Highlights - 2Q08
May - Selwyn's
www.selwyn.org project made the local news!
Watch the Video as he talks
with Fox 47's Julie Lund about free family events in and around town.
Selwyn was also back on the
Lee Rayburn radio show
on 92.1 to talk about the cyclone that hit Burma.
Jordan's regional Special Olympics track meet went great! He finished 3rd in 2 events and 2nd in 2 events. Despite the cold, windy and rainy weather Jordan couldn't have been any happier!
April - We had the grand opening for the Martial Arts School this month. Over 160 people showed up for an awesome afternoon that totally exceeded our expectations. Check out the link to the photos at the Paik's Martial Arts website. Jordan also got back into the swing of Special Olympics with the start of the 2008 track and field season. This year he is running the 100m, the 200m, the 4X100m relay, and throwing the Turbo-Jav javelin (a new field event for SO).
Highlights - 1Q08
March - This is the month of the
Martial Arts School.
Actually, it may be more like the year of the Martial Arts School.
We decided to go in with April's instructor and build a second location
of the school with him. It will still have his name on the door,
but we are full partners in the process. Selwyn has enlisted the
professional help of his friend Roy to complete the build out--
converting a former newspaper distribution warehouse into a hip, 3000
square foot loft-style studio. We also ran the Kid's Expo booth
for the school. Selwyn created a Hollywood style photo stage for
kids to dress up and have their picture taken dressed in martial arts
gear. It was a hit!
February - It has been the longest winter on record! We have broken the 100 inch record for one season for the first time since the glaciers left the area (OK, maybe not that long). Maya has joined April and Jacob on the Martial Arts floor and is doing great! Turns out she has some great form and has quite a sparring strategy.
January - Where did the year go? It has been so crazy around the house that we didn't even get a chance to think about our Christmas cards or anything like that yet! Oh well. Maybe we'll get them in the mail in February! At any rate here are some great pictures from Christmas break!
Highlights - 4Q07
Watch
April's Reaction to Her Christmas Present!!!
December - Yep, he did it. Selwyn decorated the bus for Christmas. Check it out and the other pictures from our Christmas light display. Jordan took third place at his Special Olympics bowling state tournament. It's the third bronze medal for him. Woo Hoo! Oddly enough, Jordan's bowling style is so extreme that he ended up breaking his bowling ball after only one season. Go figure.
November - We did our annual Thanksgiving Day dinner with the international students from the UW. What a fun time! Jordan has been busy at Special Olympics bowling. He has a style that is all his own.
Jacob has been selected to represent the United States as part of the US Karate Federation's national team. He will compete in the Ukraine in July! Wow, this is big time stuff. In addition April, Jacob and Maya all are taking part in a karate sparring league at their karate school. It's pretty intense stuff as they all do competitive sparring (I don't mess with them!).
October - Jacob is now a Black Belt in Karate and Tae Kwon Do! What a huge accomplishment for him. Great job Jacob, you deserve it! Black belt testing is a physically, mentally, and emotionally grueling day that represents the culmination of years of work. Way to go!
Sorry for the "hole" in my updates! There's some great stuff that happened that I don't have listed here. I will be getting info from this summer up as soon as I can! Until then, just let your imagination run wild!
Highlights - 3Q07July - We had another awesome Rhythm and Booms with Jacob's good friend Grant at the Mallards game and fireworks. It's always a fun time, just so long as April doesn't catch any more line drives with her leg like last year (ouch!!!)
Highlights - 2Q07
June - We made a special delivery to the
Easter Seals Respite
Camp at the Elk's Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells to drop off all
of the great donations we received at this years annual party!
Thanks again to everyone who attended. We filled up the back of
the Swe Bus! Jordan made it through to the
Special Olympics State
Games in Stephen's Point where he took the Bronze Medal!!!
Way to go Jo! Maya had a special outing at
the Young Gourmet
with her friends. Also, as part of Special Olympics, April and
Jacob took part in manning the food lines at
Bratfest!
I'm sad to say it, but this was the official end to Dozer Day's at Wingra Stone. I hope they have a change of heart as this was truly the biggest event of the month for many families in the area.
Sometimes you just have to get out of the house and do something totally different. We loaded up the gang and took the Swe Bus up to the Dells for a day of indoor amusement park fun. It was not something we normally think of when we look for family fun, but it was a great change of pace.
May -
Maya had an extra special day with her
Jordan had his very first
Special Olympics event! It was a regional track meet at
the Oregon High School. He took first place in the 200 meter,
second in the 4X100 relay, and fifth in the 100 meter dash!
