Black Forest Fire

When I sent my two little Cub Scouts off to camp on Tuesday morning, I never would have guessed the direction the week would take.

Shortly after 2pm on Tuesday the 11th, I was driving home from the grocery store and noticed a small black plume of smoke coming up from Black Forest (the photo I took of it made the news!).  It was right around the area where I was estimating the boys' cub scout day camp, organized and run by our LDS stake, was taking place.  I was a little concerned, so I checked the Facebook page of one of our local news stations, which said there was a wildfire burning near Black Forest and Shoup Roads.  Ummm, yeah, close to our boys, indeed!  I then texted a mom friend, Kristen, who I knew was volunteering that day and asked if everything was OK.  She said,  "We see the smoke, but they said we are OK to stay and the fire dept has it under control."  I replied, "OK, thanks.  I can see the smoke from our house.  It looks bigger than it is, I guess."  I sent her a picture of what I was seeing, and she sent me one of what she was seeing.

I was really uncomfortable with the situation.  I mean, the smoke was pretty abundant and seemed to be growing more so as I sat watching it from my car in the boys' elementary school parking lot, but I also knew that the stake primary leaders would get our scouts out if they were worried about their safety in any way.  Very quickly after that, I received a text from a friend, Jeannine, who is one of the young women leaders I serve with and whose grandson was at the camp that day too.  She asked if mutual was still going on as planned, because our activity was supposed to be at a park in Black Forest.  I told her we'd wait to see what happened, and then we texted a bit about thinking the kids should come home, but agreeing that they would be kept out of danger by their leaders if there was any.  Her daughter was in communication with day camp volunteers as well.  Fifteen minutes after my text with Kristen saying the firefighters thought they had it under control, Jeannine was texting me that the scouts were being evacuated from the area.

My first glimpse of the fire, taken from the boys' elementary school parking lot, located a couple hundred yards from our back gate, while I was driving home from getting groceries.  It was small enough that I may not have looked twice if my boys hadn't been over there in those woods!

This is the picture Kristen sent me when I first texted her, showing me what they were seeing from their location at that time.

Starting to panic!!  After I drove home and put away my groceries, I kept an eye out on the growing smoky mess.  This photo was taken from our backyard after I had heard the boys were being evacuated, but they weren't home yet.  When they got home, I got all teary and gave them several huge hugs, grateful for their safety.

Photos taken by my friend Jennifer, who was also volunteering at camp that day, as the cub scouts were evacuating from Black Forest.  TERRIFYING!

By 5:30pm this panorama shows that it was already huge...growing and moving quickly through the hot, dry woods.  This is taken from just across the street behind our house.

The fire is being blown to the southeast.

That was the beginning of three tense days for our family, our northern Colorado Springs community, as well as the city as a whole!  The Springs is very fire weary these days.  It was very nearly exactly one year ago that the Waldo Canyon Fire burned down into Colorado Springs, an event we watched in horror from our friends' home in Seattle where we were staying last late June.  If that felt close to home, this was like right next door.  The estimated start point for this fire was only a couple of blocks from where our little cubs were day camping; it's approximately six road miles from our house.  Black Forest Park, right around the corner from the epicenter of the fire, is on one of my longer run routes, I hit six miles about 200 yards before the park.  That makes it probably only about 3 miles away, as the crow flies.  TOO close! 

