Red, White, and Blueberry Picking

June was a big month for a number of reasons, including the conclusion of Callie's first year of kindergarten.  But just as important was the World Cup.  John spent a fair amount of time watching the games and he was excited to get the girls involved in the fun.  For the first game the U.S. played against Ghana we were invited to watch the drama with some friends down the street.

Four years ago Ghana knocked the U.S. out of the World Cup.  It just so happens that terrible loss occurred on a wonderful day, the day that Suzy and Brian were married.  Still, we were looking forward to some redemption.  John led the girls in a quick USA! chant before we headed out the door.  And in case you missed it, the U.S. beat Ghana 2-1 in an absolutely thrilling match.  Too bad the rest of the Cup didn't work out that way for our boys.

June is also when the blueberries get ripe at Reed Valley Orchard, so we packed up a picnic lunch, hopped in the car, and made our annual trip to pick some berries and consume some wonderful slushies.  It was a great day, not too sunny and not too hot.  We made sure to build up our energy for the picking ahead and then we were ready to go.

It is fun to see the girls every year as they get into the picking routine.  They certainly know the lay of the land, and each one has had the experience of picking blueberries while they were in a baby bjorn.  Although they are fully capable of walking now, they still wouldn't mind being carried around like that.  Or at least that is how we interpret Reese's whining.

Callie and Reese have become skilled blueberry pickers, but they have expanded their taste horizons and picking skills in the raspberry bushes at the orchard.  These certainly are a little bit more difficult because thorns are involved.  But this year the bushes were full of great raspberries, and both girls did a great job of getting the berry without mashing it in the process.  Wish we could say the same for us.

If you ask them what the highlight of the excursion was, though, it might be the discovery of the farm cat.  She was pretty friendly and followed us around the raspberry bushes once she realized she could get some love from the little ones.  This is when all the motivation to pick great berries came to a halt and we had to turn our minds to the reward we had earned for our efforts.

Reese really enjoyed her slushy.  The smile says it all, doesn't it.  She smiles a lot for pictures, but you may have noticed that she has developed a kind of canned smile.  This one here is the real deal, and it captures the joy and energy she brings to our lives.

This picture is both good and bad.  It is good because it similarly captures Callie in a joyful moment, sitting on the porch at the orchard and indulging in the slushy.  Yet it is bad, because it makes it clear that Callie is growing up and getting older.  As much as we would like to keep her as our little girl, we cannot ignore the fact that she is maturing in leaps and bounds.

The Zoo with Grammy

By the time this picture was taken Grammy had already been here for a week, and she had spent a lot of that time playing with the girls, feeding them, and getting them to and from Music and Arts Camp.  

However, with the success of the girls' recital and music performance the time had come to celebrate with a trip to the Louisville Zoo before we took Grammy to the airport so she could fly back to California and get some rest.

This was not our first time at the Louisville Zoo, but it is never difficult to find new things there, and the girls enjoy hanging around with both real and inanimate animals.  They also have gotten used to the fact that when we go on a trip they will be asked to pose for pictures in a variety of places and with a variety of things.  The turtle was an obvious choice for a group shot.

Callie has had six and a half years of this paparazzi treatment, so she has not only become comfortable with it, but now actively seeks out shots that will be either aesthetically pleasing or somewhat funny.  This one is certainly in the latter category.

If you have spent more than a day with Reese, you know that energy is not in short supply.  Like her sister, she also enjoys a good laugh and is willing to work with the camera if you catch her in the right mood.  This energy is also a big reason why Grammy Gayle went home exhausted.  We know the feeling.

The Louisville Zoo has a really neat carousel that they tout as one of the 40 oldest in the country, or something along those lines.  In any case, it is fun to ride and Reese and Callie were excited to get the chance to go for a spin.  It was a fun way to end a great week with Grammy.  And once we got back to Lexington, John was home and we could prepare as a family for our next adventure.

Dance, Music, and Arts

The arrival of June can mean a variety of things, but for us it now means that the time has come for the annual dance recital.  This year was a special one because Reese was going to make her debut on the Lexington Opera House stage.  And although she was a little timid during rehearsals, all signs indicated that she was ready to embrace her big moment.

Somehow Callie worked her way into Reese's class's dance number over the past five months by assisting Miss Lauren.  In the days leading up to the recital there was talk that Callie would lead the crew on stage as well.  Callie didn't get called up until the very last moment, but she was excited to be a part of the Bunny Rabbit Blues dance.  Reese loved having her big sister on hand, but she also clearly loved the spotlight.  It is going to be hard keeping her off the stage in the years to come.

This was Callie's third recital, so she has become accustomed to all that goes along with it.  And we certainly had no concerns about her willingness to do everything she needed to do.  This was a big deal because John was out of town for the recital which meant Sarah had to get both girls ready and had to manage all of the make-up and costume changes.  Thankfully, Grammy was there to assist or it could have been a disaster.