Highlights - 1Q07
March - After having to reschedule a couple of times Maya had a
great Gotcha Day party!
Chef Jeff taught us the ins and outs of preparing all American fare for
our all American girl!
Selwyn did it. He bought a bus! It was once a New York City party bus that he found for sale online in Massachusetts. It has to be the best vehicle for a large active family like us. It's a Turtle Top Van Terra with 14 seats, 5 foot 8 inch tall interior, remote controlled electric bus door, DVD, and mood lighting! It is one of the safest vehicles you can drive, yet all of the kids think it is super-cool! Check out the Turtle Top company web site for the specs: http://www.turtletop.com/models.asp?mi=3.
February - Jacob's gymnastics team has "hit the road" for several nearby gymnastics meets this winter.
January - It was a
nother
fun Wisconsin winter
weekend! April took Jacob to his second gymnastics
tournament. Selwyn took Jordan and Maya around town to cooking class,
luaus, western music, Bolivian dancers, and everyone finished the day with
snow forts and a huge snowball fight!
Jordan and Maya enjoyed another fun afternoon at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Yes, that is not a typo-- kids can have fun at the Museum of Contemporary Art's kids programs. Check it out.
Highlights - 4Q06
December - We spent Christmas week in Florida with Selwyn's
extended family. With Grammy and Bob along for the ride
we
had a great week! April got to compete in the Universal Studio's
theme park version of Fear Factor, the kids loved Disney, and Selwyn
enjoyed the scene of Key West.
- April's
Fear Factor Experience at Universal
- Disney
World
- Opening
Presents
- Other Fun in
Florida
- Tropical
Christmas Displays
November - Selwyn took the Christmas lights to the "next level" this year. He topped 15,000 lights and had to run 40 amps of new electrical circuits to power it up. Check out the Christmas Lights.
We spent another Thanksgiving hosting international families through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. It's so neat to be there to share a family's first Thanksgiving ever!
Highlights - 3Q06
September - We had a bunch of fun again this year at Kids
For Peace Day downtown. This year marked the 10th
anniversary of the event that serves as a launching point for parents to
really talk with their kids about what peace means.
August - I had a great opportunity to "borrow" the Simon brothers for an afternoon while their mom, Michelle, set up for a surprise birthday party for dear old dad. We had a great time.
We finally took a big family vacation to Mexico. I would
highly recommend our resort in Puerto Aventuras for anyone who is looking
for a good program kids ages 4 to 8 years old. The 
scuba
program was also great. Jacob got to try out the pool intro course,
and next year he will be old enough to get his Junior Open Water
certification.
See Vacation Pictures | See Scuba Pictures
In mid-August Jacob went to overnight camp for the first time ever! It was quite a milestone. He went to Porter Gymnastics Camp way up in Northern Wisconsin. It was a week of pure fun for him.
The first half of the month was a bit rough. Jordan was in an in-patient hospitalization program for a couple of weeks to help get a better understanding of all of the stuff going on inside his head. All in all the experience has helped us better understand him and it will hopefully kick-start the process of improving the services we can line up for him.
July -
Our local Middleton EAA Chapter held a pancake breakfast and fly-in at
Morey Field. Take a look at the airplane
ride photos! 
There are some really neat pictures of Madison
and Middleton from the above!
Maya joined the boys this year at the Stoughton rodeo for some western style fun!
We
had another great 4th of July holiday season. See
the pictures. 
The Mallards game was a smash--
literally! April caught a line drive foul ball in the leg and is
going to be limping around for at least the next couple of months-- talk
about bad luck! The big fireworks were postponed due to
rain, but we did get to see a wonderful display in our own backyard at the
annual Buckalew party! During the fireworks, Maya kept asking April
if she was an American since she wasn't born in this country. She
was all concerned that she shouldn't be celebrating with everyone since
she was was from Korea. It was a great opportunity for April and
Maya to talk about the whole adoption thing and how being born in America
is not what makes you an American.
Highlights - 2Q06
June - April and the kids surprised Selwyn with a week long
trip to the Dominican Republic for Father's Day! What a great
experience. Check out the photos in the links below:
My Favorite
Photos
Pictures of the Resort
Saona Island Boat Trip
Scuba Diving Photos
Swimming with the Sharks and Rays
Other Pictures
May
- It was another great year for the Swe Party! Check out the pictures
online and watch
the video (3 meg .wmv format) of the drumming. It was an
African theme this year, and the African
Youth Outreach was our featured charity.