Our house, located in the Summerfield neighborhood, is situated at the top of a hill that overlooks a small valley before swooping up another hill that is just a bit lower than the one on our side of the valley, the hill opposite ours is the neighborhood of Pine Creek.  Pine Creek sits caddy-corner to the lowest-to-the-city edge of Black Forest, so we had an incredible view of events as they unfolded over the next few days...a vantage point that felt uncomfortably close to danger.  We watched as the smoke expanded across the dark green treeline, stretching ominously east, then we saw as the wind shifted directions and blew the fire back across itself, reaching into the forested area that looked like it was directly behind and beside the homes of several friends who live in Pine Creek and Gleneagle (northwest of Pine Creek).  We witnessed mornings when things looked almost normal, calm and quiet, however, upon looking more carefully, we could make out several small tendrils of smoke curling upward in the early day's sky.  We saw violent red fiery glows exploding into the night, and in daylight black smoke plumes bursting skyward, stark against the voluminous billows of white and grey, indicating that a structure had gone up, its inorganic matter burning darker than that of the trees.  We felt the vibrating thunder of the big helicopters and bombers as they flew almost directly over our home back and forth all day to the airstrip at Fort Carson where they were fueled and supplied with flame retardant.    

Wednesday's quiet morning with the smoke settled low, if it didn't smell so strongly of campfire, you might not realize the fire was even burning.

The Wednesday winds shifted, pushing the smoke and fire to the northwest.

Panorama with smoke stretching the length of Black Forest as the fire burns back across itself.

Luke watching the smoke hovering above the woods at twilight.

The bombers and helicopters flying over the fire and our house.

It seems just like a pretty sunset, however what looks like low clouds just above the horizon is actually smoke.

This photo of fire blowing up the woods behind the homes of Pine Creek was taken in the very same spot as the one above---once the sun went down the fire was visible from our house.  We were watching the news in the family room when the orange caught the corner of my eye through the gap in the trees.

 

Smoke lying dense and low across the North Springs.  It's thick enough that it's obscuring the mountains in the distance.  We forgot to close our windows Wednesday night in the upstairs part of the house, and it smelled terrible everywhere but the basement until the midday winds picked up and we could air out the smoky smell.  I made all the boys play in the basement until then.

A new structure alights.  It was so hard to see these black billows go up, knowing that more than likely it was somebody's home, containing all the life they had lived up to that point, all going up in flames.

The winds were in our city's favor and the fire was blown first southeast and then northwest and northeast, but never southwest, which is where the greater population and denser houses of Colorado Springs are located.  Still, today, Sunday, with the fire 65% contained and no longer expanding, five days from the day it began, over 14,000 acres burned, that's almost 22 square miles; 38,000 people had to be evacuated at some point, thousands more were placed on pre-evacuation or voluntary evacuation status; 482 homes were destroyed; and two lives were tragically lost as they attempted to evacuate too late.  Many members of our church family lost homes; everyone seems to know someone who did.   It was heartbreaking and terrifying.

Fearful, anxious, nervous, stressed, helpless, distracted, tense, numb, exhausted.  These are the emotions and feelings we experienced over the three intense days of the fire.  We are now just starting to let it go a little.  The boys were surprisingly calm through it all.  They told me I was worrying enough for all of us, so they didn't need to, but I could hear nervousness in their questions.  I think as long as they were informed when they wanted information and knew Adam and I were on it as far as our family went, they were OK.  After the second day, although we were never placed on pre-evacuation status (the closest pre-evacuation line was probably about a mile away), I put together two laundry baskets full of scrapbooks and other irreplaceable items, which made me feel a little better.  The mornings were the worst time of day for us, because the air was still and the weather inversion pushed all the smoke down low around our homes.  It smelled like we had had a campfire INSIDE the house, and in my lungs I could feel the heavy smoke in the air when I breathed.  And the second night, when we could see the fire bright and wild...that was a bad night. 

But, as with any tragedy, amid the frozen shock and heartbreaking loss, the very best sides of all of us in our community came shining forward.  I think all communities find themselves bonding over tragedy and everyday heroes rise to the occasion, but Colorado Springs, we really do "community" well.  The first day in, I joined the Black Forest Fire Facebook group so I could see regular postings of updates on the fire.  While the page did provide information of that type, it also became a forum for people who had the ability and resources to help to extend those things, and for people needing assistance to reach out for aid.  There were offers of trailer use for horses and other large livestock evacuation, homes open for evacuated pets to stay, drivers who were willing to go help the elderly needing evacuation assistance, citizens organizing hot dinner delivery to those living out of their RVs in the Walmart parking lot, volunteer groups that were FBI background-checked for security who would come in and help you sift through the ashes of a lost home--seeking anything that might remain, stores and businesses who were offering food and aid to the first responders, people offering a bed to sleep in, announcements on where you could find help if you needed it, and information regarding where you could lend help if you were inclined to give it, and on and on and on.  If you needed it, there was someone offering it. 

