Callie's Cassidy Farewell - Part 1

As we headed into spring it also meant we were counting down the last months of Callie's elementary school experience. It seemed like every week brought another marker, one more thing she had been looking forward to and another opportunity to embrace the friendships she had made since kindergarten. This picture is Callie with some of her good friends at their school's Dance Blue fundraiser. Cassidy raised over $10,000 for UK's Children's Hospital. A great cause and a fun time.

All 5th graders are required to participate in the Entrepreneur Fair. From kindergarten to 4th grade they had been the consumers at this annual event and now they got to be the entrepreneurs. It's all part of a bigger learning process about economics, marketing, and business overall. Step one, find a partner and step two, come up with a product you are going to sell. Callie paired with her friend Lydia.

They decided to lean on their consumer knowledge and went with a product that aimed for kids' sweet teeth. The creative process led to a Saturday morning assembly line in our kitchen that involved Oreos, icing, and several other candy toppers.

Pictured here are two of their numerous creations, which they titled, "Cookie Monsters". If you like icing, or just sugar in general, these were definitely the cookies for you. They made quite a few of these, and even made baby monsters out of mini-Oreos to get those students who might not have saved up enough for the big ones.

In the end, they made about $80. And after paying off the initial loans and other expenses, they each brought home around $20. They were proud of themselves and we were happy to see the two of them have fun with the process.

Next up on the school calendar was the Constitution musical, which was another rite of passage for the fifth graders. The entire grade has some sort of a role in the production, and Callie was selected to represent the large states in the debate over representation. She performed her constitutional duties well and did not change history. The entire play was very clever and also a great learning experience.

When Callie wasn't preparing to argue for the interests of the large states she was rehearsing her role in the spring musical, Aladdin. She had a couple of roles - a dancing skeleton and a djinn. These roles were mainly dancing performances, but she also sang throughout the play as part of the chorus. Mrs. Stringer once again did a tremendous job putting it all together.

Of course no production is complete without a little drama. Eli Powell, one of Callie's friends, was all set to go on as the magic flying carpet. Unfortunately, minutes before she was scheduled to appear on stage she threw up. Because Eli had several parts beyond the carpet, her roles were filled by a number of last minute understudies. The show went on, and it didn't miss a beat.

The milestone of ending elementary school was also recognized at FPC, which does a great job of celebrating the 5th graders moving on to middle school, the 8th graders moving on to high school, and the high school seniors moving on to college. Callie's good friend Vivie Ann was also recognized and it's fun to think that these two have spent so much of their lives together. And a special shout out to Sayre Combs for making an appearance here as well. He's a great guy and loves these girls just like our entire congregation does.

Matt Stone wanted to do a special end of the school year trip to the lake for a small group of fathers and daughters. So John, Callie, and Reese joined Matt and his daughters Maddie and Mary Kate along with two other dads and their girls. It was a packed pontoon boat that headed out on Laurel Lake for a Friday evening ride.

We spent a couple of hours riding around the lake, and made a few stops at various good swimming spots. This one spot set us up perfectly for a sunset swim. The girls had a blast and the dads had a lot of fun as well.

Callie and Maddie hung out together most of the time, but Reese still made time for a snuggle or two on the ride back to the marina. It was a fun way to kick off the last days of the school year for everyone. But it also kickstarted a momentous transition for Callie, Maddie, and their friends.

Girls vs. Boys

A wonderful way to mark the end of the school year is for the parents to leave town for a long weekend. And they don't even go away with each other, but hang out with their friends. For Sarah's crew it was off to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The scenery was gorgeous, the wine was smooth, and it didn't take long to jump right into the rhythms of friendship.

The four amigas from Santa Barbara signed up for a private tour and visited four different wineries on their first full day. Because this group had gone to Napa a few years earlier, they appreciated the combination of good wine and good scenery. One added bonus in Oregon was that the crowds were smaller and the whole scene wasn't as pretentious. They loved it!

Another perk of Portland is that the city has an endless number of breweries. Although the girls tried to visit them all, the final total was only about 3 or 4. I guess they'll need to go back again soon.

It was a smaller crew this time around, but there was still a lot of laughter and a good number of activities. Not pictured is the hike to Pittock Mansion in downtown Portland - okay, to be honest it was really the hike down from Pittock Mansion due to the Uber ride taken to the top of the trail. This ensured all friendships stayed intact but all still got exercise.

John's trip took him back to the familiar state of Connecticut, which meant he got to kick it off with a night at the McBean residence. And this gave him the opportunity for some quality time with his favorite English bulldog, Martha. She is the best, and this was the only way to get a selfie with her while she was somewhat still.

This year the five fellas gathered at a rental on Candlewood Lake on the Connecticut-New York border. The place came with enough space for everyone, a lot of stairs, and an incredible view of the lake. John and crew spent as much of their time as possible by the fire pit, catching up and talking about life in general.

