Salt Lake City and the Hallorans

Our big summer trip this year took us out west, but not to California.  The ultimate destination was Idaho for a celebration of Nana Banana and Sport's 50th wedding anniversary.  But we realized that we had an opportunity to work in a visit to some great friends if we flew into Salt Lake City.  And that is how we found ourselves pulling up to the front door of the Hallorans after a quick flight from Cincinnati.  This trip was well overdue since we had not seen Fiona, Charles, and Iain for about six years.  It is an understatement to say that we enjoyed hanging out with them.

Fiona knew that we would want to be active during our brief visit, so the morning after our arrival we all went on a hike up to Lake Mary which is at the Brighton Ski Resort north of Salt Lake. The hike was a lot of fun, and the scenery was spectacular.  We spent so much time with these crazy kids when they lived in Lexington, and it was good to see how easily we picked up right where we left off.  Of course, some things were a bit different.

For instance, Reese had not even been born yet when the Hallorans still lived in Lexington.  So, although Callie remembered the Hallorans, Reese was meeting them all for the first time.  But it took Reese only a few minutes to realize that Fiona is generous, smart, and funny, and clearly the adult you want to be around as much as possible.

At one point, Fiona was telling Callie all about Callie's birth and the early years of her life.  Callie was hanging on her every word, and loved hearing Fiona tell the stories of her life in a way that only Fiona can.  Needless to say, both Callie and Reese were more than happy to spend most of the hike with Fiona rather than their parents.  And that worked out just fine because we had some great conversations with Charles and Iain.

After our hike we drove over to the next canyon where we hit the Park City Silly Market.  Park City is a pretty cool place and we could have stayed there for hours on end, and the kids certainly enjoyed the pineapple/ice cream/slushy extravaganza that Fiona purchased for them.  And that was only the first part of the day, because then we went back to their house for a cookout with Megan and Ricky Sethi, who were also visiting the area with their son and Ricky's parents.  Ricky's parents may be two of the sweetest folks we have met and it was a wonderful evening.

Needless to say, all the kids have grown up a ton in the six years since the Hallorans left Lexington.  It was so great to see the three of them hang out reading books, getting a tutorial on Minecraft from Iain, and watching esoteric Japanese animated movies that Fiona explained quite well to the girls.

Unfortunately after two night we had to take off, leaving our wonderful hosts behind.  These three hold a special place in our hearts and we promise that it won't be another six years before we see them again.

Leaving Salt Lake City was tough, but we had to get on the road because it was over a four hour drive to our destination in southern Idaho.  Luckily everyone was prepared for the journey.  And lucky us, when we got our rental car we were upgraded to an SUV with Sirius radio.  The extra space and the variety of stations made everyone's lives better on the trip.

We also managed to keep a vacation tradition alive by stopping to eat our lunch in a scenic area.  This particular lunch occurred at a camp site in Caribou National Forest just over the border in Idaho.  We ate our sandwiches by the stream, stretched our legs, and prepared for the final push that would bring us together with the Bowes, Balestracci, and Hannen clans.

Summer Camp for Callie

For one of her summer camps this year, Callie went on a three night sleep-away camp with five of her friends from elementary school.  She was pretty excited about the whole deal and not nervous about being away from us at all.  The camp was in eastern Kentucky about 60 miles from Lexington, so it was far enough away to feel like she was really on her own but close enough for us to pick her up if the situation required.  That was not necessary.  Drop off was easy and perhaps a little too quick for our liking.  But Callie was ready and raring to go. Indeed, the person hit the hardest was Reese, who cried as we drove away.

We let Callie take a camera to capture all the moments of camp.  Out of all the pictures she took, this is the one we have selected.  We chose not to include the numerous videos of the songs she learned, and she learned a lot of songs which she quickly taught to Reese upon her return.  In short, Callie had an absolute blast and loved the whole experience.  She hiked to a bat cave, swam at 10pm, and even did some archery.  They kept her busy and entertained.  When John picked her up she was both happy and exhausted.  She also talked about wanting to do a whole week next summer.  Sounds good to us!

The Gift

For the fifth year we had the pleasure of watching Callie dance on stage at the Lexington Opera House as part of the annual Diana Evans Dance Recital.  Each year is a different theme, and often times they have to stretch to make the dances fit the theme.  This year took the cake, as Diana worked very hard to weave each dance into The Gift.  Take, for example, the picture to the left.  This was Callie's jazz number, that had the title, "Walk Like a Dinosaur".  The entire family agreed that this costume was the least appealing overall.  But it was fun to see a T-Rex incorporated into the number.

You wouldn't know it by her face, but Callie enjoyed her tap routine, titled, "Boogie Woogie Bugs".  Callie didn't start dance this year until January, but she quickly got up to speed and did a great job learning all three dances for the recital.  She has had a lot of fun with dance over the past five years, but we still aren't sure if we have to put this recital on our calendar for next year.

