Heh. Slackers are us!

Yes. I know. I’ve been slacking about here forEVER. Part of it was that my server moved my site to another maching, and I’ve had nothing but problems with the database since. However! I think that’s finally taken care of, so we’ll do a massive month (…or two) catch up. heh.

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Little League is officially over! Whew! all the kids had a fantastic time, and did very well. Well, for the pup, if you consider twirling in the outfield and using a golf swing of the bat “well” then yes – she did good too. *L* She had fun though, and that’s what counts.

The Girl’s team was UNDEFEATED throughout the season. The girls came a LONG way, and everyone is incredibly proud of their domination of the game. Not only that, but we dominated the Allstars team too. Gotta love that. The Girl wasn’t old enough to qualify this year – next year though.

The boy’s team had a rocky season filled with ups and downs. They came out even on the win/loss scale, however, and I consider the growth of the boys as a team an all out win. They really began to pull together at the end, some of the boys stepping up to show leadership, and a genuine since of comraderie and encouragement that was missing the first couple of weeks. I kept the books for most of the season for them, and I can tell ya – even when they lost, their attitudes were good. Until they ahd to run sprints, of course. heh.

3 hours before the last game, the boy took a tumble from his bike, and ended up with a concussion and a broken big toe. He said he was fine, and even PLAYED THE ENTIRE GAME. I was impressed with him. A teamate of his was also playing with a concussion, but to our dismay, one of the boys went CAMPING and thus they had to forfiet. They borrowed a player from the other team though, to finish the season out in style. the boy isn’t old enough for allstars this year, so he finished off the season in a splint at closing ceremonies. heh.

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Other then that, things have been pretty normal around here. We watched the big 4th of july parade, and as the boy had the camera, I have many shots of cheerleaders and dancers, and CH, the girl he’s loved since birth. *L*

Not much else in the way of pictures of the day. The boy’s friend Steel was with us all day, and we got to share several firsts with him -the parade itself, as well as the trip out to the lake to go swimming afterwards. At the lake, the kids discovered a bed of freshwater clams and decided they would make a KILLING if they grabbed, cleaned, and painted them to sell to the tourists. They harvested 104 of the wee lil buggers, and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning them. Then they set the shells out in the sun to dry. ONce they’re clean enough, they’re going to paint them, then want to hit a saturday market and sell them. More power to the kiddos, I say. *g*

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And last night, the kids got to go on their first dipnetting experience from the Boy’s boat. They had a BLAST. They caught 11 fish all told, 4 of which were the Girl’s, who very smugly outcaught the boys. *L* Then they came home, proud and giddy and…

….cleaned them in my kitchen. OMFG. I don’t know if I can impart to you just HOW MUCH i hate fish… but when I see THIS….

…in my KITCHEN… i hate it even more. *L* EW EW EW EW! But the kids are proud, and I’m not so disgusted that I won’t proudly eat the fish they caught either.

…ew.

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Oh! and it wouldn’t be a fishing trip with the Asshole without an ADVENTURE!

He found someone to haul the boat down and go fishing with them. His buddy D. His buddy bought a ball hitch for his tow package on his truck just so he could go fishing with them, and then Asshole sprung for the light kit, and they were finally ready to go. The truck, however, didn’t have room for the kids. So I drove down behind them with the kids in the car, and sat there for an HOUR while they waited their turn to use the boat launch ramp.

Yes. an HOUR.

So, while they’re inching their way closer to the boat ramp, they discover that the battery that they have for the hydrolics on the engine – only had enough juice to raise it. Not lower it. Whoops. So what do they do? they STEAL MINE FROM THE JEEP! So there I am, with the bad battery in the jeep, unable to turn it off, AND running out of gas! OMG. *L* But, they get the boat into the water, the engine working properly, and they were off for their adventure.

That included, aside from the catching of fish – the pup sleeping in the bow of the boat in the same spot _I_ used to sleep (this boat was my dads when I was a teen. the boy always loved it, and dad insisted that it be his, so when we had some cash, we bought it for the boy. His name is even on the title.) and watching a man DIVING for shore because his BOAT was sinking, which lead to a rescue mission that had the Asshole standing waist deep in the river in his $80 birks. Of course, I yelled at him for WEARING the birks to go fishing, and got “but dear, I didn’tINTEND to stand in the water” as a response. harumph.

So when they returned, wet and tired and sore and exhilerated, they went to clean the fish, and I realized i was out of freezer paper, so! It was off to the store. The boys hooked my battery back up, and I head off to town only to see those DREADED RED AND BLUE FLASHING LIGHTS in my rearview mirror. Uh. Whoops? Seems when they hooked up my battery? They BLEW the fuse to my tailights, and my dashlights. So I laughingly tell the nice young officer about the battery, and he just laughs and asked how the fishing was, and let me go. Nice guy – young and cute too! raaaaaaaawr. *L*

He just told me to go straight to the store, the gas station, and home. Not even a fix-it ticket. How cool, hm?

So then it aws home, the cleaning, the wrapping with the VERY LAST BOX of freezer paper to be had in the store, and the sleeping.

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And there! All caught up with the highlights. *L* You know you missed me. *grin*