Trips to the beach, hanging out with friends, running through the sprinkler, water balloon fights, backyard baseball…this has been summer so far!

Carlos did a great job at his 1st Grade Author’s Night.  He was feeling tired earlier in the day, so he came home from school at lunchtime (along with Trey, who was also feeling sick).  Both boys went straight to Mama’s bed to watch a movie but they fell right to sleep.  I knew they weren’t up to par.  I talked with Carlos’ teacher about whether to bring him to read his story and she encouraged me to have him try, that she would put him first in the line up if that helped.  He was feeling a little better and still had no fever so off we went.  He was set to be reader #13, but after the first reader he came and curled up on my lap and said he was so tired he didn’t think he could stay awake to read.  His teacher saw and had him read right away.  He did a great job, then came to sit with me and fell right to sleep for the rest of the readings.
The cutest part, though, was that his best friend, Frankie kept looking up to check on him and was really trying to get him to laugh (while he was awake).  So sweet.
Here’s the story….

What a perfect vacation place for our family…came down yesterday with my parents an nephew. The weather was a gorgeous 70 degrees, enjoyed a nice drive, a visit with Dee’s brother and his family and headed down to Seabrook. The boys were excited about the new pool here (it’s great!) and riding bikes. Levi did a spectacular out of control ride full speed, across a wooden bridge, through an oyster shell path, almost into a house and crashed at a construction site. He was lucky only to scrape up his knees. After the crash, he informed me that he had forgotten his bike didn’t have working brakes…that would have been good information to know.
Here’s to more fun and relaxation, thank you Nana and Papa for the trip!

This is what happens when Mama doesn’t go into the boy’s room for a couple days.  Yikes.
But, a trip to Walmart, some new bins and a couple of hours later….

The Kitsap Sun ran an article on our dear friend, Nancy Leedy (stole the photo from her FB page, it’s Nancy and her adorable brand new grandson, Hazard).  We are so sad to see her leave, can’t believe our boys missed being in her class by just one year.  We are so grateful they benefit from the school she started and that she had the courage to make her vision.  We hope to see her a LOT..ya hear that, Nancy?  Don’t be a stranger!

Here is the link:  http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/jun/11/no-headline—island_school_061212/#ixzz1xptxwy8i

Here is the article:
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — On Friday, when her students rush home to start their summer vacations, The Island School co-founder Nancy Leedy will walk out of her third-grade classroom for the last time.
It will mark the end of her 34 years at a school she founded with her husband, David, and their friend Kelly Webster.
They started back in 1977 with a simple goal: Create a learning environment where students could feel safe and supported.
The idea was straightforward, but the easygoing, nurturing tactics they presented from the early days seemed radical to those who had learned in a vastly different educational structure.
“Our basic beliefs that children’s natural curiosity could be trusted and nurtured and that the drive to learn new things was innate in young children were worrisome to many, to say the least,” Nancy Leedy wrote in an email.
But the trio’s passion and educational backgrounds won over the families of 11 students that first fall, when they taught each day in a garage donated by a friend. By 1980, enrollment had doubled; and in 1983, they moved to the current campus on Day Road, which today houses more than 100 students from kindergarten through the fifth grade.
Through the years, Leedy was a teacher, mentor and administrator and led countless projects like the Monday Morning Sing, the traditional singalong that kicks off each week at the school. She taught math at all levels and instructed the first-, second- and third-grade classes at various points. In recent years, she has taken the title of education director.
“When you run a small school, you wear a lot of different hats at the same time,” she said.
As the third-grade teacher since 1988, Leedy has become the instructor with whom both students and parents look forward to working. She incorporates each child’s interests into the classroom, assigning homework only sparingly so her students have time to unwind after school and encouraging active parent involvement.
Gibby Stratton, chairman of The Island School’s board of trustees and parent to six children who took classes with Leedy, said he always appreciated her respect for each child’s individuality.
“She talks to kids in a way that they’re not being talked down to, which is not always an easy thing to do,” he said. “She brings to teaching a really nice blend of guiding children into enjoying learning but also making sure that children have enough time to be children.”
In May, faculty and staff and hundreds of current and former students and their families gathered at the school for Leedy’s retirement party. Head of School Trish King said the afternoon revealed the passion Leedy has contributed to The Island School mentality.
“It was one of the most touching, heartfelt celebrations of what The Island School is all about, I think, I’ve ever participated in,” she said.
King said Leedy’s reputation often had parents wishing they could go back and take her class themselves.
“It’s always a lucky child who gets to be with Nancy Leedy,” she said.
Even as a child, Leedy knew she wanted to teach, and she said she remembers organizing her dolls and friends into classes during play time. After graduating from high school on Bainbridge Island, she got her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and participated in an experimental credential program with rural teachers at the University of North Dakota.
In 1971, she and her husband visited “open classrooms” in England with a group of educators. In 1972, the couple moved back to Bainbridge so David could attend graduate school. They met Webster in 1976 through friends and, a year later, they reconnected to found the school.
In May, Leedy traveled to Arizona to visit her daughter, Lorna, and her newborn grandson, Hazard. She took the time off from school, but decided to return to her class for the final week. After she retires, she will spend more time volunteering and visiting with her grandchildren, and she hopes to begin writing books for children, particularly those with reading disabilities.
She won’t stay away from The Island School completely, though — she plans to become an active part of the “grandma brigade” of volunteers at the school, and Stratton said future students will know plenty about the woman who dedicated her life to giving them an education.
“You walk around the school, you look around and she’s everywhere, even if she’s not physically there,” he said.