Batter Up

It's t-ball season and with great trepidation we plunged in. To date team sports have not been our strong suit, soccer ended each day with F at the opposite end of the field from the rest if his team.
I recruited a couple of F's classmates who are also t-ball novices to be on his team. Yes, great comedy ensues when these boys climb the steep learning curve associated with learning a new sport, but they're having a blast along the way.

Master of His Own Destiny

Our household passed one more marker of childhood this week, F learned to tie his own shoes.  He's had these shoes for a few weeks, fancy shiny ones he picked out all on his own.  The laces are extra long for kiddos who are just learning to tie.

An added bonus, he can now also tie the string in his swim team jammers...which previously Mom or Coach had to tie.

School's Out For Summer

Colorado rain isn't usually anything very serious.  However when you own a piece of camping gear specifically to keep the rain off because you always get rained on, it makes you really enjoy a dry camping trip.

We went to Rifle Falls with a small group this time, including two buddies of F's.  Rush and Haaken and F play really well together, but they live far enough away and we all have busy enough schedules that we don't get to see them very often anymore.  Within 2.7 minutes of the boys arriving they were all in their water shoes exploring the creek that ran next to our campsite and were up to their elbows in dirt and mud.

Buddies since diapers

Doing what boys do, exploring and getting as dirty as possible

Sticky, sticky, s'mores are so sticky! Did it make the dirt stick? YES!

Snug as a bug. Usually I can't even see his head,
he just burrows down and gets super sweaty.

It all washes out...I hope.
We did throw away the socks, they were beyond help.

We camped, hiked, fished, and got a behind the scenes tour of a fish hatchery.  We watched trout eggs hatching and itty bitty fish floating away on the first step of their trip to a Colorado lake.  Monday we packed up camp and headed to the Glenwood Springs pool and all managed to get sunburned even with copious amounts of sunscreen.  Dinner at a new place on the way home and we glided into Denver at a reasonable hour without hitting any traffic.  A glorious weekend to start off our summer.

Moving On

It's the last few days of school and both F and I are approaching them with a mix of elation (summer, whoo hoo!) and melancholy.  It's been a fantastic school year, and we're incredibly lucky to have landed a perfect fit for school and teacher. W'll be sad to say goodbye to his wonderful teacher, Miss Harken, but will look forward to seeing her on the playground next year.

Snacking on watermelon during field day

indoor cart races at field day

We're both looking forward to a summer filled with days off, camps, a vacation, and swim team. Swim team has been way more fun than either of us expected, F asked if he could swim all year round....not sure I'm ready to commit us to that but we'll see! Last week he got to move into the lane with the 'big' kids and is now practicing with mostly 7 year olds.

F in blue jammers and shark cap. Moving on up!

This semester of piano wrapped up this week, recital will be next week. During our 'party' the kids got super goofy.  They bought these goggles with their practice tokens. Of course they sang through them and giggled like mad.

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On the very last day of school the kids were only in for a little over an hour so I stayed to help out. They reviewed and read their Kindergarten Memory Books and got to ask whatever they wanted about first grade.

Last time ever at the little tables

The longest recess of the year, topped off with popsicles

 After school let out a group of us went to lunch and to see the movie "Epic." It was a rowdy lunch, but these three best buddies enjoyed the time together.

Sacha, F, Matt. Friends Kaynush, Talon, and Brayden in the background.

 Thanks for a great year Miss Harken!

Summer Just Around the Bend

School is wrapping up, the end of year piano recital is a week after that, it's time to restain the deck, flowers are popping up left and right, and yesterday was the start of summer swim team.

It seems awfully early, but with the first summer season swim meet a little less than a month away it's time for the kids to hit the (chilly) water!

Yesterday was F's very first ever swim team practice.  He was crushed that it was dry land, but reported they'll be in the water tomorrow.  Here he is with his new 6 and under age group pals.

Go Holly Park Sharks!