me that they are going to pay but we will see.
Finishing the freestyle.
Joe says it is hot there. It was 120 the other day. I thought he would have stopped running due to the heat but I guess he just gets up earlier in the morning to run.

Brody, Sophia, Trevor (Sophia is from his soccer team)


It was field trip day for the kindergartners at school. All 5 classes went to the zoo and wonder museum. The day started off over cast with a light mist. We went into the wonder museum first. We had the whole place to our selves. Most of the classes went to the zoo first because it was not raining. The boys spent about 1.5 hours in the museum and then we headed out to the zoo. We got to the first cage and it started to rain. Brody had his rain boots and a rain coat and all I had was a Thomas the Train umbrella. We saw the zoo in record time! Brody wasn't too upset because he had gone to the zoo over spring break!



Brody and his buddies in the large chair. They thought this was the coolest thing. They had a huge donut and coffee on the table next to the chair.


Here is Brody having fun in the small chair!




Although you really can't tell but the picture below is Brody's face! They have a huge board of the plastic pegs to make designs and this was entertainment for about 15 minutes. The boys were thinking of everything to make a mold of. I didn't take the picture but there was one of someones bum!!




Hunter's class went to Macaroni Grill for their field trip that day. Don't ask me how Macaroni Grill is an educational experience! The boys are signed up for baseball but that won't start until August. Swim team is in full swing. Practices are M,T,W, TH for Hunter 3-5. He is starting to complain that he doesn't have time to play with anyone. Jordan, his friend, is on the team but doesn't swim the same level as Hunter so they don't get to see each other. Today is Joe's birthday. The boys and I will celebrate with a cake, okay I everyone knows Joe doesn't like cake especially Chocolate cake but I am doing this for the boys!!