Football for James and Andrew

We have football players now. After Max and Ben were so into basketball and tennis, we now have two boys who just really wanted to play tackle football so we gave in and registered. 

So serious!

In late July and through August, football practice started four days a week for James and Andrew! They were very good at not complaining about the heat or how tired they felt. (Though JB and I have complained to each other about the two separate apps for each team that FILL our phones with notifications).

On July 20, they got their pads and helmets and tried on jerseys and were really pumped about it.

Games started on Aug. 13. I went to James's game...

And JB went to Andrew's game.

The Ram Run fundraiser was on Tuesday, Aug. 20, and James was pumped.

This is from a practice on Aug. 21

This is from a game on Sept. 28

Saturday, Aug. 24, these four watched Andrew's game together (I was in South America).

They each got official lanyards, these cuties.

Here is Andrew's lanyard.

Their second cousin Kenny came over for dinner and ran some drills with them.

They got into high school games for free in their jerseys. This is at the Oct. 10 game where Millie and other girls did a cheer at halftime! She did a two-day cheer camp at the school and loved it (except she didn't love the required ponytail. She only likes pigtails).

In October, the boys wore pink sleeves for breast cancer awareness.

James's team went a couple games into the playoffs before being eliminated.

We were at field all around the valley. JB would go one way with one boy and me one way with another, depending on schedules.

We did like it when they played at home.

Andrew's team went one game into the playoffs and he was really bummed to be done. He really really liked football. Here are Andrew and Millie at James's last playoff game.

Some games were quite sunny. I quickly learned to bring umbrellas for shade.

Millie would go with me or JB to wait for their evening practices to end, and she brought dolls and opened the sunroof each time.

As the season went on, the evenings got darker and chillier.

Their team banquets were held this week and the coaches said something about each boy on the team. I was happy to hear the recognition -- some boys have played for years and are faster or stronger, but my boys did show heart and a lot of improvement!

Alaska cruise

From August 3-10, JB and I took a cruise to the inside passage of southeastern Alaska! We had been talking about it for a while and Alaska has definitely been on his bucket list -- and it did not disappoint. I was amazed at how beautiful and cool the scenery and every port was.

The weather was beautiful the whole time. We had rain gear and jackets just in case, but never needed them. Sunny and blue skies the whole time! Many people remarked on how rare that was.

We sailed out of Seattle the first day, and I was thrilled to see the Blue Angels and F-35s fly over the ship. The ship was huge, with a ton of people. We liked the food and restaurants we tried (Norwegian gives you many dining options and nothing needs to be formal, so it meant much lighter suitcases). The ship had waterslides and mini-golf on the windy tip top deck.

My favorite thing to see for entertainment was The Beatles Experience-Argentina. Four men from Argentina who look and sound like the Beatles. I sang along to every song and thought how much my parents would have loved it.

After a sea day, on Monday we were in Sitka, Alaska (and I kept saying it the way Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock say it in "The Proposal" -- "SIT-ka. A-LAS-ka.") We walked all around with a map to see the different sights, including lots of totem poles inside a museum and outside along a wooded path.

I was fascinated by the Russian Orthodox Church downtown. So much iconography and symbolism and history inside. 

We walked all over and enjoyed many things to see, including this big bear photo op.

On Aug. 6, we stopped in Juneau. Our whole goal was to see the Mendenhall Glacier, and we got off the boat early to take a city bus out to its last stop then walk a couple miles to the entrance. Only to find they had had a ton of flooding the night before and the trails were covered in water! But I couldn't feel bad; several homes had been flooded as well in the town because of the spillage. So we took pictures by the signs and visitors' center.

You can see the white spot behind us is the glacier.

Back in the downtown area, we saw a little black bear behind a shop snacking away on some food or trash. A lady threw sticks at it to make it shoo.

On the boat we sailed by this glacier, which was gorgeous.

And we got close to this glacier before the ship turned around. This was the chilliest day and it still wasn't bad.

On Aug. 7, we were in Icy Straight Point. This is kind of a spot the cruise lines have made to have another port. and we really enjoyed it. Seemed you could go just right out of the main town of Hoonah and be in pure wilderness Alaska!  We walked from the ship over to the spot where we would meet our whale-watching tour.

Then we spent a few hours on a small boat looking for whales -- and we saw so many! Some breaches, some bubble feeding, some songs we could hear through the bottom of the boat. And the captain was hilarious. He knew anything and everything about whales, Alaska, Alaska TV shows....

We walked back from Hoonah -- look at those sunny skies!

Then we rode the gondola through the trees back to the ship. I hate heights but it wasn't bad.

On Aug. 8 we were in Ketchikan. We got up early to be off the ship and exploring the city before our excursion (JB always finds good stuff on shore separate from the costlier options that the ship sells). Creek Street is really cool. All the buildings are on stilts.

Then we went to the spot where we would be riding e-bikes and hiking. This was my first time on an e-bike, and it was awesome. Hills ain't no thing when you can push a button and sail up.

We had a small hike through the forest to get to the water's edge, where we saw star fish (sea stars as our young New Zealand seasonal guide told us) and shellfish. She was allowed to touch them but not us because of a wasting disease.

We did get the giggles because when JB saw this excursion online, it seemed like it would be quite rigorous. The people were all quite young in the pictures. But we were in a group of 60-70 year olds! It was an easy bike ride and easy hike and gorgeous views.

After a day at sea, on Aug. 9 we were in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. We got in after dinner, so we had an evening walk from the ship to the downtown area. It was a few miles roundtrip, but good to see the sunset scenery and work off the extra desserts at dinner.

The parliament building was beautiful.

And we took photos for JB's birthday.

The next morning, Saturday, we were back in Seattle and off the ship, back to the airport, and back home. We were so happy to have the opportunity to go and celebrate our 20th anniversary (many months later) and JB's birthday (on the ship) -- and very grateful for Ben, Nonna, Suzanne and others who helped with our children throughout the week.