It was great to have everyone in one place without any distractions for a couple of days. At this point this crew represents about forty years of friendship. If you just look at Woods you might not believe it's been forty years, but the other four actually show the real passage of time. In the end, both Sarah and John had great friend trips, but as we prepared this post it also became obvious that girls take more pictures than boys.

And this happened too...

It is always a treat when Nana Banana and Sport come to town. Over the years they have seen quite a few of our favorite places in Kentucky, and area also used to just jumping right into the craziness of our day to day life. This time around we were also able to fit in a trip to Buffalo Trace Distillery for a tour. The great thing about the bourbon distilleries is that they always seemed to be nestled into the most beautiful corners of Kentucky, and you don't have to even like bourbon to appreciate the tours.

It's always nice when a guest offers to help in the kitchen, and even better when your daughter offers to help that guest. Sport taught Reese the proper techniques of peeling and deveining shrimp. We are hopeful that she will use this newfound skill often in the future.

Over the past couple of years we have tried to make a point of having a family date night at least twice a year. It seemed only appropriate that when the Sound of Music came to the EKU Center of the Arts that we should buy tickets and make it a date. This musical is a family favorite and the girls have watched the movie half a dozen times. It was fun to watch them sing along at their first off-Broadway musical.

This spring we also had to say goodbye and good luck to the associate pastor at our church, Caitlin. She has been such a wonderful presence in our lives and in the community. Although we were sad to see her go we know that she will do great things out in Colorado. And hopefully when we go out to visit the Hannens we will be able to call her up and have a beer.

Spring Soccer

For the third consecutive year Callie played indoor soccer with the Cassidy team and she had a blast doing it. It was so good to get back to playing on a team with more of her friends and against girls her own age. It certainly highlighted what confidence and comfort can do for her overall play on the field.

We probably have touted this in earlier posts, but soccer carpool has saved our lives more often than not. The girls both have practice two times a week and of course are on opposite days. We were lucky enough to be a part of two fantastic carpool families. Reese's crew early on got into the habit of having the driver's family provide a snack. This was definitely kid-driven and parent tolerated, as long as they were healthy snacks. We tended to err on the very healthy side - in this picture the girls had a choice between apples and avocados.

The arrival of spring soccer meant tournaments and as a result we were often headed in two different directions on any given weekend. Callie was still on LFC Grey, which had its frustrations, but with her good friends Lydia, Maddie, and Addie she powered through and learned a lot.

Many times weather determined how the parents divided an conquered. 30 degree weather on a Saturday morning in Cincinnati sent Sarah running in the opposite direction, for example. That is why John took this photo of Callie pictured here.

On the same weekend Sarah and Reese were in Elizabethtown and although the mornings were a little chilly, the sun came out and the temperature topped out in the mid-60s. That is definitely more along the lines of what Sarah is willing to work with on the sidelines.

Of course the way things work is that indoor season is wrapping up as outdoor is just beginning, so we also had our end of the season banquet for Cassidy's indoor soccer teams. So many girls wanted to play that we had two teams this year. One full of Reese's friends and another full of Callie's. And both were led by Mr. Mahan, who is a prince among men.

Callie's team won the championship of their division, and the strong 5th grade leadership was definitely a big reason why. Like Callie, many of these girls were playing for the third year and they had a great time. It's one of the many reasons they will miss Cassidy.

It is important to note here that Mr. Mahan has coached Callie all three years. Even more impressive, he actually retired at the end of the 2017-2018 school year but has come back to coach because he loves it so much and knows that the girls cherish it. He is such a good guy and both Reese and Callie adore him.

Reese's team is still very much all about player development. This means that every player has to play every position. No one really likes to play goal, but Reese has a special aversion to it. She is feisty and aggressive on the field, but put her between the pipes and she becomes a mass of quivering jelly. Just take a close look at this picture and tell us we are wrong.

Another tournament for LFC Grey, and unfortunately it was another weekend of defeats for the squad. This is the crew here. They went through quite a bit over the course of the season, including five different coaches and having half the team playing a year above their age group. We can say it was certainly a character building year for the players and their parents.

This picture here says so much, however. If not for the fact that these four girls had each other all year, it could have been a very different outcome. They embraced their goofiness and kept each other smiling throughout all of the ups and downs. They were and are so lucky to have each other.

In comparison to the travails of LFC Grey, LFC Academy had a rip roaring good time over the year. These thirty girls got mixed up every weekend, learned how to play good technical soccer, and met so many sweet, kind girls. Reese loved her coaches and enjoyed her teammates both on and off the field. And their end of the year bash was a sight to behold.

