Finally!

I have had complete bloggers block for the past week which is weird because I very rarely have nothing to talk about and I have lots of fresh material from our vacation. I have just been unmotivated to blog and have been having lots of fun with the kiddos. The neighbor kids are over and my kids are occupied at the moment so I thought this was my chance at getting some blogging in.

We had a really great time in "Seattle" in July and I took over 300 pictures to prove it. Can you imagine if we still used 35 mm and had to develop all of that film!! Anyway, I am going to share a few pics over the next few posts of what we did during our week on the west side!!

One of the main reasons we went to Mount Vernon for a week is because my cousin, Ben, is a baseball coach for Skagit Valley College. Every summer they hold a skills camp for kids ages 8-14. Jake is not 8 until August 10th (That'll be another bog topic) but Ben said bring him over, it'll be fun, so we did.



Here he is. Isn't his form great!! Jake was the youngest boy there but he did really well. He learned a lot of stuff that I was surprised to see when we got home really stuck with him. Like many young boys, he really wants to be a baseball player when he grows up, particularly for the Seattle Mariners.



This was the highlight on the last day of camp. Jacob is getting a baseball signed by Kyle Kendrick. Who's that? That's what I said, too. He is a starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. He went to Cascade High School and played on my cousins' summer team. He was drafted and played his rookie year last year.



When we got home Jacob purchased his rookie baseball card from Ebay and the funny thing is now that I now who he is, I always hear his name whenever Kevin and Jacob are watching Sportscenter which is like all the time. So that was our celebrity moment for the summer.




We also had the opportunity to go to a Mariners game. We had amazing seats along the first base line right across from Ichiro. The kids were practically on the field. You know what else that means?!?! Foul ball territory! Jacob waited for his moment to pounce, then it happened. A ball was hit our way, it hit the stands, bounced and hit some kid in the mouth (he wasn't hurt), hit Jacob in the back and then he turned and DOVE on top of the ball and . . . he came up with the ball!! At seven years old he gets his first major league foul ball!! The mother of the boy who got hit in the mouth insisted that Jacob give her son the ball. I DON'T THINK SO!! He should have been quicker to get to the ball. Kevin told Jacob it was his choice to either keep the ball or give it to the other kid. Of course he kept it!! Wouldn't you!! The boys' mother glared at us the whole game.





My sister, Ashley, took this picture of us.












This is Raul Ibanez. He is one of my favorites. He plays left field. The night we were there he hit a GRAND SLAM HOME RUN! It was so awesome to watch. Safeco went crazy!! At seven years old Jacob gets to witness a major league grand slam home run!!













This is Ichiro Suzuki. He is only and All Star, no big deal. WHATEV!!


















Starting pitcher Felix Hernandez. The night we went was Felix Hernandez bobble head night. The best part was that the night we were there they actually WON the game. Hopefully next season will be a better one for our Mariners.






This is father and son discussing the finer points of baseball.











This is me and my little sis hamming it up!!




Part 2 of our trip is coming soon!!