Then there were the stories, videos and photos of the first responders: the firefighters coming in from cities all around and multiple states, the National Guardsmen and women, the Air Force firefighters, the aerial support from the helicopters and bombers, and all the police helping to control the safety of the situation and keep people's homes safe while families were evacuated.  Saying we Colorado Springers have a little bit of hero worship going for our first responders would be a total understatement.  They are amazing, courageous and heroic.  We love them!!!  There is a prediction that in 15 to 20 years it will be hard to land a job in the Colorado Springs Fire Department because so many kids, who have admiringly watched these phenomenal men and women fighting fires over the past two devastating fire seasons, will now grow up wanting to become firefighters themselves.  It is a dangerous, difficult and selfless job, and "thank you" just doesn't feel like enough to say how grateful we are for those who have served our community.  But "thank you" will have to do.

*The photos below I did not take, I got them from Facebook.

Thursday afternoon, relief arrived from the heavens.  It rained!  We hadn't had a good afternoon thunderstorm for a week when the fire broke out.  In the Colorado summer, we can get days where it looks like it could rain, but then it doesn't...thunderstormy but dry.  That happened on the Wednesday of the fire, which was disappointing.  Even Sheriff Meketa, Thursday morning joked that everyone should wash their cars and the park them outside, because that was sure to bring the rain.  I think the entire city was praying that one of these dry storms would actually break, but it wasn't expected in the forecast.  The weathermen had been urging people to not get their hopes up, that we could see only a few drops, and that they might evaporate before ever reaching the ground.  Thank God for unexpected blessings!  I truly believe that the rain was an answer to thousands of prayers.  The rain helped the battle turn the corner.  It really rained!  A nice, strong burst that went on for about a half an hour, not so heavy that it all ran off, not so light that it didn't make a difference.  After two days of great loss, then a day of stalemate, finally, with the rain, came the one-two punch.  The firefighters had been battling hard, and the moisture was just what they needed to really make the push toward containment.  The containment numbers that day went from 5% to 35%, and then quickly up to 45%.

Friday afternoon our stake organized a clothing drive that was to take place Saturday morning.  I was SO grateful for some way to help--and for an excuse to get away from the constant news broadcasting from which I was having a hard time detaching myself.  People were invited to drop off their gently used clothing items in the morning, and then in the afternoon families who were displaced or lost everything in the fire came in and took any clothes they thought they'd need, all for free.  The response was INCREDIBLE, especially considering that the first word went out about 4pm on Friday evening!  In a few short hours on Saturday morning there were mountains of clothes...seriously!  At one point, as we volunteers sorted and folded clothes as quickly as possible, I looked out into the hallway.  There were bags lining the wall, stacked three tall and two deep, stretching in a line from the gym door to the entrance door.  It was clear that people wanted to kick that helpless feeling to the curb and DO something to help.  Even if it was something small, like donating some clothing.  Everyone wanted to help in some way, any way, and when an opportunity presented itself, people came out in droves. There was such a great response that more pick-up hours were added over two more days next week, for families to come in to get clothing if they didn't get the word on Saturday.  After that, all the leftovers will be donated to a local charity, Care and Share.

