Santa 2010

Thank goodness Santa came to our Ward Party, or we might have missed out on our big visit this year!

 Bryce would like a red eared slider turtle.

 Brad would like a red eared slider turtle like Bryce...and some new lego sets, a toy rocket ship and a sled.  I keep trying to explain why a sled is not a good choice - mostly because we have no snow in Benicia.  Brad is still hoping...

No Christmas Card

So, it is now 4 days before Christmas and I am just not going to be sending out a card this year.  I am so sorry.  I have loved receiving all your cards, especially the pictures!  I love to see how your kids have grown.  Just wanted you all to know I didn't forget you, I just didn't get to them.  Thanks for remembering us!

Brad's first soccer season!



Not afraid to get down and dirty!



Brad is so fun to watch.  He definitely has an idea of what the game of soccer is!  I think it has something to do with the number of hours we have spent at Bryce's soccer practices and games over the last four years.  Brad is not afraid to get in there and kick the ball.  He knows that a defender's goal is to get the ball back to the offense and that a goalie actually pays attention to the game and tries to stop the ball.  Here are some shots I took from his practice game last night.  Notice the smile on his face!



Goalie

  








 



 The breakaway!  Go Brad GO!



Soccer Days

My favorite sport to watch Bryce play is soccer.  I love to see the concentration on his face or the reward he feels when he has made a good play.  This year he has really developed his skills as the "sweeper".  He is great at defense and feels really good about it.

Pack Family Visits

Have I said how much my kids LOVE having cousins come to visit!!!  Well I think this explains it all:  We have been blessed to have the Pack family come and visit us from UT for the last 5 days and yesterday as we waved while they were driving away I said to Brad "Well that was so lucky to have our cousins come and visit, huh?"  He answered with a smile and then said "Just one bad thing"  I said "What?"  He said "They had to go home!"  So sweet...

They arrived Thursday and the boys and I met them in the city Friday for dinner.  I took Bryce and Brad over on the Ferry.  It was fun!  Then we took them to one of my favorite spots - Baker Beach!  The kids were in heaven!

 



This was Brad's second set of dry clothes.  We told him not to go anywhere near the water because we didn't have anything else he could wear home (He had nothing on under his sweatshirt or his brothers jeans).  He just couldn't do it.  About 5 min of watching the waves and he was back in them.  He rode home in Denten's scrub top with nothing on underneath.  He was wearing a big smile though!



Six Flags



We also spent a day at six flags and a morning at the JellyBelly Factory.  Thanks for the visit guys!

Oakland Zoo with Nathan!

I am so glad Bradley is at Noah's Ark preschool.  It had been 6 lonely months when his best buddies Tyler and Jon moved to St. Thomas.  Now he has lots of new buddies at preschool!  (He never forgets abut Ty and Jon though - we love you guys!  Halloween party at our house, right??)  Yesterday we went to the zoo with his new buddy Nathan!  It was a really fun day.

Brad got to visit his favorite animals...Zebras!!!  Then he asked if I could make him a Zebra costume. I think he thinks he might be able to get a little closer if he looks like them.

And rides too!!!  What an awesome day!

Great idea Mindy!  So glad they are buddies.

Sam!

Once again we were able to host a UK soccer player for a few weeks.  This year Sam stayed with us!  It is so fun to get to know these young men.  In my eyes, Sam fit right in with our family.  He was willing to sit and play legos with the boys, join in with family games such as kick ball in the backyard (yes we have a small diamond), played the WII with the boys and loved Reeces (which he said they don't have in the UK).  Once again we were sad to see Sam go.  Bryce even drew him a picture and wrote him a letter after his next soccer game to let him know he missed him.  Really sweet.

 We miss you Sam!

First Day of School 2010

I can't believe Bryce is a big 2nd grader!!!  He was up early Wed. morning ready to start the day.  Excited to see what friends were in his class and what his new teacher was like. 

