A few teenage girls in the neighborhood with acting backgrounds decided to do a fundraiser for the Hidden Springs Library (which is expanding and moving into the new Merc building this month). They ran play auditions in early June, then ran play practice 2-4 times a week throughout the summer. They built sets and bought thrift store materials with which to make costumes for all the cast. They made a program for the play, had makeup for the characters and basically just took care of everything. It was about the coolest thing I have ever seen teenagers do. I was so impressed.
Faith was the only one of the kids originally interested in the play, but Jake got involved as a way to help her get over her nervousness at the first few practices. He was roped into playing Captain Hook and got one of his buddies involved to play John. Brian and I dropped them at practices and offered to assist as needed but no help was ever asked for so we really didn't know quite what to expect when we went to watch the "final product" last weekend.
The barn was PACKED. They were hoping for 80 people and got closer to 120-150. Every part of the play was well done, from ticket sales to intermission refreshment sales (donated baked good donated by neighbors and water donated by Albertsons). Set changes were done, lighting was provided and manned, makeup and costumes were done seamlessly.
Faith played a mermaid and also a pirate. She had two costumes and each time she was on stage she just looked so happy and excited to be there. If she was nervous you couldn't tell. She had all her lines memorized and spoke loudly, clearly, and with great expression. She also helped with the set changes. I was so very proud of her. She can't wait to do her next play.
Jake was funny and had the largest part in the play (except possibly for Peter's part, but I think Captain Hook may have had more lines than even Peter). He mostly kept his composure and even when funny things happened (like his sword falling apart) he rolled with it and had fun. While I am not sure he sees a future in acting, he was fantastic!
Having Nana and Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue in the audience was such a treat. It's something that I don't think any of us will forget anytime soon.
The girls that produced and directed the play are already planning another one for next season. I know what Faith will be doing next summer!
We had a busy weekend planned last week. There was the football Jamboree at BSU most of the day on Saturday and then the kids had their performance of the Peter Pan play for the Hidden Springs Library on Sunday. Brian was up early (630) to get Jake to BSU on time. He got a text message from his mom asking if anyone was up for donuts. He texted her back and said that we were all still sleeping and didn't give it much more thought. A few minutes later he got another text saying, "Look on your front porch". He figured that in typical Grandma Mary fashion she had ordered us donuts and they were delivered to our house in time for beginning of football season. He jumped in the shower, took his time, and then opened the door expecting to see a fed ex package or something. Nope. He got more than he bargained for. Right there on our front porch in Boise Idaho stood Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue holding two dozen donuts.
I was still asleep. Brian came in the room and tapped my foot, waking me up, and whispered, "Honey...wake up! Mom and Auntie Sue are here!". Like I said, I was still asleep, so I murmured, "OK" thinking it was a dream, and then promptly rolled over and fell back asleep. A few minutes later, he came in again. Tugging on my foot a little more urgently, he said (a little more loudly this time), "HONEY, you need to get up. Auntie Sue and Mom are here. They brought donuts!". I threw a robe on and walked into the family room rubbing my eyes, still partially asleep and thinking I must have misheard. Sure enough there they were. On our couches. There were the donuts. Right on the kitchen counter.
They wanted to surprise the kids and come see them in the play. Well, they definitely pulled it off. Unbelievable. Neither Brian or I had any idea that they were coming. I've rarely been this shocked or surprised in my life.
Brian and Jake left for the first part of the Jamboree. We talked for about an hour while the kids continued sleeping upstairs. A little while later, Faith came down, rubbed her eyes, and in happy shock greeted two of her favorite people in the world. Next came Tanner. Same drill. Turns out they had booked a room over the Merc for the weekend and came just so they could surprise the kids and see them in the play on Sunday.
Best. Surprise. Ever.
They tagged along for the Jamboree, getting to watch Tanner play in his first game of the season, and then came along for BTS clothes shopping on Sunday. Saturday night we did movie night at our house, then the kids all slept over with Mary and Sue in their suite above the Merc. The play was Sunday evening and it WAS A BLAST. Faith and Jake both rocked their parts with confidence and enthusiasm. We enjoyed every second of the play, and every second we got to spend with Auntie Sue and Grandma Mary.
We last camped with the Thumas when Faith was about 2 years old. Given that it has taken us 5 years to get another trip scheduled, it would lead you to believe that we didn't have a good time on that trip. That would be false. We had a great time five years ago and when we finally got our schedules together enough to camp again this year we had an even better time.
The Thuma Family had the brunt of the drive. We tried to meet "in the middle" between Seattle and Boise, but the reality is that the location we chose was much easier for us to get to, only a 5 hour drive, compared to the 8+ hours of driving that Lisa, John, Quincy, and Jessa had to do. John found a campground near Wallowa Lake, which turned out to be a very popular camping area set around a large waterski/fishing lake and surrounded by little towns full of mini-golf, go cart racing, horse stables, and even a goldola ride. It was also right by a cool little town (Joseph) that happened to have a great Mexican restaurant and a really yummy chocolate/coffee store. OK... so it was not real camping.
