September 17th..salmon fishing day two!

Brendon Sloan & Blake

a highly entertained Frank Sloan

Brendon and his catch

Blake with his 2nd catch

Captain Jeff Melberg

Day two salmon fishing both boys caught almost 30 pound salmons! Lots of fish for all to enjoy! It was cold and rainy as you can tell from the jackets and happy faces nonetheless the boys enjoyed it!

Salmon fishing

Gary and Blake went salmon fishing while in Portland with one of Gary's clients Jeff Melberg. He's an avid fisherman and is known locally to be one of the best in the area. Blake caught the only fish of the day! It weighed close to 30 pounds and is very tasty! They cleaned it up and brought it home and it's stocked in my freezer. Blake was so excited about catching the salmon he called me right away to tell me!

Portland, OR

Back in September Gary and Blake flew to Portland for a salmon fishing trip. They also went on a shooting trip with Gary's clients. Blake loved shooting the gun. I believe they shot at clay disks. I'm almost positive! They stayed with Frank, Cathy, Brendon and Tyler Sloan and the boys took Blake on the canal.

Kendall's first day of preschool!

Kendall & Ms. Stefanie

Her first preschool craft!

Kendall started at Creative Castle Preschool on August 16th. She attends school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 to 12:00. There were no tears her first morning but I could tell she was a little nervous. I stayed for about 5 minutes til I knew she was comfortable and we said our goodbyes. I think I got a little misty eyed and she was dry eyed! When I came to pick her up she had huge smiles and lots of excitement! She couldn't wait to show me her "kissing hand" craft and tell me all about school!

First Day of 2011-2012 school year!

Evan (8) ~ third grade

Blake (10) ~ 5th grade

Blake and Mrs. Beeman

Evan and Mrs. Rosenbaum

Monday, August 15th was the first day of the school year for 2011-2012! Both boys seemed to be excited to start school. Our summer flew by! We went on a lot of fun trips (Las Vegas, Durango, and California) and spent many days at Wet N Wild water park, Makutu's Island, summer movies, Jump Street, Chuck E Cheese and more. The last week before school started the boys helped me stuff back to school folders at the school. I joined the PTA last Spring and I'm on the board as the VP of Volunteers. They got to meet their teachers and see their classrooms a few days before school started. We are happy with both of their teachers and feel confident that they'll have an excellent school year!

Kendall's Preschool Orientation

Next to Kendall's name on the tree they placed our family photo!

dress up fun!

exploring the classroom 

painting a craft

We went to Kendall's preschool orientation on August 11th. We saw her classroom, met her teacher (Ms. Stefanie) and aide (Ms. Diane), and toured the preschool. The preschool is Creative Castle and they have a big castle with slides and other gadgets in the middle of the school. She sat down at the table and painted her picture and then played with the classroom toys. It was a fun experience for her. And we were happy to meet her teachers and spend some time with them and her classroom.

Day 6 & 7 ~ San Diego vacation

Mission Beach, San Diego

Blake's new skimboard

Evan taking credit for someone else's hard work

feeding fish at our resort

Blake feeding the Koi fish

lots of Koi fish

Evan loved the table tennis!

Blake and Gary's checker game

We stayed the last weekend of our trip in San Diego. Gary finished work and was able to enjoy some beach time with us. Blake got a new skimboard and spent hours in the ocean. Evan and Kendall liked to build and play in the sand. We stayed at the Hilton Resort in Mission Bay where we normally stay and enjoyed their pool, table tennis and checker boards. We left San Diego on Sunday afternoon and drove home and had a 40 degree temperature change!