Puker

Today I dropped Jak off at Kindergarten with the hiccups.  He just couldn't get rid of them.  He barely ate any breakfast because the were so distracting.  But in typical Jak style, he didn't complain, just hiccuped his way up the sidewalk and into school.  I was at King Soopers in line to pick up my prescription when the school called.  Jak had hiccuped one to many times and puked all over the school library.  He wasn't sick, his hiccups finally passed and he was playing in the school nurses office when I picked him up.  As a precaution, he had to come home with me for the rest of the day.  So, to help keep his mind sharp I suggested we do some worksheets at home.  He plowed through 22 worksheets in less than an hour.  Kindergarten has lit a spark in this boys mind!

On our way to St. Anne's to pick up sister, Joseph noticed this little Praying Mantis on the star hanging next to the garage.  It's the 1st praying mantis I've seen in our yard here in Arvada.  I hope he tells his friends to come check out our garden too!

 After school, we signed Lillian up for "Little Flowers".  It's a group for little girls that meets monthly, to read and discuss Bible Stories and do crafts.  Today, they had a Popsicle party at the playground to kick it off.  It's going to be a great year!

The Kerschen's Love a Good Wedding!

It was such an honor to be invited to Malena and Colin's wedding.  Malena is the granddaughter of my good friend Kay's.  I have known Malena for 15 years now, since she was just 13 years old.  Malena loved to come to work with her Nanny and volunteer in activities with us.  It was no surprise that she followed in her Nanny's footsteps and became and Activity Director for Brookdale.  But it is a surprise, that Malena and Colin are planning to move to Louisiana this fall.  Kay is heartbroken, but that didn't stop Kay from helping make this wedding very special for Malena.  She has spent the last 6 months re-making her wedding dress for Malena to wear, and the result was beautiful.

Simms Street Gym

The Apex Gymnastics center just west of our house opened their brand new gymnasium this weekend.  The kids and I were able to tour the new facility, jump in bouncy castles, test out various sports equipment and use the gymnastics equipment as well.  It was so fun!  The free cake and tons and tons of frosting really helped kick their adrenaline levels up a notch too!

Phil & Marla Come to Town

Phil & Marla and their boys came to Colorado to explore for the weekend.  We were so excited to see them and had a really great time.  But we took very few pictures!  In fact, we don't have a single picture of Phil, Daniel or Grant.  We met at Grammy & Opa's house, walked to Parfet Park along Clear Creek, listened to a fun band, while eating dinner and watched part of "Star Wars, The Force Awakens" in the park.  

We talked to Jak about his god-parents (which he calls grandparents - no matter how many times we practice saying GODparents!) on the way to Golden.  He doesn't really remember them because we only see them about once a year.  But this visit, he seemed to really understand that they are his special family.  He snuggled on Phil & Marla's laps all evening - as you can imagine it made them very happy!  Meanwhile, Lillian and I danced and danced and danced to the band!

Opa!

Opa came to Joseph & Lillian's schools today to share our eclipse experience with the kids.  He had one kid act as the moon, another as the Earth and a third posed as the sun.  All the kids (and teachers) enjoyed it and I think we redeemed ourselves a little bit for skipping school on Monday!

Most importantly, Lillian and Jak felt like the star of the class having their Opa "Teach" their friends.

A Little Apres School Fun

Just cause summer's over doesn't mean we have to go straight home after school!  We were the only people in the bowling alley, I guess most people are settling back in to back-to-school mode.

We still had a great time, and these kids bowling skills aren't quite as embarassing with no one around to catch them!

Lillian's 1st Day of 1st Grade!

The Kerschen's are off to a bad start!  Yesterday was Lillian's 1st day of school, but she missed the first day, the fun day, the "How was your Summer" day - because we were in Nebraska staring at the sky.  So I thought I was prepared for today, but Joseph's bus was late, like a whole 5 minutes late, which made Lillian and I late for her 2nd day of school (after already playing hooky yesterday!). Despite being late, I had her stand under the St. Anne's School cross to pose for a picture to see how much she has grown since her first day of Kindergarten.  Then I walked her in so I could apologize to Miss Weasler profusely!  Miss Weasler understood and forgave us right away, because she is just about the kindest, gentlest soul you'll ever meet.  By now, Lillian had to go to the bathroom and I had to go with her because, she discovered that she couldn't button her new shorts, or fasten the new cute belt I put her in.  Humph, I guess I'll be driving back home and back to St. Anne's with a change of clothes for her and I guess Jak will NOT be riding the bus to school after all.  Oh well, at least I didn't have to drop them off and get to Lowry for work....phew.  We will get better...

 What a confident little 1st Grader - ready to take on the world!

A Few Professional Pictures

This first image really shows the stages of what the sun looked as the eclipse began, peaked and slipped away.  The second image is what they call the Diamond Ring, and we were able to see that exact image with the naked eye!  And the final is a meme that I found particularly funny - all this hype really was all about the moon photobombing the sun!

Total Eclipse!

We packed up camp Monday morning in record speed!   Everyone was so excited that the moment we'd been waiting for was finally here.  Opa's hard work and planning really paid off; we had a perfect location to view the eclipse.  It was as crowded as we were anticipating, but fortunately we didn't experience a shortage of gasoline or extreme traffic like folks who ventured North of Denver to Wyoming.  We were surrounded by lots of other people from all parts of the country and world.  And as the minutes got closer our anticipation grew.  And grew.  And grew!  Until the adults were so giddy and excited that the kids were giddy and excited.  I was not prepared to experience the deep emotions that followed.  It really was a moving experience.  I'm not sure I can adequately describe what we felt, but seconds after the peak of the eclipse, Kim and I turned to each other and said "I was not expecting to get so choked up over that!". 
We had a lot of fun posing for pictures in the free eclipse glasses Opa has been collecting for months.  Once we reached Totality, we had about 90 seconds to remove the glasses and stare directly at the eclipse.  Daytime felt like dusk, everything was so quiet it was erie, we all just stood there dumb founded, some crying and all hugging each other.  And then we saw this beautiful diamond ring image in the sky and it was over, just like that.  We scrambled to put our glasses back on, and watched as people immediately fired up their car and camper engines and drove off.  For a few brief minutes, the small town of Arthur, Nebraska had grown to hold a crowd of thousands.  And in a flash, we all scattered like bugs.  Back to our lives, back to reality.