Owen, Sara &
Andrew Hoelter

Normally when we come to this day of the year—the last day of school—I would have pictures of Owen carrying an egg on a spoon, passing it quickly to a classmate. There would be a shot of Sara looking on, wanting to join in, and Drew hanging out in the backpack.

Not this year. Owen, who has stayed home sick just once this year, came down with a fever last night, and thus missed the very last day of 1st Grade. He was a classy kid throughout the day, assuring himself that “there’s always next year”, even though he was missing Field Day.

The day did have its upsides: A rainy 57° F June day is not a great day to be outside, and with the little ones at daycare, it was just Owen and Dad. This meant iPad time, a sack lunch meant for school but eaten at home, a two-hour nap, and, best of all, a full-volume screening of “The Empire Strikes Back”. Feel free to now do your best Chewy impression out loud.

It was also the last day of sorts for Sara. She begins preschool in the fall, and is home for the summer. She’s been going to “Billie’s house” since she was two-months old and has always loved it. She is excited about school, but we know she will miss Billie and her friends there. At least she will get to visit when we pick up Drew.

Nov. 2008: Sara and daycare friends saying goodbye for the morning.

It’s fun to watch these kids march forward in life—sometimes as planned, sometimes in unexpected ways. They both ended the day happy, you can’t ask for more…

Owen dragged a box out into our backyard this afternoon, and also (in an surprising glimpse of thoughtful big sibling-ness) brought up boxes for Sara and Drew. They became “kennels”. The kids were “puppies for sale”. They furnished their kennels and a very peaceful 30 minutes passed. The only requirement of the presiding adult was to accept the “puppy mail”, which consisted of bits of Owen’s schoolwork from last week. Apparently, puppies REALLY like to send mail. It was lovely!

Peter took advantage of our nice weather and (long naps) to dig a trench in the yard. I think it will hold an electrical conduit of some sort. Trenches, and the dirt piles that they produce, are highly desirable to the toddler in search of gross things to taste and dangerous places to climb…

I have to say, I’m a little embarrassed to go public with the amount of dirt our children are allowed to consume while we take pictures of them…

Drew has discovered the lure of altitude, which we’ve been using to our advantage. He stood on our stool in the kitchen playing with (previously shunned) cups and spoons long enough for me to fix dinner AND empty the dishwasher! I took the picture of the back of his head because I couldn’t bring myself to disturb the peace.

We’ve been looking forward to a Memorial Day weekend trip to the beach for a LONG time. We joined the rest of the Hoelters in Manzanita for a few rainy days of beach walking and sand castle making, some foosball, board/card games and CUPCAKES to celebrate Chris’s Birthday. There was an impressive array of idevices, much to Sara’s delight. Sara and Owen got to sleep in bunk beds, which made going to bed FUN and bonded with their cousin Jackson, 7 months.

Here are some pictures!

Eat sand or run into the ocean? So hard to choose…

Manzanita has Cape Cod-esque dunes that Owen and Sara had fun exploring, with lots of climbing/jumping/rolling. There was sand where no sand should be!

An EXCELLENT frosting:cupcake ratio

Thanks for sharing your toys, Jackson!

A good looking bunch of Hoelter cousins…

The whole crew, minus one bearded world traveler. We miss Micah! (Sara, in her nearly 3-year old obstinate phase, insisted on sitting RIGHT there)

A very silly Silly photo.

Thanks to Mark and Miriam for making this happen—we all had a wonderful weekend—rain can’t ruin the magic of the beach!