Caden has been playing basketball this fall and Mike has been the assistant coach. Their team is the “Rattlesnakes” and is through i9. They have had a great time this season!
Here are his “official” basketball pictures
Caden participated for the first time in the Grand Canyon State Games. This was a 2 day tournament that was held in the Northwest Valley. From their website: “The Grand Canyon State Games is a multi-sport Olympic Festival for Arizona amateur athletes of all ages and abilities. The Games is organized by the Arizona Sports Council and is affiliated with 47 other state games throughout the United States. It is sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic Committee through the National Congress of State Games. The Games seeks to provide Arizonans with an avenue for personal development through sports. In 2010, over 30,000 Arizonans participated.”
Caden participated in both the singles and doubles tournament. Another girl who bowls in the same league as him wanted to do the doubles tournament so she asked Caden if he would bowl with her. We were a little nervous that he would make it through 6 games in one day, but he did great! The first day was bowling to qualify. The second day would determine who went home with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Metal.
There were only 2 that qualified for the Singles Tournament: Caden and an older boy. Caden had the benefit of having a higher handicap while his opponent had the benefit of being older and more experienced. It came down to the last frame. All Caden had to do was make a spare. With everyone biting their nails, Caden came through with a spare in the 10th and won the Singles Tournament for his division. Next was the doubles tournament and it turned out that there was not another team to oppose them, so they automatically won the Gold Metal.
We are so proud of Caden for winning the Grand Canyon Games Bowling Tournament!
Caden’s had his final graduation ceremony from the Goddard School. He technically graduated from the Kindergarten class, but because of his age (not his abilities) will be going to Kindergarten again next year. So, we called it his Goddard Graduation instead of Kindergarten Graduation. Caden has been going to the Goddard School since he was 6 weeks old. It’s hard to believe that he’s old enough to move on to another school!
The school put together a great slideshow that showcased the year in the Pre-K and K classrooms. I’d be lying if a tear or two didn’t come to my eye! Then the Pre-K and K class each did a song.
Finally each child was called by name to get his or her diploma.
Caden and his teachers, Mrs. Peeples and Ms. Dotson.
To end the fall season of bowling, the awards banquet was held at Amazing Jake’s. Every child went home with a participation trophy with their name and high score engraved on it & a goodie bag which including Harkins Movie Tickets, a bowling rosin bag, bowling ball caddie and much more.
Then each child got to pick out of a bag for one more prize. Caden won a Family Movie Night Prize Pack which included a movie, popcorn, popcorn bowl, candy and Cream Soda.
Caden’s team took 1st place in their league!
Caden was named the “Most Improved Player”
He was one of only a few players who had Perfect Attendance
Finally, Mike and Caden placed in the Scotch Doubles Tournament that was played the last week of bowling.
There’s a new Disney Store that just opened at Chandler Fashion Square. In honor of their new store, they offerred a sneak peek spcial event to a special group of people….one of them being my co-worker, Dina. Dina was kind enough to invite Caden and I to check out the new store and see some of the cool new features that will eventually be making their way to other Disney Stores. Some the highlights are below.
Caden making a Mater Truck. You can put together your very own Cars replica….choose the frame, wheels, spoilers and whether you want it to be a push car or a remote control car.
All the kids were invited to sign the card and write what their favorite part of the new store was . Caden wrote “I made the car”
There is a new theater area where kids can watch short Disney Cartoons. Here they showed a preview for Cars 2. Then all the kids stood up and did Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s Hot Dog Dance.
Tinkerbell also flies around the room on the walls. Periodically the witches from the Disney Movies takes over the store and the lights go out. Everyone in the store then needs to rub their hands together to create Pixie Dust for Tinkerbell to get rid of the witches.
We had a blast and will keep an eye out for more events like this at the Disney Store.
Mike and I recently started a PTO organization at the kids school. Our vision for the PTO was to get families together and get to know each other better. Our 2nd official outing was to SeaLife. One of Connor’s classmate’s mom works there and was willing to plan this event for us. There are many locations across the country, but the Arizona location is at Arizona Mills Mall.
We had not been to SeaLife before, but we Had gone to the Shedd Aquarium last summer so we were pretty much expecting something similar. SeaLife actually was much more interesting and more geared towards the kids. They had interactive exhibits such as touching Starfish. They also had a stingray exhibit that you could see from not only on ground level, but from below and above!
Throughout the aquarium they also had trivia questions that the kids could use a scratch off card to find out if they answered correctly. At end, Caden got a SeaLife sticker and tattoo, which every kid loves! Finally they had a play area for the kids to get all their energy out. Caden had a blast. Connor learned how to say “fish” or in his words “ish”.
While it is a little pricey, it is definitely worth it you want to do something inside for a couple of hours! This is definitely on my list of places I would recommend to visitors from out of town who do not have one near their house!
http://www.visitsealife.com/
For those who do not know, Caden has been bowling in youth league for about a year. This league does a lot of different things, including paying for each kid to bowl in 2 tournaments a year. So, A couple of months back, Caden bowled in the USBC Youth Pepsi Finals Tournament. I’m not sure he knew exactly what a tournament is, but went anyways and had a lot of fun. After about a month, we received word that Caden took 2nd place among all the kids 11 years and younger! Today he was awarded his trophy and scholarship money! He loves the trophy and the money is put into an account held by USBC until he graduates from high school. He then can use the money for college tuition, books or even bowling lessons!
Caden’s class had a special presention for all the moms. After the presention, Caden gave me a T-shirt and a book that he made.
I then headed over to Connor’s classroom for some snacks and water table fun! Connor gave me a book that he made!
It was a lovely afternoon. Thanks to all their teachers for all the work to put together a great day!
It was finally time for Connor’s 1st haircut. While he didn’t have as much hair as his brother when he got his, it was getting long in certain spots.
He was not happy about this AT ALL!
But in the end….he turned out very handsome!