Here is Callie's class getting ready to go on for their "I See the Moon" dance.  It is amazing how much these girls have grown in the three years they have been in dance classes together.  Clearly they get along quite well.



This year's special someone dance was (to the surprise of no parent of a girl between the ages of 3 and 12) based around a song from the movie Frozen.  Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

The girls loved getting to wear their colorful winter gear for this dance in the middle of summer.  Callie got to have Grammy as her special someone and Reese got to do it with Sarah.  It is also important to note that Sarah was selected to be the parent line leader, which is an honor she took quite seriously.

And here are the girls with the woman who has made their dance class experience so wonderful.  Miss Lauren is the greatest teacher we could have asked for, especially when Callie was first starting out.  And as we have mentioned before, Reese would settle for nothing less than a class with Miss Lauren.  The girls know excellence when they see it - they also know a warm and gentle soul.

Dance recital week always seems to fall on the same week as Music and Arts Camp at church, which means there is a whole lot of singing, dancing, and commuting during that time.  Once again, Grammy saved the day and Reese made her big debut.  And like Callie's debut at Music and Arts Camp, we have very few pictures to document it.  But she claims she enjoyed the week.  The theme this year was Moses and the Freedom Fanatics.  Callie is pictured here with the bugs so artfully drawn by Caitlin.

Out of the performances we have seen over the past four years, this by far was the best.  Everyone seemed to know the songs and sang them passionately.  In this picture Callie is there along with her fellow slaves demanding freedom from Pharaoh.  Reese was a frog in the production that focused on the animal plagues as opposed to the rivers of blood.

This week was a tough one for Reese's ability to pull out the beaming smile she is more well known for.  Such is life.  We have all had weeks like that.  And truly, by the time Friday afternoon arrived the girls were exhausted and were ready to take a break from the rigors of the performing arts.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Despite all the weather that winter threw at us this past year, school did finally come to an end.  Surprisingly enough, this day was just as emotional as day one.  We still find it hard to believe that Callie has completed kindergarten and is moving on to first grade.  How did that happen so fast?

Callie had such a wonderful first year of school, and it was in no small part because of the fantastic teachers she had in her classroom.  Here she is with Miss Bargo, the teaching assistant for her class all year long.  Callie thought Miss Bargo was pretty cool.  Our favorite story about Miss Bargo comes from five days before Christmas break, when she asked Callie if she had a proper winter jacket because Callie kept going to school with her Cape Cod sweatshirt or a fall jacket that was a wee bit small.  John likes to think we were trying to toughen Callie up.  But truth be told, we had bought a winter jacket for Christmas and really just needed her to deal with the cold until Christmas morning.  The guilt was a little deeper in the days after Miss Bargo showed how much she cared about Callie.

Mrs. Bradley was Callie's teacher and was a perfect match.  She is kind, gentle, and firm, with both high expectations of her kids and a good sense of humor.  Callie loved learning about her and her family, and we could tell that Mrs. Bradley really knew Callie well and cared about her as a person.  It was great to be able to get a picture like this on the last day.

And here she is on the very last day, leaving Colts camp and kindergarten behind until school starts up again in August.  It is truly amazing how much Callie learned throughout the year.  She started in August not being able to read a word and ended it reading chapter books.  She also gained a number of friends, and we heard a lot of stories about Maddie Rudd and Kennedy Preston.  We heard quite a few stories about her and her friends chasing the boys at lunch, but we tried not to focus on those too much.  Just as important, she ended the school year excited to start the next one.  And first grade will be here before we know it.

Lucy and Libby

Summertime for many people means time spent with friends by the pool.  For us, it means getting the five-year-old inflatable pool out of the basement, filling it with water from the hose, and playing with Lucy and Libby when they are in town visiting their grandparents Sharon (a.k.a. Birdy) and Chris (a.k.a. Pop).  Who knew a five dollar purchase would lead to so many years of fun?

We say it every time, but it is amazing how old these girls are getting.  Even better, it is fantastic to see how well they all get along.  They are a fun bunch of kids and we fully expect that they will be having fun and getting into trouble together for years to come.  Reese and Lucy in particular show signs of being trouble in the future.

As you can see in this picture, Lucy and Libby happened to be in town when Zoey was visiting.  Zoey wasn't quite sure what to do with the chaos of noise and general shenanigans, but she gradually warmed up and joined in with the fun.

A Visit from Colorado

At the end of May, we were lucky enough to have some special guests from out of town.  Suzy, Brian, and Zoey were in the Cincinnati area for their nephew's high school graduation, and Brian's family was kind enough to let them travel down south to stay with us for a couple of days.  It is not the first time we have taken advantage of our proximity to Brian's sisters and it probably won't be the last.

Thankfully it was a beautiful weekend so we hit the ground running and headed over the Ecton Park to have a picnic lunch and for the girls to take Zoey on a tour of one of our favorite playgrounds.  Callie certainly was excited to have Zoey in town, but loved also having her aunt and uncle to play with as well.

