Ladd Photos

My little Bub is now a teenager. He spent his day among the animals at the Zoo, which we hadn’t visited since before the pandemic. Afterwards, we feasted on Gavin’s favorite Woodstock’s pizza.

Connor stepped up to double digits this year! After opening presents in the morning, he spent all day playing baseball or watching his brother play.

He got to try out his new catcher gear, and it must work because he made a big tag at home to prevent a run, allowing his team to win the game. Connor must have been good luck for his brother too, because Gavin hit a single for the walk-off win in his game, against the #1 ranked team.

Connor had a busy game, spending two innings catching and an inning pitching.

After nearly two year wait, thanks to the pandemic, we were finally able to see a live baseball game. It felt great to be out, even with the stadium at limited capacity. Unfortunately, the Halos didn’t win, but it was a nice day nonetheless.

Because of the pandemic, the league didn’t get to have their normal opening ceremony. So, we did a closing celebration instead.

All the teams were announced and got to parade on the field. Gavin’s Dodgers team was announced as the champions, and later on he was announced as an Intermediate All-Star and given his hat.

Gavin is having a very memorable season. His team, the Dodgers, won the district championship. Then he made the All-Star team, and that team won the District’s Skills Championship!

All-Star Day started off with the teams getting announced, and all the players saying their name and something about themselves. Gavin said: They call me the Magic Man (the nickname his coach gave him). Then they competed against the other All-Star teams in a timed around-the-horn and relay race competitions, which they won.

One of the moms got some good shots of the boys after their win:

The 4S boys won their first Section tournament game, against Peninsula Little League, with a score of 4 to 2. Before the game started, Gavin was chosen to lead the pledge of allegiance.

The 4S All-Stars team won the Section championship game, but it was a close one. Peninsula made a good push to come back late in the game, but we held on and won 11 to 10.

Kings Canyon was a beautiful area for a hike, although it was a bit hot this day.

While on the trail, I had sat on a rock waiting for the others to catch up. I was faced looking up the trail where they would come around a bend, so I didn’t notice the bear that was sneaking up behind me. When it was about 10 feet away, Aliciana came around the corner and screamed “Bear!” at me until I realized what was going on.

We slowly backed away, and the bear decided to carry on its way off trail. It wasn’t very big, probably just a few years old, and not aggressive in any way. I think it was just curious. Either way, it was a memory I won’t soon forget. I just wish I would have had the mindset to get a better photo when he was so close.

We took in two of the biggest trees in the world, the General Sherman and General Grant. Along the way, we met a beautiful young buck, just hanging out under a tree.

The fire damage from the Creek Fire in 2020 made the mountains look like a moonscape. But the lakes persist and we enjoyed visiting them.

Huntington Lake, where I used to go to Scout camp, was still freezing, as I remembered. But Shaver Lake was pleasant so the boys and I decided to have a swim.

We started off walking around the California State Capitol. Then ventured down to Old Town Sacramento, where the boys talked me into buying them way too much saltwater taffy.

We took a short walk along the Tualatin river in Cook Park, near my parents’ house. Then the boys talked Michaela into playing a little wiffleball.

My mom wanted photos of the entire family, since it has been so long since we were all at the same place. Then we had a BBQ and celebrated Zander’s birthday.

My parents showed us their zoo, where we got to meet one of the elephants during feeding time. The zoo in Portland is the perfect size for a nice afternoon visit.