It's very possible that if she does dance again next year it will be with a more traditional ballet company.  One reason for this is practical, in that because she grows out of her shoes every year we would be much happier buying only one pair of dance shoes.  Besides, Callie very much enjoys ballet and is quite graceful when she puts her mind to it.

Jonah and the Whale

This June marked the sixth year that Callie has participated in our church's music and arts camp.  For Reese, it is year three and she had a great time.  The theme was Jonah and the Whale, and Reese loved learning the music with Mrs. H, who has also worked with the pre-school kids throughout the year in LOGOS.  One of the biggest things we are going to miss with Reese going into kindergarten is no longer having Mrs. H as a music teacher.

Callie is a veteran of these productions.  Each year we are always impressed with the overall production and the performance.  The teachers work very efficiently and very hard to put a show together over the course of a single week.  This year we could have sworn the kid who played Jonah was a professional.  She had solos, monologues, and a whole lot of personality.

Callie was selected to be part of the whale's mouth that swallowed Jonah.  She was pretty excited to be such an integral part of the show, though you can't really see her joy in this picture here.  You'll just have to trust us on this one.  Who knows what roles await her next year, but she continues to be comfortable singing in front of our congregation, so that's a good thing.

Six years ago we took a picture of these three girls that is very different from the one you see here.  Take a moment and go back to the post in July 2011 labeled, "Where Did June Go?" and you will see what we are talking about.  Both Vivie Ann and Callie wouldn't even look at the camera, and now they are ready for third grade.  Murphy, in the middle here, looked at the camera but was certainly not smiling.  And now she is about to enter fourth grade.  These three have really grown up to be fun and smart girls with a whole lot of personality.

But part of what made this week even more special was the fact that Libby and Lucy attended the camp as well.  This was Lucy's first year and Libby's second.  And for the whole week they stayed with Birdie and Pop, which meant they were right next door and we spent pretty much the whole week hanging out them.  Every morning before camp the girls played for a couple of hours and every night after camp we did a different activity.  The week was not boring to say the least, and we once again were able to prove our value as neighbors to Sharon and Chris.

St. Louis with Grammy

A summer tradition we have had for quite some time has been a summer visit with Grammy combined with a trip to a city within driving distance, and ideally one that has a baseball stadium.  This summer our destination was St. Louis.  Unfortunately, John was not able to join us because he was at a conference in Canada.  We did our best to have fun without him (and we were very successful).  Our first stop was the lobby of the Union Station Hotel.  It was gorgeous and the concierge tipped us off that if we came back later we could catch their nightly light show, which was pretty amazing.  The show had images of trains rolling back and forth across the ceiling and a full array of colors.

Because this was the first time for Grammy and both girls to see the Mississippi River, taking a river cruise was a necessary first step.  Grammy understood the historical journey more than the girls did, but Callie and Reese enjoyed pointing out the massive logs and other debris that was floating down the river along with us.

Of course you can't think of St. Louis without thinking of the Gateway Arch.  And we were quick to take advantage of the ride to the top of that architectural wonder.  It is not a trip for someone with claustrophobia, but it is a phenomenal view when you get to the top.

The girls enjoyed the ride to the top and because it was not crowded at the time we got our own little compartment for the trip.  Once we got to the viewing area Callie and Reese couldn't wait to look out the windows.  Sarah got the opportunity to talk about how she and John had been in this same observation deck over twelve years ago as they made their way across the country.

That's right, it's the arch again!  This time we needed to take the iconic picture from the courthouse where the Dred Scott trials began.  We spent quite a bit of time in the courthouse - we took a tour and participated in some national park ranger activities to learn more about the case.  In the end, Callie and Reese earned two different Junior Ranger badges.

Sometimes timing is everything.  The day that we decided to visit the arch happened to be the same day that they were celebrating the kickoff of summer, which meant food trucks and fireworks.  Since the girls are not huge fans of the noise that fireworks produce, we decided to watch them from the porch of the courthouse instead of the banks of the Mississippi.  From a pictorial standpoint it worked out perfectly.

St. Louis has a fantastic zoo that just happens to be free.  Because we have all become zoo aficionados we were quick to review the map and strategize the best approach to seeing all of our favorite animals while we were there. This picture is pretty cool because it mimics another photo of the girls when we were at the Atlanta Aquarium with Grammy and watched some belugas from the same viewpoint.

As we were making our way through the zoo, the girls and Sarah decided that the next zoo visit needs to be a photo shoot of only animal rears, inspired by the zebras' unwillingness to show us their faces.  So watch out, there may be more animal butts in future posts.

Grammy also wanted to check out the Botanical Gardens while we were in the Forest Park area, so we made our way over there.  This was certainly a beautiful spot with many unique features.  If we had more time we could have spent several hours walking through it all.

