Top F-O-U-R

The first graders at Ava's school had their Spelling Bee qualifying round on Friday.  The top 4 spellers advance to the all school Spelling Bee on May 28th.  1st and 2nd graders will compete against each other then.

Of the 24 first graders in the school, there are only 3 native English speakers (including Ava), which seems a bit like an unfair advantage for them...but, those are the breaks, I guess.  We have been practicing at home for a few months and Ava did end up advancing, and the other 3 kids are all Croatian.  From left to right:  Luna, Ema, Evan, & Ava

Congratulations, Ava!

Field trip for Reese

In mid April I volunteered to go on a field trip with Reese's class to see a princess, a castle, and a stable/cottage with show horses.  We had a really nice time!

Here she is with her best buddy Elena, who is Italian and speaks very little English.  The language barrier doesn't seem to matter, they adore each other.

The cottage attic was filled with dress up clothes.  The kids got to try out all sorts of outfits and they also learned how to dance a minuet!  :-)

Pretty horses...with a photobomb by little Lumia from Finland.  :-)

Then it was time for a fancy lunch.

The best surprise was that they had a separate room set up for the parents' lunch, with a shot of cherry brandy to start things off...Oh, Croatia, you can be so delightful.