Youth Triathlon

Sydney and Bailey participated in a youth triathlon Sunday.  Sydney still competes in the under-10 division, so she swam 100m, biked 2 miles, and ran 1/2 a mile.  Bailey competed with the kids 11-14, so she had to do twice those distances.  They both finished, and we were so proud!

Pop's birthday

Baba and Pop came over to celebrate Pop's birthday tonight.  Pop bought himself a big birthday gift - a new car!  While we were outside, we also took a few shots of the girls.

First Swim Meet

Tonight we had our first swim meet of the season. The three girls are all swimming again, but Cal decided to take the year off.

Bailey's Graduation

Bailey graduated from elementary school today!  Grammie, Granddad, Baba and Pop all came to the ceremony.  Before they announce each child by name, they make a presentation of special awards for excellence in different areas.  Bailey was proud to be the first recipient of the Emily Easter Math Award.  This was extra special to us because Ms. Easter and Mrs. Whitlock were Bailey's teachers for 2 years in K/1, and she had a very special bond with them.  Ms. Easter is retiring this year, and in her honor, they created this award for excellence in Math.  They will put a plaque in the school lobby, and Bailey's name will be the first one on it.

The graduates are given a choice of leaving after the ceremony or staying to hang out until school ends.  We offered to take Bailey out to lunch as a special treat with just her parents and/or grandparents, but she had better plans.  One of her classmates invited a few of them over to his house for water guns and ice cream.  We tried not to let it hurt our feelings.

Mohawk time

For the past five years, the last day of school has involved a little preparation the night before.  We've given Cal a mohawk for the last day ever since second grade.  He's been growing his hair since March in anticipation of having a nice tall one!  The first three shots are the cut in progress.  The fourth is from July 2005 when Dave and Emily even let Cal keep the mohawk for their wedding in which he was ring bearer!  The final shot is of Cal last year with his mohawk on graduation day - that caused quite a stir among the crowd.

End-of-the-Year Fun

The end of the school year is almost upon us which means every day is a field trip for someone.  Bailey joined the rest of the 5th grade at a nearby park for some outdoor fun.  They had an awesome box lunch from Panera, and they were surprised by a gift from Mark -- graduation t-shirts with all of their names listed inside the numbers 2008 on the back.  Bailey and Kathryn are modeling them here.

After Mark dropped off the shirts, he headed into town to take some shots of the next field trip.  Cal and the other kids in the sixth grade walked over to the city pool near their school for a day of fun.