I think we are all still a little shell-shocked.  We are emotionally exhausted, feeling like we've been holding our breath all week with our eyes wide open in disbelieving horror.  Helping at the clothing drive yesterday helped a little bit, even if hearing the stories and seeing the lost and overwhelmed look on the faces of those who came to get the clothing was heart-wrenching.  Getting back into our routine has also helped, we have a lot coming up in the weeks ahead that have nothing to do with scary fire and everything to do with fun summer vacation memories in the making.  Although there is a guilt to embracing the normalcy too, knowing that there are those for whom "normal" is a long way off, and will never really be quite the same.  Having the continuous fire coverage on all our network stations come to an end yesterday was liberating.  It's hard to explain, but I felt compelled to watch, and it was difficult to turn off.  Looking out across the small valley, seeing Black Forest from a distance, the beautiful view looking like it always has, without smoke rising to the sky--unless you are looking really carefully and at the right moment--well, it's like we can finally exhale.

Chin Up!

When I heard the shriek from the basement on Friday just before lunch, I didn't really think much of it.  Luke can sometimes, um, how shall I say this...?  Let's just say he often "overstates the severity of the situation" when he gets hurt.  With the noises that come from him when he's been wounded we are often misled about what the actual injury is.  The banshee-like wail indicating a possible dislocated shoulder is really a small bruise.  A scream that could be perceived as a severed limb, a tiny scrape.  So I'll admit that I didn't really jump up when I heard his shrieks Friday midday, because, well, have you read the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?  Please don't see me as insensitive to my children's sufferings, but it's hard to get worked up when there have been so many false alarms.  This time, however, Luke's reaction to his injury was justified.  So, of course, I felt terrible that I hadn't gone running immediately.

Luke had fallen over and slammed his chin on the basement storage bench.  It was a nice clean split, but clearly in need of some kind of attention because I could see the fatty tissue layers beneath his outer dermis.  It was pretty yucky.  Inside I was, "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  But outside I was get-to-business mom.  A nice, neat butterfly bandage could have possibly done the trick, but I knew Luke wouldn't leave it alone long enough to seam up.  He does not like band-aids.  They pull on his sensitive skin.  So I thought he needed to see a doctor and get glued up.

Yes, I have five boys, but we've been pretty blessed to not have had many emergency visits in our life so far.  It's an indication of how rarely my boys have needed real medical attention (thank goodness!), that for a minute I had to stop and think, do I go to the urgent care center or to our regular pediatrician for something like this?  Then my brain actually started functioning and I realized that he would need to be seen right away to stop the seeping, bloody wound (gross!  I know!) and we've never gotten into the pediatrician that quickly.  Urgent care it was.

Here's the fun part: I was watching a friend's four children.  OF COURSE!  I gave Luke a paper towel, showing him how to apply pressure to his chin, called Adam, asked him to take an early lunch, assigned Zac the project of holding down the fort until Adam got home, put a Curious George episode on on to keep the smaller natives from getting too restless, loaded Luke into the car and on the 2 minute drive to urgent care I called Ben's friend's mom, from whose house I was supposed to be picking Ben up shortly (which would clearly not be happening) and asked if he could stay longer.  Which, thankfully, was fine.  

Luke was a total trooper.  He had stopped the loud wailing and was calm enough to only be quietly whimpering by the time we got into the car.  He had put on a brave face and was holding himself together, carefully applying the pressure with a paper towel to his own chin.  He was totally stoic and serious through the whole thing, not even cracking a smile when the really fantastic, sweet old pediatric care doc squirted himself in the eye to show Luke that the water he would use to irrigate the wound wasn't going to hurt.  But he didn't struggle or fight or scream.  He set himself up strong, and was so amazingly brave while the doctor performed the procedure of cleaning and sealing up the wound.  I was really proud of him.

Luke's was, in fact, glued up with Dermabond.  So glad for no stitches!  And he's already nearly mended and has been very careful to take care of his chin glue, keeping it dry like the doctor told him to ("JOSH!  Don't get me wet!  My chin has to stay DRY!"), and not picking at it at all.  While the injury was no fun, it was great to see Luke face it with so much courage.  When hard or scary things come up in the future, I can remind him of how brave he was on this day. 

