WA State Chess Tournament 2009

Keenan participated in the Washington State Elementary Chess Championship in Spokane on Saturday, April 25, 2009. Keenan, Afton, Saoirse, and I went up Friday night and spent the night in a hotel with a cool water slide and 3 indoor pools. The next morning we got up really early and after breakfast we headed over to the Spokane Convention Center. Keenan won 2 of his 5 rounds. He was sad he didn't win a trophy, but he did have a great time. He came home with a commemorative t-shirt, button, and a new kind of chess board (it comes with Chess Head cards which are used while playing chess). You'll have to ask him about that. I was amazed at how many families and kids were there, wow! They had kindergarten through fifth graders playing and there were so many people there (we filled the convention center parking lot plus some). A good time was had by all I believe.

TEA Party in the Tri-Cities

TEA stands for Taxed Enough Already. Emma and I went to our local TEA party and had a wonderful time. Our next door neighbor was one of the main organizers and we enjoyed all the speeches and the demonstrations. We look forward to another TEA party and more rallies. Emma certainly asked a lot of questions and learned a lot about her country and government. I hope to bring more of the family next time (Keenan had a baseball game at the same time). I believe that our favorite events at the rally were dumping in tea bags as part of our protest and hanging out on the sidewalk with our posters. She was especially proud of her poster and she got a lot of compliments on it.

Easter 2009

We had a grand time coloring easter eggs on Easter morning before church. Kaley, Ken, and I sang in church with the choir. We then loaded everyone up and went out to grandma and grandpa Stoker's farm for our annual Easter lunch and egg hunt. This year was a little different since it was raining and going outside for an Easter egg hunt was not possible. We had our hunt inside and the kids still loved it. On our way home we saw the most beautiful double rainbow. It was a wonderful day.

The Beginning of Baseball Season

The Greater Richland Little League (GRLL) season started this week. Ken is coaching again this year and of course loving it. This will be his third year of coaching with GRLL. Subway is our sponsor this year.

Today we had the pleasure of Chris (Ken's brother), Amy, Camden, Amber, Steven (Ken's brother), and Marie joining us to watch Keenan's first baseball game. We were missing Kaley and Emma who were attending an all day softball clinic (they both got sunburned).

Keenan is happy to know several fellow team members and to increase his pitching skills this year. He had to miss the first game of the season, sadly, due to sickness. Today was his first game and even though the team lost, they did a great job as a team. It's just the beginning of the season and everyone is getting their feet wet as a team and I'm sure they will take off soon. It's a great team. It's also fun to see our past team members from other years and all the families we have met and made friends with. Good Luck to everyone this year!

Saoirse's Milestone

Yesterday Saoirse and I walked up to the elementary school and signed her up for kindergarten. She is so excited! I showed her where her room would be and we walked around the school. Since she is walking to school she will attend morning kindergarten.

On another note for Saoirse, last month she had her eyes examined. We were pretty sure she was going to need glasses, but the optometrist told us that she will eventually need them, however, he wasn't going to prescribe them just yet. She was very sad that she wasn't going to get glasses that day and she still talks weekly about how she is going to get glasses and she can't wait. I keep telling her that it is nothing to get excited about, but she won't believe me.