Once upon a time I used to put my teaching bag in a closet for a few weeks after school got out in June and sit on the front patio, read, and take care of my pansies in our old whiskey barrel. Those days are so, so, so far away... whew. We are not having the "watch your pansies grow" kind of June, that's for sure : )
1. Summer schedule for gymnastics is 9-12 Monday through Thursday. Both Maddie and Gracie are officially Level 5 gymnasts—Gracie found out she made it (barely, and only with the promise to work three times as hard this summer) right as school got out.
2. Bridget and I headed to Michael's to replenish my tape runner supply. I am using a whole lot of tape runner right now.
3. This is not the best representation of the interesting military games being played on the parade ground this week as we drive back and forth and back and forth from the gym, but trust me—it's like having a field full of little green plastic army men positioned in different ways each time.
4. Bridget and I went baby antelope hunting and found one. She named this one Spikey.
5. Gracie is working through some fears about jumping to the high bar; her coach was making her stand up there to prove that nothing bad was happening when we arrived to pick her up. She has done the jump a number of times but suddenly has contracted a major case of the scaredy cats about it for reasons no one understands—she hasn't fallen, she knows she can do it...I don't know. She'll figure it out.
6. We have to find a place to eat lunch in between gymnastics and music lessons on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays; we found our spot for Tuesdays on the northeast side of town. The climbing wall was a huge hit.
7. Monkeys love to climb. And as always, Maddie gets to the top of any structure she's ever been on. She has been doing this since she was two years old.
8. Lunch, a park, and climbing helped Gracie get back to herself after the tough end of gymnastics.
9. We discovered a few weeks ago that Bridget's bestie lives a street away from our piano teacher! So, while Maddie and Gracie were at their lesson, we crashed their house for 56 minutes. It was the highlight of Bridget's summer thus far.
10. They also foster kittens for the animal shelter; I had fun holding a tiny kitten before I remembered how Ella quashed my affinity for cats. He was fun to play with for a little while, though, and we know where he's staying this summer : )
11. My new hanging baskets for Summer 2012. I kept the hanging baskets of Summer 2011 alive until November when I finally had to commit hanging basket-icide (may they rest in peace in our shed where I forgot I left them until yesterday) so I decided I could manage another set of them. If you are in the market for hanging baskets, I recommend buying the kind with the coconut-esque lining—they seem to live much longer.
12. Diagon Alley-inspired strawberry and peanut butter ice cream cones for dessert. Yum.
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Don't forget to link up your collages/pages to my post over at The Daily Trumpet for a chance to win this month's sponsor prize: a seat in Nic Howard's new 13 week workshop at Big Picture Classes. Still on the fence about participating in the Take Twelve photography challenge? You can start any month of the year—there are no rules : ) Check out the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit over at Ella Publishing Co. for more information!