Reese wanted to make sure Zoey got to see the great swings at Ecton, and of course she also wanted to show her younger cousin how high she could swing.  There is no doubt that one of the reasons Reese loves having Zoey around is that she gets to be the older kid.  And boy does she take this role seriously.  When Zoey gets a little older she'll probably push back a little bit, but for now she's more than willing to play along with her older cousin.

After the swing lesson they were off to the bubble lesson.  So while Callie played frisbee with Uncle Brian and Aunt Suzy, the two little ones blew and chased bubbles all over the park.  They had a lot of fun and were a lot of fun to watch.

Of course, one of the great things about the visit was that we knew we would all see each other again very soon on Cape Cod.  So the girls had a good warm-up couple of days where they got to play together and got to know each other better.  And we promise that our time at the Cape will actually lead to pictures of Uncle Brian and Aunt Suzy as well.

Horse Racing, Mother's Day, and Mayfest

Ah, the month of May, when all good Kentuckians dress their best because they know for at least the first Saturday of the month everyone in the country is looking at them.  We are no different.  The newest fashion trend is something called "the fascinator" and ultimately it is just a headband with some pretty heavy duty accoutrements.  So when we showed up at the Johnson's to watch the Derby, Sarah broke out all the necessary supplies.

The girls, including Vivie Ann, were pretty excited about the craft project which included toule, feathers, flowers, ribbon, and most important of all, a hot glue gun.  If you look closely you will see that Reese chose zebra striped ribbon while Callie selected more of a leopard print motif.

By the time the bugler had issued the call to post, the girls were styling and ready to root for California Chrome.  In all honesty, when Seth asked us if we wanted to place a bet when he went through the drive-through window at Keeneland (yes, we have drive-through betting), we put our money on a horse whose name eludes us at the moment.  In true Kentucky fashion, however, we got the horse name because that is the one Callie had selected in her kindergarten class the day before.

Mother's Day this year included pancakes in bed and a whole stack of drawings and overly stickered pieces of paper that the girls had prepared for their dear mother.  Now that the girls are getting older it is definitely fun to get them involved in the spirit of the day.  However, it does not last long since it only took a  minute before both of them were asking Sarah for bites of her breakfast.  As long as they didn't take her coffee she was willing to oblige.

Mother's Day typically falls on the same weekend as Mayfest, which is a great little fair held in Gratz Park in downtown Lexington.  Last year Sarah missed the big day because she was in Las Vegas.  Callie rode a pony and John didn't have a camera.  This year we obtained proof of Callie's equine escapades.

Although she hasn't asked for a horse of her own at this point, Callie certainly enjoyed the ride.  Interestingly, Reese showed no desire in getting on the back of even the smallest pony they had.  We often talk about Reese as if she is the more adventurous one.  However, that is only on her terms, and horses have yet to be a part of that picture.

One fabulous surprise for our Mayfest experience was that we shared it with Caitlin, the associate pastor at our church.  It was fun spending the afternoon with her and the girls, especially Reese, enjoyed getting extra attention.  Reese and Caitlin were a bit inseparable at times, as this picture shows.

At one point, Caitlin also somehow ended up taking care of both of the girls while Sarah was on the phone and John had to go pay the parking meter for the car.  Reese and Callie had no clue their parents were otherwise occupied because they were having too much fun with Caitlin over at the petting zoo.  All in all it was a great afternoon.

Because Mother's Day is all about what Mom wants, we decided that our next stop should be the playground at Cassidy Elementary School.  We have seen the evolution over this past year, but each playground visit reminds us of how much Callie now resembles a monkey.  She loves climbing, swinging, and hanging.  Every now and then there is a flip of some sort thrown in for good measure.

Monkey see, monkey do, monkey hang upside down too.  Reese has no problem going trick for trick with her big sister.  However, look closely at the picture and you will see John standing close by.  He has much less of the carefree monkey mentality of his daughters and is always preparing for a possible misstep or call for help.  Those calls seldom come.

Sarah, on the other hand, provides some clue as to where that monkey magic comes from.  And for now, she can impress her daughters by keeping up with the playground antics.  However, those days are becoming numbered and it is only a matter of time before both John and Sarah will be limited to taking pictures of the antics instead of copying them.

By the end of the day we were all tuckered out, but we were happy with all that we had done together. The girls are very lucky to have a Mom like Sarah, and Sarah is very lucky to have such wonderful daughters.

And John is lucky because Reese and Callie didn't eat all of the ice cream sandwiches.

We started the month with horse racing and we ended the month with horse racing.  But this last type of racing was a whole different animal.  We had Ella with us for the afternoon and decided to take in the sights at the annual High Hope Steeplechase at the Kentucky Horse Park.  It was quite a show and very different from any other horse racing we had ever seen.

The course was quite long and you only had a short time to watch the horses as they thundered by and jumped over the obstacles set throughout the course.  However, we must admit that we agree with the girls that the best part  of the whole day was when we got to watch the parade of the Woodford Hounds.  It was a whole new experience for us, which is always a good thing.