From Wolverine to Scot.....Vince changes gigs.

After 12 years in the Bellevue School District, nine of which were at Bellevue High School, Vince has decided to make a change. Starting in the fall, he will be the director of bands at Shorecrest High School in the Shoreline School District. Shoreline is just north of Seattle, so the commute will be a chore for a while. However, the plan is to look at moving further north next year. He is sad to be leaving behind so many fond memories, great students, skilled colleagues, and supportive parents, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Shorecrest has a long history of excellent bands and Vince is eager to carry on the tradition.

This cake was made by one of Vince's wonderful students



This Mr. Caruso bobble-head doll was a gift from the Bellevue HS 2010 band seniors. Creepy, isn't it?!

ABC 2010

This was Vince's third and final summer at the American Band College in Ashland, Oregon. This year Marcy and the kids came down for the "certification ceremony" (he's not officially graduated until the projects are done in a month) and the 4th of July festivities.

She's mobile!

Look out! Jillian's cruising now! Video taken in the play area at McDonald's on June 29, 2010.

Keeping busy while Vince was away

Vince left on June 19 for his third (and final) summer down in Ashland, OR. While he was away it was single parent time for me and the best way to cope was to keep busy. We finished up the school year, zipped up to Lopez Island for a few days, did play dates and trips to the zoo, and generally ran the kids to exhaustion every day so that all would sleep peacefully every night....and by "all," I mean me.

Lopez Island (6/25-6/27)

Woodland Park Zoo (6/29)

(You can hover your mouse over the slide shows for captions.)

Miles gets a "big boy" bike

This spring it became obvious that Miles had definitely outgrown his big-wheel-style trike. So, after perusing Craigslist, we bought him his first two-wheel bike at the end of May. He was SOOO excited when we surprised him with it.

Admittedly, his first venture out was a trying time for all of us as he got very frustrated quite easily. He hasn't been too excited to get it back out a lot yet. But with the weather finally turning nice around here we're hoping that plenty of time outside will allow for more practice, confidence, and fun.


Dad puts on the training wheels.


Helmet on, ready to go!


And he's off!

A houseful of kids

A novel idea...pick three Saturdays in a row. Coordinate with two other couples who also have kids. Each couple takes all 6 kids for four hours on one of the Saturday evening. Result = over the course of three weeks, you get two nights "off" and one night of a packed house.

Here are some pics of the evening we had the gang at our house on June 12. We kept them busy with a little project outside.