School's OUT!

We Officially have a second grader and fourth grader!  We attended their final Star Assembly of the year on May 24, the day after the New Haven Talent Show.  Gracie and Owen both received awards from the specials teachers (music, art, PE, media, library).  They call this the PEAS award.  It stands for Positive Effort and Attitude in Specials.  Owen also received the "Shining Star of the Year" award in his class.  This award is given to the student who shows a combination of the best attitude, character, and academic achievement throughout the school year.  I was just a little proud of Owen.

Owen receiving his award for his section of multi-age (1st & 2nd grade) classes.

More Softball and Baseball

Gracie and her teammates at one of their tournaments in Columbia.

I think this one was May 20-21.  Their games were delayed due to rain, and they ended up having to play at a different softball complex.  It actually worked out well because it was closer to our house.

They have a lot of fun together and all get along really well.

Gracie catching at the tournament last weekend in Moberly

Tournament in Moberly.  They are watching a different softball game.

Gracie is the one with the braid.

Owen is a trooper.  He manages to have fun at the softball games, too.  Luckily some of the other players have younger brothers.

Owen gets a turn.

Owen's games are on different nights every week.  A lot of his games fall on Thursdays when Gracie has two games every week.  Owen is doing great, but seems to be a little more focused and skilled than some of his teammates.  Sometimes I don't get to see Owen because I am coaching Gracie's little league team. Nick coaches her competitive team. which has been on Tuesday evenings, but is now done.  She just has one tournament and the competition team is done for the year.

Another tooth is gone.

Gracie and Owen being silly

Memorial Day Weekend

We found a gravel road south of Columbia Regional Airport to sit and watch the air show again this year.  We weren't quite as close, but it was still pretty awesome to watch.

We fit in down here. 

Our campsite for Memorial Day.  We brought our camping gear down to our property in Ashland and set up for the night.  We met our new neighbors down there, who have five kids; four boys and a two-year old girl.  They live across the road to the east.  Their kids go to a private Christian school in Columbia, but I'm sure we'll see a lot of them.

We also found that the frogs in the pond are very loud.  ALL night.  Hopefully the volume won't be quite as intense when we are sleeping inside the house.

Owen got to use his bundle to help start the camp fire.  He made these while he was with Courtney and their family in Iowa.

Gracie and Owen cooked. 

The next day we made a trip to the Ozarks to see everyone down there.  The kids got to swim and we had dinner with my parents.  It was a late night, but we had fun.  Owen actually slept through dinner because he was so tired.  Then he slept all the way home and through the night.  The next morning he asked why we didn't eat dinner with Grandma.  Poor Owen.  He was so tired.

Then we went to Iowa to welcome Grandma back to the midwest and tell her happy birthday.  It was fun to see cousins and see Deb again.  She will be down to visit us soon!

METALLICA

Nick did a great job with my birthday this year!  He meant for it to be a surprise in April, but the tickets were mailed to us in March rather than sent electronically to him.  So I found out a little early about my June concert event.  So, we have been waiting a few months to go to this concert.  Nick and I went to see Metallica when they played at Hilton in Ames the year after we were married.  It was a much larger venue this time, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. They are well worth standing in the rain and driving there and back in the same evening.  The show was AMAZING!  I can't believe they still have that much energy and talent to put on such an outstanding show.  We were pretty far away from the stage, but Metallica did not disappoint and I have no complaints.

When we arrived, it was still raining and didn't quit until about 10pm.  Rather than sitting in our seats in the rain, we found a spot under a balcony to stand a watch.  It was in the same area as our seats. We could see everything perfectly because of the ginormous video walls that were set up on the stage.  

Pyrotechnics

Five panels of video wall made of mesh. You can see how small the people look compared to the walls. I've never seen screens so big.  I was concerned that since it was in an outdoor venue, the sound wouldn't be as great. Their sound shook the whole stadium and the performance infinitely exceeded my expectations. I doubt there was anyone in St. Louis who was unaware of the concert.

  

Another picture of their video wall

And another

Best. Concert. Ever.

 And moving on to 

Recital Week

Gracie performs her recital on Saturday.  She is pretty excited to be dancing again.  She has had two nights of rehearsals this week, and pictures.  I'm looking forward to seeing her perform.

Tap

Ballet.  They are doing a collaboration of music from the musical "Cats."  There are 5 different levels of dancers that will perform together.  I hope it it is a good show.

. 

Gracie and Nick working with Thor.  YES, we still have a little horsie.  He is rambunctious and high spirited.  Nick has been trying to work with him every day and Gracie goes out there whenever she can, too.  Nick had a halter on him yesterday and Gracie was able to pet him a lot.  I think he's probably getting a little too strong for Nick to hold him down like he could the first couple weeks.  

Thor will be 3 weeks old tomorrow!

He has teeth now!

I think this sums up the past couple weeks.  I will try to get a couple videos posted of Gracie and Owen playing ball.  It's been fun to watch them again this year.  They have little league games during the week through the end of June and Gracie has one more competitive tournament Father's Day weekend.  They have started summer school, which they both love.  We will soon add a cousin to our family, and their Grandma Deb is coming to visit tomorrow!  After this weekend, their activities will slow down quite a bit I think.  But we will still be constructing a house!