Grace Rides a Bike!

No matter how much I make sure everyone is taken care of before getting into the shower it always happens that one of the children comes and bangs on the door. They yell something unintelligible except for the word "mom" and I yell back that I can't understand them and they yell louder. How many times this goes back and forth depends on several factors, but mainly my patience. Most of the time it ends with me yelling at them to go away and praying that they were not trying to report some disaster that needs my immediate attention. So one morning this week as I'm getting into the shower it starts with Elizabeth yelling something. I do decide this time to go to the door and she tells me that Grace is riding a bike. I say something to the effect that that is great, but nothing to get me out of the shower about (Grace has a little bike with training wheels that she loves to ride). Then Elizabeth tells me that Grace is riding a bike with only two wheels and that she, Elizabeth, taught her how to do this. I tell Elizabeth that I will check it out when I'm through, but no more bike riding until I'm done. I try to finish my shower in a hurry wondering how the 5 year old is teaching the 3 year old to ride a bike and where on earth were my older children. Well imagine my surprise when I went out and found that my just turned 3 year old is indeed riding a bike with no training wheels. I did ask one of the older children where they were in this process and one of them replied that they did see what was going on and made Grace put on a helmet! At least they provided some sort of help. I do think Grace is the youngest in our family to achieve this feat! She is quite proud of herself as is her little teacher!

The Screwtape Letters

Last weekend Eric and I attended the performance of C. S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. The tickets were a gift from the children for Mother's and Father's Day. The show is traveling through the US and if it comes anywhere near you, I would highly recommend it. Max McLean was excellent! After the performance he left for a few minutes and then came back and answered questions from the audience. It was a nice touch and we enjoyed hearing things from his perspective. Eric and I were talking to some people outside the theater and Max McLean came out and spoke to those of us still standing around; thus the picture (which unfortunately is a little blurry). Excellent, excellent show!

Ballet Recital

Molly and Emily finished up their ballet year with a wonderful recital. They are both enjoying dance very much.

Pictures from the performance - Emily:



And Molly (she received her pointe shoes this year, but the class was not ready to do the recital in them...hopefully next year):

Camp Starts

The camp summer has begun. This summer Amy is head wrangler, which means she is in charge of the barn and all the people who work at the barn. Katie is a junior counselor, working as a lifeguard and also helping at the barn. I'm sure it will be a great summer for them. The summer opens with family day and we all went down to enjoy the activities (although with temperatures in the upper 90's, some of the activities were more miserable than others - the pool was quite popular).




Peter almost to the top of the climbing tower. Once he got up there it was then off the zip line.



Matthew wasn't entirely thrilled with the climbing tower. He made it just short way up and then declared he wanted down. The counselor working the ropes told him she would let him down and then the mean mom stepped in and said "No, he can go a little farther". I did not want him giving up at the first sign of difficulty. He then did manage to make it about 3/4 of the way up with a lot of encouragement.

My children are not the only ones working out there this summer. I am working in the kitchen for a good part of the summer. I have bartered time in the kitchen in exchange for sending Peter, Molly, Emily and Matthew to camp. I finished my first week and it went well, except that it is very hot. The kitchen does not have AC! (This is a rather rustic camp!)