Baseball

After a great afternoon at the pool we grilled brats and veggies for
dinner. We now have the fire pit going and a backyard baseball game
for entertainment. Always a great night when shared with good friends
and lots of kids.

Dive!

First day at Bittersweet Pool! Cloudy, breezy, and a bit chilly. But
still lots of fun. Looks like Little Andrew approves!

Fire!

What a great time and place to enjoy the first fire pit of the year!
Look at all those kids!! With sharp sticks!! And fire!! What could
possibly go wrong?

Friend

Wrapping up Saturday of Memorial Day by celebrating our friends Paul
and Hope's daughters high school graduation. Paul, Jen and I have know
each other since the RA days at UNC in 1996. Beautiful night for a
party! And congrats Arica!

Pool!

The third graders spent their last day of school at Hillside Pool
today. Somewhere in there is Nathanael. The temperature at the time of
this picture was a brisk 60 degrees with a slight breeze. Doesn't seem
to phase the kids at all.

Party!

With the school year finally over for the 6-12 building, it was crazy
teacher party time yesterday. One of the perks of being a SOT (spouse
of teacher) is I get invited to all the cool fun stuff without having
to put in the hours at the school.

Signed

One of the biggest highlights of Field Day is the signing of the
shirts. It looks like the kids did very well in this regard. They even
got the elusive Campingdad signature!

Chaos!

Field Day 2012 at Frontier Academy.

Ready

Kids are all set for their last full day of school. Field day!! Looks
like its going to be a beautiful day to have some fun outside and get
their shirts signed.

Birthday

How does it feel to be closer to 40 then 30??? Happy birthday to the
bestest best friend a guy could ever ask for. Who knew that a random
prayer circle at the Denver Christmas Conference in 1995 would lead to
a friendship of over 17 years?? You are truly a Big F friend and I'm
blessed and honored to know a man like you. Thanks for your
friendship, your trust, and all the coffee and beer we have shared
over the years. Happy birthday.

Baller!

Killing two stones with one blog post, here is Nathanael all suited up
for his first night of baseball practice. He has wanted to play for
several years, and his folks finally got him signed up. In his right
hand is the award he earned at the assembly on Friday: PERFECT
ATTENDANCE for the school year!

Hippies

Last Friday was the annual "Hippie Feel Good Day" at Frontier. No one
really knows what it means or how it got started, but the kids love it
because they get to dress like their parents or grandparents did back
in the 1960's and 70's. Tie dye and Afros!!

58-9

Good thing I had the under on a 50 point win. Great seats. Some neat
new friends. These are pretty fun games. Might bring the kids next
time. For Jennifer, here is the mascot picture.

Halftime

Ice up 35-2. Go team.

Football!

Front row for the Colorado Ice indoor football game tonight. Better
pay attention.

Us

Had a great day today with my favorite first grader. I must be
spending a lot of time at the kids school. I had two different parents
ask me today how they could request me for next year. Don't know if
that means they think I'm a great parent helper or if they think I
teach there.

Snack 2

Had a few minutes to kill before the bus leaves for Greeley, so Mr.
Roth sprang for some snow cones. Samantha had a good time today and
even held my hand at the end. Which is a pretty big deal if you know
Samantha.

Map

Trying to decide what to do with our little groups last hour at the
zoo. Still haven't found the elephants yet. We think they have already
moved them to their new home that opens June 1.

Learning

Then is a little bit going on today. Kids are reenergized after lunch.
Only 75 more minutes!

Lunch!

The group has slowed down considerably. Lunch time! Also getting more
crowded and quite a bit warmer.

Bears!!!

And he looks hungry!! For a first grader!

Snack!

Trying to push lunch off as long as possible. This is our little tour
group today. I feel badly for the school groups that have like 30 kids
and 5 adults.

Jump!

Kids are still running/skipping/jumping from exhibit to exhibit.
Wondering how long this will last...

Penguins!

At the rate we are going we will be done by 11.

Zoo!

Made it to Denver!

Silly

Grandpa won the golf tournament he played in Friday morning with his
teammate Bob Lamb. Here he is showing off his "new bag" that he won to
his "old bag" who in turn was telling him that he is #1. It's been
great having them here in town over the weekend.

