Summer Vacation Begins

School's been out for two and a half weeks now.  We've already got soccer camp and swimming lessons under our belts. After spending some of soccer camp in the pouring rain and shivering poolside, we have a solid week of high 70 temps in the forecast! Perhaps now we can say that summer has really begun.  It has a been a long, cool, wet spring.
Now, here are some obligatory last-day-of-school photos. I've even made this into a before-and-after spread so you can see how the 3 school kids have changed since the fall.

 

Here's Adah with her teacher, Ms. Mosnot, saying goodbye on the last day:

 

And now, remember what she looked like on the first day of third grade? Can you see how much her hair has grown?

 

Maggie poses with her teacher, Mrs. Dennis, who split the day with Mrs. Petrick. Too bad Mrs. Petrick was at her afternoon teaching job at the middle school during this photo op.

 

And here's Maggie on her first day of first grade. Her hair was pulled back in fancy pony tails, but now it's been cut short (and she wants it even shorter!).

Gunnar's last day of preschool was the day after the girls finished school.  Gunnar was a reluctant photo subject, as my carpooling partner tried to snap a shot of our two boys with their teacher, Angela.  Oh well. We know what Gunnar looks like, right?

Gunnar was a little more excited on his first day of school back in October:

I'm glad Adah, Maggie, and Gunnar had such positive experiences in school this year with caring and dedicated teachers.  My kids all love to learn and love going to school.  We are looking forward to all the fun of summer--gobbling up our backyard raspberries, playing in the sand at the river beach, riding bikes, fun programs at the library, and so much more--but they still talk about what they're anticipating when the new school year begins in the fall.