OUR SUMMER START

Summer 2026 is off and running!  June is almost done.  I don't understand.

One thing I have noticed so far this summer is the boys are much more independent in terms of keeping themselves busy.  I don't need to constantly be coming up with activities with them.  

I also, for the most part, don't need to have them within eyesight all the time.  This is a great improvement from the past few summers!  

It's the reason we decided not to do respite care this summer because I feel like I don't have them underfoot 24/7.  They are teens now and like to hang out in their rooms.

I am trying to do school with them everyday for about an hour.  And there's the pool for swimming which they still enjoy.  We also have a ton of camping scheduled so that fills a lot of our summer days.  They will also attend a day camp for kiddos with special needs for one week in July.   

So here's our summer so far:

This is actually from our May camping.  

The first campsite concert of the season!

This is the book Jonah picked from the Book Nook at Point Beach State Park.  He knows a summer sizzler when he sees one- haha!

Hiking at Devil's Lake State Park

Pontooning at Garmisch Resort in northern Wisconsin

Library animal program.  

Jonah acts out his inner Indiana Jones! 

 

EARLY BIRTHDAY and ACTUAL BIRTHDAY FOR BEN

 

If you have ever been around Ben for more than five minutes, one of the things he will most likely tell you is it is his birthday.  Any day of the year is Ben's birthday according to him.

This year, he experienced a "Boy Who Cried Wolf" situation though.  His birthday was on Sunday, and when he told people at church, they didn't believe him because he always says it's his birthday.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure the moral of that story really impacted him.

Anyway, his teacher at school decided to celebrate his birthday early at school since Ben's birthday if mid-June, after school is out for the year.

He had a great celebration with water gun fights outside and a present of an Incredible Hulk Book.

Then for his real birthday, we co-celebrated with Father's Day and attended a quincenero for one of the boys' classmates.  So Ben had a GREAT day.  And he got an Incredible Hulk Tshirt, book, and pencils!

It's hard to believe Ben is sixteen years old.  Where has the time gone...

I love this one because Ben has a look of pure happiness on his face!

2026 Job Olympics

 

The boys partipated in the Job Olympics this spring.

Jonah won 1st in the laundry sorting event.

Ben won 3rd in the recycling sorting event.

They completed as a team in the sandwich making event.

What a great day for them!  

They were both so proud of their medals.

Click HERE for article about Job Olympics

Click HERE for info about Job Olympics

ANOTHER COLLEGE GRADUATE!

Our Lydia graduated from college this past Sunday.  

We are so proud of all her hardwork and determination.  We are excited to see where life takes her.  

For the next few months, she will be a ranger at one of the state parks- congrats on that also!

Lydia doesn't like photos of her on this blog, but this one is safe because you can hardly see her.  But it's proof she crossed the stage- haha!

CHOIR CONCERT WITHOUT NEEDING AN AIDE TO HELP!

The boys had their spring choir concert.  Because of scheduling difficulties, the school could not provide an aide for them.  Other years, they've had a school aide help them get on/off the stage and even stand with them up on the risers during the performance.

I volunteered to sit in the row behind them in case an emergency came up, but the plan was their fellow choir students would assist them on/off the stage.

It worked perfectly!  Ben needed no assistance at all.  Jonah needed a prompt when it was time to leave the stage.  And during one song, he started to struggle with staying standing.  Jonah gets very scared when he is "up high"- being on stage looking down at the crowd.  He started to get scared.  I was thinking I would have to go up on stage to help him when his classmate told him to just sit down on the riser.  Jonah followed this direction and finished the song sitting down.  

How great it is to watch the boys' peers come around and support our guys without giving it a second thought!  

That is Down Syndrome awareness in practice, not just in theory.  The kids at school are learning and aware of the boys differences, but then also learning that inclusion can happen despite those differences.  That's beautiful to watch!  

It was proud evening to watch our boys and their fellow choir members!

And shout out to the school staff who have created this environment.  We greatly appreciate it.

JONAH'S CAMPER TOUR

 Unknown to us, Jonah took the Ipad into our camper to record a video tour of our camper.  If you watch the video of a real tour of a camper, you can see he closely copies the real one.  I think a camper company would be wise to hire our guy!  He's awfully cute :)

THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING SWEETER!

Baby J was over to play this week.  

These are some of my most treasured photos!