It's Mid-July! Summer Has Been Great!!

A few weeks left of summer for the Thomas family! We have really been enjoying our time off from work, time home with the kids, and a slower pace for these last 6 weeks!


Olympic Distance Triathlon:  Two summers ago I competed in a Sprint Distance Tri, so this summer I decided to try the Olympic Distance!  The swim was 0.93 miles, bike was 23.5 miles and a 10K run. The swim and run were great and the bike was awful :(  I had a low (read flat) tire for over half of the miles so my time was slow.  But I'm still glad I did it!

Visit from Luther Friends:  Blake, Jen and their 3 sweet kiddos came to visit from Iowa!  We had such a fun visit!  The kids were stacked: Bo (5) Ali (6) Brady (7) Carson (8) Caitlyn (9) - they played SO amazingly well together!  We camped in Rocky Mountain National Park, played at the pool, visited the Science Museum, hiked in Boulder and ate LOTS of yummy food!

Trip To Alaska:  What a special trip we had to Alaska in June over summer solstice. We love AK in the summer, especially in June! The weather was perfect.  The kids were in LOVE with their cousins - we had so much fun with Grammy, Grandpa Michael and Zach, Margaret, Willem (5) and Sophia (1)!  Again, we ate lots of yummy food (we have been on a new workout program the last couple of weeks to make up for our June eating, lol), watched animals at the Conservation Center (which we got to ride in the back of Zach's truck in true Alaska fashion), carved sticks, had target practice with Grandpa's gun, made a quick trip to Healy to visit our old stomping ground, ate dinner out with my BFF from high school, and held baby husky puppies at the Iditarod Trail HQ.

Palmer travels...

 

 

Weekend in Healy....

Dinner with Darcie!!

Fun Times With Friends:  The weeks we have been home, we have enjoyed lots of pool time and playdates!  Carson has been playing baseball this summer with a few buddies, Aliana had a cheer camp at Brian's high school last week and Ballet starts for her on Thursday!

 

                                           *Carson at catcher :)

Thankful for all of our blessings this summer!  Goodnight!!

May Wrap-Up!

It's the end of May!  Yippee!!  That means school is out and we are starting summer break!  Here's what the Thomas crew was up to in the month of May....

Broken Elbow - Aliana broke her "elbow" (humorous bone) when she fell off the monkey bars during recess at school.  Apparently she told the recess duty that she was "fine" and got up to try and keep playing. She started crying, so some of the second graders went to get Carson - he went and got a paraprofessional that works with a little boy in his class, she then brought Aliana into my classroom and I brought her to the ER! Aliana ended up having surgery (two pins put in) but couldn't have it that day since she needed anesthesia and had just eaten lunch.  They put the IV in her right arm, wrapped up her left arm with a splint/sling and sent us home for the night.  In the morning we went back to the hospital and she had her surgery.  She is currently on "cast #3".  Pins came out last week (they literally just pull them out which was a little traumatic) and has a week and a half left til the current cast is off and the whole ordeal is done!

   
 
  

 

Chicago - We headed to Chicago with our good friends Brandon and Ashley in early May and had a wonderful time!!  The weather was cool and rainy on days 1 & 2, but our last day it was sunny!!  We had such a great time exploring the city.  We did a boat tour, rode bikes, ate out, saw a Cubs game, and went to two shows at the Second City comedy club - it was awesome!! (thank you Oma & Opa for keeping the kiddies!!)

  

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 
The End - It's the end of spring soccer and the end of school! Brian has coached these four boys for 5 seasons (spring/fall for two and a half years).  We absolutely love the boys and their families!!!

The kids helped clean up my classroom last week, so ready & so excited for .....

SUMMER!!!!