AYO is a local non-profit organization dedicated to AIDS
education for orphans in the KwaZulu-Natal region in
South
Africa. This
year, AYO needed new school supplies for the children they teach,
new books to build a local library for the kids, and cash
donations to cover shipping costs to get all of the donations to
Africa. In addition, the kids got to make friendship dolls to send
to the kids in South Africa.
For Mother's Day Selwyn got April a pair of front row tickets to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. What an amazing concert. We took our digital camera in and got some great photos and video (3 meg .mpg format).
Highlights - 1Q06
March - Now this was an interesting weekend (Mar 18-19). 
Selwyn, Jordan, and Maya visited a sheep
shearing farm and got to get up close to some really neat
animals. The photos came out great! April and Jacob had a
great time at the Kid's Expo all weekend. Jacob was performing in a
demo for his karate school.
St. Patrick's Day comes to Madison almost a full week early! The big parade and Children's Museum party happened on the 12th. We had a great time dressing up in our green and enjoying the first glimpses of Spring!
February - W
e finally got around to exploring the UW Space
Place and had an opportunity to ride horses as part of a fundraiser for
the Madison Interfaith Hospitality Network. Check
out the pictures.
Jacob's school had their annual Sock Hop dance. All three kids took part. What fun!
The first weekend in February was a busy one. We did it all-- the Home Depot Kid's Workshop, the RV Show, the kid's disco at Cafe Monmarte, a quick outside tour of the State Capitol, and the Children's Museum! Whew! What a weekend.
Highlights - 4Q05
December -
Maya's Gothca Day (day we got her from Korea) and April's birthday
were a whirlwind! We celebrated at the Texas
Roadhouse where the two of them celebrated together. April
also visited Maya's classroom to talk about
adoption and celebrate Maya's
"Gotcha Day" with her class.
Selwyn is getting some crazy ideas in his head about
Christmas lights. He wants to really do things up next year.
So if you are thinking about buying lights at the after-Christmas sale,
watch out! Check out the this
year's display photos and the 360 degree tour of our Christmas
lights.
April, Jacob, Jordan, and Maya all took part in a karate tournament. They did great! We also had fun taking part in holiday events and building snowmen.
November - We sponsored a table of international students for Thanksgiving
dinner this year. It was great to share this holiday
tradition with others. The kids also enjoyed dressing the cats up in
turkey costumes. The cats actually seemed to enjoy it. Go
figure.
Play the Scuba Selwyn game! It is part of Selwyn's 2005 Swe Family CD. If you didn't get a copy of this year's CD, let us know and we'll put one out in the mail to you.
October - This has been an amazing autumn. Selwyn got some great fall portraits of the kids and April. We have thoroughly enjoyed the trips to the farms-- once to Eplegaarden Farm to pick apples and once to Schuster's Farm for pumpkins and the corn maze. April also took the kids on the Walk4Autism awareness and fundraising walk.
Highlights - 3Q05
September - September was a bittersweet month. It was
difficult to come to terms with some of the challenges Jordan faces (see
below), but it was great to be able to face them 
head
on and at the same time enjoy life as a family. We did all sorts of
great stuff this month from a Peace
Day celebration, to Monster
Trucks, to Airplane
Rides.
April took the kids to look at kittens available at a local adoption fair. Just like when Selwyn went to "look" at hedgehogs last year, April just couldn't help it but to bring a couple home with her. Meet Monkey and Ninja, the latest addition to the Swe family zoo.
Maya transitioned to Crestwood
school with Jordan this month. This school seems to be a
much better fit for her. She has made several friends in her class
and has really 
become
more socially comfortable.
This has been a tough year for Jordan. Between the change in the state services he receives (he's now on the "waiver" program), the chaos of summer, and more neurological problems coming to the surface, it was all a bit much for him. With that said, we made the decision to have him medically stabilized and evaluated in a week long in-patient hospitalization program. It was a difficult choice to make, but one that was truly necessary for his well being. Hopefully we will be able to build on the progress he made during this week in some positive steps forward.
Jordan's
time in the hospital gave Jacob and Selwyn the opportunity for some
one-on-one time which included Rock
Climbing and the Cow Chip Festival in Sauk. Jacob threw his
cow chip 18 feet!
August - We had a couple of opportunities to get out on the water with Selwyn's extended family. It was fun to get everyone out together. The kids all got a chance to try out knee-boarding. Jacob was not only able to get up on his own, but he was also able to do quite a few tricks!
Of course summer would not be complete without a few trips out to Capital Brewery for their live music. The kids had a good time, although not quite as much as previous years. It's funny how their preferences change from year to year.
April took the kids to the Butterfly Exhibit at Olbrich Gardens. It was actually a very kid friendly event. We both had visions of this place being geared more towards the geriatric set, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a full program of fun just for kids!