Our Week: June 3rd through 9th

Summer vacation is in full force! 

--With more free-time on our hands, finally, we spent a morning with the dentist and were all deemed cavity-free, huzzah!
--After a week's break from brain activity, the boys began workbooks, which they surprisingly don't mind doing--pros: the boys use it so they don't lose it, the noodle, that is, and it gives us all down time; con: I have to check WAY too many pages of work.  Seriously.  Teachers...high five to you!
--Another daily activity: soccer skills!  Sometimes they think it's fun, sometimes I just get groans.
--Yet another daily activity {not pictured}: bickering!  Oy!  It will be nice having scout camp/band camp/etc. start up next week or I might start hiding away in the storage room in the basement with a carton of Tillamook Mudslide.  OK, maybe I've already done that.  It's been a rough couple of weeks.
--We've all loved our AWESOME afternoon thunderstorms, except for Tommy, who does not like thunder.  I'm a little sad that there's not a cloud to be seen on next week's little 7-day weather forecast line-up.
--Tom's favorite summer iPhone activity is right in line with mine: taking photos and playing with filter apps: Tommy says, "Turn it gray, Mommy."  That's his favorite.
--This week, Luke has often been found high in our front yard tree on his "favorite limb."
--Zac and his pal Tim held a three-day soccer camp, their youth camp fundraiser service auction contribution.  It went off great and it was so fun to see Zac teaching.
--I totally dig Ben's 1975 surfer boy summer hair.  I wish we were closer to a beach!
--Colorado, freed from the winter brown months and not yet browned by the drought, remains beautiful.
--After an hour in the running store and trying on several pairs, I picked me out some new runners, which will be used alternately with my old pair now that my training miles are getting high.  One run in and I love them already!
--Our neighbor, Gabi, gave us an old pool she found in her garage.  It's the new favorite Chaos summer hot spot.  The boys, all of them, love chillaxin' with the bros around and in the tiny, inflatable pool.
--Scootering: Summer 2013's hottest Chaos craze.
--Adam and I looked every bit the lovely middle-aged BYU alum we are when we wore our matching Coug hats to Zac's {incredibly windy} Saturday 3v3 soccer tournament--a fast-paced, small field version of soccer that really plays to Zac's strengths.  It was so fun to watch his team play!  They lost 2, won 2 and had a blast!

Luke on Luke: Six

And now for the birthday kid quiz!

But first, a few words from Mom:  One of the things I love about being Luke's mom is that in Luke, more than any of the other boys, I can watch my child making efforts to mature and face challenges with courage and determination.  When he is struggling with something that frustrates him or discourages him or makes him angry, I can see him make the decision about how he is going to act.  Almost like there is a brief pause before he makes his choice...do the thing his emotional brain wants him to do, the natural thing (throw a tantrum), or do the harder/rational thing, the big kid thing (using his words/walking away/confronting the problem).  Outside of our family, he never has a problem anymore.  He takes the second route all the time.  At home, we still have our good days and bad days, but he's working on it and often when we see him flash to a tantrum, I can give him a few ques and he makes an effort to gather himself quickly.  He is learning and growing and building the skills that he then successfully takes out into his world.  I know it is an effort for him to overcome his desire to emotionally burst and I am so proud of him and how hard he's trying.

