Another summer has come and gone. To celebrate the end of summer and the cooler temperatures that come with September we went to Green Lakes State Park. I thought this picture of Lincoln and Rebecah holding hands was cute. The week after Kimball left everyone was feeling a little sad so we were all a little more affectionate with each other.
First day of school!! Everyone was VERY excited.
Rebecah is in 9th grade this year. It's still part of the Junior High.
Lincoln and Annika are in 4th grade. Our elementary school is under renovation so the 4th grade this year gets to attend the middle school a year early.
Eden is in 2nd grade. The first through third grades of the elementary school are at an unused Catholic school about 15 minutes away. It makes for a much longer bus ride.
Everyone came home from school happy and excited for the new year. Rebecah has had to make friends in a few of her classes, but she has settled in nicely.
Eden and Kaleb, the boy across the street.
Joseph participated in a golf tournament at Atunoyte. Joseph's work was one of the top donors for the charitable tournament so they could have 8 employees golf as part of the tournament. They were treated like royalty! They had gift cards to the golf shop and three nice meals provided. Joseph won a door prize which was a $25 gift certificate to an Italian steakhouse. Joseph's team ended up being the winning team at the tournament and each member of the team ended up with a $100 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods. It was a lucrative golf day for Joseph!
Lincoln signed up for ARC Race for the mile "fun" run. ARC is a local charitable organization. Lincoln enjoys running and it showed in his time. He was the third child under 14 to pass the finish line. Lincoln enjoyed this race so much he ran in another race two weeks later. His time for that race was roughly 6:45. They didn't have an official time clock like the first race.
Lots of yummy treats...donuts!
Get ready, set....GO!
Wow! Check out that time! 6:55!!
Race Swag!
I don't know where Lincoln got this rash, but it was super itchy and he was pretty miserable for 5 days. He had it on the back and both sides of his neck. We treated it like poison ivy and used a poison ivy wash that we had in our linen closet and that really helped the itching. Lincoln took a lot of Benadryl and used hydrocortisone cream a lot those 5 days. He was SO good about not itching.
Rebecah is enjoying the high school life. She went to a varsity soccer game and two football games this month. Homecoming was the last Friday of the month. It's really weird, but our school doesn't have a homecoming dance, just the game.
Melanie, Rebecah and Hayden
Fire Safety Primary Activity.
Learning about fire extinguishers.
Practicing with a fire extinguisher.
Camping Stove walking tacos.
Saying good-bye to Kaleb. Lincoln is about 2 1/2 years old than Kaleb and they only started playing together within the last 6 months. But, when you have a friend that lives across the street you become buddies pretty quickly. Lincoln was very disappointed when Kaleb's family announced that they were moving to Georgia. Their last few weeks together were bittersweet.
Here's a short update on Kimball. He is doing really well in the Netherlands. He is happy and loving life. I love hearing about all of the different foods and experiences he is having. He attended a Rotary retreat at the beginning of September to meet the other exchange students in the Netherlands. It was a lot of fun.
He has been cycling with a local cycling group.
On this ride they went about 105 kilometers.
Do you see the windmills?...an old fashioned windmill with a modern one in the background. Kimball said that most windmills in the Netherlands are modern and he has rarely seen the iconic ones we associate with the Netherlands.
He has made friends at school and he's very popular with the ladies. Kimball said almost everyone is tall and blonde. Lunch time at school.
Franeker, the town where Kimball lives, had a 5 day festival. Kimball went to the festival with friends or his host family every night. He said there was live music, food vendors, and a few games and rides.
I love it when he sends me pictures of food. Bread and cheese are staples in the Netherlands.
Typical breakfast and lunch for Kimball:
Breakfast is usually yogurt, bread with Nutella and peanut butter. Lunch is bread with cheese and a slice of bread with Nutella for "dessert".