Selwyn got a chance to get away for a while. He spent a week in Cozumel on a scuba diving adventure. After 8 day dives and 3 night dives he was sufficiently waterlogged for the season! The links below will take you to his pictures.
|
|
July
- This month has been full of many, many fun activities including
rodeos, fireworks, scuba diving, carnivals, concerts and much more!
Check out the pictures in the links below:
April
has started karate lessons! She had her first karate
graduation this month. She is now officially a gold belt!
Highlights - 2Q05
June - What a great Father's
Day! We retraced our steps from last year and enjoyed
strawberry picking and a trip to the carousel ride at Ella's Deli.
The transition from school year to summer has been especially difficult for Jordan. Selwyn had the opportunity to spend some extra one-on-one time with him to help bridge the gap between programs.
The first Saturday in June is always so much fun! April and
Jacob did their annual 5k Race for the Cure walk followed by all five of
us at Dozer Days! If you haven't been to Dozer Days, it is one of
the best local events all summer! Check out pictures
from Dozer Days and pictures
from Race for a Cure.
May - Goodbye Green Van - The very first car that April and Selwyn bought together totally on their own has met an early retirement in a freak hit 'n run drunk driving incident in front of the house. Sad to see her go (especially after Selwyn had fixed everything!), but glad none of us were in the car at the time of her demise.
The first festival we made it to this year was the Fitchburg Days Fair. We had a great time making our own kites, feeding farm animals, pony rides, taking part in karate demonstrations, and exploring the fun house at the carnival!
Highlights -
1Q05
March -
This Easter was a cold one! The Buck-A-Swe Easter
Egg Hunt went off with snow on the ground! Before church we
took April's mom and Bob out for Easter brunch at Captain Bills.
Selwyn and Maya went the the Father/Daughter Sock Hop at church. They had a great time playing with retro games that dated back to the '50s, doing crafts, dancing, and sampling snacks authentic to the era.
Jacob started a gymnastics program at The Little Gym. This has to be his sport!
January - Jordan was going to town on the drums today and I couldn't help but take a few pictures.
April and Selwyn got away for a
week in Mexico. It was a long needed rest. We did all
sorts of stuff from scuba and snorkeling to ATV rides through the jungle
to exploring the ancient Mayan ruins. Most of all, we spent a week
recovering! It was well needed. Check out the barracuda
we saw while snorkeling!
Highlights - 4Q04
December - This year we had a nice, quiet Christmas
weekend-- just what we needed! Selwyn set the tree up in the game
room (still under construction) and the kids decorated it all by
themselves. The big gift for the kids this year was a new drum set
so they can now practice their drums at home! We also got everyone
in the house a set of hearing protection headsets to help preserved our
ears and sanity!
November
- Jacob and Jordan started drum lessons this month. They really
love it. It's so much fun watching them take on new
challenges. Maya and Jacob helped Selwyn dress up the hedgehog in
Christmas attire. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find
holiday appropriate clothing for a hedgehog!
October
- For the UW
volleyball game the night before Halloween, admission was free if
you wore a costume. 
Well needless to say, we couldn't resist.
Selwyn got a great photo op with Bucky.
Willis (aka "April the nanny") helped the kids carve pumpkins this year. Looks like they had a great time. Jacob was able to carve out much of the face himself this year.
The Firetruck Parade
was again a really awesome activity. We also took our annual
"hot chocolate picture". Every year, we get a picture of
the three kids 
drinking hot chocolate on a specific bench on State
Street. The bench has been replaced during the recent downtown
renovations, but we still got our picture!
This year we got our pumpkins at Hinchley's Dairy Farm. The excursion included a tour of the dairy barns, feeding the chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, and just about any other farm animal you can imagine! We were also the first people to see a brand new calf born on the farm! What an all-around perfect day!
October marked the end of Jordan's 3 year intensive autism therapy program. It's a hard day to see come. The therapists had become a regular part of our family, so we had our own little farewell party. We now enter into a "waiver" program that will be a whole new road to navigate.
Highlights - 3Q04
September
- We had a great kick-off event for our Growing
Families Ministry church group. We did family olympics and
had a blast! Selwyn did his little emcee thing he likes to do and
had events lined up for both parents and kids.
The home renovation is really coming along. Not only do we have a big hole in our backyard, but there is already something in it! Selwyn had gotten a bit camera happy-- snapping pictures of just about every scoop of dirt and nail hole to date. We think it's his way to being helpful since he really doesn't know a thing about construction.
