The Wickland Bike Limo

For Memorial Day we took a family bike ride on our tandem+trailer bike. It was quite nice to be able to go for a ride all together. We went on the downtown historic district "walking" tour (of course, we rode instead of walked) and looked at all the cool old houses.

We found the walking tour guide on the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce website and enjoyed the little history lesson as we rode!

This little girl...

This little girl went to preschool....

and is not in preschool any more.

Tonight was Eliana's graduation from the preschool at Heritage Christian Early Learning Center. She has thoroughly enjoyed being there, even though she didn't start until January. She loves her teachers, Miss Sandy and Miss Michele, and they love her, too!

All of the kids from the Early Learning Center put on a program, which culminated in the graduation of the preschoolers who are headed to kindergarten next year. Here's Eliana's class:

They sang a song about 5 little ducks...

... and each recited a verse...

Eliana's verse started with the same letter as her name.

"E... Even a child is known by his deeds, by whether his conduct is pure and right."

Then the kids presented flowers to Miss Sandy and Miss Michele as a thank you for all they've done this year!

The kids even got diplomas to make the whole event official.

Ellie's will be going in a scrapbook, minus one corner. She managed to chew that corner off while we were taking pictures. Great.

Congratulations, kiddo! We are so proud of the big girl you are becoming and excited for you to start kindergarten next year!

Date Night

Last fall Elizabeth and I decided to buy season tickets to this season of Broadway in Bozeman.  We'd done it once before a few years back and it had been a nice excuse to schedule some data.  Well, although Garrison Keillor was astonishingly good, I'd forgotten that I really don't like musicals.  So, when it came time for The Wizard of Oz earlier this year, I suggested Elizabeth take Eliana.  They had a great time and the kid loved it.  

This past Tuesday, Elizabeth had a conflict, so I took Eliana to Riverdance.  Because it was date night, I went all out and took her to eat at Wendy's.  She ordered her own food, which included a baked potato with a side of crackers.  We got into our seats at the show about 4 minutes before show time.  Three minutes later she was quite impatient and was asking when the show would start, so we started looking through the crowd for people with funny hats.  That tided her over until the show started.  We both enjoyed it.  Her favorite part was, ironically, the Flamenco dancer and her beautiful dresses.  Then again, I liked the staged dance contest between the hip hop dancers and trio of Riverdancers.  It was a good night.  The next morning she said thanks for taking her on a date.

What I think is funniest about our taking Eliana to these shows is that the whole Broadway-style of entertainment, or at least the family friendly versions that manage to tour our neck of the woods, are probably more fun and more exciting for a kid than for an adult.  I wouldn't have guessed when we bought the tickets 9 months ago that it would be our baby, who's rapidly turning into a girl, who would enjoy them the most.

Great moment in parenting

The day my kid learned to climb into the car, close the door, and buckle her seatbelt was a great moment in parenting.  

One fine day....

We had one fine day amidst all the snow lately, so Ellie and I went to the park!! Here's some of her fun there!!

Wisdom from the young one

"Why is it called a restaurant if you're not supposed to lie down and rest there?"

"If you want people to be friendly to you, you have to be friendly to them."

"Is it called shampoo because it's made out of sham and poo?"

Nothing like a birthday party at the park

On the last day of April in Montana!