Bowling Fun!

The girls' first bowling experience

In an effort to beat the 108 degree heat, we went to the bowing alley today. When we arrived, we were informed the air conditioning was out! Oh well, we bowled anyway! Gotta love these little bowling shoes!

They have bumpers and a nifty ramp so the kids can actually get the ball to hit the pins. Both of the girls tried to bowl without the ramp too, and had success...it just takes forever and a day for the ball to get down the lane without the ramp!

Even after several warnings, Mary did get her fingers smashed between two bowling balls in the ball return...it only took one time before the little hands were far, far away from the ball return!

Little Kaycee had fun, but was very independent getting her own ball from the return to the ramp.

British Soccer Camp June 2009

Mary went to soccer camp for a week this year. She is signed up to be on a recreational team this fall, so we thought it would be good for her to get some instruction befor the season starts! She was in a group of 6 other kids her age with "Coach Sam". It was funny watching them try to figure out some phrases the British use..."Raise your hand if you haven't had a go.", said coach Sam. No one raised their hand and there was a long pause. Then Sam said, "Let me try that again. Raise your hand if you haven't had a turn." All of the sudden half the group responded.

Here is Jenny, the coach that stayed with us for the whole week camp was going on. She was a lot of fun to have. We especially enjoyed exchanging culture and customs. While at our house Jenny got to try cantaloupe, asparagus and burritos for the first time!

Here is Mary with Coach Sam.

Mary with Jenny and Coach Lewis.

The "Ooga-Chaka" Song

Thanks to Jen, we got to hear the "Ooga-Chaka" song many, many times while camping...and we are still getting performances! Hope you enjoy the video clip!

Camping at Black Butte Lake 2009

This year we went camping at Black Butte (pronounced with a long U sound) Lake which is located between Redding and Chico, CA. We had a great time on the "Oasis Island" thanks to our former neighbors Mark and Patty! They generously gave us the Oasis and we know we wouldn't have had such a nice time in the water without it!

We are pretty sure camping will remain an annual event for the Carter Crew! We all enjoy it and who doesn't love the outdoors!? Dirt, sun, water, fire, bugs, sticky S'mores...hey... at least they have showers!

Beautiful sunsets were available thanks to the clouds in the horizon. We had awful winds one night, but no rain!!!

Campfires were fun and the S'mores were YUM! Too bad the van still smells like ashes!

Here we all are! Our friend Jen was able to join us too!

Memorial Day Weekend at Grandma's

For Memorial Day Weekend we went to Washoe, NV to see family. Washoe is between Reno and Carson City, so there is always something to go do or explore. We went to a great park that had a petting zoo and pony rides in Reno. We also had a picnic breakfast at the state park and had hot pancakes of the grill! Mary was climbing trees (and didn't get hurt)... the poor thing has a track record! The next post will have a review from our upcoming camping trip! New campsites can be great or a terrible disappointment...we will see!

We had a picnic lunch in Reno with Grandma Claudia and PaPa Fred over Memorial Day Weekend. Mary and Kaycee love playgounds...they can sport them a mile away!

Learning to climb trees at Washoe lake, Nevada.

We love our daddy!!!

Mary and Kaycee in the skirts mommy made.

Mary and Kaycee really saying "cheese!".

Mary and her friend Josh...this is the boy who Mary broke her nose on!

Preschool Performance

For those of you that know Mary, she was in heaven as she got to be on stage in her first performance at preschool in May. Kaycee did better than expected and sang really well despite the wild boy flailing around next to her nearly the whole time...I was very proud of my babies!