Field Day/Last day of school

The lower school decided to have Field Day on the very last day of school, which was also a half day. Gary was glad to go and share in the fun with Anna since he had been out of town all week in Denver. Lots of games and fun were had by all the kids and they knew at the end of it all was summer break!!

anna and kalen

anna running with the plunger

great pic in the sack races

carefully pouring the water to fill up the jug

mrs. reasons has been a great 4th grade teacher

Emily was super serious about field day!!

Caroline's class had fun with a magic show and popsicle party. A fun way to end the year in kindergarten!

we loved having miss Claire for senior K!

Caroline is proud of her perfect attendance award!

Zoom through the Zoo

Gary has been in Denver all week, so I was doubtful I was going to be able to race the Zoom through the Zoo. This is a 4 mile race through the Memphis Zoo grounds and surrounding park area. It is a great race, although it can be a hard four miles if the weather does not cooperate and the humidity is high. Last year I ran the race with Lauren. I had just started trying to improve my times and do better than a 10:00 mile. We ran almost exactly 40 minutes, so it was my goal to beat that time this year. I secured someone to watch the girls during the race which was great and gave me no excuse to sit on the sidelines!! It was cooler than last year and my confidence was higher since I had been on a steady training plan for a while. My official race time was 38:16 which shaved two minutes off of last year's time. Not bad for a weak training week leading up to the race with Gary being out of town. My Garmin said the course was actually 4.08 miles, so my time for a true 4 mile race would have been shorter. You have to go with the race results, so that was fine with me. Making progress which is good!

robyn hanging with the girls

finish line pic taken by anna

glad I raced....making progress!

End of School

I cannot believe that the end of school is here!! The lower school held their annual awards day this week. Gary was out of town in Denver but I was able to attend. Anna was excited to receive several awards including All-A honor roll, perfect attendance and the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. We are so proud of her. Fourth grade was definitely more work and lots more tests. She really learned a lot and we look forward to a bit of rest over the summer!!

anna with her awards

one proud momma!

we had a great year with mrs. reasons

Anna and Emily--sweet friends and award winners!

Father's Day Lunch

Harding is great about honoring dad's before the school year is out. Annually, the kindergarten program has Father Day BBQ lunch with the students. Gary has always enjoyed this meal and Caroline was excited to share lunch with Daddy.

excited to have lunch together for father's day....a few weeks early

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day this year! We celebrated first with my mom and stepdad by having a delicious brunch at the Majestic Grille downtown. After brunch we decided to go down to the river on Mud Island and take in the scenery. Later we toured around downtown showing my parents things they had not seen in quite some time. It was a great day for a Sunday drive.

Sunday night we celebrated with a simple dinner at Dad's house. Blair and his family came over and we enjoyed getting the kids together, playing outside and enjoying the time together. Overall a great day and one that I will remember.

beautiful day with my girls

the group after brunch on the river (check out the water height!)

3 generations

the zyrieks

gramma with five of her grandchildren

evening pose with the girls

the zyrieks in casual mode

Senior K Mother's Day Luncheon

My last mother's day lunch in the kindergarten program!! Each year Harding has a sweet Mother's Day luncheon for the junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten students and their mothers. My fourth and final lunch and it was fun to be with Caroline. The kids worked hard on their craft that was our gift and the sweet song they sing every year. Never a dry eye in the house! Yummy catered lunch was enjoyed by all the mom's while the kids ate pizza. I really had a good time and will miss this sweet event when Caroline goes "up the hill" next year for first grade!

excited to have lunch with caroline

Dad's Retirement Surprise

After 40 years of teaching at the University of Memphis, my dad decided to retire this spring. Bittersweet time for him in that he is so passionate about teaching and coaching and mentoring young students to be rocket scientists and engineers like him! My stepmother approached the family a while back and asked if we would consider contributing to a scholarship in Dad's name for future engineering students to reap the benefits of. This was a perfect gift for my dad in that he did not want a huge party, does not really need anything and would love to see his legacy live on past his retirement. We met together on Wednesday night and hijacked an end of the year celebration dinner for the engineering graduates to present Dad with the plaque honoring his new scholarship. He was thrilled....speechless in fact. Something that is rare for my dad!! I was so proud of him and to see his career culminate like this was gratifying. Long live the engineers!

my dad...speechless and a bit teary eyed after the announcement

my brother blair and his family, my stepmom and my girls and I with dad

another professor presented the plaque to dad

dad and julie

dad's scholarship plaque with all of our names including many close friends, family, students and faculty