Happy Summer!

Yeah!!  This sweet boy finished school this week and our summer times are officially beginning!  Here in the Czech Republic they finish school the last day of June and usually resume with school the 1st of September.  The summer heat arrived just in time as well- it's around 90F each day this week and it's a sudden and hot change for us.  It's made for some beautiful play dates outside this week... and an eagerness to play in the shady parts of the parks.

Above you can see Jakub 2 weeks ago on his school field trip (with his beloved friend Johanka).  The weather was still cool then.  And his brave and wonderful teachers took the whole class on an all-day field trip that required a bus and train ride to a nearby village.  There, they hiked through the woods, and paths, and creeks, learning about wildlife, picking berries to eat, making small woodpiles for fires, drawing on rocks in creeks, and being treated to a village restaurant lunch.  I know the kids had a magical and memorable day with their teachers.  Jakub loved it!


Here are some more pictures:

Here's Jakub's life-long best friend, and school mate, Míkulaš.  They learned how to pick wild raspberries.  I'm sure they were delicious!

Here are the 5 year olds- who have grown so much in the last year!  Next year they will officially start Kindergarten together.  It will be their last year at školka and almost all of them have been together at school since they began at the age of 3.  It's been a joy to watch them grow together over the past 2 years.  I can't wait to see what the next school year will bring for all of them.

Some facts I don't want to forget about the end of this school year and Jakub:

- His closest friends are still Johanka, Terezka, Mikulaš, Filipek and Maxicek.
- He still loves to go to school each day and learn and play with his friends.
- He can count to 300, but he gives up sometimes in the 200's out of boredom.
- He can write his name, Sofia, Mom, Dad, Papa, Nana, Grandma, Pop, and Book
- He's beginning to try to read on his own, can sound out some simple words, and likes to read books with us each night before bed.
- He can still do simple addition and subtractions, he even quickly does addition in his head and surprises us with some of his correct thoughts and answers with numbers.  Seems that numbers are his thing.
- He speaks Czech as well as any other 5 year old and the teachers say his pronunciation is spot-on.  I'm so proud of him for trying and for speaking and not letting it hold him back from anything.  He's even helped me already in a couple of situations with kids.  It was great!
- He did well at the school olympics this year and loved the various competitions.  He had one of the longest jumps in the triple jump.

That's all for now. :)