Flyin' High

These pics may be tough to decipher (because they were taken with my phone), but you are looking at Abby's gymnastics exploits. She excels at the beam, the bar, and jumping. The boys, especially Ryan, watched and were amazed today by their little sister's ability.

Then we got to eat shaved ice... yummmmm!

Big Water

The annual Kinnaman trip to Clarkston has come and gone.
It is always great to see so much family, all in one place. The greatest disappointment is coming home after only one long weekend and leaving everyone there to enjoy the great atmosphere.

The weather was poopy all day Sunday, but that did not dampen the spirits of anyone there.

We played games, took long naps, and caught up with old friends and loving family members.
"Big Water" has become a very special institution and a rich family tradition that my kids look forward to each year. Idealy, we would stay longer and have Kevin and Holly along for all of the good times. Soon the world will be perfect and we will enjoy those things along with everything else that is great about spending days at Cheif Timothy...our home away from home.

A-shopping we will go...

One of the perks of being a teacher, is the flexibility that summertime provides. The kids go to a magnet school that has a funky almost-year-round schedule (they only take July off), which means the boys don't get out until June 26. Will's Kindergarten class took a fieldtrip to the local Albertson's grociery store and I got to tag along as he loaded up on produce, learned about the bakery,

touched a lobster

and check himself out at the cash register.

It was actually quite a cool trip--seeing how the grociery store works rather than just rushing through, trying to hustle to the next errand. It was really fun to just spend a little time making Will feel important.

Catch n release

I don't fish. I am fish repelant. When I was a kid, our time on the water was spent on skis; no patience for watching a bobber. Had I caught anything other than twigs, I would not have known what to do with it. However, my kids dig fishing and they are all three quite prolific fishermen. They like fishing with their mom and E-pa. The other day they hit the pond and landed (and threw back) a ton of fishes, with Abby pulling in the most.

Square-foot Gardening

Lisa is now an official gardener. Her good friend Amy has been planning to gift her a garden for her graduation, signifying that she now actually has time to manage and grow a garden. She arrived Wednesday afternoon with her "pre-fab" garden boxes (built from her recycled deck) and her pickup bed filled with a plethora of soils in order to mix the special recipe called for in the Square-foot Gardening book.

She presented Lisa with tools, a bucket, the book, and gloves. Et viola, Dr. Lisa's garden gift is planted.

Happy Birthday to Will

What a comfort to know that there is one birthday (beside my own) that I will never forget. Will was the best belated birthday gift I could ever have asked for, with his landing just 6 days after mine. We had brainstormed all kinds of ideas for him about ways we could celebrate. When presented with our genius, he said that he just wanted his cousin, Dylan to come over, to have McDonald's for dinner, and to have the entire evening to play the playstation with Dylan--without their mothers telling them to turn off the games. "Done." Everybody wins with a plan like that. He loved his gifts. With two recent birthday celebrations marked off of the calendar, summer has officially begun... too bad it has been raining since school ended.