Summer is already over. Where did it go?! We wrapped up the season and enjoyed the Labor Day holiday with a series of fun events. Check out the pictures from the Capital Brewery, Cave of the Mounds, UW Women's Volleyball, and the annual Cow Chip Festival. Selwyn even got to play the washboard with the band at the brewery!
Jordan and Maya got their first rollerblading lessons. They really learned quickly! By October I bet they'll be skating circles around their dad!
August - We officially started the BIG construction project this month. It's so big that we've given it it's own web page. Right now you can go out there and see them tear the back of the porch off. We'll keep adding pictures as the work progresses.
Jacob got to run the bases before the 7th inning at the Mallards game. He had a great time. Check out those pictures and pictures from the BBQ festival and the Od Tapo Imi concert from this weekend.
My plans with the kids got rained out so I took them to Boulders Climbing Gym to experience a taste of real rock climbing. They loved it-- and boy were they tired at the end of the day! Even Jordan made it all the way up a wall!
July
- Wow! All 5 of us did the Trek
Ride For Kids. It was great! Jacob just learned how to
ride without training wheels a couple of months ago and this was his first
time ever on a long distance (10 mile) ride on his own bike. Selwyn
hooked the tandem up to the tandem tag-a-long to create a 4 passenger
bicycle for the rest of us.
July was a busy month for us. We saw Od Tapo Imi play, went rock climbing, helped demolish part of our neighbor's house-- and I got it all on film! Check out the pictures.
Greetings from Margaritaville!! We finally had a non-kid night out. Jordan and Maya went for a sleepover with their cousins in Milwaukee and Jacob went camping with a schoolmate. As for us, we loaded up the van and a trailer and headed over to Alpine Valley for our first Jimmy Buffett concert ever. We are now Parrotheads for life!
How Cool! The UW Hospitals published an article on their website about our birthday party. You can find it in the news archives at http://www.uwheath.org. I have also saved a copy of the text here.
The
4th of July weekend was
great. The Mallards baseball and fireworks were rained out, but we
made our own fun in the downpour. The annual backyard fireworks were
fantastic. Mike really put on a great show!
I finally took the camera with us to Capital Brewery. It was bluegrass night. Jordan and Maya danced all night long. Jacob lost is very first tooth-- yeah!!
Jacob and Selwyn went to the rodeo! See the rodeo pictures. Jacob loves watching bull riding on TV so he was very excited to go to a real live rodeo. I hope he's not thinking of making this a future career move. The carnival was a blast too. They both won stuffed toy hedgehogs in the midway.
Highlights - 2Q04
J
une - I
had the best Father's Day ever! April and and the kids went and had
professional portraits taken as my gift. I will post the pictures
when I get a chance to scan them. I then took the kids to pick
strawberries followed by a run to Ella's Deli to ride the carousel.
They were really patient with me and allowed me to snap off 150+ pictures
that day. See the
strawberry pictures here.
The first weekend in June was a busy one! April and Jacob did the breast cancer Race for the Cure. They completed the 5 mile walk in 53 minutes! That's an incredible pace, but then again Jacob had great motivation to finish quickly because Dozer Days was going on at the same time.
May - Wow! What a great birthday bash! This was the best one yet. We broke a new backyard record with 212 people! The steel drum band was awesome. All in all we collected an enormous number of donations for the UW Children's Hospital. Thanks to everyone who came-- and a special thanks to everyone who volunteered to set up and take down. It wouldn't have been possible without you!
-
Watch the video (6.5mb Windows Media file)
April -The big Swe family birthday party is scheudled for May 15th!!! Please be sure to RSVP by May 10th so we know how many to expect. Feel free to bring a friend or sibling. Due to the size of the event we do ask that at least one parent stay for the event. This year we have a Caribbean theme. Come dressed in your favorite island attire, enjoy some Caribben cuisine and listen to live steel drum music from Od Tapo Imi.
-
RSVP Form - Please RSVP for everyone who will attend
-
Driving Directions - Or you could just follow the sound of the steel drums...
-
Donation List - In lieu of gifts we are accepting donations on behalf of the UW Children's Hospital. Here's a list of what they need. Note: the greatest need that they have right now is for kid/teen DVDs and infant mobiles.
Highlights - 1Q04
March - We have a new addition to the Swe
household. Meet Lucy Swe. Lucy is a 7 week old African Pygmy
Hedgehog. Apparently, hedgehogs make great housepets. Selwyn
went to the store "just to look" and came back with one.
We did the big extended family vacation this month to celebrate Nana's
60th birthday. A total of 13 of us went to Jamaica for a week.
Wow, what a great time. See
the pictures here.
