settling in

The past two days I have spent some time in my new classroom space doing some directing and organizing. I'm really excited to get things set up with my co-teacher, Michelle and our Chinese teacher for the first half of the year, Jessie.

Tomorrow we plan on putting shelves where they think they might be during the year and maybe even getting a start on opening some of those boxes...

Here is an outside photo of the building:

h h h h h h hen dog hen dog is 11

Happy 11th birthday to our witty and winsome Henry Loren Quintana. 11 looks good on you!

Yaking down the Kinni

On Sunday, I went kayaking with my dear friend, Julie Annette. We borrowed friend, Angie's kayak, used my kayak and journeyed down the Kinnikinnic river--putting in at about 3pm and getting out about 6pm.

We endured a few mishaps as I didn't prepare Julie for the speed of the water, but we made it back home and went out for a nice dinner at Juniors.

Thank you soul sister for being up for any adventure!

some photos that I forgot to post from the past week

Osten watching the Wildcats at practice after swimming lessons every day

Osten and his buddy Jayden at the Ellsworth pool

the cast of Tom Sawyer

The Ghouls from Tom Sawyer

One of my sweet students who was in Tom Sawyer

Osten loving the petting zoo at Pierce County Fair

 Giant slide time!

Love his expression!

there is a special place in his heart for pigs!

drill grill

This afternoon, Anders and the marching band will do a small show to demonstrate what they have been working on this summer for the Fall show. Brad will be busy grilling meat to serve to the band, parents and community members who are interested in seeing their progress. I will participate in set up and serving. I'm hoping to grab a couple of photos of the occasion.

Here is a photo I snapped yesterday when I was taking Osten to swimming lessons. It's of the brass section:

and here are some photos from the Drill Grill

 Brad was one of the grillers

Anders is on the middle tuba

 he's the one with the brownest legs

again, the one with the brownest legs

The band sounded pretty great last night. I think it sounded even better than it did last year. This should be a fun marching band season!

school supply shopping and level three here we come!

On Thursday, Katie, Osten and I drove to Hudson to do our school supply shopping. We had already looked at what supplies we had on hand and now we are ready to hit Westside Elementary and Meyer Middle School Gold House with all our might.

After securing supplies, Osten and I went to his swimming lessons and he passed with flying colors...way to go big swimmer!

another actor in the family

deep end diver

Yesterday at Osten's level 2 swimming lessons, I saw a brave boy jump off the end of the board twice. Way to go OJO...it took your Momma several years to work up the bravery you displayed yesterday.

happy birthday Kaitie!

Vance's lady love, Kaitie is celebrating another trip around the sun today. Happy happy birthday.

first Target Field experience

Yesterday was a banner day. Grandma B and her eldest son, Kent enjoyed their first game at Target field.

Mom had asked if we could all meet at the field for a Twins game so I queried the family to see who could make it on Sunday, August 11. Grandma B, Kent and his friend Missy, Kurt, Kyle Sr., Kim and Kyle Jr., Cory and Evan, Karen, Brad, Anders, Katie and Osten all sat together in section 121 seats 9-22. Liana also attended with her cross country team sitting in section 309 and Adam attended with friend Ericka also sitting up high in the stadium.

It was an exciting game with the Indians scoring a home run with the second at bat and scoring another run in the first inning. The Twins answered with Rosario scoring a run in inning two. The Indians got another run in the third inning and then the bats were pretty quiet from inning 4-top of the 9th.

The bottom of the 9th got pretty exciting with Rosario batting a double, Arraez batting a single and both of them scoring on a double by Gonzalez. Cron had hit a solid single before Gonzalez was up to bat (thanks to Osten who kept cheering for him during his entire at bat) but Cron was tagged at home. If he would have scored, the Twins would have won the game in the bottom of the 9th.

Top of the 10th--the Indians nearly batted through their entire order. Plawecki got a single, Lindor walked, Allen got a single so the bases are loaded. Here comes Santana who shot a home run into center field...the crowd was silent. The next three batters went down with a strike out, a pop fly to left and a pop fly to the catcher.

The Twins started the 10th with Kepler, Polanco and Sano all grounding out to finish the game Indians 7, Twins 3. Now these teams are tied for first in the American League Central Division.

Back to the experience. I think Grandma had a great time seeing her family. She was impressed by the facilities and was able to maneuver easily. It was pretty incredible being together for such a fun day.

Most of us met at a Perkins in Edina for a post game meal. All of Kyle's family who went to the game was there. Grandma was there. All of our family except for Anders was there (he had to drive back to work). Kent and friend Missy were there. It was a great day and the only thing I would change if I could would be the final score...but even that didn't ruin the day ;).

fared at the fair

Yesterday, Katie and I worked at the 4H food stand, I got to work in the area making chicken strip baskets, pizzas and cheese bread. I got to work with Sarah, Norah and Brenda and many 4Hers requesting orders.

After our shift, we checked out Katie's projects. She got one white on her Marge bars--comments to make smaller chunks of topping to be more appealing. She got one red on her ginger snaps--comment recommendation to use butter or margarine instead of shortening. She got blues on her two photography projects. Great job Katie!