Swim Girl

Home for a day, and Abby was excited to be able to go to swim practice. Look how far she's come:


Yup, that's her diving off the block.

See You in a Few Weeks

We are off on our epic string of vacations. First stop is Sea World tomorrow, then off to West Palm Beach to visit Grandpa Steve. If we are organized, we will try to post pictures during our brief stay at home next week, otherwise we'll see you after we get back from the Outer Banks in July!

Last Day!

Most of the last day of school was taken up by the all school assembly, which parents were invited to attend. The highlight was Mr. Kyner, the principal dressed up in a gorilla suit and break dancing to celebrate the 95%+ SOL pass rate. Lots of giggles to be heard:


Next, he promoted each class to the next grade. Here is Abby standing as the kindergartners were promoted:



And looking back to make sure that mom and dad are watching:



Abby shares a last hug with Ms. Anderson and thanks her for a great year:



First grade, here we come!

Early Birthday Party

During the last week of school, each of the kids with a summer birthday was given a day to celebrate his or her birthday. We were much relieved by this, as Abby had been upset all year by the fact that she would not have a birthday at school. So, on Tuesday we brought in cupcakes for her to hand out to the class:



Abby wanted kitty cats, which she picked out from a magazine (pretty sure these were meant to be for Halloween, but it is what she wanted):



The class all made her birthday cards:



And sang the birthday song to her:


Now we just have to do it all again in a month.

Field Day

Unbelievably, Abby is done with school for the year. She had an exciting last week with a special activity every day. I just downloaded all the pics last night and will try to get them all up on the blog before we leave for vacation on Wednesday. First stop - Field Day:

Sack races:


Water Relay:



Hurdles:


Hula Hoops:


Tug-of-War:

Digging Potatoes

We decided to dig the potatoes out of our garden last weekend. Kevin was initially disappointed when he didn't see anything under the sprouts, but some work with the shovel yielded a surprising number of good size potatoes in the dirt.


Abby was excited each time she unearthed a spud:



Our yield:

Splash Picnic

We celebrated the last game of the softball season with a barbecue at the splash park. Abby, with a few of her friends:

Getting Down with Mama Goose

Abby's class had their end of year concert, entitled Getting Down with Mama Goose. Abby got all dressed up for the occasion:



She was especially proud of her braids and matching hair bow:



Here are all the kids lined up to sing:


Abby, with Jessica and Reade after the concert:



She was thrilled by the rose we gave her, and showed it off to all of her friends:

Lancaster: Day Three

Snippets from Dutch Wonderland:

At the water park:


First ride:


Trucks!:


The frog jumper:


Bulldozers:


Meeting Duke:


Thomas:

Lancaster: Day Two

Touring the Dairy Farm:





Strasburg Railroad:





Cherry Crest Adventure Farm:

Lancaster: Day One

For our first day in Lancaster, we made pretzels:

The perfect picture

Wandering through the shopping plaza, we came across one of those photo boards with 4 openings. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to snap a picture of the four kids together (ha!). Not for lack of trying, we did not quite capture that perfect picture. The attempts provide a humorous time-photography sequence.

Brian and Abby:


Benji joins the picture, but what happened to Brian?


Ok, he's back, but Abby has taken the Brady bunch pose:


They are all here, but where are the smiles (and why is Brian's foot in Benji's face?)?


I guess 50%'s not bad: