Graduation and First Day of Summer Holiday

The first day of summer holidays is drawing to a close. It was what I expect to be a typical summer holiday kind of day. I started it out at boot camp (I'm excited to say I'll be continuing boot camp two days a week through the summer). It's so energizing to start the day with the sunshine...who knew I would ever utter those words, hey?! Home for a leisurely start to the day - breakfast, organizing, loads and loads of laundry. The kids got a bit cranky and we head into town for some grocery shopping. Back home for a family lunch of chicken sandwiches and then a nice LONG afternoon siesta. What a treat!

It was needed as we were up late tonight. It was Marketfest in town tonight. It's an open air market and mini music festival that our local Eco Society puts on twice in the summertime. The highlight tonight was the famed Rhythm Ropers....the skipping club that Schmoo has her heart set on for September. She had seen a small group of them perform at school in June, but this was a 1/2 hour performance, that we watched twice. They truly were amazing. Even the little ones had some tricks up their sleeves. I captured a bit of it on video so you could get an idea of what the big "kids" could do. Of course we saw lots of friends there - one of my favorite parts of small town living. We walked in and out of town - one of my favorite parts of living in town. Schmoo came straight home, got on the closest thing she could to their outfit and skipped away, trying out some new tricks and moves she had seen. She's now committed to practicing every day to get ready for September! How exciting that she's found such a passion for something.

Yesterday was a bit more emotional. Schmoo had her kindergarten graduation and afterwards, I was an emotional mess. Part of it was the fact that I had to say good-bye to her after their ceremony and walk back down the hill to work when all the other kids were going home with their parents. She got the "Mother Hen" award for being so caring and looking out for all the other kids. The class put on a little production of Three Billy Goats Gruff that I was able to capture for your viewing pleasure. She came home with a full portfolio of beautiful artwork from the year that I still need to go through. Luckily Bean stayed at his school until 4:30pm, so we had an hour at home with Schmoo to go through her work binder and artwork....some girl time.

Then it was Bean's year end BBQ. Another 2 hours of kids running around and eating. The highlight of Bean's BBQ was the song they all sang up on the stage, complete with sign language. Again, another video to enjoy. Papa headed home early to go to soccer so I came home with the kids and tucked them into bed after a well needed bath. My friend D came over for an hour to catch up. She has been away most of June with her family in Ontario so we had lots to talk about.

So a good start to the summer. The sun has arrived too, so hopefully the heat is right behind it. I'm sure the next 9 weeks are going to fly by. Now we just need to get our camping plans in order!