As we began to approach summer, we had some exciting events on the calendar. One of those was John's trip to New York to hang out with friends he's had since elementary school. He spent four days with Jason, Bill, and Tyler in upstate New York, going on hikes, drinking wine by a fire, and all in all celebrating nearly forty years of friendship. He is a very lucky guy to have friends like these.
Who knows where these two will be in forty years, but at the moment they are fast friends. Ella Hughes has become one of Reese's closest friends this past year, and we couldn't be happier about it. They seem to have a lot of common interests, enjoy being around each other, and perhaps most important, Ella is not afraid to call out Reese when she is being sassy. That is something that all good friends should do. (Thanks, Lauren)
We have a lot of pictures of Reese from field day, because she was excited to have her Mom volunteer for the day. Our older chid was not as outwardly excited, and therefore we have limited sightings of her and her friends enjoying this day. Reese has a great stride, we will have to see if this leads to anything in the future.
One of the reasons Reese had such a great year in first grade was that she had a wonderful teacher. Mrs. Sageser seemed to encourage Reese's thinking and confidence even as she nurtured Reese's kindness. They were a very good fit for each other. We continue to be very impressed with the Cassidy teachers. Again, Callie also had a great year with her teacher, Mrs. Richardson. However, there is no end of the year picture to document that. Her choice, not ours.
The school year ends and we know that the very next week will kick off summer in just the right way. It is Music and Arts Camp week, and the arrival of Libby and Lucy Gipe. These weeks always go by fast and are a flurry of activity, full of smiles and fun. This year things were a little more intense because Callie also had tryouts for LFC, which meant she had to miss some of the evening festivities.
However, she still managed to be in the mix, and that included the full blown production of a play titled, "Maggie and the Loose Tooth." A play based on true events, this play followed the life of Maggie (played by Lucy) as she dealt with the ups and downs of having a loose tooth. Her father (played by Callie) and mother (played by Libby) managed their daughters emotional challenges. Fortunately, Wanda the tooth fairy (played by Reese) saved the day and brought Maggie a prize for the dramatic event. The play was fun, but intermission stole the show because the girls had prepared a full snack cart that the audience got to select from as part of the price of admission.
Of course the big show of the week came on Friday afternoon as all of the kids performed "Adam's Apple" at the culmination of Music and Arts Camp. It was another wonderful show, and Callie is now at an age where she is doing some of the shows for the second time. She only has one more year to be a part of the camp, because after that she will be a volunteer helping with the younger kids. Crazy how time flies.
It is so much fun to see these four girls strengthen their friendship every time they get together. They always have a lot of fun right from the get go and can't get enough of each other. We need to find some more annual events to make sure they see each other more often.
