Cousins

Power's out

Studying a map of 1884 Seattle at school

Cold

Christmas tree

Baseball

Griffin is playing his first season of Little League, and judging by how much he enjoys it, it won't be his last.  His team is 7 and 8 year olds, so they are in the 78ers division, and his team name is the Green Hornets.  He is number 11.

These photos are from his game a couple of weeks ago.  Since then I have become the scorekeeper and am panicked about keeping track of everything, so I haven't taken any more photos.

They have learned so much since they started practices just over a month ago, I'm so proud of them all. Griffin went from worrying about getting hurt when he hit the ball to whacking it into center field today.  The team scored 18 runs today, though I have no idea how many the other team scored, so we can just celebrate their hitting, which has been amazing the past couple of weeks.

Griffin plays a variety of positions, so far he has been almost everywhere on the field.  Today he played second base and third base.  They only had 7 of their 12 players, so they didn't move around much on defense.  I think he likes third base the best.

Griffin is 8!

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve at Aunt Sally's - most of the kids (plus Jen!)

Griffin at his Uncle Doug's looking stylish.

Train set from Griffin's grandparents, Papa and Beppa

Django with her new stuffed bear friend, Meh (like her meow)

Griffin concentrating on unlocking his secret invisible ink journal from Grandma & Grandpa

Getting ready to write in his journal

A boy and his cat

Griffin and Ella, his protector from nightmares.

Halloween 2012

A secret agent/spy!

More soccer! 10/20/12

Soccer!

Griffin 1, Tooth 0

It was a hard fought war, raging over weeks, Griffin and the other front tooth locked in battle.  Who would win?  The first front tooth had gone without much of a fight months ago, but this second front tooth did NOT want to come out.  It was hanging on any way it knew how, holding on with both hands, chaining itself to the gums, never giving up.  Griffin was determined to win, chomping on every apple in sight, twisting it, and writing the word "wiggle" on his hand to remind him to wiggle it out.

In the end, the tooth lost, but not without a journey to the dentist.  Dr. Bhanji worked her magic and vanquished that tooth.  Now it lies tranquilly in a plastic box labeled "My Tooth" in Griffin's Tooth Fairy pillow pocket, never to bother Griffin again.

The winner and still champion, Griffin the Toothless!

Yellowstone, 2012

Griffin and I had a fun adventure in late July/early August, we spent 10 days driving from Seattle to Yellowstone and back.  Along the way we slept in a tipi at a ghost town, camped for two nights in Yellowstone, saw geysers, mud pots, bears, bison, elk, and a cavern.  It was a fantastic trip!

Tipi at Bannock State Park Campground

Old schoolhouse in Bannock, MT

Wagon and buildings in Bannock, MT

Hotel and buildings, Bannock, MT

Herd of bison, Yellowstone National Park

Bison

Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful

Old Faithful

Bison right of way

Campsite at Norris Campground in Yellowstone

Griffin working on his Junior Park Ranger papers, he earned his badge!

Griffin asleep in our tent (it got down to 38 degrees at night)

'

Black bear (two years old, according to the ranger there)

Bison and blue sky

Griffin watching bison herd through binoculars

Fountain Paintpot geysers

Elk

Griffin watching elk

Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT