1st day of school: 2025-2026 School Year!

Ralph is now a senior and Henry is a sophomore!  They humored me with the photos this morning and the afterschool treat and I more than appreciated being able to treat Ralph to his last "first day of school" after school treat (and luckily Henry was game to tag along - he had already made it known he didn't want to go/was going to start curbing the treats but didn't have to twist his arm too much.

Both were hoping to make some schedule changes and couldn't get an appointment with their counselor until the 2nd (Ralph) and 3rd (Henry) day of school.   Update: Ralph couldn't do the changes he was hoping to do due to limited times the classes were offered; Henry was able to make the changes he wanted to with the exception of moving his lunch period.  Ralph: Advanced Weight Training, AP Physics 1, AP Calculus D, AP Lit/Comp, Lunch, AP Macroeconomics, Orchestra, and AP Psychology.  Henry: Advanced Weight Training, Spanish 3, Biology D, Lunch, Precalculus D,, English 10D, Ap Computer Science Principles, and AP World History 

Then and Now . . . so many thoughts on this year.  He has started to work on his personal statement for college applications and is signed up to take the ACT one more time.

 . . and comparing last year and this year's 1st day . . he has had some growth spurts the past year.

Philmont Trek

From mid-July to early-August the boys ventured to Philmont Scout Ranch.  The first stop was in Colorado for a few days to acclimate to the elevation then on to New Mexico.  After a few days at base camp they went on their 12 day trek

While in Colorado they . . .mtc

Summary of Summer 2025

Henry kept busier than Ralph this summer though Ralph was busy shuttling Henry around.

Henry started summer with summer school.  He completed e-health in less than a week.  He did have to go to Lincoln High to take the tests but otherwise did the class remotely.

While finishing up summer school he took drivers ed.  Luckily the online portion opened up the weekend prior to the driving portion and Henry was able to get a good portion done early.  The driving portion was for 2 hours each day Monday-Saturday with the last day being the driving test.  During the two hours Henry would drive for an hour and his driving partner drove the other hour.

After Henry completed the driving test that Saturday morning we left for a quick family trip to New Orleans.  We left Lincoln as it was raining and it continued to rain though Kansas City - sometimes very heavy.  We spent the Saturday night in Little Rock, Arkansas thanks for the Embassy Suites in Lincoln and a raffle I entered at their recent renovation open house.  Sunday morning we drove  to a Dillards outlet in Vicksburg, Mississippi then onto Vicksburg National Battlefield.  We arrived in New Orleans in time to have supper at Clesi's then found our hotel (Homewood Suites on the perimeter of the French Quarter).  After breakfast Monday morning we did a cemetery tour, walked around a non-vibrant French Quarter (since it was early), found the St. Louis Cathedral, found out the old Ursuline Covenant Museum was closed on Mondays, watched the boys have a mid-morning snack at XXXX, went to mass at the St. Louis Cathedral, had lunch at a Cafe Beignet and ice cream nearby at Kilwins, went on a Steamboat ride, found some pizza for supper and went on a ghost tour.  We went back to the hotel after the tour; Ralph went back out for a bit trying to find a shop he saw on the ghost tour.  Tuesday morning Henry and I went to the World War II Museum while Mike & Ralph went to the Covenant Museum, spent some time on their own, went to mass then lunch at Cafe Mespero.   We left New Orleans by 2 pm on Tuesday and headed north stopping for the night just on the northwest side of Little Rock and made the rest of the way home on Wednesday.

Henry spent much of his summer working on his Eagle Scout project and summer conditioning for wrestling as well as wrestling practices at the club in Omaha and a few team wrestling team camps (Kearney, UNL, and South Dakota)

Ralph spent 10 days at the end of June at NYLT (3 days preparing for the participants and 7 days as a staff member).

From mid-July to early-August they both traveled to Philmont Scout Ranch.  The first stop was in Colorado for a few days to acclimate to the elevation then on to New Mexico.  After a few days at base camp they went on their 12 day trek

Then a week after returning home it was time to go back to school!