Highlights - 3Q08
August - Here are some fun pictures from a local ethnic festival we enjoyed.  We hosted Jordan's Special Olympics team summer picnic this year.  It was so much fun getting all of the families together to get to know each other and have some fun.  What a perfect day.  Check out the photos.

Well April has had one busy summer.  She pulled organized and ran her very first Taekwondo summer camp.  It has been a crazy summer, but with the help of her mom Carole, Angie and Ben they pulled it off.  I must say seeing the pictures from the camp make me wish I were back in school too!

July - Jeannie Straight (Duffy), probably the only peer of Selwyn's that has known him since elementary school came through town for a visit.  We got all of the kids together and bored them to death with old stories of way back when.  Jeannie armed with her photographic memory and boxes of her dad's scrapbooks helped refresh Selwyn memory.  :)

There was a book signing for the book written about Selwyn's family and their escape from Burma.  It was a really neat experience for him to hear his parents and Dr. Sharma in action as they talked to an audience of about 100 people about their experiences.

See book signing event photos
Watch news trailer video (high bandwidth .mpeg)
Listen to news trailer video (low bandwidth .mp3)

Junior Olympics was another wonderful event for the Swe house.  Jacob came home with the gold in traditional Taekwondo forms and the bronze in both team forms and point sparring.

Jacob, Maya and April had an incredible experience at AAU Nationals-- each taking home medals.  April is now officially the top point sparrer in her division nationwide!  Way to go!

Highlights - 2Q08
June - April's martial arts school was featured on the news this month in preparation for AAU Taekwondo Nationals.  Check out the video.  Nationals run throughout the first week in July.

This month officially marked the first of April's summer camp sessions at the martial arts school.  Despite severely injuring her heel in a freak cardboard box accident (ouch!) she has pulled together what sounds like an awesome summer camp program that can really get the school established in the community.  Go April Go!

Selwyn was back on WTDY's Forward Forum with John Quinlin for another round of talk show fun!  This time he took part in two different discussions.  The first was a discussion with Jonathan Mooney, author of the book, The Short Bus.  The second was an update on the situation in Burma post-cyclone. 

It was another wonderful Special Olympics State Game.  Jordan took the silver in Turbojav this year!  Way to go Jo!!!  Check out the pictures.

April tested and successfully passed her first degree blackbelt test!  Woo Hoo!!!  What a huge accomplishement!

May - The 2008 Swe Party was another great success!  This year we featured the Madison Area Youth Special Olympics team (see locat newscast).  This is the team that Jordan is a part of.  He will be traveling with the team next week to Steven's Point, WI for the Special Olympics State Games for track and field.  He qualified in the 100, 200, turbojav, and 4X100 relay.  Run, Jordan, Run!!!  Note that if you would still like to make a donation, here is the link to donation needs for the team.  You can also make checks payable to "Madison Area Youth Special Olympics - MAYSO."

Selwyn and April got a chance to get away for a few days to Jamaica to attend a wedding and get some well needed rest.  Check out the pictures from out trip and the pictures from the wedding.

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!

Selwyn was on the Lee Rayburn show on 92.1 The Mike to talk about the situation in Burma.  Give it a listen.

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! 

October began a very interesting odyssey for Selwyn as the events in Burma really hit close to home for him.  In early October he took Jordan and Maya to a rally in support of the work of the monks in Burma held in Milwaukee.  See the photos.

My favorite photos from the trip Images from the Costa Maya Festival Images of San Pedro, Belize Scuba Diving Ambergris Caye pictures Other snapshots

The Costa Maya festival is an annual event that celebrates Mayan culture by bringing together the Mayan countries-- Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador-- to spotlight their music, food, culture and beauty pageant winners in one big celebration.  It was really neat to experience a non-western festival for the first time!

Selwyn had a unique opportunity to hang out and get to know a group of Garifuna drummers who were passing through Ambergris Caye.  The Garifuna are a highly marginalized ethnic group in Central America (wikipedia) who ancestors date back to colonial era Native American and African slave roots.  This particular group of men lived by selling hand made drums and playing music on the streets.  Selwyn was able to get a mini recording studio set up outside of the local church in San Pedro and record their music.  For the drummer pictured to the right, this was his very first time hearing his music recorded and played back!

Here are some recordings from that evening:

July - April, Maya and Caroline went for a ladies golf outing with their American Girl dolls.  Not much mini-golfing got done, but they sure had fun! 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 another 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 - We 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:

• Rodeo and Carnival

• Mallards Game/Rhythm & Booms

• Buckalew's Annual Party

• Freshwater Scuba Diving

• Boating in Madison

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
June - 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.

• Race For The Cure pictures

• Dozer Days pictures

• Video from Dozer Days (5mb .avi)

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!

• See the pictures

• 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

We finally got our pictures updated on our web site.  Here are some new sections to check out in the photo area:

• Summer 2002 Boating - More fun stuff from the Madison lakes

• August 2002 Scuba Lessons - Yep, check that one off the list... we are now scuba certified

• September 2002 Jacob's first day of kindergarten - He loves the bus!

• Fall 2002 UW Sports - Pictures from the games will go here.
  
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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.

 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.

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.

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

Maya is here!  We picked her up from the airport in Minneapolis on December 26th, April's birthday!  Wow, she is a beautiful happy toddler!  Click here for details.

Merry Christmas! - This year's Christmas card is now online.  Click Here to view (note: 1.3 megabyte file, requires the Flash 4 plug in.  It will warn you if you don't have the right plug in).  

Picture from Christmas week have also been added to the photo album.

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!  Here's a 360 view of the snow (300k file).

Fall 2000 Pictures have been added to the Photo Album.

November - We were supposed to have Maya home from South Korea by now, but that just doesn't look like it's going to happen.  Selwyn just put the finishing touches on her new bedroom.  It's done up in a "Moon and Stars" motif with blue walls stenciled with gold and silver stars.  Our friends here in Madison threw April a baby shower.  She was so surprised (Selwyn had her convinced that she was going to a church planning meeting, not a baby shower).

October - For those of you that live to far away to visit our home, I thought I'd bring our home to you!  Here is the first in a series of interactive imagery-- Backyard Cam - a 360 view

Highlights - 3Q00

June - September - We have decided to adopt a baby girl from South Korea.  After a whirlwind of paperwork, home visits, and more paperwork we have a match!  Maya Swe should arrive some time in November.

September - April is now a full time student in the Social Work PhD program and is a Teaching Assistant for a Master's level class.   So far so good.  Everyone is really getting into the UW Badger spirit.  Check out Jacob and Jordan's new UW Badger bedroom.

Highlights - 2Q00

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April - Jacob's 3rd birthday and Jordan's 2nd birthday are this month.  Has time flown!  Jacob has become 100% little boy.  His favorite pastimes now are "fixing things" and asking questions, and questions, and questions.  Jordan has started using single words on a regular basis.  The frequency of his speech therapy sessions have been increased as he reaches a key point of development in his life.  Click to go to the latest pictures.

Highlights - 4Q99
December - We finally took our trip to the Bahamas.  Aside from a few glitches with passports and INS, things went without a hitch.  Check out the details in the vacation section of our photo album.

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