First Baseball Game

Today after Mass the kids were all playing outside the church when a gentleman approached us and asked if anyone would be interested in some free tickets to a Diamondbacks game. Jill quickly snatched up the tickets and we tried to figure out how we were going to work a 1:00 game with the kids. Our initial plan was to drop Josh off with Jill's parents and take one of the cousins along. On the way we changed plans and decided Emma and Josh should experience their first baseball game together.

I brought the camera along to document, but the tight seating and trying to keep a constant eye on Josh prevented a full photo session. Here are a few of the shots that turned out from today:

Emma wanted to take a picture of the game:

Josh and his cousin Abby enjoying the game:

The kids had a great time, but were exhausted by the fifth inning. The Diamondbacks had just scored before we took off and we sadly missed a few late home runs that clinched the last home game of the season for them. Free baseball games sure are fun!

Cleaning Day

Any of you who have met Jill know that she is a clean freak. As soon as she walks through the door from work she's trying to get the house in order. I'm constantly trying to assure her that the mess will gladly wait for a while so she can rest, but I suppose I'm not convincing enough.

Taking after mom, Josh is in love with the vacuum. When Jill is doing the carpets, he is shadowing right behind with his toy vacuum. As you can see from the frame above, he's pretty happy to do some cleaning. The bottom frame was made in the light of the front window post cleaning.

Goin' Shooting

Holy cow! It's been a month and a half since I've posted anything on here. I guess that's what happens when Jill's back to work and I'm in a crazy work rhythm as well.

Unfortunately, my camera has been spending a good bit of the time sitting on my dresser these days. I'm trying to get back in the habit of having it with me so that I can save these moments as the kids grow up. Another reason I haven't been feeling so photograpical lately is it has been stinking hot around here. We are all waiting impatiently for the start of the fall.

I took this picture some time last month while I was getting my gear ready to go out to the shooting range. Josh actually was the first to grab my shooting glasses and put them on, but he was unwilling to keep them on for long enough to snap a picture. Emma on the other hand was happy to oblige...

First Day of Preschool

Tuesday was Emma's first day of preschool. She's attending an in-home class run by a neighbor down the street who used to teach elementary school. Jill and I really wanted to give her a chance to interact with some kids her same age since most of our friend's kids are either older or younger than her.

Emma was so excited to go to school. She and Jill went shopping for a backpack on Monday evening and she wore it all Tuesday morning before we walked down the street. Below are a few images from her first day of school on Monday:

California 2010

We spent last week with Jill's grandparents in California. We did a lot of traveling and I took quite a few photos. Here are some highlights of the trip:

Josh and Emma loved playing with Grandpa's scooter and getting rides.

Emma playing a game with Lila

Emma picking jalapenos from grandpa's garden

Looking at all the goodies in the garden

Josh and Poppa at the OC Fair

Josh expressing his displeasure with the ocean

Smores

Yesterday Jill had an obligation in the afternoon so the kids and I went up to Bass Pro Shops. They are running a summer camp program and have fun activities every afternoon. Yesterday was free Smores, which worked as a great bribe to get Emma to accompany Josh and I to Bass (although she usually goes willingly anyways.) The picture above is the aftermath of the smores eating. I still don't know how she managed to keep it off her clothes. On second thought, me hovering over her with a napkin probably took care of that. And if you're wondering, it takes exactly three wet wipes to clean up a face and hands like this.

Deep Thoughts From the Shooting Range...

-Seriously, how hard is it to follow instructions that are repeated verbatim every 20 minutes?

-I can't understand why I can pick up about any rifle and hit a target with it at 100 yards, but I can't group for junk with a handgun at 10 yards.

-When you touch a gun, it somehow infects your brain with a strong desire to buy one of the same type, no matter how impractical or expensive it is. If you fire said gun, this infection spreads 1000 times more rapidly.

That's all for now. Today was a good day.