Summer break begins

Today was the last day of school for the kids, which gives us a first-grader and a fourth-grader. Where have the years gone?

And they both finished with sterling report cards. All of Lincoln's many categories were "well-developed - surprise, surprise - and Levynn boosted her math grade back to an A to get all As again.

We think it helped that Levynn had a new teacher for the last two months or so. Had we mentioned that? Her original teacher, who had not impressed us (although Levynn liked him, sweet girl), suddenly left that career behind in April to take a job as a consultant for an educational book publisher. That left us even less impressed, as you can imagine.

Anyway, he was replaced by a teacher who had been working with special education kids. Dad and Lincoln knew her because she had been working with kids in his class. We expressed to her our concerns about Levynn's math progress, and she took an interest. She also went more slowly in math than the other teacher had, staying in one part of a unit longer to give the kids more time to understand it. We think it worked. Unfortunately, we're afraid the rest of the year's math is a blur to her. But the teacher gave us a booklet of extra work focusing on all those things for Levynn to do this summer.

As for Lincoln, who perhaps should have been doing some third-grade math himself, his last day had more pomp and circumstance. Parents were invited into the class for the last hour for an unofficial graduation-like ceremony and kindergarten-wide celebration.

Then Dad and the kids went directly into summer break mode. We went home just to drop off backpacks and headed for Lincoln's first piano class, another early birthday present - this one courtesy of Gram and Papa. (Hence that keyboard.)

It was a surprise, and he was very excited. By the time the classroom door opened and the teachers beckoned him inside, he was a little nervous. But at the end of class he came charging out, gave Dad a hug and said, "I LOVE my piano class!"

Here's a little peek into his 10-minute private session.

Another swimmer

Lincoln found his courage recently and finally tried going underwater with his goggles. That's all he needed to do to get going because he's been doing this ever since.

Now we need to learn to catch

Don't judge Levynn's hitting based on that hooping video! She's made great strides in recent days, as we've been out there playing ball several times.

It really took off after Levynn attacked Dad with such ferocity during some pool noodle light saber battling that he remarked, "You're swinging that thing harder than you swing a baseball bat!" That pumped her up. She grabbed the bat and suddenly had a totally new batting stance and swing. It carried over to today. Lincoln had been hitting better than her - more consistently and harder - but not anymore.

Lincoln's holding his own, though.

Dad needs to break in the new gloves now.

Holy hula hoops!

Levynn's become quite the hooper. Apparently, she does it a lot at recess. And she won a contest at school last week, beating the entire third grade for longest sustained hooping.

Have a look for yourself.

Wow, Part II

We kid you not. Mom sneaked into their bedroom just before Levynn's alarm woke her, and that was her reaction.

Her alarm was set for 6 a.m. because we wanted to open some presents before Dad went downstairs to host the breakfast service. Otherwise, we would have had to wait until almost 9 p.m. to do it - after the school day ended and the last friend had left here post-"party" (more on that later).

This is one of them, a gift for both kids from Granddaddy and Susan. It foreshadows another for a later day. Stay tuned.

As it happened, we didn't finish opening presents until 9 p.m. anyway. Oh well.

Levynn's idea for a party was delightfully simple: invite two close friends (whose families we also know best) to ice cream at Ghirardelli and a couple of hours playing here at home. This friend had to stay later so she joined us for dinner at Big Bowl.

Among the presents in the second round of opening was... an Associated Press Stylebook? Yes, it was. (FYI: That's a textbook for editors. And Dad might be borrowing it.)

What's going on, you ask? Dad recently was invited to take the Tribune's copy editing test, and Mom brought home her current spiral bound copy for him to study. Levynn caught sight of it, took a look and fell in love with it. She said she wanted one for her birthday!

Again, we kid you not. We couldn't make this stuff up. Is this what it's like to have a 9-year-old?

Wow

Levynn's Girl Scout troop had its end-of-year celebration after school today, and this time around she graduated - or "bridged," in Scout parlance - from Brownies to become a Junior. That's right. She's not a Brownie anymore!

It was the start of an exciting six-day stretch that also includes her birthday and the last day of school. By the end of it, she'll be 9, a fourth-grader and a Girl Scout Junior.

So, yeah. Wow.

Back to the ceremony. Levynn was chosen to lead the Brownies through all the steps of it, including speaking to the assembled parents. She was the first to "bridge," which you can see in the video, and then she stood there and hugged the other girls who bridged as each came across. It was very sweet.

Adventures for city kids

We went to the Chicago Park District's Family Adventure Day today at Northerly Island, the far reaches of museum campus. The highlights were the archery and fishing, of course.

The kids got a little tutorial before they could let an arrow loose.

Levynn didn't put enough oomph into her first shot.

She missed the target on her second shot.

But she hit the target eventually. Lincoln hit it on his first try.

They both caught more than one fish.

Then they had to throw the fish back.

And they found a great tree on the walk back to the bus stop.