Jude proudly shows off his graduation certificate from vision therapy

Jude started vision therapy a couple of years ago at the suggestion of his teacher. This was not so much because of poor eyesight, in fact Jude’s vision is 20/20. The problem was that his eyes were not converging properly onto one image. Marcy has taken Jude on the 30 minute drive on a regular basis for the past two years. The homework has been intensifying and when he took his test recently he passed with flying colors. We were all very proud of him because this was not easy for him.

Anna with her lyre at the class play

Meanwhile, Anna has been working on her class play for many weeks. The play was the story of Snow White and Rose Red and the entire first grade class had to learn every word of the 5-minute play. Then, in front of all the parents they all recited the play while some students acted out characters, and others played the lyre. Anna really enjoyed the whole process of learning all the lines and acting out the story. She recited the lines to us one night over dinner as part of her homework. After the play they did some singing and some more playing on their lyre.

Jude working on his adobe house class project

As for Jude he been very busy as well at school. He has been working hard on his first major class project. Everyone in the class had to build a shelter of some kind. After much discussion and research Jude chose to build an adobe house made of clay. We found a video online with step by step instructions and Jude went to work. Parents were not allowed to help do the actual work, it had to be the work of the third grader. Jude had to learn all about his dwelling so he could answer questions about it when they presented to the other grades. He worked hard on this and did a nice job with it.

Celebrating Sarah’s first birthday in Sydney

Unfortunately, I missed all of these major events as I was away in Australia for a week or so. The timing was disappointing for me but I was also very glad to get a trip in. We just moved my dad into a nursing home and he has not been well. And it just so happened that I was invited to Sydney to speak at a peer to peer lending conference so I jumped at the chance to go. Also, my little niece, Sarah, turned one while I was there so I was able to celebrate her birthday in person. It was also good to catch up with a few friends as well.

My old mate Enio and I at the Opera Bar in Sydney