Cougs in Seattle

Mark took us to the WSU Cougar game tonight with a couple of his friends. It was the first Cougar game that Hannah, Ashton and I have ever been to, and the first time in the Century Field Stadium. It was raining most of the night, but we bundled up and had a couple ponchos to share. 

Excited and ready to go! 

We had great seats!

We finally called it quits close to the end of the third quarter. Stanford crushed us, but it was still fun to experience the game. 

Seattle Mariners - A day to remember...

Let's first reflect back to August 28th, 2013. The Mariners game that Uncle Bart and Aunt Christy took Mark and Ashton too. That night is what led to this great experience we had with the Mariners. To recap, Mark caught a foul ball and gave it to Ashton. Ashton thought he was supposed to give it back to the Mariners and threw it back. Poor guy below them who was hit by the ball. The video of this wound up on ESPN's Not Top 10 plays. 

Because of this video circulating around, Bart's friend, Bill Kelliher, shared it with Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln and we were able to be guests at their batting practice before the game last Monday night.  So I want to give a huge thank you to Bart and especially his friend Bill. They were the ones who made this whole experience possible for us. Without Bill knowing so many people out there Monday night, we wouldn't have had the experience we did.  It was amazing all the people that Bill knew and introduced us to. That was how the Manager, Eric Wedge, came up to us too. Thanks you so much Bill!

Ready to go. He was excited!

Waiting for the Mariners CEO Howard Lincoln in the lobby.

Howard brought us to batting practice. We found out that the other guest around the field weren't able to go up to the batting cage.  But since we were with Howard, he took Ashton and Mark and then came back for Bart, Bill and I. What a privilege it was to be escorted by Howard. Ashton seemed in awe to be that close to the players and action around him.

Oh my! How exciting! Howard was able to pull some strings and get Ashton's favorite player, Nick Franklin, to come and meet him.  He even signed a ball for him.

Thank you Howard for letting us all take part in coming out tonight. We all had such a wonderful experience being this close.  It truly meant a lot to all of us, and what a wonderful thing for Ashton to take part in. He is a huge sports boy and this truly was amazing for him.

Manager Eric Wedge was happy to see that Ashton was a lefty.  Bill says Ashton has 5 times a better chance making it to the majors as a lefty.

Tom McNamara, Mariners director of Scouting, wanted to know what high school he will be attending.

Is he going to be a pitcher......

Or perhaps practicing to be a catcher.

 Thumbs up! 

We have great seats!  3rd row.  

Proudly showing his autographed ball from Nick Franklin, with Nick in the background on 2nd base!

There's Uncle Bart and Bill. He looks like he is looking right at us.

What an amazing night! Memories that will last forever.

Hannah's going to Homecoming!

Hannah got asked to Homecoming tonight!  Ben Lee, a friend of Ben and Hannah who also plays tennis at the club and is on the Jackson high school tennis team, came over with flowers and his friend was holding a sign. He planned it and had our Ben help him out by hiding an alarm. When hannah went to turn off that alarm a note on it said to look out the window. 

She did and then went outside and said yes.

Very sweet! He is a good kid too so we approve. Ha!

He even put it in French too. He sure knows what Hannah likes!

Ashton's First Day of Kindergarten

I first have to mention how excited the boys were to have Sunday Football back!  Game after Game after Game. I really did try to get into it, but I must admit that the RedZone isn't helpful for someone who wants to watch a football game and try to get excited for a team. Every time I looked up it was a different team with different scores. I call it the "A-D-D" Channel.  Luckily Monday night football was just one game at a time, but I still couldn't just sit. So many other things to do.  I can not see how I can't eventually get there with all these football loving fans in the house. Perhaps someday there will be less to do around here, and I can watch an entire game. ;)

Now on to Ashton....

Ashton was definitely ready to head back to school and socialize with kids his own age. He was excited and confident about heading in Monday morning. 

Started the first day of school with some delicious ABC pancakes. 

He was glowing and happy all morning!

The look of confidence.

His friend Aubrey. She is the only one from his Pre-K class that will be in his Kindergarten. There are 2 girls from his school at the Co-Op a couple years ago. He vaguely remembers them. And then there is one girl from his Co-op in Edmonds he did when he was 1 years old. He definitely doesn't remember her, but the Mama's remembered each other.

When I picked him up from school he said he had a great day. He met a couple friends and they were waving to each other goodbye. 

His first day went so well, that he was just as excited to go his second day of school and insisted that I get a photo of him .

Such a happy guy! (Wearing his Cougar jersey did add to his excitement that morning)

Lately he can't seem to get enough when it comes to learning. His brain is soaking everything up. He wants to do his math all the time and he says it is so much fun. He even wanted to do it in the car the other day. Tonight I felt like we forced him to come eat dinner because he wouldn't stop doing his math on the floor, and at bed time he wanted to do another one and I can't believe I had to say "NO!". We know it is just a phase that may go away in a week or so, but what a funny guy! 

This isn't even work from school, but things he learned at Kumon. My guess is they will be working on letters and numbers at school. I believe he gets homework from his class soon. It does make us wonder just how bored he would be if we made him repeat Kindergarten next year. I guess only time will tell.