More Senior Portraits

Nick is graduating next year. Here is a slideshow of his senior portraits. Isn't he handsome!

We took a trip to the zoo. It was a lot of walking, but I think it was worth the effort!

Montessori Yearbook

I've been wanting to do a book about Montessori Center School for a long time. Here's the final draft. We may make a few changes before it goes to the printer, but this is pretty much it. The book isn't quite as detailed as I had planned in my head, but it is really special! If you are interested in purchasing a copy, I can make a few changes and remove the graduate section and add pictures from the year your child attended the school (as long as it was within the past few years while Riley was attending and I was photographing events). I hope you love it as much as I do!

It was really important to me that the gardens be documented before they are removed to make room for the light rail. I also wanted to have something special so we can remember the school and teachers. I can't imagine a better place to start an education!

Too bad it wasn't a 1-day tournament

Riley competed in the 2-day State chess tournament. He was incredible on day 1. He said he was tired on day 2.

At the end of Day 1, he was in either second or third place. His last game of the day was played on table 1 against the #1 player at that point. He pulled out a draw (kind of like a tie), but the other player told the results keeper that Riley lost. There was some controversy when Riley's coach found out. It eventually got worked out, and Riley and the other player were awarded a draw. So, at the end of Day 1, Riley had scored 4.5 out of a possible 5.

For whatever reason, he wasn't as successful on Day 2. He lost all 4 games. It was good enough for him to take 12th place out of 34 children in his age group. The best part was that Riley took the losses in stride, made a new friend, and had a lot of fun. He can't wait until the next tournament. We even met some of the parents of the Sonoran Sky chess team. And, Riley's new friend will be in kindergarten at Sonoran Sky next year. It will be nice to have a friend there.

These chess tournaments are a big deal for a lot of the kids and the parents. At this point, it is still just a fun past time for us. I hope we can keep it that way and not get too competitive.

San Diego Vacation

Riley's spring break was a few weeks ago. We decided to drive to San Diego and spend a few days there. Riley loved Legoland so much that we bought annual memberships and went three days in a row. I can't imagine a more perfect amusement park for a 6-year-old boy. The faces on the Washington monument and the inaguration scene are both made of legos.

We also went the an aquarium and the beach. After the beach, we asked Riley which he loved more, the beach or Legoland. He picked the beach. Too bad we didn't know that before we spent so much time and money at Legoland.

This part is from Riley:
Riley went into the deep, deep and really cold ocean. He said it felt great, but the adults thought they would freeze if they went as far as he went. And one of the surfers said "Hello!" to Riley. We stayed at 3 different hotels. Tower23 was our favorite because it had a really, really nice firepit near the ocean.