Jacob found a dinosaur kit laying around the house and started building his own dinosaur. We got out his toolbox and he's going at it sanding and hammering the parts together to make is own model dino! Check it out here.
February - The kids painted mom a picture for Valentines day. It is a truly cool piece of art. Jacob had his first piano recital this month. Video will be coming soon. Maya's reading is really starting to come along. She is starting to read words.
January
- This year we took our winter vacation away from the kids after the
holidays. We went to Cancun for one full week. Wow! It
was the most exotic vacation ever for us. We did scuba diving, a
dolphin adventure, and spent lots of time on the beach. Selwyn even
had an encounter with a crocodile on the path leading up to our
resort. In retrospect, he's wondering if it was really worth getting
so close (under 5 feet) just to get that "perfect"
picture. You can find all of our Cancun
pictures here.
**Updated** - See us Swim with the Dolphins (8 Mb .wmv video)
Highlights - 4Q03
December
- Happy holidays! As another year has drawn to a close a new one
is on us. Personally, I'm a bit relieved to see a new year
start. It's not like the change of date holds any sort of real world
power (except for tax purposes), but it does help me (Selwyn talking
here), mentally take a fresh approach life. April is doing the
same. 
After much deliberation she has decided to take a semester off
from her PhD program to get her feet back on the ground as to the real
world application of her academic journey.
As you can see from this picture, we finally got serious about Christmas lights. It's the first year that Selwyn has gotten into it. See more Christmas lights here.
Our 2003 Swe family CDs are in the mail! Yeah!! If you didn't receive one and would like one or if your CD doesn't seem to work right, send me an email at selwyn@selwyn.org and we'll get a new one in the mail to you (it's way to big to post online). There are 2 things from the CD I will post online for you to check out:
-
Jacob's Soccer Game - A little game Selwyn wrote with Jacob as the soccer star
-
Swe's 2003 Screensaver - 50+ pictures and graphics highlighting 2003 in a Windows screen saver
Jacob and Jordan recently sang at church with their Sunday School class. Jordan really got into it. He is the voice that you can hear above everyone else's. Listen to it here
November - We did a lot of fun stuff this fall. Here are some pictures from a couple events from this fall. Also take a look at the fall sports that we participated in and watched.
October - The kids had a great Halloween. April the nanny dressed up too. It was so cold outside. Our neighbors, Mike and Joy, really did up their house for Halloween. There were many kids that were too scared to even go up to their front door. Check out the great pictures.
On my last boat outing of the season, I took the camera out with me to give people who are not familiar with Madison one reason why this place is so great. Take a look at these pictures. They are all around Lake Mendota that stretches from downtown Madison to a couple miles from our house.
Highlights - 3Q03
September - Labor Day has come and gone. It's hard to believe the summer
is quickly fading away. Jacob started playing soccer on a team that
our neighbor, Mike, coaches. Check out the pictures
from their first game.
August - We let our nanny, April loose with the digital camera
during the course of her work day for the past few months. It's
amazing some of the creative stuff the kids get to do during the
day. See the pictures.
The kids spent one hot summer Saturday running their own lemonade stand. Sales were slow because of stiff competition the next block over, but they had a good time anyways. See the pictures.
July
- Selwyn, Jacob, and Jordan did the Trek for Kids ride this
year. Despite a crash that left Jordan with a moderate case of
road rash, everyone had a great time. more
It definitely wasn't your run of the mill, backyard picnic. Our neighbor Mike graciously provided entertainment for everyone with a full-blown picnic and fireworks display. This was truly the best 4th of July I have ever experienced, and one of the best parties on record. See more pictures online.
Highlights - 2Q03
June
- Yea Mon! This year's family trip was to Jamaica where we
stayed at a resort that was designed specifically for kids. Everyone
had a great time. Check out the pictures
online.
May
- I spent a good part of Memorial Day weekend compiling a list of
every family-friendly event in town for the summer. Download
a copy for yourself and get out and have some fun. If you know
of a great family event that I have missed, let
me know so I can add it.
What a fantastic birthday celebration! Jacob is now 6, Jordan is 5, and Maya is 4. On May 10th we had a total of 152 people over for the best kids birthday party ever! Check out the pictures and notes from the event.
April - Thanks to everyone who made it out this past weekend (April 26-27) for my 10 year reunion. I have added some personal notes and pictures for you to check out.
Highlights - 1Q03
March -
Great news! We have a new nanny starting
next month. Her name is April. Having two April's under one
roof-- hmmm. This is going to be really confusing, but that's OK
because it sounds like she has the experience, personality, and energy to
work well with the kids. Our previous nanny had decided to move on a
bit early so we have Melinda from the Buckalew's helping out in the
interim.
