Gema and Grandpa Visit

It was so great to see Gema and Grandpa a few weeks ago.  Despite all that is going on in their lives now, they made such an effort to come out and visit us.  We had a great time, relaxing, going to swim meets, looking at homes, dining out and playing around.  Tyler was so happy to get everyone involved in his play as well.

Spanish Music Camp

Tyler took a Spanish music camp and LOVED it.  Here he is singing his introduction song, "Como Estas".  

Father's Day, 2012

The boys had a special father's day this year.  They made breakfast in "bed", although Mike refused to stay in bed and eat it, so we ate outside, which was great.  They gave him some homemade cards, painted picture frames and a book that they each wrote for him.  Sam's was titled, "The Best Poppy Ever" and detailed all of the great things that he liked to do with Mike and Tyler's was called, "The Dinosaur Eats the Worm?".  We had to add the question mark because as Tyler told the story, it was clear that the dinosaur was never intending to eat the worm.  Instead, all of the characters, including the lion, the baby bird, the eggs all became friends and escaped the rain storm in mommy's home together.  I think that Mike really enjoyed it.

Searching for Ladybugs

Tyler enjoyed searching for ladybugs around the Children's Garden at his Botanical Garden camp.  He is a real naturalist now.

Gracie

We had the exciting opportunity to babysit a bearded dragon, Gracie, a few weeks ago.  She stayed with us for 2 weeks and we all grew very attached to her, especially Sam.  I was hoping that his lizard obsession would have been put to rest after his reptile party last year when he turned 6, but that just encouraged him further.  I told him then, that if he was still into reptiles when he turned 7, we would consider getting him one.  We brought Gracie in to see how Sam did taking care of a lizard, and to be honest, he did better than expected.  He fed her, took her for walks in the neighborhood and cleaned up after her.  I think we are destined to welcome a new member to the Piesman family come September....

Big Kick, Sam!

Here is Sam's backstroke contest.  We have been working all summer on perfecting that kick and by the time the Championships rolled around, it was much, much better!  

Botanical Garden Camp

Tyler loved botanical garden camp.  He learned all about bugs, gardening and conservation.  When I joined him in class, they were learning about ladybugs and got to put real ladybugs on the tomato plants and watch them at work.  He enjoyed eating like a ladybug, with his 'antennae' and not his hands, which was like watching a bunch of kids at a pig trough!  All in all, a great week.