*PICTURES ARE IN REVERSE ORDER FOR SOME REASON*

Sports

You have become a sports fanatic. If you aren’t playing sports you are watching them. It is so much fun. Below are a few updates on the various sports/activities over the last 6 months.

Baseball

You played coaches pitch this spring on the Diamondbacks (even had the cool old school jerseys). It was really the first organized baseball you have played where it was not T-Ball. Your coach was a great guy – older man who had a grandson on the team, but while tough was very fair. I was the all-time pitcher for the games as well which was great. All the other pitchers on the other teams would get down on a knee and throw darts that were easy to hit but didn’t represent a true pitch, but your coach and I agreed it was important to see the full motion. Hopefully this will serve you well.

The coach would base the lineup on who got there first got to hit first, so one day you decided you wanted to be there first so we went early. I usually would throw a few pitches to warm up, but this day I didn’t So you got up for your first at bat, and the first pitch I plucked you in the chest on accident. All the parents gasped, while I assured them all it was an accident and that you were mine. The best part was that the next pitch you drilled one right back at me that I had to duck to avoid.

Golf

We are starting to get some real golf in. We have played a full 18 holes a few times now, and while you get frustrated sometimes you are getting the hang of it. We have a course just across the river from us (Warm Springs Golf Course) that we go to pretty frequently even just to hit some balls.

Flag Football

You are very into flag football – it is currently your favorite sport. Best thing is you are pretty good at it. Your coach doesn’t really know what he is doing, but you have a great time and are the fastest kid on the team. It is still early days and the games are pretty discombobulated at times, but you get to play a game every Friday with 20 or so other games going on at the same time and creates a cool environment.

Hiking

While not a sport, you have finally taking a liking to hiking. We went on some cool hikes these last 6 months, including one in Palm Springs with Papa and Damian that was very cool. You did great outside of a bit of whining and really seemed to like it.

Trips

We did one of the cooler trips recently with Mia. We went up to Galena and Mia rented a yurt for the night. There were a number of options for the Yurt, and I asked Mia just to not get the one that was a 1.5 mile hike in – which of course she accidentally did.

It was the middle of winter, so cold and lots of snow. We had to snowshoe in. Not going to lie, it was not your finest moment as you cried and whined a good part of the way there and eventually coaxed your mom and Mia to pull you on a sled half of the way. Once we got to the yurt though you were stoked. There was no electricity or running water and we all slept on bunk beds. It was a pretty posh experience – very Sun Valley. They actually snowmobiled all of our gear in for us and left it at the yurt so that we didn’t have to hike in with it. Then later they brought a pre-packed dinner that we just had to heat up on a stove top. We played games and sled out front and for some reason you really liked the outhouse and the idea of pooping in a big hole.

The next day we hiked back out, and again you whined and cried and got Mia and Mom to carry you most of the way. That aside, was a very cool experience.

We also went to Palm Desert where you basically swam and at the entire time. You guys have grown to love it there and we have basically made it an annual trip.

First injury

You experienced your first actual injury, you sprained your ankle. As you can see in the pictures below, your mom made me take you to get x-rays for it to ensure it wasn’t fractured, which of course it was not (I have sprained my ankles probably 10 times, but she knew better of course). You milked it for all it was worth with your mom – sitting and watching tv while eating ice cream and your mom waiting on you hand and foot.

You also lost some more teeth as you can see. Tooth fairy, as always, brought you a $2 bill for each of them.

Friends

You have some great friends that you are hanging out with more often. Calvin is a good friend through sports, and at school you have a group of boys that are part of a club that you can’t get into unless you can run fast enough.

Always so much to catch up on, and can’t wait to do it again when you turn 8!

I love you more than all the world,

Love, Dad