Graduation from Kindergarten

Sydney graduated from Kindergarten in June and, since Jay and I were already out of school, we were able to attend her end-of-the-year program.

Some of her favorite friends from kindergarten included the other two Sydneys - Sydney T and Sydney C, Kelly F, Justin D, and Breanna. (Kelly, Colton and Sydney C pictured below.)

The program was so cute! The kids sang some of their favorite songs for us and told us a little about what they learned this year. They even asked the parents to stand up and sing with them.

Jay enjoying the actions to the song "A Tooty Ta" :

Sydney had a speaking part and did a great job memorizing it and saying her lines loudly and clearly (she loves a mic)!

Sydney had a great year in Kindergarten and is looking forward to being in 1st grade soon. She has learned to read very well and received high marks in all the subjects she studied. What she is most excited about next next year is being in school for the whole day with her friends and eating lunch at school. Mrs. Rigby (who was both Collin and Sydney's Kindergarten teacher) is the most amazing teacher! We wish we could have her teach Collin and Sydney every year and will miss her!

Scandinavian Days Celebration

Did you bring your jacket???

You can bet that the weather guy is going to miss the forecast on this one particular weekend - every time! 55 degrees for the high in late May. No matter what they tell you the day is going to be like, plan to bring a jacket!

The weather didn't dampen the spirits of these little guys, however, who were so excited to go to the parade and scavenger for candy.

Collin made sure not a single piece of candy was left to be trampled by horse hooves or float tires. He can sure hussle!

The very scary and terrible vikings who patrolled the streets to be sure little kids were behaving.

Another Year (Younger)

Grandpa Bill turns another year younger. (Doesn't he look great?!) He seems to be in great spirits too and loves to watch the grandkids run around, especially riding the four-wheelers.

All the grandkids gather around Grandma (who looks great too, by the way) and "pose" for a picture.

Dance Performance

Sydney really wanted to try dance lessons so we signed her up for a short (and inexpensive) 8 week course through community ed at a local middle school. She loved every minute of it and it was surpising for us to see how much focus she can have when she really wants to learn or do something.

She had so much fun that I guess it doesn't matter if she learned a whole lot or not. She wants to keep taking lessons so we'll have to find something else local for her to try.

One of the not-so-professionally choreographed pieces. It was still cute.

This is how Collin felt about it, however:

Sydney's 6th Birthday (and yes, it was two months ago)

Sydney celebrated her birthday with family and friends. Since her favorite place in the world right now is Build-A-Bear, we took her and a few friends there.

Justin has been one of Sydney's best friend since moving here. They are in the same Kindergarten class and both go to daycare together.

Everyone singing to the birthday girl.

Even the boys took the task of building their new animal very seriously.

Mom and Sydney inspecting the new bunny.

Justin, Sydney, Kelly, Savannah

Dresden, Collin and Logan

Cruise Pics

Some pictures from the cruise:

One late night, the kids weren't tired so we took them to the ship's bathrobe party. Collin was selected to be our team capitain (red team) so we spent the next two hours dancing and singing and doing the congo line all over the ship. People on our team danced with Collin, gave him high-fives, hoisted him on their shoulders, pretty much made him feel like a celebrity. Our team ended up winning the competition and Collin got a trophy. He was so proud! The blue team capitain also got a trophy which she decided to give Sydney. For the rest of the cruise, people we didn't know would come up to the kids and say "Hi Collin and Sydney".

In Cozumel. We rented a car and drove around the island. We found some awesome and secluded beaches and spent the afternoon playing in the sand and ocean.

Isla Roatan, Honduras: We went to Gumbalimba park. The highlight for us was seeing the monkeys and birds. The kids loved seeing all of the iguanas too. We spent the afternoon at the beach.

After the cruise and before our flight home, we took the kids to Tampa Aquarium.