Last week of school

Finally, summer is here! We did a lot of fun things this past week. I got to join Audrey on her last field trip of the year to Cal Skate Clovis. We had a great time! She was very unsure of herself on her skates when we got there, near tears when she wobbled. By the end of the 2 hour session, she was out there by herself, skating happily with her friends! It was nice to see her so happy. Although Audrey's teacher was very capable (she learned a TON this year), she was very strict and grumpy most days. Audrey often came home frustrated, sometimes sad. Granted, every year is a learning experience. Part of school is learning to cope with different personalities (both classmates and teachers). This year was no exception. And I believe Audrey is a better person because of her classroom experiences this year. It was just nice to see her enjoying herself so much, celebrating her accomplishment of finishing the school year. She also enjoyed celebrating her last week with her Auntie Christa on a special outing to ice cream (Isaac too...on a separate day of course)!

On the last day of school I managed to slip into Isaac's classroom a couple minutes before the bell. His teacher was allowing him to be the last "guest reader" of the year. Sorry, it's quite shaky. Violet wanted to be in my lap as I was taping. I was very glad to see the teacher allow Isaac this privilege. Isaac has not been her easiest student. In fact, I'm positive she will remember his name for MANY years. He had a rough time at the beginning of the year, not feeling challenged enough. Couple his quick learning with his wiggliness and by the second half of the year you start to see some behavior problems. Needless to say, Randy and I have been praying about his next school year for a while already. We are still waiting on his end of the year test scores to see if he can qualify for the GATE school. But who wants to dwell on the past? We made it through! They are both moving up a grade! God walked with them last year; He will be faithful to follow them into their next classrooms!

As we usually do, we celebrated the end of school by packing our bags and heading to our favorite National Park for a couple days! FANTASTIC!!! It was just what our family needed! We spent three wonderful days enjoying the cool weather (even a couple sprinkles on Friday afternoon), hiking, exploring, bird-watching, playing games, reading around the campfire (we started The Tale of Despereaux), making s'mores, and starting the work towards the kids' Jr. Ranger badges. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend! Click on any of the pictures to see them up closer. Starting our hike to Ella Falls. Our mini-Zoolander, stopped at this tree to pose for the camera (this is merely one of six shots). It was a good resting tree. Out on the boulders at Ella Falls. If not for his Spiderman hat, he'd blend into the nature! The fam in front of Ella Falls. Almost back to the campsite...looking rather pooped. Vi was a trouper! She made it the entire way, 5.5 miles round trip! Who loves a campfire? Vi loves working on her Jr. Ranger book! Audrey too! Randy brought a Swiss army knife for Isaac to practice whittling around the campfire. On our last morning we hiked from our campsite to the Big Trees, around the loop and back (2.5 miles round-trip). One of many birds that we saw and identified over the weekend, a Downy Woodpecker. We also spotted some Acorn Woodpeckers, a Piliated Woodpecker, some Western Tanagers (gorgeous birds), a California Quail, a bunch of Dark-eyed Junkos, some MacGillivray's Warblers, some American Robins, some White-breasted Nuthatches (we actually found their nest too, on the ground, with a couple tiny blue eggs), a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a bunch of crows (huge and loud) and... a duck (not sure what kind yet) that flew right into our campsite! Randy has always "spotted" wildlife while in the car, on a trail, wherever, and has recently become even more interested with the help of his Western iBird app. The kids had a great time keeping their eyes open for wildlife (luckily no raccoons or bears). We came down the mountain on Saturday afternoon ahead of the thundershowers! We unpacked and washed the van, did lots of laundry, and relaxed while watching 2 soccer games, Mexico vs. South Africa then U.S. vs. England. What a great weekend to start our summer!