Whoops.

Accidentally posted twice to the wrong blog, but I suppose those can stay.
Is anyone still reading togblog?

Virginia

One of the best days of the summer was June 11 when several friends from Wheaton and I met up to hike in Virginia off of Skyline Drive. I hadn't seen Donna Grace since last July, or Becky since the previous May, so it was wonderful to spend that time together and meet Brittany, another friend of DG.

It was a hot day, but most of the hike was in the shade, and there was water too. Just gorgeous.

Becky wants to hike the Appalachian trail, so she trained by being our sherpa.

I wish I didn't have to wait another year til I see her again.

Graduation weekend

A bit of catchup . . . graduation was only almost 3 months ago.

Driving home, we take rest-stops for tea.

We took a detour and stopped at Niagara Falls, approaching it from the Canadian side from which you can get a clear view of the American and Canadian falls.

We looked down into the churning waters and watched cormorants diving.

STAM FAMILY BIRTHDAYS - APEIL

3 Jane Lauber bjlauber@gmail.com

10 Billy Stam thestams@earthlink.com

10 Gavin Stam Nathan Stam@gmail.com (father)

25 Jimmy Estes Jimmyjumpshot@hotmail.com

MINER FAMILY APRIL BIRTHDAYS

11 Ruth Hope 1978

17 Andrew Manning 1947

22 Benjamin Ames 1978

27 Allen Wood 1954

STAM FAMILY MARCH BIRTHDAYS

1 Micheal maddiegroves@hotmail.com

10 Carl (Chip) Carlstam@aol.com

13 Jana janaestes@gmail.com

15 Karen karenstam@aol.com

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

1 Eleanor Kipps

7 Amelia Lydia

11 Jane (Gram)

18 Kyle Landon

20 Evelina Joy

STAM BIRTHDAYS

12 Cristina(Tini)

14 Kevin

27 Tobin

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

3 Rebeca Brooks 1985

3 Wesley Everett 2010

4 David William 1974

8 Gary Scott 1947

8 Julianna 1979

16 Mary Eleanor 1967

20 Evelina Joy 2010

24 David/Jodie wedding 2008

26 Kathleen(Katie) Joy 1977

27 Robert Frederick 1956

28 Asher Allen 2010

28 Kate/ garret wedding 2009

BOY, IS MY FACE RED! tog

More Jan birthdays

16 Lillian May Welty 2006
25 Hannah Heather Hawkins

I goofed - forgot to add Daniel's birthday year -2001 - He will be 10 years old on January 2011.

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS AND WEDDINGS

1 Anna Polak 2003

2 Andy/Mary wedding 1976

20 Mary Ruth Miner

21 Radu Zuba 1969

29 Daniel Manning

30 Virginia(Jenny) May 1949

AUGUST CORRECTION

My age is definitely showing. David and Kippy celebrated their 40th anniversary last May.

John Thomas will be 4 years old on the 23rd of August.

AUGUST BIRTHDAYS

None listed

David and Kippy will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on the 22nd, bur they will do it alone somewhere in the Southwest where they will be visiting national parks. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DAVID AND KIPPY

MARCH BIRTHDAYS

1   Elinor Kipps

7   Ami (Amelia Lydia Wood) 21 this year

11 Jane Stam Miner

18 Kyle

27 Jack M

FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS

   3   Rebecca

   

   4   David William

   8   Julianna

   8   Scott

  16   Mary Elinor

  18   Gay Hawkins

  26  Katie

  27  Bert

  

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS

I'm sorry that I have been so slow in getting started again with posts on this blog. I hope to do better this year. Apologizes to Anna for being too late for her.

1    Anna Polak

2    Andy/Mary wedding - 1976

16  Lillian May Welty - 3

20  Mary Ruth

21  Radu Zuba

25  Hannah Hawkins

29  Daniel Polak - 8

30  Virginia May

J & J's new MINOR TOY

Well, not exactly our new toy but we couldn't resist posing by this MINOR 1000 when we saw it at a nearby village shopping area. [I think the Morris Motor Company in England manufactured the Minor 1000 from 1956-1971.]

Pretty sweet, eh?! (or as a South African would say, "Lekker, hey?!")

Last Day of School in Prague

Greetings to you all. I wanted to share a little of the excitement of the end of the school year.

After dropping Daniel and Anna at their schools, we had about 45 minutes to wait for Daniel to be done. Mark and I enjoyed a cappucino (and bubbly fruit drink) and croissants at a nearby outdoor cafe I've always wanted to visit. Even today, a week later, he's still talking about the croissants we had together at "that restaurant."

This is me enjoying Mark and our special time together. He took the picture.

See Daniel's grin of pride as he shows me his excellent report card from first grade? So different from the apprehensive smile I captured last September. The last day of school is very festive. Kids dress nicely (note the graduating 9th graders in the background wearing suits) and each brings a flower for his teacher, who needs a bucket to carry all the flowers home. 45 minutes later the students get to leave school, bringing their final report card for the year.

We thank God for Daniel's good experience in first grade, for how he's learned Czech, for a teacher who really cares and goes the extra mile to make sure kids are doing all they can, for friends he looks forward to seeing again. His seatmate was a bit of a bully earlier on, but they seem to be on somewhat friendly terms now.

Another happy grin, as Anna leaves školka (preschool) for the last time this year, laden with her inside clothes, sandbox clothes, slippers, and a treat. What a change from the first day of school, when I found her in her classroom, in tears because she didn't know where she was supposed to be and she couldn't communicate with her teachers. She has learned Czech eagerly and naturally. Now she and Daniel speak Czech together at least half the time when they play together. Anna has matured a lot too. Last fall she was still in that fantastical stage of childhood. She would come home with stories of swimming with ducks in a pond while on a walk with her teacher. Now she tells us about a playground they visited, and she shows us how to get there too. She told me that her teacher treated them all to ice cream cones on the last day of school. And I believe her!
Milan was working on the last day of school . We are thankful to God for providing him with a job. He works for CIEE, an organization that arranges semester abroad programs for college students. His office coordinates the logistics for students to take classes with professors from Charles University and FAMU, a film/broadcasting school. Milan is mainly involved in administrative tasks in the office: keeping the books, managing the library, contacting the professors, creating report cards, ordering books and materials. He is learning a lot and keeping quite busy. He hopes to soon begin a training program in psychotherapy which will better qualify him for work in his field in the future. Meanwhile, he's content with doing something he's never done before and getting a salary.

We just finished our first full week of vacation. I'm really enjoying having the kids home. It's going to be a fun summer.