Put aside your hygienic concerns for the moment and just think about the pure joy of a huge ice cream sundae served up in a rain gutter that was about 20 feet long. Honestly, we cannot believe we even just had to type that. The kids loved it and had no problem diving in to mixture of ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. Truly a sight to behold. And just like that, both girls ended their first year of LFC.

Here comes the Easter Bear

Every year the Easter Bunny  has a theme, and this time around the bunny decided to hand off responsibilities to the Easter Bear to prepare us for our upcoming trip to Alaska. Fortunately the Easter Bear loves its sugar and chocolate just as much as the Easter Bunny, so everyone was happy in the end.

The Easter Bear outdid himself. He prepared the girls for their Alaskan adventure by providing everything from sleeping masks to bear bells, compasses to an Alaskan guide book and much more. It got the entire family's excitement level up for the big trip.

However, before we get in a practice hike with our new compasses we needed to honor the meaning of the day at church. And since this was going to be Callie's last official Easter egg hunt at the church, we made sure to get there early. We weren't the only ones, which meant we had plenty of time for photo ops. The Johnson kids with their cousin Graham always know how to spice up a photo.

And for years we have always had to get the Bowes and Abraham girls together for picture on Easter. If we are not mistaken the first time this occurred was when Reese was only 4 or 5 months old. They sure have grown up since then.

Although we are not always successful, we were able to get a family photo on this special day as well. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but our minds were already racing as we thought about the preparations necessary for Easter dinner. In a momentous event we were going to be hosting instead of Sharon and Chris. They would be joining us along with Kenny and Cissy, along with the Abrahams. We were excited, but didn't want to disappoint.

We had such a good time that afternoon that we only managed to take pictures of the set up for dinner. Sarah turned into hostess mode which meant there wasn't room for photographer mode. It is safe to say that we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the great company.

Welcome 2019

So we have tried not to do this before, but we live in unprecedented times...or let's just say we are going to blame the global pandemic of the past six weeks for the fact that we are 16 months behind in our updates. Oops. With that being said, welcome to 2019! We have a pretty good feeling that it is going to be a great year. So join us as we relive that wonderful year in all its glory. We start with Excite Night, an annual kickoff to UK gymnastics that we have enjoyed the past ten years. For better or worse, Callie now enjoys going with her friends while the rest of her family manages on their own.

One nice thing about this dual adventure is that we didn't have to wait in line for an hour and a half to get the autographs of all the UK gymnasts. Apparently it was a good time, and Callie has the poster to prove it. Another benefit that Callie go from going with her friends and not her parents is is the unlimited concession stand where all desires were met and sugar consumption was at an all time high.

Onto another annual event, this time at our church. Youth Sunday is when the youth of the church take charge of the entire service. This year they decided to expand participation to elementary school students and both Callie and Reese can be seen here leading worship with ribbons and their melodious voices.

On the academic side of things, Callie participated in Governor's Cup for the second year in a row. This year the competition was held at Cassidy, and as a mature 5th grader, she asked us just to drop her off and come back when it was over. John was the designated pick up guy, and whether he misread the communications or things happened early, the bottom line is he showed up too late to see Callie get her award for 1st place in Arts and Humanities. Oops again. Good thing other parents were there to capture the moment.

In 2019 we ended up going to three different gymnastics meets, and luckily the girls have a lot of interested in it as well. This time around Reese invited her friend Ella to join the fun. We are not sure if they enjoyed the good gymnastics or the snow cones more, but they certainly smiled a lot.

When it comes to sports, UK isn't the only game in town, of course. The Transylvania University women's basketball team made it to the postseason tournament for Division III, and we got to catch a great game at the Beck Center with the Abrahams. The girls enjoyed it even more because they knew many of the players from going to the Transy basketball camp on several occasions. It was a good game and the home team earned the W in the end.

Now that Reese is getting older she is getting invited to more and more sleepover birthday parties. Here she is at her friend Zoey's 8th birthday party. We were proud to learn that Reese was the first one asleep. The excitement of the whole event probably made her crash and burn pretty fast.

Speaking of growing, Callie started setting her sights on the milestone of passing the women in her life in height. Her feet have long been bigger than Sharon's, but by spring Callie was also getting taller than our wonderful neighbor. It's only a matter of time before Sarah is the next one to go.

Reese also got her academic mojo going this spring. For her, this meant participation on Cassidy's Academic Challenge team. We were so proud that she joined the venture even though she was a little reluctant at first. The team did okay, but they didn't make it past the first round of competition. We don't think Reese was all that disappointed.

Another milestone of spring 2019 was the 16th birthday of Ella Abraham. We were so excited to join in the celebration with her and her family. We don't know if she was as excited, especially since we brought the party hat. But we didn't make her wear it the whole time, so she couldn't be that mad. Besides, as you can see in the mirror, her parents thought it made for a cute moment.