May 2019

The first weekend in May, the kids had a post soccer game get-together with some friends.

We've had two tons (literally) of cardboard boxes in our basement since December.

Finally, they were put to some use.

A pop-up cardboard construction laboratory opened on our deck.

Manufactured items: a large anime-style ax, a smaller double bladed ax, a crown and a shield (I think).

I don't know. It kept them busy for a few hours.

Ralph just laid out in the grass moss and enjoyed the rare May sunshine.

I got a new "job."

My stint as the middle school PTSA co-president was ending in June.

I volunteered to be a Vice President at the next step up - Council level.

It's all official and stuff.

I got my own shiny badge.

There were soccer games every Saturday this month (except Memorial Day weekend) with practices on Mondays.

The team played two 20 minute games each weekend because there were only THREE teams in our age bracket. Sigh.

And, to top it off, we only had 6 players. The exact number we needed to field a team.

Gotta love Y soccer.

Oh yeah. I was coach. Again.

I had a co-coach though. So, not all bad.

We headed down to Seattle once again this year to participate in the Color Run.

We usually eat at a fondue restaurant the night before.

Katie is waiting to be seated in the restaurant.

She didn't want to sit with us.

Too cool? Too embarrassed? I don't know.

What I DO know is that she's almost a teenager.

So, this is not surprising.

We sat on the other bench across from her.

We got some new phones right around this time and the kids were obsessed with the new camera functions.

The fondue restaurant certainly takes its time getting from one course to the next.

It's a long meal.

Here's Huzbend trying to entertain the kids by giving them "tasks" to accomplish.

The Staring Game.

I have no idea what this is.

How many fingers am I holding up?

First course, melty cheese.

This is Mikey's FAVORITE.

"Don't you eat my cheese! BACK OFF, MAN!"

Next, we got some sub par salads (note to self SKIP the salads next time). Then, it was time for our main course where we boiled meats and veggies in some broth. There were sauces you could dip the meat and veggies into.

And last, but certainly not least, dessert fondue.

This is Katie's FAVORITE.

It was a bit disappointing this year.

In the past, they've had GF brownie bites and GF cake bites that we could have.

This year, it was just fruits and marshmallows.

Oh well.

Katie still licked the bowl clean.

A bit of silliness after a dip in the pool.

I have elf ears. 

OMG!

Up early the next day to do a bit of running.

There was a bit of a delay - almost 45 minutes after posted start time - and less music and excitement at the start line.

The kids were gripey about it, but did manage to keep it from getting to full on whiny.

Finally! Time to go.

Katie ran off with Huzbend.

Mikey stuck with me.

First up, green.

This time, we were prepared with a handkerchief to put around Mikey's mouth and nose to head off the inhaling of the color dust.

As a result, there was much more smiling while running this year.

Some bubbles.

Katie and Huzbend were a bit ahead at this point.

Almost done!

We caught up with Katie and Huzbend at the finish line.

I took Katie over to the big color packet release at the main stage.

Again, another disappointment.

No count down to release. 

Everyone just threw it in the air at random times.

Katie still loved it though.

Huzbend and Mikey decided to stay back from the color release.

Mikey can't stand getting it in his mouth and Huzbend was freezing.

All in all, a good time was had by all - even with the delays and changes from previous years.

Yes.

I wore a fanny pack.

One more family picture before hitting the fountain.

Oh yes.

It didn't matter that it was only about 55 degrees, cloudy and a bit breezy.

"Only people NOT as fashionable as moi would NOT go in the fountain.

The fountain is totally IN."

"Peace out, peeps! Here we go!"

And so, they did.

They thought it was pretty fun.

Until the breeze picked up.

"WOOO!"

BRISK.

Not one to be put off by frostbite or hypothermia, 

Mikey went one more time.

I guess it was colder the second time.

"Maybe I shouldn't have done that."

It was time to head back to the hotel to get cleaned up and get home.

Someone was a little soggy and tired.

He was also a bit chafed from his long wet shorts.

The next week brought with it the middle school Junior Honor Society induction ceremony.

"Ugh. Dad? Really?"

"Your mom told me to take a picture of you. So, smile or something."

Much better.

Kids at the school are not selected to be inducted. 

They have to attend meetings four times a year, do at least 8 hours of community service and keep at least a 3.5 GPA for the year.

"I think my mom is taking pictures of us....."

"Yep."

Katie has become hug-averse within the past year.

Mikey is the LEAST hug averse person on the planet.

