The End of Summer Vacation.

Well, tomorrow Josh and I have to go back to work. What a bummer! Wylie and I tried to go swimming today and the pool was actually too cold, which is just another sign of summer ending. Just to fill you in on upcoming events...Gunnar will start 2nd grade on Thursday the 14th, he has Mrs. Fox this year. He will also be starting up Karate again after next week. Wylie will be in pre-school again this year with Mrs. Julie at the Methodist Church. She is going to take dance and gymnastics from a new studio in Independence, which works out well because of the shorter driving time, less money, and she will be in the same class as her best friend Halle. She will be going to Nanny's for daycare, who I think is excellent, and will also watch Gunnar when we have in-services.

As for Josh and I, we have meetings for the next 3 days and then students will come on Thursday. My first day of middle school volleyball practice starts the 18th and I am excited to start the season...I have to admit I am hoping for a better record this year 2-6 (I'll keep you posted, unless it's too depressing. Ha! Ha!). My student numbers look good this year and I only have 2 preps, Algebra I and Geometry, all are new students to me, which I think it will be nice to start fresh. Josh will be teaching 7th and 8th grade Science again this year and will also be the head softball coach for the high school. He will not be the assistant wrestling coach this year and I have to admit I am glad. The sport takes up a lot of time, not only most Saturdays, but also 5 months out of the year. Overall, I am optimistic about the year. I hope all is well with those who read this and have a great year! Only 186 days till summer break! Hee! Hee!

Pictures from Hawaii

We have been back home now for a week and have been wanting to post pictures, but our Internet has been down. So here they are! Keep in mind we spent 10 days in Hawaii so you will see a good handful of the the hundreds of pictures we took! Josh's friend from high school, Lora, and her husband Mike were kind enough to let us stay at their house, feed us, and let us use their car to drive around the island. They live at Schoalfield Barracks, an Army base on the island of Oahu. They have two children Haley who is 8 and Mathew who is 3. We sure are grateful for their hospitality. A quick note to keep your thoughts and prayers with Lora and her family...Mike will be making his third deployment to Iraq in November and will be there for a year. These pictures are in no particular order although I will try to keep the same places together. Enjoy!

The one group picture of us all smiling. The man to the very left for those of you who don't know, the kids call Gunka Joe, Josh's brother, he also went on the trip with us.

Here is the scene of fourth of July on the Army base. The big American flag in the middle of the picture is the stage where Billy Ray Cyruss is performing. I did not get to see much of the concert because I took Gunnar and Wylie to the carnival that was also at the celebration.


I was worried that the kids would get sick or scared on some of the rides, but they loved it! They were so proud of themselves after going on this ride. I was proud of them too!



This is a picture of Gunnar playing in the waves, he loved them. This is his first time to swim in the ocean.


Wylie is not quite the water dog that her brother is, but she did like playing in the sand. Here is a picture of her and Mathew.



Another time at the beach! This is Gunnar snorkeling at the North Shore. We not only saw huge Sea Turtles, but Gunnar actually touched two of them! Gunnar was awesome at snorkeling!

Here is Wylie playing the sand at the North Shore. By the end of the vacation she was really getting used to being in the ocean and playing in the waves with me.


After the a day at the beach we stopped to get shaved ice with a scoop of ice cream at the bottom. They are delicious! This is Wylie, Haley, and Mathew.

Now we are at Waikiki where we ride on this boat that will take us to our submarine ride.


Here is a picture of the Atlantis XIV, which we are about to board.

Here is a picture of the kids looking out the window of the submarine. Our lowest depth was 112 feet. I took some pictures of the fish and man made coral, but they didn't turn out all that well.

We toured the USS Missouri, which is where World War II was ended

We also went to see the USS Arizona Memorial.


Here is a picture of us before the Luau. Thanks for the picture Joe!

Josh and Wylie with a couple of the Hula Dancers. The girl to the left helped Wylie to get on stage where she did a fabulous job hula dancing front and center of the group of girls! We were so proud of Wylie! There were hundreds of people watching in the crowd. Joe actually has the pictures of her on his camera.

Here is the pig that they pull out of the ground that they cook with lava rocks. I actually ate some of the pork and it was really good!

Just a picture to give you and idea of the stage that they performed on. One guy even came out and danced with the baton of fire when it became dark.
This is the boat we took three miles out to see and swim with the Galapagos Sharks.

Here is the cage that Josh, Joe, Gunnar, and I got into. We have it all on video! What a great show and tell for Gunnar!

Here is a picture of one of probably fifteen sharks that were around. The males were around 10 feet long and the females get up to 14 feet long! They were awesome! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip. On the way back to the marina we got to see around 50 spinning dolphins, the captains said it was a rare treat to get to see them.

One of the days we took a road trip around the north shore. We would stop and get out every so often to enjoy the views at the beaches.

We ate at a Shrimp Shack along the way. Right across the street from here is a beach, so we set outside and watched to ocean while eating fresh shrimp and listening to island music. Very fun!

Another nice stop along our road trip down the north shore. The mountains were also great to look at.

Another stop...and I have to pat myself on the back for this picture, I think it looks like a postcard. By the way, I have no idea who those people are in the picture, I just liked the view.

Josh and I also got to celebrate our 11th anniversary on this trip, so Joe and Lora were nice enough to watch the kids while we went to watch the sunset together. I have to say it wasn't as romantic as it looks, there were homeless people in the trees about 15 yards next to us. Ha! Ha! Once again Mahalo to Lora, Mike, Haley, and Mathew for making our vacation a great one!

Aloha!

We are into our 4th day here in Hawaii! I will post some vacation pictures when I get back to Kansas in 6 days. Got to run we are getting ready to go to the beach!

