2018 School days

Memories of school 2018 are on the docket here! 
Penny has been hard at work at NSMS - her last year! She has taken well to Kindergarten and continues to demonstrate leadership in the classroom. She has established a good group of friends - some of which will follow her into 1st grade. She continues to diligently work on her fine motor but has moved from the "tile area" over to the "carpet area" where she is mastering geography, math, science and culture.

In addition to work the school celebrated many holidays as a group, learning through play and togetherness. Halloween is the best holiday of them all - because of course, candy!

Halloween celebration

The children celebrated their with their annual Thanksgiving feast, a day of sharing and trinyg new things ( hopefully)

Penny boarded the train for the polar express  - hot chocolate, Pj's and stories were just a few of the activities that the children experienced. 

While all of this is going on Michael is hard at work on 3rd grade - the pictures are less as he gets older the sharing is different. We are more reliant on him to tell us of his experiences. I did manged to get a few as  mystery reader, and grabbing a few shots while he is a CAP with his buddies! 

He won the Wildcat way award and was nominated by student council as student of the month. This boy continues to amaze me in everything he does. He is kind, caring, respectful and lets not forget stubborn :) 

He has also established some great friendships, with some amazing kids. Friends are so important! Tony and I are working hard to help facilitate this as best we can. Michael says 3rd grade is going by fast and that he says sometimes "life is hard" but most of the days are filled with progress and satisfaction. He works so hard, I'm proud of the work ethic he is developing. Keep it up in 2019!

Spring Break 2018

This year we added an adventure to 2018 - a trip to Smoky Mountains National Park. 

We began the journey with a short stop in Indianapolis to see Mark and Tammy - we celebrated Michael’s birthday and trudged through 6 inches of snow! It was crazy! 

The next morning we headed out to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains. What a place Gatlinburg is! This was by far the most populated park we have ever been to. Tons of attractions, restaurants, and people to see. 

We checked into our hotel and hit the pool, the kids had a blast. At dinner we celebrated MPGS badly (the actual day) and the whole Restaurant wished him HBD. It was very kind. 

The next morning we headed out to the park to take our first hike. Lorel falls is a 3 mile hike to a beautiful waterfall overlooking a steep rock incline. We widened through trail and kept our eyes out for bears as there had been many sightings! 

After the hike we had some lunch and made out way to the Newfound Gap. Since we ventured to the park in the spring a few of the areas were closed, but not Newfound Gap and the application trail. We stood and viewed North Carolina and Tennessee in one view and then headed up the Appalachian Trail. We hiked about 2 miles and then headed back, there was. No way would we finish the 1900 miles hike to Maine! 

We drove the rest of the loop road and took in the sights, smells and thoughts of spring in the smokiest. It was spectacular. Back at the hotel we enjoyed some relaxation and swimming. We headed out to downtown Gatlinburg and checked out some of the local shopping. Its quite and interesting town, to say the least. 

The next morning we were up and early to get in one more hike before we headed out of the park. We decided to make the trek to Rainbow falls. This hike was a bit treacherous, 2.8 miles up and some steep rock spots. The kids were amazing they took in the animals and the scenery and we played 20 questions to keep our heads on the trail. 

We made it up the steep mountainside, it brought to us a magnificent waterfalls. The highest in the park to be exact. We sat for a while had some snacks and took in the sights and felt good about what we had accomplished. We headed back to down the trail all the while encouraging the other hikers who we passed on our way down. 2 days and 17 miles of hiking we had done it! I was so proud of the kids, they really put for the effort and seemed to be genuinely proud of their accomplishment. We got in the car bid farewell to the park and headed to Asheville. 

The kids passed out on the 2 hour drive, Tony and I chatted and took in the mounting views, what a beautiful drive to Asheville. When we arrived, I couldn't believe town is in the middle such a red state. We had dinner at a local brewery and met a couple from Pennsylvania who were passing through while going to visit their older children.  The people are so open caring and genuinely happy! The beer is magnificent and the food was even better! We visited the Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate, it was really beautiful The kids loved the tour and the gardens, we walked as much as we could as tony and I were having a hard time moving around after all that hiking. The kids on the other had were just fine, ages is catching up with us!  

Penny takes a picture! Good job! 

We headed out the Sierra Nevada brewing company, and had a few beers while we learned how they get all the hops into their beer! The kids thought the place smelled but enjoyed the food and assembly lines. Back to the hotel for swimming and then out to eat in downtown Asheville. 

We picked another local brewery where we met the happiest 10 old men I have ever seen. They had made Asheville their home and couldn't be happier about being a part of the city. They embraced it all. We ended the evening with some local ice cream and then off to bed. 

The next morning we began our trek home, stopping at the Kentucky horse park. - My hope to show Penny the beauty of horses, (maybe she will want to ride!) The horse park is such a beautiful place, from Man or War to Secretariat their stories resonate triumph! 

We toured the park and then made it back to our hotel for pool time and to wind down with thoughts of Arlington Heights. The last leg home is always the longest! 

Magnificent Belgian 

These journeys are everlasting for Tony and I. I hope the kiddos can look back at these memories (or this blog) and reflect on the fun times we have shared, and as always there is much more than corn to this beautiful nation.