We can only imagine that many wedding and senior photo shoots take advantage of spots like these throughout the grounds.  The problem for us is looking at this picture we see how Callie is growing older and looking more mature.  Not to mention the fact that her legs seem to go on forever.  And third grade is right around the corner.

Speaking of school, this little confident five-year-old will be starting kindergarten before we know it.  We don't think she'll have a hard time making friends, or at the very least entertaining her teachers.  She seems to always have a good attitude and is always ready to crank up the energy for a few giggles.

One recommendation that we got before heading to St. Louis was to visit the City Museum.  We weren't sure what to expect, but we enjoyed it more than we thought we ever would.  The museum has a fascinating origin story - it basically began with one man's art studio in an old office building downtown.  He created some climbing structures for his kids and himself, and it grew into the ultimate hands-on museum experience.  Here you see Reese and Callie climbing and exploring in one of the wire tunnels.  Everyone is encouraged to explore.  There are no maps or brochures, no guides or docents.  Just come on in and have fun.  The only tip you get is to write your phone number on your kid's hand in case you get separated.

On the second floor there is the Snow Flake Lady, who has a room all to herself, dedicated to arts and crafts of all varieties.  She is particularly skilled and has a personality that is an intriguing mixture of directness, endearing sweetness, and folksy charm.  We had so much fun making snowflakes with her that we bought her book.  She has amazing talent when it comes to designing snowflakes that look like a variety of animals.

We took a break from the museum to eat a picnic lunch under the Arch, but while Reese and Grammy headed back to the hotel pool, Callie and Sarah decided they needed to take in more of the museum. This time they hit the wire tunnels on the outside of the museum and went down the ten-story slide. Seriously, if you are in St. Louis you need to check this place out.

Another must see on any child's visit to St. Louis is the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, of course.  Okay, maybe not a must see for kids, but the girls did enjoy seeing all the Clydesdales, along with Clyde the dalmation who roams the grounds. As pictured here, all of the wagons used for parades and other events are on display.

The adults enjoyed the two free samples of beer provided during the course of the tour.  It's amazing how many different beers Anheuser-Busch now distributes.  There were plenty of options to pick from and it was a great way to prep for the real reason we were here, to see the San Francisco Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

And here we have Grammy with Callie and Reese at what is now their fourth baseball stadium together.  (Callie and Grammy got in a fifth before Reese was born).  It is such a wonderful tradition, and we are already thinking about next year.  We hear Pittsburgh has a wonderful stadium.

And the Summer Begins

Our summer began with a flurry of events.  The weekend after school let out, Libby and Lucy came to Lexington to visit their grandparents as an end of the year reward.  Their visits always mean play dates between our two households, but this time we picked it up a notch.  On a sunny Saturday, Sarah Gipe decided it would be fun for the girls to have a lemonade stand just like she did when was a kid right next door to our house.  All four girls were excited to get things going.  They made signs, set up the table, and Reese yelled "Lemonade for sale" at every car that drove by.

Now when Sarah Gipe organizes an event, she goes all out. She remembered how local firemen came by in their truck to buy her lemonade all those years ago as well as the Herald-Leader snapping a picture of her stand. So what would any mother with these memories do? She called the Herald-Leader to let them know that history was repeating itself and the lucky reporter pictured here got to swing by the stand to take pictures and interview the four young entrepreneurs. It was pretty cute. In the end the girls each made five dollars after paying Sarah for they start-up expenses. It was an afternoon well spent.

What says summer better than a backyard pool and sprinkler party. This marks the seventh summer of our $5 inflatable pool, which has brought joy to countless children. In this case, it brought smiles to the faces of Callie, Reese, Vivie Anne, Mason, and Emerson. We were lucky to have all three of the Johnson kids join us for the afternoon. They have always been fun, but now Emerson brings a whole new level of fun to the mix.

And of course Reese loves Emerson the most because his presence means she is not the youngest. Emerson, meanwhile, has the ability to give a powerful stinkeye if he his not pleased or fully understands what you are trying to do. It had been quite some time since we had changed diapers, and with watching Emerson all afternoon we had to put our skills to the test. Vivie certainly was close by to make sure we were doing everything right, and when Sarah pulled some adept maneuvers, including getting Emerson to take a nap, she provided some strong feedback. "You're pretty good at caring babies," Vivie said to Sarah. Good to know Sarah is still as sharp as ever!

Indeed, our skills are so good we had them all enjoying a nutritious lunch together on the blanket in the backyard without any complaints about the food we were offering.  However, this probably is more because the Johnsons are so polite that they would never reject what we put on their plates.  Seriously, if you ever want to host three well behaved and fun kids for a day, call up the Johnsons.

