RCP Beach Train

One of the days at RCP Family Camp was a day at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and we took the train from Felton to get there.  What an adventure it was.  The main dilemma between leaving from the beach at 1215 or 415 became an easy one when we didn't really get there until 1130.  We are so rarely at the beach that we were going to take advantage.  We played smash ball and football, made sandcastles, and ate funnel cakes.  There was no fog issues, the sky was blue and the wind was light and the air was warm.  No shark sightings today, so the water was open.

Grammy and Poppy rode the train to and from the beach with us, but chose the earlier train back.

Check out that beautiful sky behind us.

Lauryn and Mia joined our boys building sand castles.

A moment for just us?

Griffin with his friend Lauryn (Grammy and Poppy look on).

Waving to the cars on Highway 9 next to the railroad track.

The boys and Lauryn pose with the faces in the backdrop.

That would be a dog in the conductor seat?

Brett and Scott battle in smash ball.

Enjoying some funnel cake treats.

Summer Baseball

Garrett wanted to play more baseball after his spring season ended, so he joined the Bench Boys which included his friend Luke and Jace, along with another player, Nathaniel, whom he had played with in the spring.  He has played a little bit of everywhere in the field (CF, RF, 1B, SS, C) and batted leadoff most games.  The other two boys decided to take the summer off from baseball but were willing to fill in if the teams their friends were on were short of players.

Garrett and his buddy Luke.

Garrett with Jace, who he hadn't played with since Tball

Bryce and Griffin enjoyed some treats while watching one of Garrett's games.

Garrett has played catcher over the summer and really enjoying it.

Hiding and sharing their prized possession.

Bryce filled in on the U13 summer ball team that Garrett was playing on.  He held his own.

Bryce and Griffin filled in for the Hustle during a game when they were short.  Bryce made some plays in the field and cheered his teammates on.

Griffin led off and scored two runs.

Griffin also pitched and threw strikes.

Bryce's 10th Birthday

Bryce enjoyed a few celebrations for his birthday.  We celebrated him in Idaho by going to the water park and the racing car/laser tag/video game place.  Bryce rode with Uncle Aaron in car #34 on the racing cars while Garrett got to drive himself.  Fortunately, the accident they got in with Brett and Griffin didn't cause any permanent damage.  They loved the laser tag game during which all seven of us were on the same team (5 of us along with Uncle Aaron and Cousin Ryan).  Later that night we met up with Gramps to have a birthday dinner together.

Do you see a theme, all Star Wars except for the cat head pillow?

Inspired by Adrian, Garrett and Griffin bought the game for Bryce and now they are plotting how they are going to defeat Adrian next year.

Waiting to open his presents, Bryce wears his new Tacocat shirt.

Garrett delivers a pitch in the birthday whiffle ball game.

Strike a pose, a baseball pose.

Bryce filled in on Garrett's team and contributed some great at-bats and plays in the field.

Postgame frozen yogurt treat.

Celebrating with birthdays with Poppy too...

...an Ewok cake!

Poppy enjoys his grandkids gathering around.

The latest awesome Star Wars holder made by Grammy for figures or Legos.

Bryce reads his card with Rachel close by so she can see better--cute.

Wicket the Ewok cake by Joy.

Sharing a mint ice cream birthday cake with Gramps.

Special treat, celebrating birthdays with each of his grandfathers.

Stormtroopers guarded the entrance to the laser tag arena.

The water park crew:  Ryan joining the five of us in one pic.

Uncle Aaron joined the boy crew in the other.

TACOCAT shirt debut on Bryce.

Family Fun on the Farm

When you are around family and back on the farm, it just can't be all sad and mourning.  So we had some lighter moments as we supported each other through the process of our grieving.  Ryan, in particular, enjoyed having his younger second cousins around to play with and our boys loved hanging out with him.  We had to enjoy the family that we are so blessed to be bonded to through Grandpa.

Summer sky, sun setting (at 945 pm) and family.

Going for a ride in the eight wheeler.

All the boys riding the "tank" with cousin Ryan.

That's an impressive wide bodied contraption on the back of the tank.

Get a picture while we are all dressed up!

Three brothers, sitting on a fence...you finish the line...

Baby Sofia...how sweet and amicable.

When nobody will drive you to the waterslide...

...you make your own...

...with a little bit of soap and a lot of water.

Playing baseball in the field.

ATV vs Go-Cart, ready race!

Now that Ryan is quite accomplished as a hoopster, we played a number of games to help the boys learn some more hoops skills.

Gramps and Bryce enjoy some shade and a chat.

Playing one of the many board games we brought in the waiting room for the ICU.

Getting to know Baby Sofia.

A brief break to enjoy the latest Minion adventure:  funniest part, the dude from jail sitting on the toilet that the minions stole, still sitting there reading the newspaper even in a plane...