Katie is fending off the inevitable.

PHOTO BOMB ACTION SHOT!

Three friends/almost siblings/good kids.

I'm surprised they're standing so close together. 

They ARE awkward middle schoolers, you know.

What's an Honor Society induction without a little cake afterwards?

While the rest of the schleps had to eat regular Costco cake, of which they ran out of in 5 minutes because there were so many people, kids with food allergies and Celiac had it MADE.

I had plenty of yummy cookies and cupcakes for them.

Everyone was jealous.

Katie was vibrating from all the sugar consumed.

She floated home.

An era ended this month.

Mikey's omnipresent Flash hat finally busted.

So sad.

For him.

Continuing with the crazy, that next weekend was Girl Scout Spring Encamporee.

We stayed in wagons.

This was the view from my bed.

After we arrived and unpacked, some of the girls got to work on building a fire for that evenings s'mores.

They tried and tried to get it going.

And then tried and tried some more.

Finally, all the work paid off.

We were up SUPER early the next morning.

Not by choice.

Some girls woke up with the birds at 4:30AM and forgot they were in OPEN WALLED WAGONS.
They were loud.

She looks so tall.

She's almost as tall as me.

"MOM! Stop taking pictures of me!"

(she's in the center with her hands held up pleading with me to stop)

The first activity for the Cadettes and Juniors was tie dye.

And then pot painting.

Next, we had a bit of a break so the girls played a sorta Red Light/Green Light game.

We had to trek it across camp to get to the archery range.

We had the girls lead the hike using compasses and a map while us adults pretended to be Daisies (youngest Girl Scouts - kindergarten age).

So, we made sure to make the hike a bit chaotic by wandering off, singing loud songs about tiny mice, having temper tantrums and picking up random things along the hike.

It was actually pretty fun.

We arrived at the range a bit early, so the girls finished up the lunches they started eating earlier.

One of the other leaders brought some small watermelons in his pack.

Really.

So, they all had a snack.

To pass the time, the girls came up with a game where they threw rocks at each other.

I am not lying.

There were rules and no one lost an eye, so it was all good.

Finally, it was time to shoot.

And guess what?

I got to shoot too!!!

Not too bad working against a 400 year hiatus.

Next up, canoeing.

Off they go!

This encamporee was a bit challenging for chaperones.

We had to rescue two arguing campers from the middle of the lake because they both refused to paddle anymore. There were some hurt feelings (always are with Daisies) and an "accident" (yes, the kind you're thinking of).

But, really, when isn't it challenging to be a chaperone?
Yet. I still like it.

Below is a picture of my favorite reason to go to camp.

Seeing Katie with the younger girls.

She does a great job and is very patient with them.

No doubt a skill she picked up by having a younger brother.

Hmmm. It's too bad she doesn't extend him the same patience.

Later, at campfire, Katie (along with a leader) joined in a song with another younger girl so she wouldn't have to sing by herself.

The next morning, we needed a fire for breakfast.

The adults got the fire started, but Katie was put in charge of  building it up to get hot enough to cook food over.

Not too shabby.

Pie iron breakfast is the best.

The younger girls packed up and left. The older girls had one more activity.

They were going to do Team Building at a Challenge Course.

We caught these two enjoying the peace and quiet of an empty camp.

First, they had to make their way to the course out in the woods.

The first challenge was partnering up and walking blindfolded.

Your partner had to guide you.

Then they did some clever team building exercises, like putting themselves in birth date order while standing on a series of logs while NOT speaking.

At the end, they got to fool around on a ground level ropes course.

The following week, Mikey had a field trip that culminated his grades focus on Pioneer times.

They went to visit Pioneer Farm.

This is what happens when you give a 9 year old a camera.

You get lots of blurry pictures of random things.

And many attempted selfies.

The first half of the day was spent wandering through an example of an Ohop Indian village where the kids were able to get a glimpse into how native peoples lived through different seasons in the PNW.

Although native american kids were responsible for completing certain tasks during the day, they were also supposed to dedicate a good portion of it to "playing".

In their play and their games, they would learn important life skills.

Not saying those kids had it easy, but it was WAY better than what the pioneer kids had to do day in and day out.

Our modern kids got to try their hand out at the following (among other things not pictured):

Archery.....

Tool making.....

Drum banging....

Spear throwing.....

 and Art.

And some sitting around and listening to people talk about the past.

Now, here is a great example of excellent chaperoning.

