Thursday night was our Presidents' Club barbecue and grand finale.  My last teaching opportunity was a few weeks ago.  It fell to me to teach about Bill Clinton and to review our U.S. geography.  Our snack became a geography lesson in itself.  The girls shaped pizza dough into the shape of the 50 states.  Then we placed toppings on the states that corresponded to the products of that region.  We used apples in the NW, grapes in California, hash browns in Idaho, meat in the Midwest, spicy pepper flakes in the SW, mandarin oranges in Florida, peaches in Georgia, extra cheese in Wisconsin, maple syrup the NE, salmon in Alaska, pineapple in Hawaii.  (The sauce was either pizza sauce or cream cheese.)

We had a wonderful evening with the students and their families.  Jay had purchased a nice fire pit and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  We played a silly presidential trivia game; the kids' team won!

Each Friday during the school year we study an artist.  We recently studied Alexander Calder, famous for the flamingo sculpture downtown.  He created a whimsical circus out of wire that inspired the girls to make their own.  Emma made a strong man that actually lifted magnetic barbells.

 The other girls made a tightrope walker, a lion and tamer, a bullfighter and a horseback rider, among others. 
As a follow-up to this lesson we took a trip down to the Museum of Contemporary Art.  We had never visited it before, but we had heard that there was a Calder mobile exhibit there.  Unfortunately the Calder was in storage :(.  Instead we were able to "enjoy" exhibits such as a stack of cardboard boxes taped together with duct tape.  Some of the other art pieces were so "iffy" that I would ask the room guards to warn me ahead of time which areas to avoid.  One guard went so far as to stand in front of an inappropriate  painting.  There were the occasional art pieces that made us smile or think.  Emma had a good rule of thumb..."If I wouldn't have thought of it or I couldn't do it, then it seems like art."  Stacked cardboard boxes...not so much.

  We walked back through the neighborhood, stopping to give Diamond his bottle in front of the historic Water Tower.  We visited a firehouse and  had lunch at a McDonalds before getting back on the train for home.

The baseball season is winding down.  Sonja played her first playoff game yesterday and they won.  Sonja was responsible for many of the outs in the field.  She also played in the All-Star game.  Annaliese also was chosen to be on the All-Star team.  She had some excellent hits and contributed to outs as well.

Emma graduated from 8th grade a couple of weeks ago.  Grandma and Grandpa Greenwood came for the ceremony.  Graduation from homeschool is something special.  The grads have their moment in the sun as their parents have a chance to recognize their accomplishments and  character. Jay spoke of Emma's role in our family as the leader of the younger girls and as a creative thinker and writer.    This was followed by a very nice reception in the church parlor.  I made baklava and chocolate-covered cheesecake squares.  Then our family went down to Chinatown for supper at Lao Sze Chuan.  I found the restaurant on Yelp...it had great reviews.  We were seated on the second floor at a large round table that had a lazy-Susan that took up the center of it.  We had such fun sharing our entrees; we'd take a spoonful of a dish then spin the lazy-Susan enough to reach the next dish.  We ate rather common dishes, but we could have had such interesting meals as..."picled intestin" or "fresh frog".

Bridget registering to vote!

The next day we walked around the Day in Our Village exhibits in Scoville Park.  We had our photo taken by Tony Hughes at the Calvary booth...I hope we can get the photo inserted in here.  Then we went home and had a pizza party up in the tree house to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Ten years ago Grandma had to sit down below with the twins, but this time we were all able to climb the ladder.

Grandma Carole and Aunt Wendy were here this past week.  Wendy came for sinus surgery and Grandma came as driver, nurse and grandma.  They were here for a couple of ball games and a band concert (jump, jump, wiggle, wiggle music, in Grandma's phraseology!)  Grandma brought along an array of nail polish so that the girls could paint their nails and hers.  I have some nice pictures of her colorful fingernails, a different color for each nail.  This was the first time Grandma had ever painted her nails!

Today was Father's Day.  We took daddy to White Fence Farm for a nostaglic lunch.   We gave him a suitcase for work travel and Tootsie Pops.  Now Jay and the kids are watching an episode of Doctor Who starring Tom Baker filmed in 1975.  I am hearing periodic gasps and screams...cheesy, yet still creepy. 

Logan and Carly are at the YMCA of the Rockies near Estes Park, Colorado, for the summer.  Logan is working on the housekeeping crew during the days.  Evenings are dedicated to Leadership Training in evangelism.  He has no phone reception and had to climb a mountain to call us.  Jackson drove to Colorado today with Greg and Andy, and caravanned with the Hammond family.  They will be staying at the Hammond's summer cabin and will visit Logan on Tuesday.

Sofie has started her new job and is on the faculty of George Washington University as a policy research assistant.  This career move will allow her to get her master's degree for free!  Tomorrow she will be interviewed by a CBS reporter from Austin, Texas, about an article she wrote about energy efficient dishwasher regulations.  She is trying to figure out how to look older on TV.  I told her to wear her glasses :) 

Bridget has been house- and dog-sitting for the Friedrichs.  I hope that this evening of Doctor Who will not make a night alone in a strange house too worrisome.