Summer '08

As usual the summer went by all too quickly, and for us it's effectively over this week. Students are back and classes are starting at WFU and HPU, which means that Stratford School had better get its act together too. But we had a good summer, as you'll see from the following recap.

In MAY we wound up the semester with the usual flurry of activity, then headed up to Chicago and Grand Rapids for Memorial Day weekend. Had a good time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (both human and canine).



JUNE arrived, and with it swimming pool season and Medieval Camp. This year's camp theme was Viking Invasion. As a result we had an enrollment of 17 boys and 1 girl. A very high-energy group! But they were very enthusiastic about all things Viking. Spear-throwing, archery, and other forms of faux violence were predictably popular. But the little Vikings were also fascinated by Beowulf and Norse mythology. Professor Head Viking was very tired by the end of the week!




In JULY Dagfari went to a couple of camps not taught by his parents. DVD copies of this year's Stars of the Silver Screen production, Illinois Johnson and the Pirates of the Prairie, are available on request. We also had our dog cousins visit us, as the brave Aunt Ann and Uncle Rich drove down from Chicago with the pooches (who were actually very well-behaved). So Dagfari had a week of dog training and woodworking camp, and we now have two new bookcases in the living room!

After Simon and Donovan left, Dagfari started lobbying for his own kitten (the four family cats apparently not being cute and cuddly enough for him). I had no intention of adding to the feline family immediately. But since the Humane Society is just down the street, D and I figured there was no harm in stopping by one Saturday morning, just to look.... with the result that kitten siblings Avril and Oliver joined our family the next week.

They are as cute and cuddly as anyone could wish, and they both sleep with D on his top bunk. So we now have six cats. Good thing we don't have a bigger house and yard, or we'd end up like this lady.

Anyway, here are a few cute kitten pics. Oliver is the black/white one, and Avril is the tabby.

AUGUST found us heading north-- way north-- to Isle La Motte, Vermont. We spent a week there with extended family, enjoying Lake Champlain (no colder than Lake Mich) and exploring and visiting friends in the area. We highly recommend Vermont as a vacation spot, the only drawback being that it takes forever to drive there.

We especially enjoyed Shelburne Museum, which combines a restored 19th century town with an excellent small art museum. An impressive Mary Cassat exhibit was there when we visited, which Dagfari liked very much. We also paid another visit to the small museum and gift shop devoted to Wilson A. "Snowflake" Bentley, of award-winning children's book fame.

As soon as we got home, the beginning-of-semester events started to fill our calendar. Summer is over; our second year of Stratford School is about to begin. The first big event is the 2008 BookMarks book festival, for which ProfDad and I are members of the planning committee, and Dagfari is a de facto member, since he comes along to all the meetings (fortunately two of his best homeschool pals are there too). We're all looking forward to meeting some interesting authors and reading some great books!