More about our Luke at six....  Luke is really funny.  He loves to joke around and be a clown.  His funny sense of humor was one of the things his classmates loved about him; he made them laugh with his general goofiness.  Plus, that amazing beaming smile wins over everyone!  He loves to learn and is enthusiastic about school.  He is inquisitive and always asks why things do what they do or why they are what they are.  He tries so hard and I have loved watching his knowledge grow this year.  Luke has a sweet faith and just like in school, he is asking a million questions, some that have easy quick answers, and some that get me thinking too.  He loves to have me sing Christmas songs for his lullabies, especially Away in a Manger.  Luke really enjoys his video game time; I think they allow him some time to settle himself and be in his own space for a bit.  His favorites are Super Mario Galaxy and Skylanders.  He also loves to climb trees and jump on the trampoline, practicing all his tricks.  He's still super picky, but not more so than a typical picky kid, which means there is always something he's willing to eat, and he is trying more and more foods that are out of his comfort zone.  He tried ribs the other day--that's something I won't even eat!  Luke is a fantastic big brother to Tommy.  They play together so well and Luke loves to help him out.  Not that Tommy always wants help, but it's the thought that counts!  When Tommy gets upset, Luke is always there, trying to make him giggle and be happy again.  Luke has a wonderful imagination and still tucks himself away in a corner from time to time to just play a little fun imagination game or story with his toys.  We are proud of Luke, we think he's amazing, we love Luke so much and we are so grateful that he is a part of our family! 

How old are you? "Six."

What makes you happy? "Hugging Mommy."
What are your favorite things to eat? "Noodles, macaroni, Jell-o."
What is your least favorite thing to eat? "Meatloaf hand on Halloween."
What are your favorite things to do? "Play outside in the sun, read stories"
What is your favorite TV show? "Octonauts!"
What are you really good at? "The trick bar."
What is your favorite movie? "Stoy Tory.  Heh.  Mommy, it's actually Toy."
What is your favorite animal? "A dragon!"
What is your favorite color? "Blue."
What is your favorite song? "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Who are your best friends? "Tommy and Reagan."
What do you and Mom do together that you love?  "Read Harry Potter."
What do you and Dad do together that you love? "Um, play together."
What is your favorite sport? "Running."
What is your favorite book? "Harry Potter, Number 2" (Chamber of Secrets)
Where is your favorite place to go? "To the park!"
What makes you feel scared? "Monsters."
What do you want to be when you grow up? "An astronaut."

What words would you use to describe yourself? "Good hair, nice, funny, play with people."

What is the most exciting thing you got to do this year? "Have my birthday."

Our Week: May 26th through June 1st

As the first week of summer break and with Grandma and Grandpa in town, this week was pretty laid back.  Here are a few highlights: I found myself in green, growing plant heaven when I went to the Dutch Heritage Gardens plant sale with Adri and Nicolle--it's a greenhouse only open to the public one time a year, and it was hard not to buy up every plant in the place!; Colorado is at its finest in the spring when the native grasses turn green and Pike's snow-capped peaks tower over The Springs; Ben, who has eagerly planned for a lawn mowing business had his first customer, our fantastic neighbor, Gabi; in his time off from mowing lawns, Ben ate up the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull, finishing book 1 and book 2 in two days, each book over 300 pages in length; the house seems to be doomed to looking like a disaster, at least until the boys return to school in mid-August; Adam and I caught dinner out at our new favorite place (all we want is the pretzels and soup) and saw a flick--simple, yes, but it's our preferred date night; we attended a lovely adult session of stake conference and I had the opportunity to sing in the choir, which I love to do!; Josh made his own missionary tag--I'm so glad that's still 10 years away, one week with him gone was hard enough; Tommy didn't quite understand why he couldn't be a player in the unwrapping of Luke's birthday gifts; and the week ended spectacularly with a glorious sunset.

 

Now Luke is Six!

It was a nice 6th birthday for Luke yesterday.  As long as I have time to prepare, I love when birthdays fall on a Sunday, because they can be so mellow and focused on the birthday kid.  Today was all about Luke.  With early church, and not being a big breakfast eater, he didn't have any special breakfast requests, so I made cinnamon-sugar toast hearts with pears, which he happily gobbled up.  This is a special treat in our home because usually I am annoyed at how much bread gets thrown out making bread hearts, so I only make them on Valentine's Day, otherwise it's just toast, straight up.  And of all the boys, Luke loves having his toast in hearts. 