Time to move on to the pioneer side of things.

I am not sure what they are taking pictures of.

As in introduction to pioneer life, the kids had to sit in an old school house and hear about what it was like.

Boys let girls enter and sit first.

Boys on one side. Girls on the other.

All wore their best clothes.

No one spoke unless spoken to.

Or they got "The Switch".

There were a surprising amount of reasons the kids could get "The Switch".

No one got "The Switch" the day we were there.

The Old Pioneer Lady who explained all of this was definitely not someone you wanted to irritate.

The kids were on their best behavior.

I was too.

She was scary.

Break for lunch.

Post lunch visit to a two floor cabin.

About the size of our kitchen.

Sometimes, there could be a family of 8-10 all shoved into this one little space.

Ugh.

As we were waiting for a buggy ride, I attempted to show Mikey how to take a non-blurry picture.

I guess it worked!

Horse and buggy time.

They went pretty fast.

Even us adults got to go on a ride.

Candle making was up next.

Then we got to head down to the farm.

Pioneer kids had chores to do from sun-up to sun-down.

The kids got to try out some cool stuff.

They got to do some wood working.

And then, with teacher supervision, got to work in an actual blacksmith shop.

Mikey's heating the horseshoe in the forge.

Then he got down to work hammering it out.

An assist from teacher.

Time to cool that puppy down.

They even got to milk a cow!

Yes.

A REAL cow.

This is her calf.

Mikey made time to pet the bunny they had there.

The kids next stop was to play around with house wares inside a cabin - ground corn and coffee, dress in pioneer clothes, play with some pioneer toys, light lanterns and such.

I went off to start one of two fires the kids would use to pop popcorn.

The place I had to build my fire wasn't the best. 

It was up against a giant boulder.

But, after a while and with lots of work, I was able to get it going pretty good.

Yay, fire!

The kids kept busy popping popcorn and shaking cans to make ice cream.

Dinner wasn't very pioneer-ish. They had Dominos.

Mikey sat and contemplated all he had learned that day.

After dinner, they were introduced to Kick the Can.

Here they are sitting and listening to instructions.

At least some of them are listening.....

The version of Kick the Can that they played involved hiding.

The person that was "It" had to see them and call out their hiding place.

So, if they were smart, they would all just stay still until the "It" person left the can.

Then you could run up and "kick the can" and all those caught would be free.

Hiding forever afforded Mikey lots of time to take more blurry photos of:

Him and his friends.

Barnyard animals.

His own eye.

And other clever selfies.

Overall, the trip to Pioneer Farm was really fun.

Everyone learned a lot, even me!

As soon as the temp hits 60 around here, the kids break out the pool.

It was time to run for ASB (student council) at the middle school.

After a year being a 7th Grade Representative, Katie decided to throw her hat into the ring for Secretary.

She had to write a speech and create a poster to hang in the cafeteria.

This is her working hard on her poster and getting frustrated at me taking pictures of her working on her poster.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we tried to go to a place called Rattlesnake Lake (there are no rattlesnakes), but there was absolutely no parking.

We ditched that and went to Tiger Mountain to hike.

It was a rough hike.

It was pretty hot out and the trail was all uphill.

We didn't even make it to the top.

Are we there yet?

When we got home, we had Strawberry Rhubarb crumble for dessert and it made it alllll better.

The rhubarb was purchased from The Vegetable Lady, an old lady who wanders our neighborhood peddling her garden grown delights.

Here's Katie's finished election poster.

The bunnies got bolder.

This little kid bunny was happily eating flowers off our deck.

Time for the obligatory elementary year end music performance.

But first, just a little hamming it up for the camera.

Seriously?

Finally.

Singing.

This years theme went with the whole Pioneer life thing they were working on at school.

They even did drums.

No one can accuse him of being camera shy.

The best part of the evening was watching Mikey and his pal square dance.

They were totally into it.

My gosh.

Maybe I shouldn't have brought the camera.

Really?

......................

One more dance.

Who is this and where has Katie gone?

Just some cute pictures of an assignment Katie had to do with a group for her English class.

They had to come up with their own cereal and create its box.

I really liked her octopus dude, Squiggly.

Ralph loves visiting the bus stop.

Here he is waiting patiently for his boy to put on his shoes.

I just really like this picture.

Ralph is the best.

We had another visitor to our deck.

He was a little younger than our other visitor and he ate ALL the flowers.

I'd be mad if he wasn't just so darn cute.