Phew! A week of school under our belt. I should probably get my butt in gear and get the summer wrapped up.
Lilly still had summer school and Greta and I would pick her up each day around 11:50. She was just really rocking the hat, sunglasses, and doll this day.
It was a warmer summer than usual, so the girls spent a lot of time in swimming suits and playing in water, both the pool and the sprinkler.
There was one thing I was super bummed to miss though, which was seeing Jon, Saskia, and their adorable children. Eleven months of the year they live in Senegal, but come back to Wisconsin once a year. They stay up in Minocqua for a week, so Nick, his mom, and the girls drove over to visit and spend a day with them. I required Nick to get a picture of the kids. Like last summer, the kids started playing together like they see one another every day.
We spent one weekend raspberry, blueberry, and cherry picking. It was a lovely day and the fruit was delicious. (Pitting all the cherries so we could freeze them was not quite as lovely).
Nick was gearing up to do his third Board Across the Bay race. This year he was upping his game and going to paddle from Washburn to Ashland and back. That's fourteen miles of stand up paddle boarding. To do that, he needed to do some training. One evening he went out to the lighthouse and back while the girls and I played at the Lion Park.
The girls and I spent a lot of quality time together once summer school ended. One summer routine was to go to Rec and Read on Wednesdays. This time it was at the Purple Park, so we were able to walk there.
The girls actually walked the entire way home. Not carrying their stuffed animals on their shoulders the entire walk, but for a good chunk.
Pretend driving the car. They never get tired of this game.
Greta also had Happy Farmer class. This week they made hen masks and read a story. Lilly was able to crash the party again. After we finished, the girls had to play at the skate park for awhile, running up the ramps, sliding down, etc. There was another teacher and her two kids (who also go to Tree Top) there, so they had quite a bit of fun playing.
I love that one of the most common events of the summer was Lilly reading to Greta.
The road construction that is never ending. (I am serious, it is Sept 15th and it is still not done. They have one more layer of asphalt to go!).
They hit tennis balls into the backyard and then collected them. I feel Greta may be slightly embarrassed by this photo when she is a teenager.
Lilly came home at the end of kindergarten with some "homework". Weekly learning mats with different math and ELA activities each day of the work week. We weren't awesome about getting them done each day, but we did tackle many. One was to write a letter to your parents explaining why they should take you to the beach. This was written a bit under duress, at bedtime, so not her neatest handwriting or most careful spelling, but I still love the letter!
Another one of the adventures we went on was visiting Tree Top they day before they closed for their three week vacation. Lilly read Mo Willems' book I Will Take a Nap, an Elephant and Piggie book to the kids. She did a great job and was such a teacher, pointing out how the background of the page changes when Gerald is dreaming.
Finally, the day of the big race arrived. Nick woke up early and did all he needed to do for the race. The girls and I went to the Farmers' Market and then up to Washburn, where we didn't see him finish. We all hung out at the park and the beach and had a great time, celebrating another victory for Nick.
That pretty much wraps up our July! Stay tuned for August!
Lilly still had summer school and Greta and I would pick her up each day around 11:50. She was just really rocking the hat, sunglasses, and doll this day.
Also, during the middle of July, I went to Madison for an amazing conference on Professional Learning Communities. It was super inspiring and made me think a ton about how I teach, why I teach, why I teach the way I teach, and school culture. It was also the longest time I had been away from Nick or the girls in probably forever. (And it was only Tuesday afternoon through Friday early evening!). It was a great conference but it was great to come home.
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| My work bestie, Angie and I at the conference |
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| The State Capitol - we walked past this twice a day at least. We took a trip up to the dome one of the days. |
One of the times we went in the Capitol building, the State Supreme Court was open for looking at. The room is exceptionally tiny.
Nick was gearing up to do his third Board Across the Bay race. This year he was upping his game and going to paddle from Washburn to Ashland and back. That's fourteen miles of stand up paddle boarding. To do that, he needed to do some training. One evening he went out to the lighthouse and back while the girls and I played at the Lion Park.
The girls and I spent a lot of quality time together once summer school ended. One summer routine was to go to Rec and Read on Wednesdays. This time it was at the Purple Park, so we were able to walk there.
The girls actually walked the entire way home. Not carrying their stuffed animals on their shoulders the entire walk, but for a good chunk.
Pretend driving the car. They never get tired of this game.
Greta also had Happy Farmer class. This week they made hen masks and read a story. Lilly was able to crash the party again. After we finished, the girls had to play at the skate park for awhile, running up the ramps, sliding down, etc. There was another teacher and her two kids (who also go to Tree Top) there, so they had quite a bit of fun playing.
I love that one of the most common events of the summer was Lilly reading to Greta.
The road construction that is never ending. (I am serious, it is Sept 15th and it is still not done. They have one more layer of asphalt to go!).
They hit tennis balls into the backyard and then collected them. I feel Greta may be slightly embarrassed by this photo when she is a teenager.
Lilly came home at the end of kindergarten with some "homework". Weekly learning mats with different math and ELA activities each day of the work week. We weren't awesome about getting them done each day, but we did tackle many. One was to write a letter to your parents explaining why they should take you to the beach. This was written a bit under duress, at bedtime, so not her neatest handwriting or most careful spelling, but I still love the letter!
(Translation: Dear Mom and Dad, I want to go to the beach. These are the reasons. I want to go to the beach because I want to go on the paddle board. Reason two, I want to feel the sand. Reason three, I want to swim. xoxo Lilly (in cursive :) ).
You know WE are pretty close to the beach and she did present solid reasons....
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