New Job!

After a somewhat frustrating job search, I have finally landed in a pretty good spot. I started last week at Robert H. Sperreng Middle School in the Lindbergh School District. I'm teaching seventh grade Resource, Writing and English. The school is large, and has many stairs...I'm never sure which end of the building I am on! Everyone has been very nice and helpful in getting me started. There was a pretty big pay increase as well, which is always fun. The only complaint I have is that the school colors are green and yellow....I have ALWAYS been red and black!

Birthday Bike!

For my birthday this week, Mark bought me a new PURPLE bike! I'm in love with it! There are lots of bike trails in the area, and even the regular streets are very tolerant to bikers. We've gone out on several trails, and spent Sunday afternoon riding Grant's Trail, which is an old rail line that has been turned into a bike trail. Thankfully, STL is a pretty flat area! We are planning a weekend biking trip once things cool down a little. There's a trail nearby that has B&B's along the way.

MPS Family Picnic

The Klenke family hosted a MPS Family Picnic on Saturday. They chose a neat little local park with a small pond and a petting zoo. They also had quite the spread of food!

The MPS Picnic Cake.

Here's Aaron Athy playing with his mom, Trish. Aaron has MPS I and was transplanted several years ago. He is quite a bundle of energy and joy!

Here's Leslie, Kraig and Chelsea feeding the ducks.

Aaron, Leslie and Trish feeding the ducks.

Brian, Kraig and Chelsea Klenke enjoying the park.

Kris, Kraig and Mark out for a walk.

Aaron feeding the goats.

Mark feeding the goats.

I took several pictures of this emu, and he finally surprised me with a yawn. I thought he was about to take a bite out of me!

After feeding the animals, we came back for a few fun games of bingo.

We also had a balloon release in memory of the many children we have lost.

A Day at the Farm

Mark owns a farm in Owensville, MO which is about 70 miles outside of St. Louis. We typically go there for a day on the weekend. It is a beautiful place!

Here's Farmer Mark with his tractor.

Here's Farmer Alice with Mark's tractor.



Here's the field that Farmer Alice mowed with Mark's tractor last weekend. I made Mark trim up close around the trees, since they were an expensive purchase last fall and I didn't want to mow them down! These pictures are taken close to the site where we plan to build the log home in a few years.

Here's Mark's great niece Riley on the farm wagon. Riley lives on the farm with Mark's mom and stepfather. She loves to spend the day working with us outside, and we were finally able to get her a pair of children's work gloves!

Here's Gus, one of Mark's Australian cattle dogs.

Lucy is the younger Australian cattle dog. Lucy will one day be a very good dog, but she is still in her rebellious teenager years!

We took the tractor out and worked for a little while, but it was too hot this past weekend to accomplish much. After an hour or so we quickly retreated to the lake for a swim.

Gus loves to swim and will fetch in the water for hours.

Lucy is learning how to swim and hasn't quite decided if she likes it or not!

Riley also got a swimming lesson this past weekend. She's learning to dog paddle. Riley loves to be in the water.