The first days of summer

At almost 100 degrees the first three days, a lot of time was spent near and in water....





Mastering the monkey bars....






A very good wrestling camp and Takedown Tournament put on by Central's Coach Jarod Benrud. Therin got 2nd in his weight class at the tournament on Saturday.







A new bunny nest....

Meeting Claire Ammerman

It was a long journey to Detroit Lakes to meet Claire and visit her parents, Monica and Nick, but we had a great time! Claire proved to be a very easy, content baby and Monica, a natural mother. It was great, as always, to crack some jokes with Mo. Their house was awesome-such a big yard, Therin immediately noticed, with lots of porch and patio space-wish we could've stayed another night. We spent much of the day out on the lake, a half mile from their house. I'm glad Monica and Nick will be closer in the coming year! Thanks for hosting us!

May Recap

May has been an interesting month of celebration and exhaustion. The kids have had a bunch of things at school to wrap up the end of the year: the SOTA Informance, strings concert, train trip, picnics, dance recitals, etc. We also enjoyed Farmer's market last week but amongst all this busyness is the looming decision of where we'll be a year from now. We have traveled quite a bit to Minnesota in the last month and have it narrowed down to Mankato and La Crosse; hopefully, we'll have an announcement soon. Until then, we take refugee in the simple daily activities of walking our neighbor's dog, bike rides, yard work and visiting with neighbors and friends. Hopefully, I will be blogging more regularly as the kids start their summer activities.

Ballet

SOTA Art

One of the many reasons I love SOTA: As I walk down the hall every day to pick up Therin, I love looking at the student's artwork. I love the textures, the vibrant colors and the imagination and creativity.

The banners here were made by Therin's class and repurposed in the hallway as curtains.



An Earth Day recycled sculpture, also made by Therin's class.



The other K/1 class made dragons and I just love looking at all of them.



This hallway is more inspiring and beautiful than any art museum I've been in yet. I have the students and staff to thank for that and always look forward to what they will do next.

Kya with Clare Stine

The wigwam

Travis' latest project with the kids.....




Needs some more sticks but they will continue to work on it.

Hawaii

The JW Marriott Ihilani Resort where we roughed it for the first three nights. Travis' presentation went well on treating Acute Cholecystitis.



The damage after stepping on a sea urchin. Travis grinned and beared it for the rest of the trip.



Jules and I on the beach.



Riding in back of the Mustang convertible on the way to dinner.



Dinner at Roy's: This alone was worth the trip.



Hiking Mt. Tantulus



Overlooking Diamond Head









The grass hut we stayed in the last two nights at M. Campground



Last stop: snorkeling in Hanauma Bay