We had our Stake Conference today, so an unexpected birthday treat for Luke was getting to sleep in a bit on Sunday, since church wasn't AS early as usual.  He opened his presents as soon as we got home, and spent the afternoon playing with them.  We had macaroni for lunch...by birthday boy request, and then we had a little Swiss Family Robinson viewing party (still as entertaining and fun, but WAY more sexist, than I remember it!).  For dinner we dished up Luke's favorite, spaghetti.  Can you tell my boy is a carb-o-holic?!  He requested a strawberry angel food cake for dessert.  Yum! 

At the end of the day, unsolicited, Luke said, "I had a really good birthday."  Knowing we made his day made my day.

Soccer Tryouts 2013

For three days this past week, Zac and Ben endured the trial of soccer tryouts for the 2013/2014 soccer seasons.  Well, it's not so much a trial when they are playing a game they love!  We soccer parents laugh a little because the tryouts are really just for maybe 20 kids who are borderline between teams, otherwise, the coaches have watched these kids so much during the season that they really know where they are going to be placed already.  We call it the "dog and pony show."  But the boys have fun playing together and love to show off their stuff, so I guess it's not a big deal, even if it means spending 4 hours (2 hours each for each Zac and Ben) in the blasting late-spring Colorado wind.

It was Ben's first year trying out.  He's been playing at the intermediate level for our soccer club, Pride, which means his team was "competitive" rather than "developmental" but he didn't need to tryout for the team.  But with next season, he will enter the big leagues, so tryouts were a must.  He did a great job!  On the first day, the coach that wanted him on his team (and the coach Ben wanted to play with) told him to stop playing so well, so the other coaches wouldn't want him.  Ben was so excited, but still played his little heart out.  Ben primarily plays forward, but sometimes moves back to midfield.  He was picked for the United team, the same team that Zac has played for the past two years, but for the '02/'03 age group rather than the '00/'01 age group that Zac plays.  Ben was thrilled!  Zac was pleased as well; he was so supportive of and encouraging to Ben, but he confessed that his pride might have been a little wounded if his little brother had made a higher team than he.  Ben's coach will be Coach Glen, just the coach Ben wanted, and the team looks like they will be really strong.  With great coaching and the talent on the team, they are going to be solid!

Zac was offered a place, once again, on the United team.  Zac really enjoys this team and has played with some of these boys for three seasons.  He regularly plays at left-midfield.  He is an integral player and his presence on the field makes a difference for the team.  He is fantastic at reading the field and knowing where he needs to be and how to move the ball in the right direction, he can find lanes and positions himself well; his strength has improved a lot this season too, so he's got a lot of power behind his shots.  Zac was happy to be on United again, although he's eager to move up one level to the Copa team.  United is the third level team for our club, right in the middle of the pack, there are two higher teams (Predators and Copa) and two lower teams (Red and White).  We like this level because the cost isn't horrendous (just a little painful) and travel for games is all within the state.  The exciting part of tryouts for Z was that the Copa coach watched him play, and liked what he saw enough that Zac and a couple other United boys have been asked to practice with the Copa team once a week when practices start up in mid-July. 

Adam and I can happily cheer, "GO UNITED!" at both boys' games!

Grandma and Grandpa Were Here!

As seen in the Les Miserables post, Dan and Nicolle, my mother- and father-in-law, recently stopped by our house as part of their grand road-trip-extravaganza for five wonderful days of visiting.  We did a lot of hanging out, a lot of cuddles and giggles, a lot of eating (all of our favorite Grandma Nic recipes!), a lot of playing, some out-and-abouting, and a bit of relaxing.  We enjoyed ourselves so much!  The boys love their grandparents dearly and were so happy for some time with them.  Time with our out-of-town family is so precious to us!  We get awfully homesick out here all by ourselves.  Adam and I are thankful that we can call these parents of ours friends, as well as Mom and Dad.  We can't wait until July when more happy togethering will be done on our Seattle summer road-trip-extravaganza!