Happy Birthday Aunt Angie!

We went to Aunt Angie's house last weekend to celebrate her birthday. Here are some pictures of the festivities. Quite a few pictures I must say.

Some nice shade was set up for everyone to sit and visit.

The slip and slide was ready to go for the kids. I got a good picture of Jack sliding at the end.

Some of the adults were guilty of slipping and sliding...Randi, Jeff, Christina, and Dustin.

So we are sitting in the shade obviously not paying attention to the fact that Jillian is helping Wylie rub mud all over herself.

Here is a good picture of the mess from the front.

If we are at the Parker's house it means a fire must be built! The place where they live has great views at the front and back of the house. This picture shows my photography side, I like to call it "No Worries", I think it shows how remote we are at the Parker house...no phone calls, no pages, and no visitors.

The kids play in the back of the Dodge, from left to right; Wylie, Joey, Dakota, Jack, and Jillian. Notice no Gunnar. He is to the left, he didn't was his picture taken as usual. We made him promise that he wouldn't be camera shy in Hawaii (only 7 more days by the way).

More play time for the kids. It's great how they get together, you can tell they miss and remember each other.

The night ended with a movie (Star Wars) on a big blow up screen outside, thanks to Dustin. It was awesome! Overall it was a great day! Did I mention there were steaks for supper and biscuits and gravy for breakfast? Thanks Angie for inviting us to you Birthday Party and thanks Randi for hosting and being in charge!

Great Father's Day Weekend

Last Friday we went to Papaw Tony and Grandma Cindy's and had a good visit. We went out to eat Friday evening and stayed the night. Then after lunch we headed over to El Derado to celebrate cousin Jillian's 7th Birthday. We went over to the 4-H building where the Budweiser Clydesdale's were being kept. We got to see behind the scenes since Dustin is the marketing manager for Budweiser in Bulter County. Now I have to say that I did not bring my camera at all this weekend, because I couldn't find it, although I did find it probably an hour after we got back home on Sunday, of coarse. Uncle James came through for me once again and sent me some good pictures. Thanks James!

We got to get our picture taken with a Clydesdale...there is a worker standing to the right that I trimmed out who is supervising. I didn't think he would want his picture on the Internet.

Gunnar and Wylie must have liked the Clydesdale's, because this is the first time in a long time that the kids, especially Gunnar, pose in a picture together.

This picture was taken after the parade. Dusting gave us a ride in the golf cart down to a parking lot where the drivers practiced with the horses.

Here is a picture of the Birthday girl posing with her Grandma and the Clydesdale.

This is Bud. Not only does he get to ride in the parade, but he hangs out around all of the people. I have to admit, Josh and I discussed taking Bud home with us, but we thought Dustin might get mad. HA! HA!

On Sunday the adults dragged ourselves out of bed and headed toward the Wichita Zoo, which it turned out to be perfect weather. Then we mustered up the energy to eat and play at Chuckie Cheese's. Man were we tired by the time we got back home! We had a great time! Thanks Randi, Dustin, Dakota, and Jillian.

Orange Tip to the Yellow Belt!

Gunnar earned his orange tip yesterday at karate class. I considered having him take a break this summer from karate and just take gymnastics...mainly to give him a break and save on gas. Although, Master Lewis had the kids spar last class, this is where they put on head and hand gear and perform there karate moves on their opponent without full contact. Gunnar was paired up with a boy named Jack, who is almost exactly the same height and I would like to think a half an inch taller. Anyway, I saw Gunnar kick him in the face twice! (no contact, of coarse) Not only was his mother impressed, but so was Master Lewis! Congratulations Gunnar Boy! Good Job!

It's Summertime!

It's the time of year that teachers love the most, although Josh and I are working at our summer jobs this month, it still seems a lot more relaxing. Gunnar will still be doing karate this summer and he just started gymnastics at the same place Wylie attends. The kids and I go for a swim at least once a day (I need to get some pictures of them in the pool) and another thing the kids have been doing more lately is playing with playdough as you can see from the picture above (notice the hair). Wylie is excited for her first dance recitle this coming Sunday and the whole family is excited for our Hawaii trip in 28 days.

Congradulations Wylie!

Wylie was promoted at pre-school last Tuesday. Next year she will go three days a week to pre-school. Josh and I think she is ready for kindergarten, but she is a September baby so it looks like we will have to wait another year. We have decided that it's a good thing, since there are a lot of benefits to starting later. Here is picture of Wylie with her certificate of promotion.

My Computer Wallpaper

Our Uncle James took this picture of Gunnar this summer. He had it on a website of his and I downloaded it so I could use it as my wallpaper on my computer. I think that it is an excellent picture. Thanks James! My male students at school always admire the truck, of coarse, which I tell them that Josh's Grandpa bought it brand new and has passed it down to his dad. They also ask if it is still running and I tell them that at the time the picture was taken Joe (Josh's dad) and Gunnar are pulling a branch down from a tree that is tied to the truck. Gunnar thought he was pretty special getting to ride with Papaw.

Keeping Up!

Man! I am having a hard time blogging lately. We have been really busy lately with the usual routine. Josh's regular softball season ended last Thursday, they ended up with a record of 14-5, which is good. He starts regionals a week from Tuesday. Gunnar lost is front tooth yesterday which makes him have a lisp when he talks. It's cute! Wylie's last day of pre-school was last Thursday, she only has her program left with a couple of rehearsals in between. Nothing real exciting at the DeWeese house, although last weekend we went to Joplin to get a popcorn popper and last night we went to see Iron Man at the theatre in Parsons. Is was an excellent movie! Here is a picture of the kids watching the popcorn popping...they we amazed and excited to taste..