Saying good bye to friends

We've had a full week and a half of seeing friends, doing things in the city, and saying goodbye to many, many friends.  Here's a few of the kids' besties:

Laine and Clare - good friends from school

Aria, Laine, Mead, and Mary - school and church friends

Cole and Campbell - friends since birth!

Most of the first grade girls with Mead

Cole and Levi - a good buddy from school

The Byars - good friends from one of our favorite teachers at school.

Last Day of School

It's been a week since school finished, and we've enjoyed our first few days of summer.  Here's a glimpse of the last day of school:

The girls wore their formal uniforms for the closing chapel.

Cole decided to go with all blue.

They sang some songs and quoted some Scripture (even in Spanish!)

And then they recessed out - hard to believe the year is done already!

I'm going to miss uniforms next year - they made mornings so simple!

Baseball training

Cole participated in a baseball skills training program this spring, and he loved it!

Each Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. he went out and learned about throwing, hitting, running the bases, and catching the ball.

Penny got to go with him most weeks, and they brought back reports of all the skills he got to practice that day.

Cole is so ready to start playing in some games - hopefully we'll find something for him in Roanoke!

It was a fun group and a great way to get started in some organized sports.

To the Top of the Arch

Warning: picture overload here.  I just couldn't decide which ones to use, so I put them all up...

After 10 years, we finally made it to the top of the Gateway Arch.

We met up with some friends and journeyed up together.

It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time exploring!

A few pics with Daddy while we waited for our friends.

Friends arrived - time to go up!

The little elevator cars look like a big egg with 5 seats inside - tiny doors to climb in and out of too!

View of St. Louis, including Busch Stadium.

We even saw some players on the field warming up for the game that afternoon.

Proof we were there...

Two of the 3 families that came together are moving away from St. Louis this summer, so we checked it off our list of things to do before we go!

After the Arch we got pretzels and enjoyed playing (and digging in the pebbles) at the park.

Mommy and me pictures

Mother's Day came this year, and I realized I didn't have any pictures with my kids.  I guess since I'm the one who takes most of the pictures, I'm never in them!  So one night we fixed that with a few quick shots.

Cole was so sweet to sit with me and give a great smile - something he was not interested in doing at the school Mother's Day Tea!

Here's a good one with all of them.

And then Mead took a turn.  Laine... not interested this time around.  Maybe next time - I don't enjoy forcing photos, except maybe once a year for our Christmas picture!

Let's Go Cards!

One of our bucket list items before leaving St. Louis was that each us would get to go to one last Cards game.  Of course, that meant Penny would get to go to 4 last Cards games, but he didn't seem to mind!

The girls went to day games and enjoyed their special time with Daddy.

Cole went to a night game and clearly enjoyed himself thoroughly!  This picture (below) is not posed - he was so excited about the Cards getting a(nother) home run!  Love his passion for baseball!!

Penny and I had a nice night out with friends at a game.  Even though the Cards didn't win that night, it is always fun to go and spend some time at the ballpark.  We're sure going to miss this when we leave St. Louis!

Laine's singing debut!

Laine and her 3 girl classmates sang at the school talent show a few weeks ago.  They sang, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and they did a beautiful job!

Laine is going to miss her friends next year - oddly enough they are all going to be at different schools because of moving and job changes.  So they're really soaking up their time together these last fews weeks.