 Here is Bryce in his new classroom.  Room 13.  Mrs. Schmitt/Mrs. Edley.

 And here is Bradley.  Four years old.  His first day of preschool at Noah's Ark!  He was so excited to have his own school and classroom.  He loves all the fun things they do at school.  He participates in everything!  His first couple of times he spent his morning with the playdough.  The next big deal were the blocks and large legos.  They always have an art project set up and that is a big hit too!  So many fun things.  We love it!

 I think it was harder for me to leave him the first day, than it was for him to stay without me!

Boy do we MISS Bryce!!!

Bryce started school last Wed. Today was Brad's first day of Preschool which was just an open house. So our day started with dropping Bryce off at school, going to Brad's preschool together, returning home to read several books several times, eating lunch, playing race car lego game, having arts and crafts time and now practicing letters together! I even have an escort to the bathroom!!! Boy do we miss you Bryce!

Beautiful St. Thomas!!!

Denten and Bryce spent hours every day snorkeling and exploring a new beach. This was Bryces first time and he was out there for 5 hours. The morning we left, he had Denten in the water at 7:30am and they swam for over two miles! Denten was exhausted. Bryce didn't want to come in. They saw Rays, Sea Snakes, all sorts of tropical fish. Found amazing shells. It was perfect for them.

Yes those are tropical fish Brad is feeding a cracker too. You walk into the water and there are beautiful yellow, blue, purple, etc fish swimming at your feet!!!

It was just amazing. We planned on spending a couple hours and stayed the WHOLE day. We definitely were on Island time.

Then we rode bumper boats that had squirters on them for over an hour, because the workers were on Island time and the 5 min. ride turned into that long. Bradley laughed the whole time.

Buddies!!

I would never have guessed the kids would have gotten along as perfectly as they did. This was outside of Coral Word (an aquarium) where we fed sting rays, petted sharks, saw a sea lion paint about 2 inches away, saw giant iguanas, beautiful sea turtles, went in the underground observatory and ate ice cream!!


Hiking in St. John down to our private beach. I wish I knew how to post more pictures in one posting.

Some of our other experiences were:
a native carnival which included the conga, a lady dancing on stilts, a glass walking, fire breathing limbo man and lots of dancing;
shopping in downtown - we gave each boy $10 to spend and they found lots of treasures!
attending the local branch for church
tie dying t-shirts
swimming in the pool daily
pool games
driving on the left side of the rode in a jeep with no seat belt
finding sea shells
giant hermit crabs
two birthday cakes - Happy Birthday John and Ty!
Spending time with best friends!!!

It is actually MORE beautiful and amazing than the pictures show - if you can believe that! I have never been to a place like this before. There are some perks to having good friends living in tropical places! Although we would rather have you here in Benicia with us EVERY day! Thank you for the amazing trip! Can't wait to go back!

More St. Thomas Pics

I couldn't resist!

Bisk family tackle San Francisco!

It was a BUSY two days, but we did it and the kids were troopers!!! Brian found a way to get us over to Alcatraz. We rode the double decker bus. Walked through China town. Visited the Chinese markets: specialties - Large Toads, Eels and Poisonous fish skinned. Rode the Trolley Cars (heard their ding - love you Twi!). Bryce LOVED the trolley cars. Visited the Chocolate Factory, the Bush Man (there are more than one now!), ate sourdough bread, walked across Golden Gate Bridge----We were BUSY!!! I am exhausted remembering it. But it sure was fun to see Carter, Jake and Brandon!! Once again, my boys sure do LOVE their cousins. I was glad that Brian and Twila were able to see cute little Benicia and what our life is like in the Bay Area. Thanks for the visit guys!

Exhausted!!!

But happy.

UK Soccer Camp

Both boys got to go to soccer camp this year! We had Harvey stay at our house and enjoyed his visit!
Brad and his friend Daniel

Bryce and Harvey

Well Done Bryce!

Brad with his cute coach Samantha.