At eight years old, kids can go to the yacht club as a junior member and learn to sail.  It’s an old camp both Chris and I went to.  Chris and Maureen were instructors in college too.  Last summer we spent a lot of time at the yacht club and Aidan saw Josh having fun swimming and sailing.  He couldn’t wait to go.  And now it is his turn!

He loves it.  He gets to swim- he was the first one to take the “swim test.”  He gets to learn something new- all about boats.  And he get to hang out with his cousin and see Grandpa.  It has all the makings of a great summer.

And then there is after sailing when they boys get to hang out and swim.  Best summer ever.

There is also learning to play cards, and perhaps some language and behaviors that are new…but hopefully the fun will outweigh that.

PS After the summer ended, in September, the Junior Program held their awards ceremony.  Aidan received the Most Spirited Sailor Award.  🙂

While uploading some summer pictures I realized I never shared this- Aidan (and his best friend) meeting Mary Pope Osborne!  OMG- the author of the Magic Tree House!  It was awesome!  And she read and autographed a book too!

How did second grade fly by so fast?  I feel like we just had the first day and now it’s over.

Second grade will always be there year of Harry Potter- he started and finished the whole series this year.  He received the reading award for his class.  He had his best friend in his class, some of his “glasses group” friends and made some new friends.  He loved his teacher.  She loved him too.

We are so sorry she is moving to New York and Brendan will not have her, but we are so happy Aidan had this year with her.  He learned so much and was challenged, but most importantly he learned to be a friend and care about classmates.  I remember a particular conversation about a boy who sometimes caused trouble but then got the lead part in a mini-play.  Aidan was so upset.  As a rule follower, I can see why.  But talking about how everyone is good at different things and how teachers find ways of engaging all students by using what they like- it made an impression on him.  I hope he remembers that since I am sure it is a conversation we will have again about Brendan.

The last week of school- he went until the very last day- Aidan brought home all his work.  It was so impressive to look through notebooks of work collected over the last 180 days.  It showed how much he grew up and matured.  I also loved his memory book.  There were snapshots of the year and his friends.  With every page I saw it reaffirmed how much we love his school and we made the right choice for him.