kindergartener

Cooper had his first day of kindergarten Friday. He had a great day! When we arrived he proudly showed Miss Winters that he tied his own shoes. When I picked him up he said "I didn't have to go to the principal's office the whole day!" And he proudly showed me the stamp he got on his hand for "good choices." He can't wait to go back, which won't be until Tuesday.

Before we left for school, in front of our house (above).

On the way to school, with the school in the background (on the left).

Walking towards school.
Sitting in his seat in the classroom. By this time he was definitely ready for me to leave.

And here are a couple of pictures of Kestrel on Friday, which was her first full day of third grade.

Kestrel with her friends Madison, Amy and Ashley before school.

tying talent

Yesterday, shortly after arriving home from our trip, we had our kindergarten conference with Cooper's teacher. He has Miss Winters, who was Kestrel's teacher, and we all just love her! During the conference she asked Cooper if he could tie his shoes. When he said not yet, she told him his homework was to learn to tie his shoes.

This morning I took Cooper out to buy new school shoes. At first he said he wanted shoes with straps because he couldn't tie. So right there in the store I showed him how to tie his shoes. He picked it up right away, and was so proud of himself he insisted he had to get tying shoes. He also really wanted Sketchers, which I said he could have, but these days finding Sketchers that tie is not very easy. After going to two stores we finally found some in his size. He kept saying he couldn't wait for Kestrel to come home so he could show her his "tying talent!" Which he did, right after she got home. Both Kestrel and Amy watched him tie and gave him lots of praise.

I was going to take a picture of him tying his shoes, but he asked me to take a video instead. So here it is:

third grade!

Back to school this morning! Kestrel started third grade today. She couldn't wait to get back to school. Her third grade teacher is Ms. Petry, who is new to her school but has been teaching for many years. Just a short day today, but she'll have a full day tomorrow. As far as I know it went well today, but she hasn't told me much as she's been playing non-stop with her friend Amy since she came home.

On her way into school with her new messenger bag.

Stay tuned, Cooper starts Kindergarten tomorrow!

summer vacation

We just got back yesterday from a couple of fun family trips. We didn't have time this year to do a longer summer vacation, so instead we took a couple of shorter road trips. First, last week we spent two days in Indianapolis. Thursday we had lunch downtown, went to the zoo, had dinner downtown, and stayed overnight. Friday we spent the day in the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Here are a few Indy pictures I took with my phone:






We were home Saturday for Kestrel's swim meet. Saturday was the big conference meet where all the teams swim. Kestrel swam in two events: freestyle and backstroke. Sunday we left for Ohio, to spend a couple of days at Ceder Point, a big amusement park famous for its roller coasters. Monday we went on tons of rides. Kestrel went on just about every scary roller coaster, and loved them all. I believe there is no longer a ride too scary for her. Ask her about the Dragster, which goes from 0-120 in 4 seconds, is 420 feet high, and has a 90 degree drop. Yeah, Paul went on that one with her. Cooper was too short for most of the roller coasters, but he could go on some of the smaller rides. His favorite was the Woodstock Express in Camp Snoopy.

Tuesday we spent the day in the water park attached to Ceder Point, called Soak City, where we went on rafting rides, water slides, the lazy rivers and of course the wave pool.

A few pictures in the amusement park, with my phone again.

Now its back to school!

Greetings from Ceder Point

Having a blast. Wish you were here!

friends

Kestrel took these pictures. It's clear the rats are no longer afraid of Harrison. Haven't been for a while, actually. This is Sassy in the pictures, although Sandy is normally the one who is more outgoing with Harrison. Right before these were taken Sandy was trying to climb onto Harry's nose, which prompted Kestrel to run and get her camera. When Kestrel got back, Sandy was back in the cage so we thought, "oh well, guess we missed it." However, then Sassy decided to start climbing on and grabbing Harrison's nose. So cute!

Can you feel the love? If you look closely, you can see Sandy's nose on the far right.

afternoon canoeing

This afternoon we decided to go canoeing at a state park not too far from here. Kestrel brought up the idea at lunch, and we all agreed it would be fun. In the spring I went canoeing with Kestrel's brownie troop at the same place. That time we paddled down a short stretch of the river there. Today we intended to canoe the river again, but when we arrived we found out they had closed off the river because the water was too high and fast (we've had a lot of rain lately). Instead, we rented canoes and went out on the lake. We had a great time. Paul and Cooper were in one canoe and Kestrel and I were in the other. We were out on the lake about an hour and a half. We definitely want to do it again before the summer's over. We saw a few people with dogs in their canoes, and though I suggested we try it with Harrison we all decided that not only would he not fit very well, but he'd surely tip the canoe. We do want to go back to the park with him another day and let him swim in the lake.

By the way, I did not take this picture, and we don't know the people in it. I actually stole it off of the state park's website. That's where we were, though!

wet dog again

We got the pool out again today, but this time we added the sprinkler. Harrison got a kick out of the sprinkler as well!

happy 4th of july!

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July Holiday.

On Thursday (July 3rd), Kestrel and Cooper's camp had their annual 4th of July parade. They decorated t-shirts for the event, and marched around chanting and singing and basically having fun.

Kestrel with her friends Olivia (middle) and Tyler (left). This picture was taken by my friend Jenifer P., that's why its so much better than the rest.


Cooper walking with one of his counselors, of course. When I come to get the kids for lunch after camp, Cooper is always sitting with one of his counselors.

Cooper with some of his friends.

Kestrel once again with Olivia and Tyler

Yesterday in the morning I took the kids to a little celebration at our neighborhood park with a fire truck, bounce house, and lots of kids on bikes. Later in the afternoon we had our annual 4th of July cookout. The only picture I took was of this centerpiece that Kestrel made for the party. Pretty nice, huh? I did see a few of my friends with cameras, so perhaps someone will send me some pictures (hint hint)...

We did have a great time, with lots of eating and drinking and tons of kids running around being crazy. We even got to light some sparklers and see some of the fireworks from our neighborhood after the party.