Almost here....!!

The school year is creeping to a close and we will soon have weekends that last all week.  Spent some time at beach and the water was warm enough for some in the family....clearly not the best.  Ella and I spent 50 cents on a good laugh.  A guy was using his metal detector so I game Ella two quarters and had her run about 30 feet in front of the guy and drop them in the sand.  Then we just hung out and watched him shift through the ancient silica to retrieve his treasure.  Plenty of Softball games, Ella took a nasty pitch to the arm but we hadn't had the "charge the mound' talk yet so she just politely trotted to first base...next time though.  Merrick and Grace had their opening nights of Soccer and that season is underway now.   Grace had some great passes and Merrick played in a hayfield and scored twice in his opener.  Sophia officially starts this week but did win her scrimmage last week against members of her old team, so she felt some pride in that.  The garden is mostly planted although there is still some seeds to go in the soil.  Each kid has a 2'x2' plot and was able to pick out some seeds and seedlings.  We should have plenty to eat...Grace planted 3 tomato plants, 3 kahlarabi and some peppers along with corn, a watermelon, carrots and peas.  She might have found room for a couple rows of beans too!!  We did drive through a massive storm cell that forced us to pull off the highway on our way back to Eau Claire.  Saw Grandprize and Nancy for an night.  Sophia and Grandma baked and frosted the whole time except when we had a great tour of the ever improving downtown area.  Sunday was almost normal with a little more moving and rearranging of bedrooms.  The older two got their lofted beds and Merrick now has bunk beds.  The baking continued last night two. Merrick and Amy cranked out the family favorite chocolate eclaire torte to take to school for an end of the year celebration and Grace and I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the same purpose.  The older girls were still gawking and rearranging their room.