KARATE CLASS

A couple of months ago Mimi came flying home from school yelling
"Guess what mom?! Our karate teacher came to our school and passed out
these fliers! I wanna go! I wanna go!"

Fortunately the time schedule works out with her gymnastic schedule.
It was not planned but her good friends Blake and Alex also signed up.
She is in 7th heaven.

I just figured that with Mimi's petite size and most likely she will always be on the petite side, it is good to know some self defense. When we checked into her swimming class this morning, the woman asked what level Mimi was at and I told her that she is in level 3, the woman exclaims "But she is so small!"

FIRSTS

Today is the first official day of summer. It is also the first day of
swimming lessons and karate lessons.

While at swimming lessons this morning it was quite a nice surprise to
see that Mimi had not forgotten anything since last summer. She and
another girl did really good today. What was even more surprising was
that Cameron (teacher) took the kids over to the starting blocks and
had them jump off of it.

When swimming was done it was time to head home for lunch, piano and
school lessons and a little yard work.

I just knew that things were running way too smooth. Even Mimi was
just as sweet as she could be. I then had a great idea of heading over
to Lake Wilderness a little early so that Butch could get some
excercise in. Then I had to go and lock myself out of the house
WITHOUT the keys! Argh!!!

None the less, we made it to the lodge with about an hour to kill. So
took a nice long, long walk with Butch around the lake. Also Mimi was the one who took the picture of the Geese and their young brood.

A MONKEY ON YOUR BACK

TEAM BANQUET

This afternoon / evening the annual team pot luck was held at the gym. The kids
are having loads and loads of fun. Mimi and Emily were the greeters at
the door. In the group pics, Mimi is the one in gray sitting next to
the kid in red.

Later on the awards were presented to the athletes. Mimi recieved her pendent and trophy. They then showed a beautiful slide show of the athletes during this past year and Mimi got quite a kick out of seeing herself on the bigh screen. It was also a very nice tribute to a fellow team member who passed away earlier this year due to suicide. There was not a dry eye in the gym. I just love all of the commraderie the girls have for each other. Mimi especially loves to sit with Jaelyn. Jaelyn is now 13 and just as sweet as can be. I think that Mimi loves the feeling of having an older sister although I am sure she must drive Jaelyn crazy at times.

BLUE C SUSHI

Sorry dad, Mimi and I are having fun without you this afternoon.

After the ESD meeting this morning, Mimi and I were quite famished.
Truth be told, ever since the Olympics, I am really sick of McDonald's
so we decided to have lunch here at South Center instead. Fortunate
for me, Mimi loves sushi and now she has discovered that besides the
Tuna sashimi, she really likes the Albacore and Salmon as well. Now
mind you, all the plates you see here are Mimi's. Mine were only two
other small plates and I am stuffed.

FAMILY FUN CENTER

As promised, I am bringing Mimi and her best friend Blake to the
Family Fun Center as a treat for getting good grades in school. If you
like Chuck E. Cheese, you will love this place.

SAYING THEIR GOOD-BYES

Yesterday morning I had a really hard time getting Mimi to school. You would think that she would be jumping for joy as she has been counting down the days for weeks on end. But nope. The girl was far from jumping up and down, instead she was just dragging along. I finally figured it out. It finally sank in that she would no longer be seeing some of her classmates/friends next year as they will be bused to Rock Creek Elementary due to the boundary changes. However this group of girls will be playing with Mimi for quite some time to come. In fact Olivia will be in Mimi's class next year.