I still cannot believe that Paul finished second grade. He had an amazing year with a great teacher. He loves school but was pretty excited to take a break for summer.
And on the very same day, the little guy started preschool. He is going three days per week to the same learning center that Lillie attends. He was pretty excited to go to school if you can't tell.
The boys together before heading off for their school days.
And in our annual fashion, here is Paul in his Class of 2026 shirt. Every year he grows a little more and before you know it, he will fit in that darn thing! We love Mrs. Hall and were so glad he landed in her class.
And here's how you know Mrs. Hall is the very best second grade teacher.....she lets us do silly picture!
Paul's birthday party was a little belated this year due to scheduling conflicts but when the time finally arrived, it totally made up for having to wait! We had Paul plus 7 of his second grader friends and Lillie for a few hours of fun at Climb Iowa. Peter came along for the fun but didn't get to do any climbing.....all in good time and I am sure he will be scaling the walls. Paul wanted a Minecraft themed party so we obliged.....
Waiting for his friends to arrive.....
Cool dude while the big kids got their harnesses on.
We had two great instructors and this is about the only time the kids were still and listening during the whole party!
The kids had the option to climb using belay ropes with instructors or to climb without ropes on the middle section which was called bouldering. Since we only had two instructors for the group, the kids spent a lot of time bouldering. Lillie enjoyed trying to climb but couldn't get very far up.
Paul loved the bouldering and made it to the top a whole lot of times!
Here's video of Paul in action on the boulder:
It was great to see the kids just head right up these super tall walls! No fear from any of them.
He loved coming back down and pushing off the wall.
Given her little 5 year old legs, Lillie did awesome!She loved it and can't wait to go back for more.
Here she is in action:
Paul was happy to spend time with his buddy Jazzy!
So much climbing.....lots of concentration!
Here's Paul headed up the wall:
A wall of weird hand grips.....of course he wants to pick the nose of the alien face.
This birthday party rules!
She just couldn't get enough.....kept taking lots of turns!
His last time up the wall.
After about 90 minutes of climbing, the kids headed up to the party room for cake and ice cream.
Someone like his ice cream.
The climbing crew.....serious pose......
And then Peter jumped in the shot.....still serious.....
And then we started the sillies......
Paul collected donations for a local dog rescue called AHeinz57. We had a ton of stuff to take and they were thrilled to see it all! Here are the pictures from our trip to make the donation. The post on their facebook page got a ton of likes and great comments. I love that we started this tradition when we started allowing parties with friends.
