End of School-Beginning of Golf Lessons

The last day at North Star Academy was a sad one.

We will miss Ms. Godwin,

and Mrs. Matott. Andrea cried almost the entire week! Ryan thinks she is more emotional about leaving NSA than she was when sending her kids the first day of kindergarten! Maybe he's right, but she has put a lot of time, energy, and effort into NSA and will miss it dearly.


The girls started golf lessons the week school got out. Ryan thought it would be fun to hit a bucket of balls while waiting for the lessons to start.

Can you tell which kid is REALLY into golf?

Ryan gives a little instruction of his own!!

Our pro golfers!!

Preschool Graduation

Little Man finished his first year of preschool! They have a big graduation ceremony & include the younger kids, who still have 1 more year of preschool left, so it was a little strange. Maybe preparing them for next year?

We arrived at the school a little early & were waiting in the car when I got these darling photos!

This is probably more of what he will look like when he graduates from high school!

Congratulations, buddy. You made it through an entire year!

He loves his teacher (who won't be there next year) ...

... and his friends! (who will be going to kindergarten next year)

They had cake & cookies afterward.

We found out this past week that he qualifies for CPP-Colorado Preschool Program! This is a scholarship for preschool, so he will be able to attend preschool for free next year-yeah!! He will be in the afternoon & most of the kids returning will be in the morning, but hey, when it's free, you make new friends, right?

NSA Art Show

The school has an art show each year with awards, a band, refreshments, & an entire school full of artwork on display. We were only able to find one art project each!

NSA Field Day

Andrea wasn't able to attend Field Day this year, so we took pictures in the back yard when the kids got home! Each class picks a state to represent & then has a costume.

Illinois

Florida

Cousins

Ryan's sister moved to Colorado recently and their niece came to visit so we all went to the 16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver. We are excited to have more family around & really enjoyed visiting with the "favorite niece!"

How cute!

They enjoyed having her here!!

Silly boy-jumping in front of the photo!

All the cousins at the Hard Rock Cafe

Palm Springs

Ryan had a conference for work in Palm Springs & Andrea decided to go with him to get away for a few days. Thanks to Patti & Grandma Connie for watching the kids!! It was such a crazy trip. Andrea's flight was direct & left 45 min earlier than Ryan's, meaning she had to hang out in the Palm Springs airport for 4 hours waiting for him to arrive! At times, she was the only person in the airport besides the cafe clerk!! We drove to the wonderful Desert Palms resort & were wined & dined (literally) that first night at Morton's Steakhouse. We didn't realize it was dinner AND a wine tasting! It was kind of awkward when they realized they were sitting at the head table witht the sponsors AND the "wine guy!" It turned out to be a pleasant experience & they were even able to talk about the church, as the sponsors were wondering why they weren't drinking. It was also very educational, as the "wine guy" related stories about how he started his own vineyard, the difference between wines, the making of wines, & even offered tours of his vineyard at a future date.

There were birds all over that weren't caged or anything. (green parrot above Andrea's head) They would just sit there & sometimes even start talking to you!

Ryan went golfing in the 95 degree heat while Andrea visited the spa for a "California Sun-Kissed Wrap" which is a body scrub & wrap. She also enjoyed being pampered with the wet sauna, dry sauna, jacuzzi, desert shower, rainforest shower, & small scalp massage.

We took this little boat ride around the resort from the lobby area to one of the on-site restaurants. During the tour they saw this black swan!

On the last day, we drove to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram. Major expensive ride to the top, but amazing! Once the tram starts, the floor rotates so you get a view from all angles as you are traveling upwards. It was really neat!















At the top, there are a lot of hiking trails. We took one of them for a while before riding the tram back down the mountain to catch our plane.

We drove around the town of Palm Springs a little before we had to be to the airport. It was a very relaxing trip!

Family Golf Outing

The kids had a day off of school for a teacher inservice, so Ryan surprised them by taking the day off work. When asked what they wanted to do, they said, "go golfing." It was a little overcast & in the middle of the the day so not too many people were on the course, which was good because it took us 2 1/2 hours to play 9 holes!

We fit all 5 of us on 1 golf cart at times-probably a scary sight!

Andrea got best ball on one hole; The Diva swings like she is playing tennis & wanted to drive the cart most of the time; Little Man was upset when he couldn't play on the 1st & 9th holes; (they were going to charge us $18 for him!) Murph enjoyed refreshing her skills in preparation for another round of golf lessons this summer; & Ryan was just glad to be playing golf! We lost a few balls but came home with lots after the many "hunts" we went on!