School's Out....Summer's Here!

Well, school is officially out here in Iwakuni. The kids finished up their last day of classes on June 11th. They had a half day of school and then a half day of playing outside with their friends! To end the school year we followed the tradition Grandpa Greg started with his kids and enjoyed rootbeer floats at A&W. Because the restaurant is inside the bowling alley and joined with Pizza Hut, the kids enjoyed bowling and some new Chicken Alfredo and cheesesticks from Pizza Hut! What a fun way to end the school year. Cora is now in 1st grade and Dominick is a 3rd grader! Dominick's teacher is moving away and going to teach in Okinawa Japan so he gets to see what a regular 3rd grade class is like. No more combined 1st, 2nd and 3rd for him. It'll be good though to see if he's ahead in anything or if he's behind in anything. It will show us if the combined class was beneficial or not because they also have the combined 4th and 5th grade class. We'll have an idea if we want him to be in there or not the following year.

Summer is now here and the kids are already enjoying themselves. They have had watergun fights at the park with friends and turned the park's slides into water slides by getting them all wet. We enjoyed almost an entire day at the pool and are definitely going to be going back for more. Dominick has enjoyed riding is bike, playing horseshoes with his daddy and hanging out with his friends. Cora plays in the backyard with her friends and has enjoyed some days at the park too. She's not old enough to be outside on her own unless she's in our backyard, so if it's hot and too muggy for me to go sit outside all day, she has kept busy with her Littlest Pet Shops up in her room. Thanks to our friend Devon she has kept her room clean for over a month. I don't know what Devon said to her but thank goodness for her miracles! Hayden is still going to yochien during the week. On the 22nd, they start teaching him swimming. At least I have one I won't have to pay for swimming lessons for. He has enjoyed his afternoons swimming or playing at the park with his brother and sister. And of course they have all enjoyed not having to be in bed by 8 every night. They love being able to stay up late. I just wish they'd now learn the art of sleeping in. I'm sure they'll learn it soon enough and they'll escape chores and everything I think is important by staying in bed. Then I'll wish I never wished for it, kinda like wanting my children to talk and walk. I don't know if that was such a good idea now. :-)

I hope everyone is doing well and I'm sure there will be more posts of our summer fun soon. For anyone in South Dakota, we'll be seeing you at the end of July!