Here is June in a snapshot.
I figure that's about as good as place as any to get started:
"Scouting the Zoo"Such a cool event. The entire Zoo is overrun by scouts from all over the area. There are events everywhere - and the older boys get to camp at the zoo overnight. Scotty participated in the Cart Races for Cub Scouts and Brett camped with his Troop 601 overnight. Our friend Paul represented Troop 585 for the Church and did a cool job with the tent! This picture is Scotty going down the back of a flatbed tow truck that one of the dads brought to play with after the race. :D
STRAWBERRIES!This was FUN and rewarding. I learned how to make freezer jam. We picked over 30 pounds and here it is in September and I'm concerned I'm going to run out of jam already! Oooo - yummy! We made strawberry bread, pies, cheesecake and strawberry shortcake. I'm definitely doing this again next year! Here is the picture I used on the labels for the jam...
Hair Cut!Brett was looking a little more girly (rather than the skater look he was going for) so Mom brought out the trimmers! Eric & I love it - but Brett is mourning the loss of his locks. It's 3 months later and he's STILL upset about it! LOL! Here is the "before" picture. You'll see the pictures for the rest of the summer with less hair. :]
OrchestraOf course, part of the summer, we follow the Magnificent Performing Strings. It is a city-wide orchestra that Brett has belonged to since he was 7. Of course I think he is magnificent anyway. :) Here is one of the very few pictures we have of him performing at the Milwaukee Art Museum. There weren't many pictures because Scotty had the camera and we got a LOT of pictures of him!
You'll see more pictures of Brett when I post about GermanFest because the it was the 10th Year the Magnificent Performing Strings played there and they gave presents to Mr. K, their conductor, who has been a fantastic teacher! I heard he will only be doing it for 2 more years??!
The end of 1st and 7th GradesBrett gave a speech and played a solo in front of the whole 7th grade at the end-of-year honors program. It was a bit of a panic because the speech he wrote got STOLEN! It was in his yearbook on his desk and when he got back, the yearbook (and speech) was gone! So (because I typed it up for him) we re-created it during the program and he still did it. I was SO proud of him! The solo was excellent! It was interesting because we had a tornado watch in the middle of it. My friend Esther went with me and we had to stand in the back hallway of the stage facing the wall. We kept giggling and the teachers would yell at the kids "This is not a joke." But I could not stop the giggles!
Scotty's last days at 1st grade were SO FUN! But he was so excited for summer to begin. I think he had ants in his pants. In TWO DAYS he went from wobbling on his two-wheeler to standing on pegs on the back wheel and zooming down the driveway. He scares me a little. He and his bike(s) have been inseparable ever since. It was the Summer of the Bike!
FLOODS!June was FULL of water... basements being flooded... streets became rivers and puddles became lakes. Brett went to the Young Men Encampment in Madison (for church/scouts) and wound up working for FEMA in Baraboo (one of the hardest-hit areas). For weeks around the city here, rolls of wet carpeting and water-logged furniture lined the curbs for trash pick-up. After seeing all the funky designs on all those rolls of carpet - maybe the floods weren't a bad thing after all? ;)
I think that was about it? I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'll have to post July and August events in separate posts. But this is a beginning!
Okay - I have to say a little something. I won't get political after this - because everyone that knows me knows which way I'm going to vote. But the media bias which "doesn't exist" is really sticking in my craw today. My bachelor's degree in political science is burning a hole in my file cabinet...
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