Juan and I began our summer in June teaching Summer Expeditions here in Columbia again. I must say, it's so much fun to teach within the same program as my husband. We teach different age groups, but being able to work together professionally is a blast. We get to watch each others' students grow in many ways during the short month that we have them. We see them learn how to think, swim, play, and engage in new friendships that may not have otherwise been formed. Summer Expeditions is a great way to get the summer started, but it makes the time go by so quickly.
After Summer Expeditions, we were able to start our "official" summer break! We started off over Fourth of July weekend in Jefferson City. I had never been to Jefferson City for the fireworks, so we decided to spend some time taking Elena on some carnival rides, eating delicious carnival food, and enjoying an evening watching fireworks over the Capitol. It was beautiful!
We have spent many of our weekdays just laying in the backyard playing in the pool, but we have ventured out to the splash park and today we even made it to a "big girl" pool where Elena couldn't touch the bottom, so she had to use her floaties to swim. She was not excited about it at first, but once she got the hang of it, she didn't want to get out of the pool! I can't wait for her to learn more swimming techniques, but for now, being comfortable in water is her biggest thing...we are getting there :)
Speaking of new things and Elena, she also got to take a "girl trip" to Six Flags back at the end of May. She went on many rides by herself and enjoyed them! My sister even got on one with Elena that spun around a lot, which may have been a mistake on Michelle's part...lol, but all in all, it was a fabulous day. I hadn't been to Six Flags in years, so it was great to go back...although, riding on all the roller coasters that I used to love is a whole different experience now...when did being dizzy make me so nauseated?!
Elena also got to take a trip to Kansas City a few weeks ago to visit her Tia Oly. We went to the aquarium to see a lot of sea animals...I absolutely loved it! We also got to go to the zoo and the highlight of the weekend was going to see Cinderella at the Starlight Theater! Elena even got to meet Cinderella, which was so very cool. Before the show, there was a princess festival where the kids could get their faces painted, get tatoos, get sparkles put in their hair, make crowns, play princess legos (one of Elena's favorite spots to visit), and get pictures with characters from the play. Elena had so much fun...it's so wonderful seeing her experience new things, and going to a show like this was definitely new for her. She sat through the whole thing for two hours...there were a few times she looked at me during the show and said, "I'm done. Let's go." This made me nervous, but Elena made it through and really liked the show.
It's been a busy summer so far, but it's not over by any means...there is a lot of pool time still ahead of us and afternoon naps, of course ;)
Here are pictures of our summer times so far! (Several are out of order and I don't know why they upload this way...)
Watching Cinderella with her bestie.
My students' projects for the summer...biographies!
My slogan for the summer...I'm not lying.
This girl loves catching tadpoles at Runge!
Memorial Day Parade
Little Superhero at Six Flags enjoying a cookie the size of her plate!
We visited the Butterfly House too!
Always having fun in the pool...
A few videos...I have tons, but they all take too long to upload...and of course the one of Elena reading is the one I want up here but it's too large of a file...oh well!
Fireworks...and dancing to the music
Six Flags
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