Reyes Family Time: Happy Summer!!!

It has been over 3 months since I've posted, and so much has happened in that time! Miriam had her birthday party, we celebrated Mario's birthday and Easter, Miriam had her kindergarten play at school, she FINISHED kindergarten, I got a job for next year, and the kids have started swimming lessons! I also did a last minute trip to Germany to spend time with my parents, we attended a family reunion in Seattle, and Mario built a pergola in our backyard.

Going back to talking about Miriam...she has officially completed her first year of elementary school! She had her kindergarten completion ceremony last week; she had a WONDERFUL year of kindergarten and I think we are all a bit sad that it is already over. She started the year a bit shy and hesitant, but ended the year confident and outgoing. She has learned SO much, especially in Japanese...she can count to over 100 in Japanese, hold basic conversations, read and write all the hiragana characters (46 of them), and read basic stories in Japanese. While I'm proud of how well she's done academically this year, I'm more proud of how sweet and kind and empathetic she is. Her teachers all report that she is a wonderful friend and a helpful classmate, willing to help and play with anyone. She loves to put together creative outfits with lots of patterns and colors, and her outfit is almost never complete without a headband. Miriam made some great friends this year and is looking forward to gymnastics camp and swimming lessons this summer.

Mathias has had a busy year as well. He's busy taking gymnastics class, as well as helping Mario build the pergola. He loves to build things both inside and outside, and is my little garden helper. He loves to harvest strawberries and raspberries and help me water the garden. He's a busy, busy guy...I love to watch his little brain work and see him build things. He's also a super athletic little boy and it is fun to see him do gymnastics each week and race around the cul de sac on his bike.

Mario has been busy with work and building the pergola in our backyard. He designed, planned and built a pergola that is about 8'x12' that we are planning to hang hammocks underneath. The pergola itself is finished, but we need to transplant a plant out of there to make space for hammocks. We also have some grape vines to plant around the posts of the pergola; we are hoping they will grow up and around and over the pergola, to provide some extra shade during the warmer weather.

I finished the school year just last week, and the good news is that I have a job for next year! My position this year was always temporary, but I'll be basically continuing the same position next year, job sharing with my current partner. The only change that is happening is that we are moving from teaching first grade to teaching kindergarten. I've also been busy playing volleyball several nights a week, working on our garden (which has taken off with all the hot weather we've had lately!), and reorganizing many of the rooms of our house.

Now that the warmer weather is here (it was above 100 this past weekend!), we are enjoying a lot of time outside. We put up a small pool in the backyard and the kids LOVE to spend time in that. They are taking swimming lessons this summer so they can gain some confidence about swimming in deeper water (our pool is only about 2' deep). We've started taking family bike rides in the evenings since both kids are now riding on a tagalong (the extra bike/wheel that attaches behind an adult bike). The kids, Mathias especially, love to help out in the garden and they've gotten pretty good about harvesting the fruits we've gotten so far!

Here are some pictures from the past few months - we definitely don't take as many pictures as we used to because we are all up and moving so often, but it gives you a snapshot of what life is like in the Reyes household! We hope you all are having a great start to your summer and as always...we love visitors and Eugene is a great town, so we'd love for any of you to visit if you are looking for a trip to take this summer (or anytime)!