Tockwagh

The boys are off to camp again. They have their friend Timmy with them this year and disappeared to the pool the minute Nicole dropped them off. No long goodbyes for them.

Sam and his Pony

Sam got a little pink pony at the end of the school year in some contest in his class. He's been traveling with it ever since. First Minnesota, then California and Maine. It will be interesting to see if it makes the trip to sleep away camp next week.

Baseball Birthday

Little Mick turned 5 today and wanted a baseball birthday party with the big kids. His brother Sam was on our baseball team and played with the travel team so Mick wanted the travel team and Sam and Dylan at his party. Mick is wearing the bat boy t-shirt in the bottom row. It was a fun party and Mick never got out and hit a half dozen home runs.

Laite Beach

We went up Mount Battie for a hike this morning then came back down and took a cold swim in Penobscot Bay. Everyone got in except grandma. It was cold but kinda refreshing.

Cutis Island Light

This is from our kayaking adventure yesterday.

Sittin on the Porch

This ferry goes back and forth from the ferry terminal a couple hundred yards down the beach to Islesboro island and back every 30 minutes or so. This cottage is really nice and we have spent countless hours just skipping rocks on the beach below us. Time to head home tomorrow but we will have good memories of mid-coast Maine.

Bi-Coastal Kayak

We did a two hour kayak trip around Camden Harbor this afternoon and brought pizza back to our house for dinner. Linda and Gil took in a museum in Rockland while we paddled. The trip was very similar to the kayak trip we took in the San Juan Islands last year at this time. Maine and NW Washington State are very similar in a lot of ways and the voyage felt very familiar. The guide let the boys jump out of the kayak at a point during the trip and swim around. Getting back in was no easy task but they made it. Good time all around.

Late Afternoon Cruise

Around Curtis Island Lighthouse.

Captain Slow

We visited the Bath Maritime Museum and did a sorta tour of the Bath Iron Works shipyards today. Nice museum and the shipyards are building some high tech ships for the Navy.

Ghost Selfie

Camden Harbor was a little foggy tonight after dinner. Kind of an ghostly fog. We are hoping to get out on kayaks tomorrow in the sun.

Cold Reality

The waters were cold in Acadia today. I got in up to my knees but the boys went all in. It was a nice day climbing around Cadillac mountain, swimming at sand beach, watching the surf at Thunder Hole and lunching at Jordan Pond. We stayed in and cooked burgers tonight.

Acadia National Park

The Rain in Maine

It was a foggy, chilly and rainy day in Maine but we managed to get out and see the Owls Head Transportation Museum and the Owls Head Lighthouse. Sam slept a full 12 hours after falling a sleep at the Lobster Pound last night. The red eye flight from San Francisco took a lot out of him. Most of the restaurant thought he was a drunk teen when he stumbled out after dinner. I think we all feel more rested today.

Maine Lobsters

We just about timed our drive up from Boston perfectly to pick up the boys at the Portland Jetport with Grandma and Grandpa. They were all pretty tired from the red eye and layover at Dulles but were in chipper modes for our 2 hour drive up to Lincolnville. The house is beautiful, three bedroom, 3.5 bath with a spectacular view of the ocean. The boys and I practiced our rock skipping before I took a much needed nap. Nicole and I were up pretty late with our friends Thom and Jennifer in boston last night. Great time but only got 5 hours of sleep. Things are pretty relaxing in these parts so I imagine I'll be getting plenty of rest.

Swan

The historic swan boats of Boston's Public Garden. I've been to Boston 30-40 times for business but never set foot in the Public Garden. Nice place.

MVC's

I have two Most Valuable Children and it will never be easy to see one of them beat the other one in games or other stuff. The boys played on different teams during basketball camp this week and from what I understand, they were both playing really well. They faced off in the camp championship today and Sam came away with a win and the camp MVP award for a second year. From what I understand, you needed to win the championship to be MVP. I'm happy for Sammy and proud of Dylan since I know he put everything he had into it. They are both very good players but Sam has slight advantage right now that I know Dylan will work hard to erase in the coming years. Congratulations Sam but look out, your brother is coming for you.

Happy Flight

I just noticed this picture in my photo stream from last weeks flight out west. (The family's 9 different apple devices send their pictures into a single cloud account that we all can see) it appears that Dylan took this shot and grandma seems pretty happy with the whole flight which is good. I'm glad the boys behave well on flights these days and this is a good picture of Linda. Come to think of it, the boys do have close to a 100k miles under their belts, they should be good travelers by now.

Warriors

At the Golden State Warriors camp in Oakland. Happy boys with basketballs.

Off to California

Gonna miss these guys for the next week. I think grandma is getting shorter.

