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The swingset is up and a big hit! This was cobbled together from all over–Christmas gifts from Grams (thanks!), piles of dirt from dumptrucks (two loads!) lots of leveling by Uncle Peter (thanks!), a juneauparents (or freecycle?) swingset from Douglas and help transporting it (thanks Sara and Peter!). Paint by Carrie, Matt, and Peter. Fun provided by Torsten.
Two friends from the neighborhood are enjoying the swingset–woohoo!
Torsten had a great year at Auke Bay Co-op–a really wonderful environment! On the last day of school, there was a bicycle parade of all the kids:
Thanks to Miss Ann and Miss Jeri (the great teachers!) and all the parents who pitched into the co-op!
This summer, Torsten and Dad hang out on Wednesdays. Although we’ve got a pile of blog entries to add, this one is “one for the memory.” Torsten woke up early (5:40 am! he’s slowly re-adjusting from East Coast time). Matt got up, had some breakfast with Torsten, played cowboys with the lasso, etc. After Carrie got of the shower, Torsten said “I thought today was Dad and Torsten day–what are you doing here?” We have big plans for the day, and we’re excited that Nana and Grandpa Bob get in today for their visit!
What an amazing celebration Carrie put together! Torsten’s friends got together at Our Backyard for a Volcano party. The volcano cake was amazing and great hit–fantastic!
Carrie built a volcano and Matt got to make it erupt.
And of course, the whole gallery is available.
Matt is in the midst of a semester of too much teaching and mixed in with a chunk of too much travel, so especially treasures family time. As usual, we don’t get pictures of all three of us very often, so here are some Dad and Torsten photos from the last month or so:
Out for a bike ride around the neighborhood, helping dad brew, taking a nap….
Busy times, but we do squeeze in a good amount of family time!
Torsten has been having a great fall and winter of tap and jazz dance class with Ms. Mika. At the recent class, Torsten, Ava, Eva, McKenzie, and Annika were all part of the lesson:
They start with stretching, then get into some good dancing:
Of course, the whole gallery is available.
Carrie and Torsten joined a big group of friends for “the best Easter Egg Hunt in town”* at Jessica and Mike’s. Kita and Suka got to go and be free amongst lots of kid and millions of eggs. Torsten enjoyed the hunt, the eggs, and the marshmallow roasting. I didn’t hear if anyone tried roasting peeps…
It was one of the earliest Easters possible and this is one of the latest “here’s our Easter pictures” blogs out there on the internet…. –Matt
Torsten’s preschool made the Juneau paper because they won the “read lots of books” contest (we don’t know if this was local, state, or national, or what..). We’re guessing they recorded reading the most books out of some group of preschools, so Scholastic gave them 1000 books to donate to someone else.
Another Thursday, and Matt is teaching, Carrie is at yoga, and Grams is watching Torsten at the gym. In addition to climbing with Adelie (and Chip), shown below (as usual, with blurry photos of Torsten in action!), the Biology club was showing an IMAX movie about deep sea submarines and black smokers–Torsten enjoyed the pizza and movie! (Adelie is a great safe climber, checking Torsten’s figure 8.)
We got the “report card” after a few weeks of Torsten ski lessons. (We had a parent/teacher conference for the preschool, but I think this is Torsten’s first report card!)
He is moving on to the platter pull (but won’t quite go up on his own yet–he has one of the instructors go with him). And he prefers to hang on to someone, but he’s got a “good wedge” (can stop!) and will go down on his own–both fast, and in control. Amazing! The two photos below give a sense for the platter pull/bunny hill ski area, but the movies below are the best.
First, here’s Torsten waiting in line to go up the platter pull (he is the blue body suit, just about center picture horizontally, in front of Eva (in pink body suit) and the instructor (red jacket)).
Next, here’s a photo of Torsten coming down the bunny hill. (He is the blue body suit, with yellow bib, in front of the instructor with red jacket, on the far upper left of the photo.)
But best of all are the movies! Here is a movie of Torsten going up the platter pull with his instructor’s help. And what goes up, must come down, so here is the movie of Torsten skiing down the bunny slope.
