The rest of the school year - from spring break to mid-June - hurried on by. Here are some of the adventures we had in April, May and June.
Lots of outdoor play time for all the kids - here are John and Emma on a walk/hike in the neighborhood with me.
Making dirt and worms for dessert
The older three kids went on a trip to Utah with Scott and I - they haven't flown since they were little so it was a fun adventure. Ma2 and Pa2 watched John and Emma so we could go.
Being on the plane with video screens at all the seats was exciting for all!
Our rental car in Utah was a Jeep Wrangler, which was weird but kind of fun. I used to want a Jeep Wrangler until I test drove one - that cured me of it. But it was a fun rental. As soon as I turned on the radio in our rental car in Utah, my cousin (Ryan) came on the radio, doing a commercial for his business. It was a lucky coincidence that we got to hear it.
We got to go to "Bring Your Kid to Work Day" at Scott's office. It was a great event!
Lots of fun thing to see and try
And we did a college tour at the University of Utah
The tour at the university of Utah was cool and we got to see a lot. We even got a special tour of the engineering department. I had mentioned to Anna in the past that it was sometimes hard being a physics major and working in engineering when most everyone else is male (and you are often the only or one of few women). At Scott's office tour many nice engineers showed us different things, talked on a panel about engineering and gave us tours. They were all men. And when we took a tour of the U of U engineering department, every other student that showed up for the tour was a boy, besides Anna. So maybe 10 guys, 1 girl. Our two tour guides who were engineering students were both female, however (yay!!). After the visit to Raytheon and the U of U college of engineering, Anna said she could see now how it would be hard to be the only girl/woman all the time.
I had lots of good guy friends in my major in college and in my workplace - its not all bad - but there are some subtle barriers, like you don't get included in social events or projects or social circles sometimes - everyone else partners up without you to study/work etc. - you aren't in the guys club. Just a reason for more women to enter the field. After the engineering tour Anna said she didn't want to do engineering if she was the only girl - me: SEE!! that's the the barrier at work!!! Do it anyway if you want to.
I do feel vindicated that she finally agreed with me on something.
Grant had a birthday party with friends one evening
The weather has eased up enough for hiking!!
Scott and I have gone on many hikes on Friday afternoons when he has the day off
We've gone on a few family hikes - I think this was Beacon Rock (1.5 miles)
At Cape Horn (5ish miles)
And I've had a lot of opportunities to hike on my own. I can't run - I hurt my knee about a year ago and have been told I may never be able to run again. :( The good news is, my knee feels really good - much better than last year - so I am hopeful running may be in my future. But still just walking for now.
Also trying not to get too much sun - our pale PNW skin must be protected after the dark winter.
This meme made me laugh.
Emma played a season of spring soccer. Anna also played spring soccer
John started a new swimming level - they get to swim in a bigger pool with the swim team.
His new coach is really good with the kids - that's the coach in yellow
Cannonball!!
More swimming
Emma's end of year girl scout swim party. Her girl scout leader is moving so the future of the troop is somewhat unknown. But they had a fun year!
Here is John performing at a church talent show.
He played The Legend of Zelda theme song and did a great job. Grant also performed Wipeout at the talent show and Anna auctioned off her amazing crocheted animals.
We had a big music recital - Emma played a song from Frozen 2 on the piano
Matthew played The Ash Grove on the French horn. Matthew is planning to be in the school band next year and has played the trumpet in the past. He is exploring switching to French horn. He did a great job and The Ash Grove is my new favorite song - its a Welsh folk song. Very pretty!
John played the Star Wars theme song on the trumpet - he did a great job!! John is also planning to play in the band next year when he starts middle school!!
Grant was the last of our kids to perform (maybe 35 kids performed total). He played Wipeout! on the guitar and his teacher played the drums for his performance. Another great job!!
Anna made a tray of chocolate covered strawberries - an items she auctioned off at the girls camp fundraiser. Scott taught her his techniques.
We enjoyed the northern lights!!
John and Emma had fun at their school carnival!
John got wolf face painting
Anna traveled with her school choir to New York City!
She had a great time - they were there about 5 days.
Grant built a Lego temple - can't remember which temple this is supposed to be
We got to ride the rides at the Portland Rose Festival carnival - courtesy of Pa2. It was lots of fun!
Mmm, carnival food!
Anna made it home from NYC - she said she was happy to come home to the peaceful Portland airport and the good smells of the Pacific Northwest.
We had a fun BBQ at Scott's brother's house for Memorial Day
The have a zip line in their yard which was lots of fun!
John had his appendix out! He had some stomach pain that was really bothering him for a day or so, so we decided to go to urgent care. The doc there said it looks like appendicitis and sent us to the ER. And sure enough, he had appendicitis - they got it out before it ruptured though. Here is John after his surgery - he had a nice room in the children's hospital with a great view of Portland. He loved being able to watch movies in his hospital room.
The urgent care doctor in Vancouver had us go to Randall Children's hospital in Portland (for a pediatric surgeon) and it was such a good experience. Hopefully no more appendix problems in our future - but I know where to go now.
I had my appendix out just over a year ago so I had lots of sympathy.
Our living room has a built in TV stand and Scott wasn't happy with the size of television we can fit in there - so he got a projector to watch movies on. Here he is testing the projector and screen set up. It is easier to see now.
Matthew sang in a church youth choir for seminary graduation. Next year it will be him graduating.
Anna had her end of year choir concert and Emma got to hear it. They did a great job!!
Matthew won an award for chemistry at the end of the year.
Woohoo!! Chemistry was my favorite high school subject - so this makes me very happy. :). Go science!!
We have a new mole - I guess he moved in to the nice mole holes left by our mole last year. Our mole guy caught him within a day or two. So, hopefully no new moles for a while.
We took a fun trip to the coast with cousins the weekend before school got out
We had lots of beach fun
And cousin fun!!
And the last week of school arrived!!
John got an award for kindness!!
Way to go John!
And he graduated from elementary school!!!!!
Each kid got to make a little slide about themselves. This was John's slide
Hooray John! But this does make me a little teary eyed.
Grant won the gold medal in the 7th grade science olympics the last week of school (science olympics not Science Olympiad). They did a bunch of different challenges including some engineering type builds. And I guess he was the big winner!!
Grant said his favorite class this year was science.
Hooray again for science and good job Grant!!
We took the high school kids out to lunch after their last final - they got done before the other kids were home.
There was lots of last days of school fun
Anna and I made some candy necklaces for everyone
And somehow we made it to the end of the school year!!!
Matthew will be a senior next year!! He and Anna (who will be a junior) will both be in a 0 period choir class together. Grant will be an 8th grader and John a 6th grader both at the middle school. And Emma will be in 4th grade next year. Now let summer commence!!