February - Jacob and Grammy had the airplane adventure of the year. Their intent was to fly to Roanoke for a long weekend, but 23 hours and half a dozen plane rides later they ended up right back in Madison! If my memory serves me correct, it took us just a few hours longer than that to get all the way to Australia. Jacob thought it was the best trip of his life (Grammy has a slightly different opinion). They got to have their plane de-iced, sleep in the airport, and set off every single security checkpoint with the scissors that April accidentally packed in Jacob's carry on. Wow, he even got to have is bags searched by real security guards (he loved it!).
Happy Valentines Day April- Click here for your Valentine's Day Card.
The Nanny search begins anew. Heidi is planning on moving on in April '03. If you are an applicant surfing our site, feel free to read through our site. We have chronicled the last three years of our lives online, so check out how the kids have changed and developed over time. Some great pages to check out include: Maya's adoption, Jacob's first day of kindergarten, the Australia family reunion, last year's birthday party, Selwyn and April's Jamaica trip, and Selwyn's Heartland AidsRide. You can also click here for a copy of our job profile.
Kites on Ice was a blast. I will try to get the pictures online this week. Jacob got to try ice skating for the first time. He really had a great time, and expressed how it really is harder than it looks.
Highlights - 4Q02
December - Merry Christmas! Wow, what a
year. We rounded out the year with our annual Jamaica trip (just the
two of us). It was great to get away for a while and recover from
the year. Scuba diving was really neat. It was our first set
of "real" dives since getting certified, and I think we are both
hooked on the sport. Check out our pictures
from our trip for more details.
If you did not receive a copy of our 2002 Year In Review CD and would like a copy, please email us at Selwyn@selwyn.org and we'll send you a copy. It's much too large to download!
November - We spend a quiet Thanksgiving at the Great Wolf Lodge water park in the Dells. It was a nice chance to relax without having to worry about rushing around for a change. The kids had a great time. Even Jordan got into doing the water slides.
Highlights - 3Q02
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September - Where has the year gone? Everyone is back in school. Jacob started kindergarten and he loves it! Maya is really enjoying being a peer model at Jordan's school, and Jordan is settling in to his new class well. |
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The captain of the Betty Lou let us drive! See the pictures of Jacob, Jordan, Maya, and Selwyn at the helm of 50 tons of cruise ship. Selwyn has decided to try something new this winter-- cross country skiing. He is "planning" to do the Birkiebeiner in February (that AIDS Ride thing must have affected his head because he has to be nuts!). **Update** Due to a lack of snow, Selwyn hasn't been able to train, so he is going to put off the Birkie for another year.
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We finally got our pictures updated on our web site. Here are some new sections to check out in the photo area:
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Summer 2002 Boating - More fun stuff from the Madison lakes
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August 2002 Scuba Lessons - Yep, check that one off the list... we are now scuba certified
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September 2002 Jacob's first day of kindergarten - He loves the bus!
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Fall 2002 UW Sports - Pictures from the games will go here.
Click to enlarge
August - April and Selwyn are getting scuba certified so they can do some diving when they go to Jamaica in December. So far so good. We just completed the classroom exam and the pool dives so all that's left is a series of shallow dives in one of the local lakes up here.
July - Selwyn completed the AIDS Ride this month! Wow, what an experience. It was a 500 mile bicycle trip from Minneapolis to Chicago to raise money for AIDS charities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Get the whole scoop here.
We took another pilgrimage to Pennsylvania to visit SesamePlace and the Crayola factory. The kids loved it. The adults had a pretty good time too. It was really nice to just relax and enjoy for a few days. Selwyn will put pictures from the adventure online next week so check back soon.
June - We now have a new nanny living with us full time. Her name is Heidi and she just moved here from Kenosha. We brought her up for interviews a few weeks ago and the kids absolutely love her. The plan is for the kids to stay home with her this summer. In the fall, Jacob will start in full time kindergarten at Eagle School.
Maya and Jordan will stay at home with Heidi most of the time. Jordan will return to his special class at John Muir School this fall in the afternoons. Maya will be a peer model of a similar class at the same school in the mornings. That means that Heidi will be able to do a lot of one-on-one education with Maya and Jordan while one of them is in class.
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Highlights - 2Q02 |
April has finished classes for the semester. Yeah!!! That means it's time to play! We live for the time between April's last class in the spring and her first class in the fall. Selwyn is ready too. The boat is out of storage, cleaned up, and ready to go.