The Thumas brought not only their boat, but also one of the coolest camp inventions I have ever seen- a homemade camp sink constructed out of Home Depot orange buckets and lots of hardware. The kids could have happily played with the little foot pump for hours. We arrived around 5PM and set up camp while the kids explored the creek and woods nearby. Night one was hotdogs, brauts, baked beans and potato chips. Of course this was followed by s'mores. Since there was a burn ban, John also constructed a propane fire pit, so even though none of us smelled like burnt wood, we were able to enjoy a nice glow from the gas flame and roast marshmallows with the best of them.
Saturday was my birthday. We had a leisurely camp breakfast and then headed into town to explore. We ended up at a little Mexican restaurant at noon where we had two tables: one for adults and one for kids. Our waiter was, hands down, the best waiter we've ever had. He entertained the kids the entire time we were at the restaurant and kept all of us laughing with his jokes, slo-mo, dance moves, and more. After a quick stop to get coffee and chocolate we took the boat out on the lake. Nothing like skiing on my birthday! Jake also got up on skis and all the kids tubed (Actually, that's not true. Faith didn't want to even ride on the boat. We're still working on that anxiety thing!). After hanging out on the lake we headed back to camp where Lisa and John had dinner duty. My birthday dinner was DELICIOUS (of course) with Tri Tip, corn salad, watermelon salad, and homemade peanut sauce. Lisa had even made a cake for the celebration. We were in charge of dinner the next night and it was not nearly as tasty. I tried a new camping recipe for chicken enchilada nachos and while it was OK, it certainly wasn't something I would repeat!
Sunday was another day spent on the lake watching the cousins splash around on floaties together and catching up with my sister and John. Lots of games of hide and seek ensued back at camp. We packed out early on Monday, since they had a long drive home and I had to get on an airplane for St. George Utah at 530 the next morning. We were all grateful for the time we got to spend together... and even though Brian started the trip saying that he was getting too old to camp and that this would be his last ever tent camp experience... by Monday he was already planning which gear to replace, what stuff we'd need to get rid of before our next camping trip, and how to make a camp sink of our own. Camping is a pain in the ass. He's right. But there's also nothing else quite like it.
So here we are, the last weekend before school starts and neither of us can believe Summer has gone so fast. Between work craziness and kid schedule craziness, the summer seems to have just started. We've been doing a less than stellar job keeping up with the blog lately so there are a couple of pretty long updates coming.
SUMMER BASEBALL
I am going on my third year on the North Boise Little league Board of Directors. I managed Tanner's AA team in the spring season and that rolled right into our Summer Ball "Bombers" team. It was basically the same kids with a couple of changes that I managed in Spring. We had an almost exact duplicate of a season. Tanner and his buddies did great, had a blast, and mowed down the competition, losing only one game (and then only because we only had six kids show up - Summer vacations are killers). Tanner pitched a ton and was one of the best pitchers, if not THE best, in the league. He went on a tear in the finals, pitching three innings in both of our games, striking out 7 in one and 6 in the other. Our team was really good, turning a couple of double plays and one triple play over the course of the season. The weather couldn't have been better for us and we didn't have any 110 degree games this year. We lost in the finals 3-1 against a team we beat the other three times we played them. Just baseball stuff happened, we had runners on third three times and just couldn't get them home. It was a heartbreaker of a loss, but the kids handled it really well. My friend (and assistant coach) Sean and I got the second place coaches Gatorade bath from the kids and a trip to Sonic took care of all the baseball blues. This team is eligible for All Stars for the first time next season, so we likely won't be playing Summer Ball next year and we're talking about starting a club team with this group of boys so they can play some more high level baseball. Tanner and his buddy Gus are playing their last year of Flag football this year (neither of them want to play tackle) and are going to double up on baseball along with their buddy Evan next year.
FOOTBALL
Before baseball season was even over, football season had started. Jake is playing his junior year of tackle football and Tanner is playing his last year of flag. I have been coaching Jakes team for the last three seasons and we just finished up hell week and the Opening Jamboree. They boys are off to a solid start and this is the first year it didn't feel like we started from ground zero. They played well and won their Opening Day scrimmage pretty handily. We have our first regular season game tomorrow out in Nampa and the practice schedule mellows out a little bit starting next week. Jake vacillates back and forth, almost constantly, about whether he will keep playing football or not and right now is kind of in the "not" camp, but we'll see how this season ends up. If he ends up in the ER again, his Mom and I are going to think about making that decision for him. It looks like Tanner is playing center again this season, which he loves. He likes playing football, but I think he knows it's not really his sport. He has fun and likes running around, but knows he wouldn't like getting knocked around by kids twice his size with pads and helmets on so doesn't really have the desire to continue playing. Football runs until mid-October and then immediately bleeds into...
BASKETBALL
Jake played Summer AAU this season, kind of. He missed a lot due to camp and other commitments. He played with the same team as he played with last fall. He has already tried out for fall AAU as well as a Flite Club Basketball team with some other boys form the neighborhood. We are waiting to see what the results of those tryouts are and should find out in the next week or two. Tanner will play YBasketball against this year with his same group of friends. I will coach for likely my last season as basketball starts to outstrip my knowledge of the game in the third grade season and someone who actually knows what they are doing is going to have to take over. Basketball season is our time off from baseball and will be even if we do get this baseball club team going. Tanner and Jake both love to play basketball and unlike football, they both possess some basketball skills.
