Golf Camp

Grant participated in a three-day morning golf camp at BCC.

Keith with all the prodigies!

Here he is the morning of the third day practicing "chip shots" then driving.

First Swim Meet

S & G participated in their first swim meet and competed in the 25m freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke races in the 7 & 8 and 6 & under groups. It was really amazing to see them both put it all together and do what they needed to get the job done. Both finished strong in all events against some seasoned competitors, and Grant even eked out a 2nd place in freestyle!

Spencer starting strong!!!

Grant off to a good start!

Spencer with Coach Danielle

Grant - ready for backstroke!

Grant - freestyle

Spencer - freestyle

Read-a-thon

We (the boys and I) are reading Eragon together. We put in about two solid hours of reading tonight and I'm about losing my voice. What a great adventure story...well written...and a rich vocabulary. Spencer is hooked and kept wanting "one more" chapter! We stopped just before the one about making a saddle for the dragon...right up my alley! A great boy's tale (and mom's too :-)

Birds in the Geranium

One of my fabulous ES students, Maggie, gave me a geranium at the end of the year and I thought it was so fitting that a family of birds took up residence in the basket! The nest is at eye level and we can just peer in and watch them. They look so content with nary a worry. Pardon the dead leaves on it, but I can't see cleaning it up when it's all serving as shelter. Cute!!

Breaking in the swim team suit

Check out Grant in his swim team suit sporting about 3% body fat! We closed down the pool tonight. Spencer and I hit tennis balls and had such a good groove going. He's gotten really consistent and is so much fun to hit with!

Final hours of the school year!

Today was the second-to-last day of school for the kids and the last day of the HAE Green Club. Here's a few cute photos. I did a little demo/lesson on fuel cells then the students went to the green house and loaded up on plants to take home! Lots of good stuff to plant this weekend! Mrs. Utzinger, a HAE 4th grade teacher, worked hard to get the club going this year and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to participate with the kids!

Getting to know the summer students!

The last few days have been spent getting to know the 33 amazing students, who are here from other universities as well at VT, to participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program. I have chief responsibility for the 12 students in science and engineering fields who are focused on fuel cell research. On Monday we hiked to the Cascades, in the Jefferson National Forest, and yesterday we participated in teambuilding activities and seminars at the Selu Conservancy in Radford.