Selwyn bought a newly used car. He's trying to pass it off as the ultimate SUV, but none of his friends seem to buy his story. He bought a used shuttle van at auction. We've never seen someone so proud to drive such an odd vehicle.
Highlights - 1Q02
April - This is the start of
a fun and busy time for us. We just celebrated Jordan's
4th birthday and Maya's official adoption day at the beginning
of this month. Jacob's birthday is at the end of the
month, and Maya's is in May. With that said, Selwyn has
started work on the big birthday celebration for this
year. It's going to be more of a small festival than a
large birthday party. If you are planning to attend, click
here to RSVP. If you need directions to the
house, click here.
On a less festive note, the doctor thinks that Jordan may also have a human growth hormone deficiency. He just went in for a series of tests to find out more. At least it's something we are familiar with, but we are definitely not looking forward to giving both Jacob and Jordan shots every night! Jordan continues to get physical therapy 7 days a week at home and at school. Some days we see huge progress; other days you just wonder how he's going to make it in this world.
Jacob just earned his yellow belt in karate! He's getting pretty good! He placed 3rd in his first big tournament.
March - We took a quick weekend trip to a small water park inside a hotel near the house. It was great to get away, especially during the height of the semester for April. Selwyn is gradually putting together a small wood shop in the basement, so beware!
January-February - Jacob has moved up to the full-fledged karate class (from the "Little Kickers" program). He loves it and takes the class very seriously.
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The evening that April finished her last exam, we left the kids with the grandparents and took off for a quick vacation to Jamaica. It was one of those vacations where everything went off perfectly and we both came back totally relaxed. We did everything-- snorkeling, scuba, parasailing, catamaran cruise, toga party, and a trapeze clinic (yes, trapeze) and met some great people along the way (If you are one of the people we met, please email us!). Our plan is to be back at the same time next year. Our Jamacia pictures are now online. Abbey got engaged to her boyfriend Stash over the holidays. How exciting! I think we are reliving our earlier days vicariously through her. She will be moving to Michigan in January to start establishing her new life. It's really sad to see her go, but it is definitely the right decision for her. We're happy to have been around to see and share such a pivotal time with her. She will be replaced by Mindy, another teacher at the preschool. Look for more on this in February. If you did not receive a copy of this year's Year In Review, email me at selwyn@selwyn.org and I will send you a CD. It's a bit too large (168 megabytes) to post online because of the amount of audio, video, and animation involved. October-November - April is in the midst of one of the most challenging semesters yet! In addition to doing research, attending classes, and motherhood, she is also working on applying for a pre-doctoral grant. With Abbey's help we have been able to keep up a busy schedule for the kids of preschool, Jordan's intense therapy, and Jacob's karate classes. It's been so warm this fall. If I had known I would have kept the boat out for a couple more fall excursions. Highlights - 3Q01 July-August - What a fun summer! We spent the entire summer enjoying ourselves outside before April had to start back up at school. Selwyn really enjoyed getting out on the lakes with his friends. Everyone had a great time at the EAA airshow. The kids loved to play outside. |
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Check out our July through September pictures. Highlights - 2Q01 |
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May - We spent half of the month in Australia visiting the relatives. Most of the our time was spent in Perth, but we did take a couple of side trips down south and over to Rottnest Island. |
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See the details from our trip in our photo album page. |
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Jordan was diagnosed as having autism. It wasn't surprising news, but definitely not something that you want to hear.
On a lighter note, we are on our way to Australia for the second half of May. April and the kids have never been there, so they have a lot of relatives to meet. Once again we ran into a few more problems with passports and INS (this time for Maya, not Selwyn), but we are all clear for travel.
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April - Call it insanity, but Selwyn has decided to try to take up boating. So far we've been out twice. Two things to note-- always make sure your motor will start before leaving the dock, and beware of windy days. |
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The kids combined birthday party was a huge success. They weather came through for us again (thank God!). We had about 40 kids and and their parents over for food and kite flying. Only a couple of kites made it up, but we did have fun trying. |
Highlights - 1Q01
January
and February have been relatively quiet months. Maya has definitely
become a part of the family quickly. April is busy with classes, and
the boys are doing great.
New pictures have been added to the photo album for January-March 2001. Check out Jacob at karate graduation, and all three kids starting their own rock 'n roll band.
Download Selwyn's Chevy screen saver for Windows (1.5 meg file).
Highlights - 4Q00
December - Let it snow! I don't think I've seen
this much snow in years, and more is still on the way. Looking
outside, you would think we lived in Alaska. I don't think the boys
could play in our yard because the snow would be up to their waist at any
given spot! 