Speaking of well behaved children, we next had the opportunity to hang out with Claire and Ella Abraham for the day.  John was out of town, Grammy Gayle had just flown in, and Sarah had taken the week off from work.  It was the perfect time to head down the road to Natural Bridge State Park for a good hike.  Everyone was in good spirits as we started the day and the girls loved hanging out with their older counterparts.  And Sarah loved the idea of no electronics and some good exercise in the fresh air.

The view at the top of Natural Bridge never seems to get old.  This was the first time, however, that Grammy Gayle had seen the natural beauty that Kentucky has to offer beyond the horse farms of the Bluegrass.  And it is only about an hour drive away from our house.  Every time we head out this way we are reminded that we should do it more often.

Of course summer never really starts until you hit the local pool. And what makes this summer the best one yet is that the girls are more comfortable in the water and we are more comfortable just letting them go and play in the pool. It is a win-win situation that has validated the investment we made in swimming lessons starting about a year ago.

Last Days of 2nd Grade for Callie

Time flies when you have been having fun with good friends.  Not long after Reese officially graduated from Central Christian, we went to pick up Callie at the end of her last day of second grade.  She has now completed three full years at Cassidy, which is crazy to consider.  And she has been friends with Harper and Kennedy since day one.  These three are some of the main reasons why Reese is going to feel very comfortable when she hits Cassidy's campus in August.

We couldn't end the school year without capturing a photo of Callie with her second grade teacher Miss Ward.  However, this wouldn't be the last time Miss Ward since it was only a couple of weeks later that she and Mr. Albert got married at our church.  Callie is pretty excited because it looks like the new couple will be joining LOGOS in the fall which means she will still get to hang out with Mrs. Albert.  Mrs. Albert was a great teacher for Callie to have this past year.  From the very first day she understood that Callie was shy but had a lot to offer if she was motivated in the right way.  And Mrs. Albert seemed to have the right balance to make this happen.

Reese Graduates from Pre-School

As hard as it was to believe, at the end of May Reese graduated from Central Christian Childcare. And Central Christian makes sure you know that this is a major milestone with robes and a choreographed ceremony filled with songs, speeches, and personality.  Although we weren't able to capture this, the ceremony started with the kids marching in to Pomp and Circumstance, which definitely flashed us forward a bit to future milestones.  Reese was all about business throughout the entire ceremony, watching every cue from her teachers.

Yes, you do see diplomas in each of their hands. Ms. Jacinta, Reese's teacher, had something to say about each child before she presented the diplomas. For Reese, she said among other things that Reese was the "classroom dancing queen," she is "smart, kind, and nice to others," and "when she grows up she wants to be a teacher." We loved Ms. Jacinta and could not have asked for a better teacher. Indeed, so many of the kids said they wanted to be teachers, and that says a lot about how much they loved Ms. Jacinta, Miss Emily, and Miss Precious.

So here is our pre-school graduate. As you can see, she was all smiles and very proud of this accomplishment. What you don't see in the picture is that she was very concerned about doing what she was supposed to do (turning in her robe) and finding her friends. We are also pretty sure she didn't want to miss out on the cookies at the reception afterward.

Needless to say, her parents were extremely proud of her accomplishments as well. We had spent quite a bit of time in the weeks leading up to this day practicing numerous songs that Reese and her classmates sang during the ceremony. This included one to the tune of New York, New York, all about going to kindergarten. Reese knew all the words and sang with gusto. She also participated in the ABC poem - her letters were K, "K is for Kindergarten, Hip Hip Hooray!" and L, "L is for Learning more and more each day." Ms. Jacinta let Reese know that she wanted to have the K in particular because she knew Reese would say it with enthusiasm.

Here you see Ms. Jacinta on the left and Miss Emily on the right. As we have already mentioned, Reese adored her teachers, and we certainly got the feeling that the feeling was mutual. They were sad to hear that she would not be spending the summer there, but we couldn't imagine spending the whole summer with Reese still taking naps. We needed the adjustment to prepare our little pipsqueak for kindergarten and to enable her to fall asleep before 10pm.

One thing we are sure helped her teachers appreciate Reese is shown here. These are the behavior cards in Reese's classroom, and the colors showed each kid's status. In the 14 months Reese attended, her card was not green only once. The one time it went to yellow she was so mortified that she couldn't even talk about it. Always good to know that while she may spend a fair bit of time off green when she is at home, at least she has been a model student at school. Hopefully that continues.

One teacher that held a special place in Reese's heart was Miss Precious. We think they both entertained each other and Miss Precious was impressed with Reese's ability hold relatively extensive conversations with her at school and with her and her husband at the school picnic. Miss Precious also gave Reese a special graduation present - a bottle of nail polish that absolutely made Reese's year. The color is neon orange, so it definitely stands out. That is similar to Reese's personality, so it all fits.