Football 2012

Ben just wrapped up another football season.  On Saturday, his team played in the championship.  They had a great season, but lost the final game, which means they took second in the league. 

 Ben played corner back and wide receiver, and also played on the kick return and kick off teams. 

 Ben is number 36.

Going out for a pass

Getting the tackle

So close

It was a good season, but we are glad it is over.  Football is such a major commitment, with practices for two hours, three nights a week, plus games on Saturdays.  The games are a several hour event, often 30-60 minutes away.  But, Ben enjoys it, and David enjoys watching Ben play, so it is a fun thing for them to get into together.  There are lots of discussions between the two of them about plays and rules, etc.  Ben especially enjoys watching footballs games with David on TV now that he knows the rules better.  Ben has come a long way this season, and has significantly improved.  He's also gotten super strong!  And tough.  He has had to endure exhausting practices in the cold and the rain, and put off eating dinner until 8:30 on football nights.  And despite it all, he comes home smiling.  A little toughening up never hurt anyone, right?

I'm sure Ben will miss it, but already he is glad for the extra time to do homework (he has a lot!) and not having to rush out of orchestra to get to football practice.  Goodbye football...until next year.

Our Favorite Pumpkin Patches

In mid-October, the schools had half days for parent teacher conferences.  So we took advantage of one of the half days to go to our favorite pumpkin patch:  Maris Farms. 

The weather wasn't great, but we took a chance anyway.  Some of our friends, the Jones, came too.  We had a great time.  We were practically the only ones there. 

We looked for the perfect pumpkin.  William liked that one.

 Kate is showing me just the size she wants.

 This one is too big, she says.

Here she is with her friend--the other Kate.  Two sweet Kates!

One of the kids' favorite things at Maris Farms is the corn room.  They had fun burying each other.  William loved that digger and stayed there forever. 

 While the kids played in the corn room, Sarah and I took a trip through the corn maze. 

 I am horrible at corn mazes, so I basically just followed Sarah and let her lead us out of there.  She did pretty good, and we only got stuck going in circles a couple of times.

 Ben flew down the mine shaft slide

 and the little kids had fun on the tractor-pulled cow train.

 The giant "jumping pillow" was another favorite.  It took William a while to actually jump without me holding him, but once he got used to it, he had fun...until his little feet got really cold. 

 William is not sure about that big jack-o-lantern staring down at him!

On another half day I took some of the kids on a a quick trip to nearby Patterson's for a few more pumpkins.

 My beautiful Rachel!

Happy Fall!

Fall Soccer 2012

Kate has loved soccer this season! 

She has really improved a lot.  She is playing on a team with several of her friends and since Kate is all about the social life, she has had a lot of fun!

 She works hard out on the field.

 Her coach is her friend's dad.  He is a great coach and great with the girls. 

Kate's team is really good this year.  They have won every game.  Kate loves to play goalie, but since her team is so good, as goalie she often doesn't have too much to do. 

 Here was one of her saves.

Sometimes, she sees me with the camera and poses for me.  She cracks me up.  Good thing the ball was on the other end of the field!

Here she is running through the parent tunnel at the end of the game. 

Go Kate!  It has been a great season!

A New Instrument for Ben

I mentioned in our fall schedule post that Ben has started playing the cello.  This is something he has wanted to do for a couple of years.  The timing finally seemed right.  He started a few weeks ago with the local children's orchestra.  They have a beginners class, so he didn't need any prior experience.  It is for 45 minutes twice a week.  So far, things are going well.  I have been sitting in class with him so that I can know what he is learning, and I can be a better help for him at home.  I have been super impressed with the teacher, who took these kids who didn't even know how to take their instruments out of the case, to already being able to play a few little songs.  Ben has been enjoying it so far. 

On Sunday we went to a beautiful concert put on by the local missionaries.  One of the songs was a beautiful rendition of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" done with a solo voice, a piano and a cello.  It was incredible and definitely re-inspired Ben to become good at the cello. 

I love the cello.  Someone once compared the cello to chocolate--its sound is so rich and full.  I think it is a beautiful comparison, and although the sounds coming out of Ben's cello aren't quite so chocolately yet, I'm hoping to hear it for years and years.  One day last week Sarah got out her flute, Rachel got out her violin, and they started playing a song together, and figured out the part for Ben to play on the cello when he gets a little better.  I love it!

All Nice Things Sing

This morning as I was taking kids to school, William was in the car playing with some panda figurines.  He asked me a question, "What do pandas see?"  I thought he meant, have we ever seen pandas?, so I told him about how we had seen pandas at the National Zoo in Washington DC before he was born.  We had recently read a book about pandas from the library, so he had learned some things about pandas. 

But he repeated his question, with an emphasis on the last word, "What do pandas SING?"

"Sing?"  I asked, making sure I had heard him correctly. 

"Yes.  What do pandas sing?"  he asked again. 

I responded, "William, I don't think that pandas sing."

William continued in a matter-of-fact way, "Yes they do, mama.  All nice things sing."

Beautiful.

He continued by making up and singing a song that pandas would sing.  I love it.

Family Heirloom

We have inherited a family heirloom:  an antique violin.  This violin belonged to my great-grandfather (Rachel's great-great grandfather), Albert Hales.  According to a local violin maker, it was made around the turn of the century in either Austria or Germany.  It was factory made, meaning that individual people specialized in each part of the violin--one person would make the bridge, another carve the body, etc. 

Rachel has been playing the violin for three years now.  Her teacher told us it was time for her to upgrade to a nicer violin--to move beyond the student violin she had been playing.  My mom had this old violin sitting in a closet.  She asked us if we wanted it.  I jumped at the chance. 

A few weeks ago we took it to a local violin maker to see if it was worth repairing.  He told us, definitely YES.  We had to put a few hundred dollars into it to make it playable, but now Rachel has an amazing antique violin to play.  It has a wonderful, full, rich sound. 

I love that it carries with it a bit of family history too.

David's Backpacking Trip to the Olympic Mountains

A couple of weeks ago David went on a two-day backpacking trip in Seven Lakes Basin in Olympic National Park.  He went with two of his buddies.  He took some amazing pictures of their surroundings.

They started near Sol Duc Falls where we hiked to this summer for the Hales Family Reunion.  (There was less water than we went earlier in the summer.)  It was less than a mile to the falls, but they kept going...and going...and went on an 18-mile loop.

 They hiked by several high mountain lakes (perhaps seven?)

 and to the top of some very high ridges.

 Beautiful!

David has been friends with these guys since medical school and undergraduate years.  It was fun for them to get to go on this trip together. 

They were up close and personal with Mt. Olympus, and even saw a bear hanging out by one of the lakes.

A view of Mt. Olympus