Thygerson Shenanigans: Summer time

Well, we are well. And that's good news. Our stomach bug actually went through pretty quickly (i.e. 24 hours apiece, plus recovery time) but then it threw everything else off because of the 48+ hours or so that we couldn't get anything done. Like lay the sod that was delivered and cooking in our driveway....doh! Since the following Monday was Memorial Day and Kip was off work, we were able to get the sod in with the help of some very kind friends and neighbors. Their was a little bit of decomposition going on, so we've since patched it up a bit, but it is very exciting to almost have a finished yard. This past Saturday we also brought in 4 yards of planting soil and wheel-barrowed it down to the new garden area. We should be able to plant this week! YAY! We're getting a bit of a late start, but the growing season is longer here than, say, Gypsum, so we should still get a nice amount of produce (or "crops" as Caleb says. "When are we going to plant our crops, mom?")

Speaking of Gypsum, we were there last weekend to do some between-tenant repairs on the decks, major weeding, and general checking-out-the-property type things. It is always nice to go back there and we are excited about our new tenants moving in, a retired couple that like to do yard work. Yay!

With all of the work we've been doing here and in Gypsum, Caleb was lamenting last weekend that we NEVER get to just have fun on Saturdays, we always have to work. :) Poor kid. But he does need to put in some hours if he really wants to buy all those Legos he drools over in the toy advertisements! After the garden is in this week, we should be able to have a little more weekend fun. Although I don't feel too sorry for him; he went camping with Kip this weekend on the "father/son" campout with church and stuffed his face with s'mores; we spent Friday at the Denver Zoo, we got started on the library summer reading program, we went to the community pool, we went to a splash park and playground...we haven't exactly been staring at the wall picking our noses. Well, actually Caleb does pick his nose a lot. But we have been doing plenty of fun summer-break things. :)

Ella finished up her year of dance with her recital this weekend; here she is with her dance teacher, Miss Amy:

Rachel also loved her, she was in her younger class for about a month before I moved her to tumbling because I am too cheap to buy a $75 recital dress for a 3 year old.

We posted her dances on youtube,
Tap and here:
Ballet

Ella did a great job, had a fun at her recital, and now wants to try gymnastics instead. So I guess in the fall we'll let her have a go at gymnastics. (also, Caleb wants to do flag football in the fall instead of soccer...? Okay...)

Let's see, what else...Ella graduated from Kindergarten (she's in the orange):

Every child was able to come to the microphone and say their name, what they learned in kindergarten, and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Ella wants to be an astronaut when she grows up, and she learned "not to tell lies to your mom." Everyone laughed; she confessed to me as we left that she said that so the grown ups would laugh; her paper actually said something about learning higher and lower numbers. Very astute!

McKinley had her one year check up and weighed in at a whopping 16 lbs 1.5 oz, which is way below normal as far as national averages are concerned, but exactly right for a Kip and Katie baby. This week she ate very healthy planting soil, ate her first chocolate chip cookie (hey, those girl scout ones were THIN MINTS), and found plenty of other things to stick in her mouth. Luckily I have trained her a little bit...if I do not know what is in her mouth, I say, "Oh, yucky! Yuck." And she will spit it out into my hand. It's a pretty cool trick.

You may have seen our crazy weather on the news; our neighborhood was not the worst hit but we did have some exciting hail and plenty of crazy rain, lightning, thunder, and wind.

Of course it hails when the car is not in the garage because the topper is still on from our trip trip to Gypsum. Oh well, hail just gives it character.

If you notice that Kip's truck it slightly bigger, which I'm sure you all noticed, your eyes are not deceiving you. When he was driving back to work after Ella's kindergarten graduation, someone rear-ended him pretty good on I-25, completely totaled the truck, because Kip was pushed into the car in front of him also.

Thank goodness Kip was OK, he visited a doctor and everything was fine, just some sore muscles. But he did get a slightly bigger, slightly newer truck from the Shaw lot, which I guess was actually not super exciting because as he said, "it still has the same wussy engine." :) Word on the street is that it is a nicer truck, more comfortable and a better ride, so that's good.

We'll leave off with a few zoo pictures - we had so much fun visiting all the animals!