Kelsey's Riding Lesson with Midnight

Today was Kelsey's first riding lesson of the summer. She got to rider her favorite horse, Midnight. She is once again riding with her friend Maddy. While the girls ride, Nick hangs out with Maddy's brother Bryan. The boys like to play around in the dirt and run after the cats at the stable.

Let the Summer Vacation Begin!

Finally we have finished the school year. It seemed like this day would never get here. I think this is the latest we have ever been in school and going until June 25th is the pits! In fact, I was at Target Friday morning before school (our last day) and they were starting to clearance out summer stuff and build Back to School displays. How depressing is that?!? Here are some pics of the kids on the last day. There was a 5th grade promotion ceremony for Kelsey on Friday and a celebratory breakfast with ACE (her honors class)students on Saturday.

Ironwood Ropes Course

Kelsey's girl scout troop went to Ironwood for an afternoon of fun. Nick was invited to join in. There was a huge rock wall, zip line, vertical obstacle course and flying squirrel (a rope swing of sorts). The kids had a blast.

Baby Shower for Kelsey's Teacher

Kelsey's 5th Grade teacher is expecting her first baby in September. As their end of the year party, the room mom's planned a baby shower. The kids played games and had cake. Mrs Guarini was very surprised. Kelsey and her friend Maddy helped me make a quilt for her. Instead of wrapping it in a gift basket, we created a baby made of diapers, dressed it up in an outfit we bought in Disney World and put it in a basket like a real baby. We nick named it G-Baby (for Baby Guarini).

Nick's School Birthday

Nick celebrated his summer birthday on the last full day of school. Since it coincided with the opening of Toy Story 3 he chose Alien cupcakes. With some help from his friends Jared & Jacob, the boys decorated all of the cupcakes.

Gettysburg ACE Trip

Kelsey's ACE Class(Advanced Class for Education..honors class) traveled to Gettysburg for a day of exploring. Rob and Nick were also able to join the group for the day. I think Rob got more out of the trip than the kids....all that studying for ROTC in college came right back to him and he was able to visit many of the places he read about.

Malibu Dude Ranch Girl Scout Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend Kelsey and I went to a dude ranch in Pennsylvania with Kelsey's Girl Scout troop. The weather was not very cooperative..it was rainy off and on and cold most of the weekend. We even woke up on Sunday (May 9th) to snow flurries!!! We were able to go on three trail rides and the girls were able to try out archery and rowing. There was also dancing in the lodge and a hayride in the rain. We even had a rainbow make an appearance while the girls were having a horse grooming lesson. The weekend was awesome and all 16 of us really enjoyed ourselves.