The Crafts

This weekend we said farewell to spring with the last soccer games for the older three girls. Kate is done with soccer for good unless she decides to play in high school. And Maddie will start soccer this falls. CJ and Natalie have many more years of soccer ahead of them - if they so choose. We never force them to sign-up; it's always been their own decision. They have always gravitated toward soccer whereas Matt and I never played a day in our life. To welcome in summer we set up the backyard pool. The water temperature is the same as the hose so you find me in the pool for awhile but eventually... Maddie was so excited she sat in the pool with her clothes on. That's better. Swimming in a bathing suit > clothes.  

Several weeks ago, Maddie lost her top front tooth. It had been wiggly for quite awhile when one morning after breakfast Maddie and I were talking and she yelled, "Where's my tooth!?" Turns out she had swallowed it along with a bite of bagel. So long tooth. She looks pretty darn cute with that big gap. Slowly but surely life is beginning its return to normalcy. Several weeks ago, Kate had her first band concert in a long time. The school used the gym rather than the auditorium so all family could attend and spread out. They did a great job! Kate played in the middle school jazz band in addition to concert band. She would get up early once, sometimes twice a week, and catch the 6 a.m. bus for Dysart to get to early morning practice. Only a handful of kids play in jazz band and they each got to perform a solo. I loved hearing it all! And as a former band student myself, I'm proud to have Kate play an instrument. CJ started the flute this year. And Natalie has started to...

Last weekend Matt and Kate hit the road for Wisconsin for yet another weekend of basketball. It also just so happened that the only soccer game on the calendar for the weekend was rescheduled. So I booked a hotel room for the younger girls and me at Grand Harbor in Dubuque. We swam and threw ourselves down slides and giant buckets of water dumped on our heads....this last through Friday night and all of Saturday morning. I didn't get any pictures of us at the water park because we were too busy having fun to break out the phone. Afterwards we grabbed lunch and bought tickets to the Dubuque Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. I've wanted to go to this place for years and I finally got my chance. We saw all sorts of marine life including catfish three times the size of me, sting ray, snakes, alligators, and so much more. The museum had super fun places for kids to play and explore with water and sand. We read up on environmental changes due to the development of locks and dams...