End of the School Year

Carter had a lot of festivities at the end of the school year. First he had what they call immersion week and learned about Mexico. One day they took a field trip to a fun Mexican restaurant and saw cliff divers perform. Later in the week they had a Mexican fiesta. I went and helped prepare all the food and stayed for the lunch, dancing, and pinata. It was fun to watch the kids do the Mexican Hat Dance, and as Carter told me, "Mom, I am very good at it." I would have to agree with him; you can judge for yourself.

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The next week his class put on a frog puppet show for all the parents. It was very cute. This year his class has also worked diligently on a personal narrative. Carter wrote his on a family trip to Nickel-A-Play arcade. He did a great job reading his book to the class and parents.
All of a sudden the end of the year was here. Carter had his last day on June 5. They had a little Kindergarten graduation. At the graduation each student was honored with a candy bar and certificates. Carter was awarded the Reese's Whip for "whipping up the most interesting conversation." That is definitely Carter! Carter had a great year and made many friends and learned so much. There were several tears wept by his teachers and some others as good-byes were said. I know Carter will miss being at school, but he is excited to get going with some of our summer plans.
Carter and his teacher Ms.Peppler

Tornado?!

The tornado at Southlands only a couple of miles from our home

Or "tormado" as McKay kept calling it, and yes we really had one here in Aurora yesterday. We were actually in church at the time and Lamont was teaching the Elder's Quorum and I was teaching the Young Women. I was just teaching away to what sounded like a serious rainstorm when the Bishop came busting into the classroom and told us all to get out in the hall. I had no clue what was going on until I saw one of our friends with a picture of a funnel cloud on his cell phone that was taken from the church parking lot. Lamont of course went to check it out and saw the funnel in the distance.
After rounding up the boys we headed into the chapel to wait out the tornado and hail storm. Luckily the tornado did not hit the church, but on the way home we noticed a fencing area torn to shreds about a half mile away. It is amazing to me how isolated tornados can be; one spot is untouched while the next is destoryed. We returned to our home to find it just fine. We made it through the storm with only some minor hail damage to the car (the hail was about the size of a quarter). Unforunately we can't say the same for our favorite shopping area, Southlands. We drove down there yesterday evening to assess the damage. From the reports and damage we knew which way the tornado had gone, which was right over our neighborhood. It just didn't touch down thank goodness. Many of the stores in the shopping area had some significant damage with trees being ripped out and shingles ripped off of roofs. Many homes around the area also received damage. I thought we were through with this sort of thing after moving from Texas. I guess I need to remember that we are on the Kansas side of Colordao. It was such a crazy day and we feel blessed to make it out with only minor hail damage.
Damage in the Lowes parking lot

Memorial Weekend

We did not go anywhere for Memorial day this year, but were lucky to have my sister Michelle come into town and spend the weekend with us. We decided to check out Golden, CO for the day and went to Heritage Square. It was set up like an old fashioned town with a little amusement park inside. We let the boys choose a couple rides to go on, but most of all they wanted to mini golf. McKay felt like he knew what he was doing and didn't even want any help. But, I would have to say the highlight was the Alpine Slide. We took the ski lifts to the top of the mountain and then went down on little bobsleds. It was beautiful up there and a lot of fun. McKay kept accelerating our sled - no fear! Afterwards we went to scope out Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was gorgeous and I can see why it is a hot venue for concerts.




On Monday we went to a Larsen BBQ up in Broomfield and then hit the Rockies Baseball game. Luckily we dodged the rain and all had a great time. Thanks Aunt Michelle for coming to visit and for giving us an excuse to do so many fun things!

Preschool Graduation!

McKay graduated from his first year of preschool in our co-op. It was a good year with a cute group of kids. The kids celebrated with a tropical themed swim party and BBQ. McKay became good friends with all the kids in his class and really enjoyed going twice a week. He is learning letter sounds and blending them together. He is also learning how to write his name. But, his strength seems to come with numbers. With a little help he can count to 100 and is always asking me to add numbers for him. In fact, he was given the Exceptional Number Knowledge award at his end of year party.