Moms

Happy Mothers Day 2012 to my beautiful wife Jennifer, my amazing
mother-in-law Janet, and my favorite mom of all time, Bonnie. We hope
you feel loved, appreciated and valued for all you do for our family.
We love you.

T in T

Here is Little D receiving his award last night on his last day of
Teens in Training. Next year he will be joining Noah at the Journey
Christian church youth group. Notice he is not wearing his uniform,
but carrying it.

Awards

As the school year continues to wind down, so do other activities.
Last night was the final AWANA night for the year. Here is Sarabeth
collecting her award for finishing her first book.

School

One more from the field trip yesterday. The kids escaped one school
and wound up in another. Here in an 1880's school house complete with
a teacher. She discussed what the students would have studied, how
they would have studied it, and most importantly, discipline!
Nathanael rode home with me, so as a special treat on a long hot day,
we stopped at Sonic for drinks!

Laundry

Trying to get some laundry done. This is also a lot of work.

Tortilla

We are hard at work making tortillas. Nathanael got to roll out the
dough and the nice lady is getting ready to throw it on the wood
burning stove. Our group is down to just two kids, after Aiden threw
up while eating lunch.

Chuck

Checking out the chuck wagon just before lunch. The coffee she is
making doesn't look quite as good as the Starbucks I enjoyed earlier
today. Maybe it's because she used river water. She was also baking
biscuits in the Dutch oven by the fire. Nathanael reminded me of our
family trying to use a Dutch oven last summer in Yellowstone.

Corn

Grinding corn to make tortillas next door. Kids are hopefully
discovering that living in the 1800's was really a lot of work. And no
video games or computers anywhere.

Fire!

Actually water. The kids are working on their water bucket passing
skills while pretending to be firemen from the 1880's. Hope we don't
get too sunburned today.

Calendar

Snapped a quick picture of Sarabeth this morning while she was leading
the class in calendar time. She does a great job directing the class,
just like her mother. I don't think that shirt she is wearing is hers
though. Maybe Andrews?

Science

Big day at Frontier Academy! Nathanael's class is currently watching
the science lady do her thing. Sarabeth's class is at Old Chicago
making pizza. In a few minutes Nathanael's class will be heading
downtown to beautiful Centennial Village for the rest of the day to
learn some more about Greeley history.

Maurice

And when he came to the place where the Wild Things are...One of my
favorite authors passed away earlier today. Maurice Sendak was 83.
Where the Wild Things Are is his best known and most loved book which
was also made into a great movie several years ago. It is also the
basis for my first tattoo, which was brought to life by the amazing
artistic abilities of Amanda Sanchez. I don't know how many hundreds
of times I have read that book to the kids over the years. I have
given it as gifts to countless families. Someday I hope to share it
with my grandkids. My only regret is not sending a photo of my tattoo
to Mr. Sendak and asking for an autograph. I hope wherever he his
tonight his supper is waiting for him. And it's still hot.

Close

But no cigar. This amazing limited edition 2009 New Belgium Fat Tire
cruiser bike was one of over 75 different silent auction items last
night at the Gala. We were outbid at the last minute and didn't get to
ride it home. Sure hope bidder #103 realizes what a treasure they won.

Academic

Thursday night was the middle school academic awards night. The awards
are by invitation only, so there were about 20 kids per grade that
received an award. Here is Noah with many of his admirers. He received
the award for "outstanding logic and most powerful writer." Way to go
Noah!

Track

Tuesday night was the middle school track awards banquet. Well, it was
more like pizza and soda then a banquet, but the kids didn't care.
Noah keeps moving up the ranks! As coach said, next year this is their
(the 7th graders) team to lead.

Pink!

This guy looks pretty serious heading into the silent auction bidding.
The night has been a great success so far, with a great dinner, lots
of cool auction items, and a dueling piano bar yet to come. So
thankful for the kids school, and the many people that make their
education possible.

Gala

Going to be a fun night! Trying to win the Fat Tire cruiser bike in
the silent auction. Wish us luck!

Awards Night

Here is the line up for tonight's presentation. Jennifer is one of
the two MC's. Can't wait to see what Noah is receiving an award for.