Friday Night Series End of the Season Banquet

I just realized I never posted this event.  Better late than never, I suppose.

Kayden completed all but a couple Friday Night Series races at Pacific Raceways over the summer.  And he did quite well.  Well enough to get first place over all in one of his race classes. 

The banquet was help to recognize those riders who worked hard all summer and did well.  And Kayden definitely did both of those.

And here is his first place trophy to prove it.

I wish these kids weren't in the way of my picture!

It was a lot of hard work put in by all.  We appreciate Papa Jim's hard work all summer to help Kayden get to the races on time.  Without his help, Kayden might not have been able to race.  Thank, Papa Jim!

We're looking forward to Arena Cross Race Series this fall/winter.

First Soccer Game of the Season

Saturday marked the start of a new season in our house, out with swimming and in with soccer.  And man, is it amazing the progress these kids make in just a short year, straight up amazing!

Not to brag, and there isn't an official score keeper, but you know us parents will keep a mental note of it, and I have to say, our team won 6-2!  Go Sounders!

Kayden played so amazingly!  He scored two goals and will even tell you he made one goal with his "weaky" foot meaning his left foot.  This boy has some ambidextrous skills, I tell ya.  In addition to occasionally kicking with his left foot, aka "weaky", he also bats left handed in baseball!

Interesting child I have, and not just because of his ambidextrous ways!

Saturday was a busy day, soccer started the morning off, followed by the awards banquet for the Friday Night Series at Pacific Raceways, then ending with a birthday party!  Needless to say, Kayden actuall slept well that night!

I will follow up with the banquet pictures later this week.

First Day of Second Grade

Kayden had his first day of second grade this week.  Our district started on Tuesday, Sept. 5th, and I have to say, it started off well.  Kayden seems to really like his teacher and I'm happy with her too, even with the little interaction I've had with her.  I think they'll be a great fit together.

It was so hot on our first day of school this year that Kayden actually didn't wear a new school outfit, instead he wore athletic shorts and a t-shirt.  I'm letting him get dressed himself this year, and so far, over the summer, the outfits have been interesting.  But in all honesty, not having to fight with him to get dressed, or wear a specific outfit starts our mornings off on the right foot....for the most part.  We still struggle with getting up in the morning, but sadly, I think this kid takes after me when it comes to mornings.  Unless it's a morning where motorbike riding is involved, then there are no issues at all!  Shocking, 'eh?

Ok, enough babbling, here are the three pictures I was able to snag before he waltz into second grade.

Science Experiments

One day not too long ago, Kayden was complaining of boredom.  Since the neighbor kids moved away in May, he doesn't have any kids in the neighborhood to play with.

Well, one day in particular I decided to pull out his kid friendly science experiments for kids book that Nini got him for...oh, a holiday I'm sure, and see what experiments we could execute.  I wasn't thrilled at the idea of going to the store, so we needed to work with what we had on hand, and I'm happy to report we were able to find three things experiment with.

I knew once Kayden got started he would have fun, sometimes the thought of doing something doesn't excite him, but once he gets started it usually goes well.  The first experiment was "edible playdoh".  You microwave peeps (but we didn't have any so we used marshmallows), then we added powdered sugar and mixed it.  It makes a fun consistency and tastes a lot like a yummy fondant.

Dang it, I must have not taken any pictures of the playdoh with my camera, only my phone.  I did post one of his edible playdoh snowman on Instagram though!

The next one we needed shaving cream, a bowl filled with some water and food coloring.  The lesson: learning about clouds and rain.  The shaving cream represents the clouds and the food coloring represent the rain.  Once the "rain" got too heavy for the clouds to hold, it then started to "rain" into the water in the bowl.

And the last one teaches about how oil and water (the water is red in the pic above, it is actually food coloring to make it easier to see) don't mix, but if you add an egg yolk the three ingredients mix together and don't separate.  And this is because the egg yolk is an emulsifier, and can then blend the ingredients together and keep them together.

We spend a few hours doing these three experiments and had fun while doing it.  None of them were overly messy and I'm grateful for that.  Easy clean up.

I'll have to remember to buy some more mens shaving cream at the dollar store and let him have fun with it and food coloring.  He spent a great deal of time mixing the food coloring together and seeing how it all mixed.

Fun day!

Swim Graduate

Kayden graduated swim!  Yippee skippee!  We have loved being at our swimming pool and taking lessons each week, and I have to say, I think it might be Kayden's second favorite love....dirt bike riding, of course, being his first.

He mentioned wanting to do swim team, but I think we will take some time off and start swim up again in...oh, I don't know, maybe spring time or next summer?  With soccer having just started 2-3x's a week, karate two times a week, and dirt bike riding on random weekends, I feel we could use the break from swim.  Not to mention school is starting in two days!  TWO DAYS people. Ugh.   Sorry, for the shouting.  I'm still in shock with how fast summer went.

Enough babbling, here are the pictures from his swim graduation!

Ms. Katie and Ms. Connie

I'm so proud of Kayden.  We/He went from severely and deeply hating the water, baths included, but are now comfortable taking showers.  I call that money well spent, friends.  

Race Night

We had another race night this past Friday.  Kayden's friend, Daniel was able to go with us and the two of them had fun.  Daniels eyes rarely left the race track and when they did he was riding his bike on the pump track with Kayden.

Kayden was recently talking about college and mentioned how he hopes him, Daniel and their friend, Isaac can all go to the same college.  I love that he is thinking about their long term friendship and really hope these boys stay friends.

Birch Bay

We took a rather impromptu trip to Birch Bay and Bellingham this weekend.  We invited one of Kayden's friends to go with us, and thankfully he was able to go.

We left Saturday morning and returned today.  Our first stop was at a Family Fun Center which had a small arcade, put put golf and go karts.

Then we grabbed lunch and then hit the beach at Birch Bay.  The boys found a lot of dead sea creatures and had a good time playing in the water.  It is one of the few beaches around here where the shallow water is somewhat warm.

The air was so grey and smoky from the Canadian wildfires, and occasionally you could catch a whiff of smoke, but overall it didn't hinder our trip too much.

We played until the tide was nearly at our feet and we couldn't scoot much more.  Then we headed to the hotel in Bellingham and ended up at the pool to finish the day off.

Got up this morning and headed to Everett and visited the "Flying Heritage and Combat Museum". The boys had a great time looking at all the war planes and tanks, as did Kyle and I.

It was a great weekend, it was some much needed family time.

Green Belt Leader in the House!

I feel safer at night...what can I say, we have a green belt leader in the house!  Whoop whoop.

Kayden had his belt ceremony for martial arts this week and he rocked it.  He was able to bring the Professor down to the ground and did it all while having a smile on his face.

We were in danger of him not getting past a green belt when he was promoted to the Advanced Junior class at his last ceremony, and he was refusing to go.  But we worked through it, did a bit of a rewards chart with the school, and are now mostly happy to go twice a week.  I do have to admit, its a bit of a struggle just because of the time of day it is, right in the middle of dinner time, so it can make for a long night, but we power through and Kayden really does enjoy it.  He is smiling through the whole 45 minute class and has learned so much over the almost three years he has been doing martial arts.  I really hope he can power through and earn his black belt, imagine how safe I would feel then!

I'm so proud of this little guy.

See that black stripe on his belt?  That is the identifying factor telling "leaders" from "non leaders".  This is his second leader belt, I believe his first one was a Blue Belt Leader.