We had ice cream of course and Dad had another bag of God's ambrosia, sugar covered mini-doughnuts still hot from the boiling oil. Mmmm...down home goodness.

At the barn we saw one really big horse and lots of other horses, cows, a pig, several ducks, several llamas, bad tempered bunnies and lots of kids groooming animals.

Thanks Breathers

Dearest Breathers...well, it was only fitting that since we beat
ourselves so many times this summer that our final game would be against
ourselves as the Defending Champions showed themselves to be the Chumps
they are by not showing up, leaving us to have a mighty competitive
scrimmage, with fouls called, line calls, and more. Quite the fun way to
end the season I would say..especially since my team won the scrimmage.

Thank you Breathers for a great Summer Season. It was easy to organize
with everyone giving plenty of notice about absences and ,best of all,
it was mighty fun all season long. Even Wade cracked a smile or two. We
won nearly as many games as we lost, always had great turnouts for team
dinners, and finished near the top in spirit.

Let's wish Miranda all the best in Victoria, Nadine lots of sun for her
wedding, and Carey much luck in his weekly poker games at
the retirement home in his hopefully temporary retirement from ulty. I'm
hoping those incriminating photos we have of Min and Carey can lure them
both back next summer.

Thanks to those of you who joined us for the first time, those who came
for another round, and those of you who leave us for now but will
hopefully join us again one day. Thanks especially to Cap'n Steve. He
might not have won many tosses but his awesome spirit and dedication to
bringing the best beer, ciders, and hot dogs each week helped make this
a great summer season.

See all of you hopefully next summer, and I will be seeing most of you
in just a few short weeks for fall season!! Don't forget..first
practice on Wed. Aug. 31st!

But it's not fall yet.

Enjoy the rest of the summer sunshine Breathers,

Mark

On the swing

Uncle Bryce and niece

We went to the park with our friend yesterday and tried to throw ourselves off the various pieces of playground equipment.

3 steps left and turn, 3 steps right and turn, flip hat and kick, 3 steps left, 3 steps right...

Camera at arms length.

Hopefully she doesn't get my nose...

Blue Hat!

Hats!

You try and steal some ice cream one more time and I swear you'll lose that hand!

Our favorite food

If only she came flat packed with a one page sheet of instructions... :-)

One big foam mallet and we'd be set...

Surf's up...

One pile of books - one quiet child.

I miss the times when security was this simple. The doll under one arm and the puppy in the other. Every night...

.:. procycling .:.: "Jan Ullrich, winner of the 1997 Tour de France, has consistently been Lance Armstrong's biggest rival at the race and the German looks in better shape than ever. But Ullrich suffered a setback on Friday morning, suffering a training crash that left him with neck wounds after his head smashed through the rear window of his team car. His T-Mobile team, however, say that there is no serious damage done."

This really is a great official statement. I was going fast enough to put my bare head through the back window of the car I was following but it was just a flesh wound. The fact I have to ride 2100+ km in the next 22 days with whiplash won't affect my performance at all.

It's a shame. If T-Mobile falls back there aren't a lot of teams who can challenge Armstrong.

Ultimate highlights

Hey Breathers...great start to Div. 4 on Wednesday! Two solid games and
one great win. Personal highlights for me from my beer drinking and chip
chewing vantage point were...well, hands down, game 1's 13-12 victory
was one of our best games of the year... but for other highlights there
was also Paul jumping twice his height on a regular basis, Stevie's left
handed endzone grab in game two, hammers thrown left right and center
that actually arrived at their destinations (you remember those days
don't ya Wade?), the amazing Stevie/Sean popping team, the husband and
wife duo of Kyi Handlers Inc. handling amazingly despite the hubby's
dislocated shoulder, Nadine's awesome play, Miranda's always being open
and making some thread the needle throws, and Marie's great cutting, but
most importantly, her spice cake! My only question would be how one of
Stevie's grade one students made it on to the field to play in game 2?
Those temper tantrums were a dead giveaway.

First, no practice Monday.

Second, keep thinking 'bout fall league. The official email will be
coming soon!

Third, next singleheader is July 20th. That means team dinner and drinks!

Fourth, next week's games.

Right now, Wade, Mark, Rikki, and DJ are out. Paul might only be around
for game 1.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a big round of applause for Glenn Kerr who'll be
joining us (your cleats are in the ulty bag Glenner!)

*Email me by Monday at noon if you are out and I will send out the final
roster Monday night. If you already know you are out for the week of the
13th, let me know that too since I won't be on email all next week. *
**
And the games? We're at Winona North, the upper field at 59th and Yukon.

We're up against Unassigned Players and then the Huckin' Hobbits.

Let's hope summer's back for Wednesday.

see ya Breathers,
Mark