Let Summer Begin!

More Graduations!

Leah finished up her middle school career last week! Poppy & Gheghe came down for the weekend and then we all attended Leah's graduation ceremony on Monday. Along with a middle school diploma, she received the Citizenship Award, won the Patriotic Essay writing contest (second year in a row!), received the President's Education Outstanding Academic Achievement Award and the Bronze Scholarship Award. Jack received the National Physical Fitness award (and was nominated for the Robert A Gibbs Athletic Award) along with several academic mentions in individual subjects. His art work placed second in the county-wide Yom Hasoah Day of Remembrance Art Contest. So, we are pretty proud of these two! They will both be attending new schools next year, and we know they are going to kick butt! Way to go, Leah & Jack!

Another Mancuso is released into the wild.

We were honored to attend the 2009 Lake Mary High Commencement Ceremony and watch our nephew, Austin, graduate. We really had to be there, otherwise we might not have believed it (just kidding, Austin)! It was a great show, what with all the fireworks and balloons and hats and diplomas being thrown around. We then had a celebration dinner at Buca di Beppo. Congratulations, Austin!

Cruising through May...

Cruising through May... Leah bakes (and decorates) a cake... John & Will play, Will has his "cast" signed...

Reed & Race visit!

And the Beat Goes On...

Jack's accident slowed us down a little... but we still managed to get some things accomplished! We celebrated Gheghe's birthday (she decided to extend her visit when Jack got hurt, and we are so glad she did!) and visited with Sean, Lisha, Reed and Race who drove down from NY.

We also attended Will's Art Show at his preschool:

Mother's Day.

For Jack's birthday we gave him a brand-new trampoline, something he has been asking for since Christmas. Santa did not come through, so we had to pick up his slack. Jack has gotten very good on the trampoline, spending a lot of hours at his cousin Andrew's, practicing jumps and flips and whatever. So he was very pleased to unwrap his present, and he and Andrew spent much of Saturday morning helping John and Poppy put it together. Enjoy this montage of photos, which shows the weekend in a nutshell:

Crazy May.

So May started out pretty good. I finished up my tennis season, the kids took their standardized testing (both scoring post-high school levels, thank you very much), school shows, painted the family room... all that stuff. Then, on May 8th, we woke up to find yet another teenager living in our house. Jack is 13!

Really?

April 28? Our last post? The person responsible for this is definitely NOT getting a bonus this year! So, how about we take a little walk through the past two and a half months... hitting the highlights (and some lowlights), and I promise to be a better blogger in the future? And we will never speak of this infraction ever again? ;)

April.... we decided to get back into the boating thing. After much back and forth, we decided to go with a 15 ft center console Boston Whaler. It fits in the garage (no paying for storage - nice!) and we are SO happy to be back on the water! Will is really digging it, too.

Will's thoughts on our trip.

(as reported by one of his teachers):

Will, where did you go after you left Greece?
"Turkey. NOT THE FOOD! The country!"

Will, what was Spain like?
"Like a hotel room with lots of suitcases."

Malta.

Possibly one of the most beautiful, interesting places I have ever been! Hope to see it again someday.