Jog-A-Thon

On Thursday May 24th my second grade class and I ran in our school jog-a-thon fundraiser. We set a class average goal of 10 laps each and we averaged 11! They did a great job!
It was about 100 degrees and the lap was about the size of a football field.
I was a very proud teacher. Many kids were surprised that I even ran 12 laps myself.
Overall we had a blast and raised money for our school.

Weekend Update

Big news - Sarah has a new little sister! No, Mom is not preggers with #4, Sarah joined Big Brothers Big Sisters and had her first hang-out session this past Thursday. It went really well; the girl she is mentoring is 13 and has been home schooled due to severe migraines she has been getting from a car accident. I'd add a picture but I'm not sure that's legal since she's 13.

Anyway, I'm extremely proud of Sarah for putting her empathy in action!

Since not much else is going on, below are a couple pictures of a 2003 trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. My Dad and I have taken trips up there about 15 times, and we are planning on going again this fall for the first time since I moved to CA...

Towards the end of the trip I was getting pretty fancy with my canoe maneuvers.

The view from one of our campsites on a perfectly still morning.

Wine Country/Bakersfield

This past weekend we hit the road again, going about 225 miles north to Bakersfield, where our friends Alex and Kristen live. They were nice enough to invite us and our hairy dog, who really made his presence known on their dark green carpet. On Saturday Kristen drove us up to the Paso Robles area, so we could do some wine-tasting right from the winery. Alex navigated us to six great places. Below are a few pictures from the trip...as you can see, it was a beautiful day!

The last (and Sarah's favorite) winery we visited.

Alex and Kristen in front of their house in Bakersfield.

At the Tobin James winery.

This was the "wig" winery..

Flowers outside a winery.

Kristen, Alex, and Shawn at the Justin winery.

Dog-sitting weekend

Mac waiting for his play date....

Dog-sitting is hard work!

Spencer Flies To California Solo (our little traveler)

Spencer came out to California April 2 through April 10.

He flew out to Palm Springs alone
(WE ARE SO PROUD OF HIM!)

We had a very busy week, we started out with Knott's Berry Farm, spent a few days at school, hung out at the pool, saw "Meet the Robinsons", went up the Palm Springs Aerial Tram, hiked Joshua Tree National Park, enjoyed the ocean at Laguna Beach, and golfed 108 holes of mini golf at Boomers Park.

IT ALL BEGAN HERE...

We went to Knott's Berry Farm for a long crazy day of sick to your stomach rides!

Spencer came to school with me for a couple days,
even though he was on springs break.

He had a great time hiding Easter eggs and
hang'n with my cool 2nd graders.

We spent a lot of time at the dog park.

Spencer really enjoyed playing with his buddies Mac and Quincy.



It's Superman...I mean Spencer!
We enjoyed the 90 degree April weather in the backyard.



Shawn and Spencer spent Saturday evening at the golf course...NICE SWING!



EASTER...look at those amazing colored eggs...nice work buddy!



Joshua Tree National Park
Shawn and Spencer climbed to the top of Cyclopes Rock.
Can you see me in the distance walking next to the road with Mac?
We decided not to do the climb with those crazy boys.



Laguna Beach
Spencer spent the day in the water
while we waited for Auntie Pat to get off of work.
We enjoyed her hotel right on the beach
and later went to dinner with her.

The Laguna sunset was amazing. This was the view from Auntie Pat's hotel.



Spencer the Navigator...he highlighted the way home and we made it with no problems.
(he really is our little traveler)



Our last day in Palm Springs.
We spent it at Boomers where we golfed for 3 hours...followed by a couple hours of video games.




Before we got on the plane we had to make one last stop.
Spencer said good-bye to California by eating his favorite food...
IN-N-OUT BURGER