Training Camp

We met up with Coach Cory and Lukas to throw the ball around and learn some new plays in preparation for the upcoming football season. Yes, football is around the corner. They played their last summer basketball game last night and came away with a nice 61-34 victory. They both hustled and had some nice numbers. Dylan had 7 points, 5 rebounds and an assist. Sam had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block. The team has three more games next week but the boys will be in California at the Warriors basketball camp trying to work out the kinks in their game.

Baseball Camp

They are enjoying this camp as well but not as much as the last one. The weather finally broke and we have some nice cool air around which makes being outside all day much more tolerable.

New Favorite Camp

They really liked this camp and now want to go to Bishop Ireton for high school. I'm not so sure I want to pay the catholic school bill when a perfectly good public high school is right down the street. They will likely be back there next year. Now on to their travel basketball game.

Summer League

The boys got back into action with their travel team and had a good game against SYA, the winning club in last winters league. They both played hard in a losing effort with Dylan scoring 7 points, 3 rebounds and a steal while Sam had 3 points and 11 rebounds and a steal. They were both passing well and ended up with a bunch of assists as well but we didn't count those. Sam really had an off night for shooting, as did our leading scorer Michael. We only lost by 8 which isn't bad when our two scoring machines were not firing on all cylinders. Dylan really shot pretty well from the outside and hustled on defense.

Summer 2014

Summer is off with a bang. Lots of activity already and the boys start basketball camp tomorrow. The also have two summer league basketball games this week then baseball camp and more games next week. This is a nice shot Grandma took in Minnesota. I only tweaked it a bit.

Scary

A quick photo between the set and encore. The band did a runner after the show but the boys had a good time with uncle Adam before the show. It was beautiful night at Wolftrap for the first time in a few years. It was a low humidity night withe the temps in the 70's while the last few years it has been 95 and humid. It was a refreshing change.

Getting Along

In this picture mostly. The four of them do end up arguing at times but enjoy hanging with each other mostly. We had a great trip and a wonderful time up north. Looking forward to Kavanaugh's next year.

Babe

Our annual picture with Babe the Blue Ox in East Gull Lake Minnesota.

Three Loons

Had great weather for fishing this morning and Dylan caught the biggest bass. The non-fishers had a nice time as as well. Many of us also did some swimming in a really cold lake with the air temp around 68 degrees and the ice out day not that far in the past.

Close Cousins

Happy Birthday Grandpa

The grand kids are getting big and grandpa smaller. It's always fun to celebrate gramps in the great north woods each year. Happy birthday Dad.

Fish Face

This little guy went back in the lake as did all the catches today.

Fish Fear

Sam will catch them but he won't touch them, or the bait.

The Lakes

We made it up to Lake Sylvan without any issues but the 30 mph winds knocked out power shortly after we unpacked. It came back on a couple hours later and we had a nice dinner at Iven's on the Bay then the usual ice cream stop at Maddens. Gotta get some sleep before a long dat of fishing tomorrow. Oh joy.

Nice Ride

Wish I could've caught a ride on this to Minnesota. The flight we were on was fine but this plane would have been better.

Corn Palace

You can't go to Iowa without visiting a Corn Palace. Looks like mom and the boys are having fun.

Uncle Tim and the Boys

Timmy took the boys to the Iowa Cubs game today. Sam caught a foul ball. They had a good time.

Sleep Over

These boys went to Johnny Rockets then proceeded to play whiffle ball, soccer, xbox, wii, have Nerf wars and watch movies until around 2am. They got a few hours of sleep, had breakfast and played some more. Dylan and Sam are worn out. Aiden is moving to Massachusetts in a couple weeks so this will be the last time they see him in a while. They will miss him a bunch.

SCA Officers

The 2014-15 VP, Secretary and Treasurer. The incoming President is on the other side of the podium since she was VP this year. It should have been Dylan. He's destined for bigger things. I'm proud of both of them but this was a good win for Sammy and he handled the swearing in ceremony well. Both boys were recognized in today's ceremony for their service as SCA reps this year as well. I'm sure Dylan will go for class rep next year to keep his brother honest.

Soaring Eagle

This is given to one person in each class. I'm very proud of pickle for scoring this honor. Sam got a medal for his strings duet performance and will be sworn in as 2014-15 secretary tomorrow.

Green and Gold

Pioneer baseball all star teams 2014.

Two All Stars

Dylan got the call to join the All Star team after one of the other kids broke his thumb. While we hope Jonah's thumb heals quickly, Dylan was thrilled to join the team. Both boys played well and had a ball with the kids on Pioneer Gold. Pioneer Green won but Gold had more fun.

Renaissance Man

Dylan and is mighty steed during Renaissance day at school. We finally had a day off sports and school activities yesterday. We just hung out and watched World Cup soccer. Dylan did come down with something but is feeling better today. One more week of school then summer begins.

