Super Summer Times

Summer is in full tilt and we're knocking down milestones that we thought would take all summer.  Pip learned how to ride a bike without the need for us to hold on or run alongside.  Kudos to strider bike for getting her comfortable with balancing.  Nina can use the diving board at our pool which requires her to swim about 20 feet unassisted.  They're growing up too fast!

 

Fun Day at the Library

Swimming hard earns two "Kiddie Cones" at Nelson's

 

Fitz Family Fun      ----      Team Nak at the golf tourney

Two video updates

It's now summer, but we're just getting around to updating a few older things.  Nina is working on her reading and helps before bed time, so naturally Pip has taken to "reading" some stories as well.  Also, swimming lessons have finished for the season so now it's time to hit up the outdoor pools.  Here is some footage of both:

Spring Swimming

Storytime with Pip

School's out!

We had a good end to the school year.  Nina's class had a brief but entertaining celebration.  Kara was able to sneak in a school lunch with Nina as well.  Nina had fun, rambunctious classmates and very caring teachers whom she will miss.  Pip will be joining their ranks next school year for the same preschool program.  Let's see if she enjoys "having new friends and math," which were Nina's highlights from the year.

 

Cassie is on vacation and it was super fun to see her!  She and some of the Nakagakis are currently having a spectacular visit to Switzerland to spend time with Paul & Karen; wish we were there.

It's not quite Europe, but we did get away to Fairmont a couple weekends ago to celebrate the original Abby Fitzgerald.  Congratulations to her on graduating!  We enjoyed that trip with family.

 

Check out our fellow commuter in the background!

Back home!

We've been at home for two weekends in a row and loving it.  We've been playing a lot of games, got in the sprinkler, and made it to Como again.  Games we have been playing include hot-potato, garbage (card game), and picking up worms (one of Pip's new favorites).  We're loving the spring weather and cannot wait for summer to start.

Currently, Nina loves knock-knock jokes.  She demands new jokes faster than anyone should ever be able to come up with them.  A joke from Pip would be one of her cranky morning conversations:

Pip: "uhhhhhh, I wish I was a vampire"

Mom: "why?"

Pip: "because I want to stay up all night" (duhhh)

Crazy 8s      -------     Match game penguins

Conversation of the card game:

Pip:  I am going to win! [singing]

Nina: Pip, it's your turn.

Mom: Pip, you are going to win!

Pip:  What?

New York, New York

Ben and Kara had a wonderful trip to New York this past week.  Ben went to the 99u conference and got to hear a lot of excellent speakers and about innovation in action during the day.  During mornings and nights, we got to roam the city and see much of what it has to offer.  We walked over 35 miles and rode the subway for another 30 while checking out Times Square, Greenwich Village, NYU, Grand Central Station, Little Italy, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and looked upon many other sites including the Statue of Liberty, One World Trade Center, and the Empire State Building.  We spent an extended amount of time in Central Park and made it to two art museums.  We obviously ate a ton of food and we really feel like we squeezed in as much as we could in those three days.

The ManhattAnt - a new species known in just a 13 block area of NYC

Meanwhile, the girls had a blast in Owatonna.  They got to go fishing, saw a play, went swimming, helped garden, went to a movie, and played plenty of games.  Thanks so much to Grandma and Grandpa!

 

We all had a wonderful Mother's Day as well.  We got to see Granny Annie smile and music was back at Como.  Sunshine poured down upon us.