Secretary Sam

So the elections are over and our little Sammy is Secretary of student council next year. Unfortunately Dylan came up short on his bid to take the Presidents office. I'm very proud of both of them for putting their necks out and running for office for a second year in a row. Sam lost the VP race and Dylan lost the Treasurer race last year but they both served on student council as regular members.

While Sam ran a good campaign with a lot of humor and his outgoing personality, he had a weaker crop of contestants. Dylan was up against a tough line-up, including last years VP who ended up winning the office. He was pretty devastated but pulled out of it quickly after I offered up this weekend as Dylan Day weekend instead of Fathers Day weekend. He's in charge of what we watch, eat and do all weekend long.

Sam has been a roll the last week or so but I think Dylan will be scoring his own little victory very soon. He always gets up and goes back at it like the champion he is.

Sent from my iPad

Spring Concert

Sam played his viola in strings and Dylan played his sax in the band before both joining the choir for some rousing numbers. The whole concert sounded better than last year. Another parent called the boys renaissance men.

16 Days

That is the number of days the kids have had either a baseball, basketball or soccer practice or game in a row.  Some of those days they had two events.  I brought them home from basketball last night and they were sitting on their beds exhausted.  I think they were finally worn out and in need of a break.  Sam is getting better from a slight stomach bug he's had the last few days and Dylan is still taking Advil and icing his shin splints on a nightly basis.  16 days of sports is a lot of activity, even for them but things are settling down from here on out which should give them time to recover.  They do have a chorus, band and strings concert tonight but that shouldn't be too taxing.

Buddies

Great season for the little Indians and a great group of kids and parents. We weren't the best team out there this year but we had the best cheering section and enthusiastic boys by far. Win or lose we always had a good time in the stands and on the field.

Tough Loss

Dylan and Sam were captains in today's match. The boys played hard but came up short to a cheap team. This team pushed kids down, threw elbows and slide tackled from behind. Our kids played the ball like they did all season. I'm proud that the boys didn't lower themselves to this teams level while at the same time, maybe we should have fought back a little more. I really hope that team gets spanked in the final tonight. I could go watch but then again, I've got better things to do.

Going the extra mile

Playoffs for baseball and soccer kicked off today with a bang. We started out with a game against the Mets and a real pitchers duel. Our flingers were on fire and struck out 20. Their pitchers were good too and the game went two extra innings when Sam hit a hard single just barely over the glove of the Mets third baseman. He managed to steal 2nd and 3rd before stealing home on a passed ball. Both boys went 1 for 3 with line drive singles as well as playing really well in the field.

After a quick stop at Lucky's for a team lunch we had to get over to the soccer playoff game. Again, another really good game Dylan running hard and Sam having one of his best days in goal ever. We ended up tied 2-2 after regulation and had to go to a shoot out. Each team picks five players to take penalty kicks and Dylan and Sam were chosen. Sam also had to defend the goal against the other teams kickers and saved 4 of 5. Our best player Judd scored one and Sam scored on his kick giving the "Mean Green" a victory. Dylan's penalty kick was powerful but just a tad to high.

We have the next soccer game tomorrow at 1:30 and if we win, the championship game at 6. Our next baseball game is Monday. Good sports day for the boys and their parents.

Uncle Sam

I like this one and the one next to is typical of many of the other posters. It all comes down yo the speeches set for tomorrow.

Dylan for President

With a current theme and a unity message, I do not see how he can't win.

All Star 2014

It happened again, Sam was chosen for the baseball all star team and Dylan came up just a little short. I'm not sure who was hurt more by this but I'm really over the all star team thing at Pioneer baseball. Basically, 4 kids on each team feel great and 7 feel bad.  Sam felt both.  We drove in two cars to the game last night and Sam rode with me on the way home after hearing about the all star selection.  He cried the whole way because he was so disappointed that Dylan wasn't picked and worried how that made him feel.  He's excited but would give it up for his brother.

Dylan is being a trooper but he really loves baseball and was a solid player out there this year.  He hit well, fielded really well and in limited innings, pitched well.  He threw a one run, three strike out inning in last nights game.  He was awarded the game ball but he was obviously disappointed he didn't get the all star nod.  I know the boys read my blog now and I want them to know that I'm proud of both of them and love them very much.  Dylan's a tough kid and will bounce back from this and be an all star in many things in the future.

Campaign 2014

The posters are being prepared for a Presidential run for Dylan and a secretary bid for Sam. Dylan is running on a "everything is awesome" theme from the Lego movie which should guarantee him the 2nd and 3rd grade vote and Sam is going with an "I'm Macho" theme which based on the current state of national politics, just might work. They were on student council this year after running an unsuccessful VP and Treasurer ticket last year.

I like that they want to join things.

Mamas with Tiaras

Nicole started bringing tiaras to the baseball games a few games ago and they seem to be bringing the team luck. No losses since tag tiaras were introduced.