May & June 2024

April was a little much.

It took a while to recover.

Jumping into May meant that we were one month closer to Katie not being a K

 through 12 student anymore

YIKES.

The first day of May was spent getting an IV infusion in the fancy IV unit at the children's hospital.

It definitely beats the satellite IV unit Katie had been going to.
At the hospital, patients can order GF French toast and root beer floats.

An exchange student hosted a German May Day festival at the kids school.

The celebration also had a May Pole.

Here's a tiny snippet of the May Pole dance.

NASA had a competition and gifted baby trees grown from seeds that had orbited the moon to schools around the country.

The kids school won a "Moon Tree" and planted it outside.

We took advantage of some really nice weather and got ice cream at our favorite local gourmet ice cream place.

That evening was the strongest geomagnetic storm recorded in over two decades!
Unbelievably, it was clear skies in the PNW and we were able to see the incredible show.
It was absolutely amazing.

So beautiful and so grounding.
We are just tiny, tiny bits in a very, very large universe.

I spent a weekend in May at our state PTA convention and annual meeting.

I had to teach a class on changes we were making to our state bylaws. I also had to present the bylaws changes to the general assembly of members so that they could be voted on.

It was a bit anxiety inducing, but I made it through.

These cinnamon bun pancakes from IHOP helped.

The same weekend that I was away, Mikey participated in the eSports Teams 36-hour charity livestream.

As part of the livestream, they had to do silly things depending on if they reached certain donation amounts.

Here they are playing Mario Party while blindfolded.
Not shown, taking shots of hot sauce. You did not want to see the aftermath of that. Yuck.

They met and surpassed their goal.

As a gift to those tuning in, they created and shared a recording of the eSports team members playing playground games like freeze tag, capture the flag, foursquare and such.

It was pretty funny.

It was great to see them meet and surpass their goal.

Especially knowing that some of the founders of the club would be moving on to post-high school life the following year.

The following week was Better World Day at the kid's school.
While Katie worked on the "Declaring a Climate Emergency" resolution with the Climate Action Club, Mikey and his small team brought in a martial arts teacher to show some self-defense skills.

Senior prom was fast approaching.
We had to find some pants.

Cue the silly poses in front of mannequins at department stores.

While picking up some dog poop in the backyard, I noticed Ralph sniffing around in a bush. When I investigated, I found a nest with one tiny little egg in it.

I kept checking and after a few days there were about four eggs in it.
Ralph did not eat them.

We spent an evening at the local high school watching the kids friends in band and choir.

It was a fancy affair with student waiters that came to take your order at your table for drinks and desserts.

And, just like that, it was June.

Graduation month.

The seniors had their Prom the first weekend of the month.

Katie decided she would go with a gothic-inspired look.

We took some pictures at a local park before they took off for the evening.

Some took the pictures a little less serious than others.

 : D

The group hit up a pho restaurant and then headed to the prom venue.

They did a little dancing but played poker most of the night.

The three whackadoos (vampire, orange man and top hat) ended up back at our place to eat snacks, play games and watch anime.

Say hello to mommy bird.
She had the craziest red eyes.

Like murder eyes.

Katie and Ralph share the same life philosophy.

When life gets to be a little too much, fall down where you are and sleep.

It was time for the year-end drama banquet.

The newest crop of thespians were inducted into the troop, including Mikey.

He had to dress as Shrek during the school day and when asked why he had to explain he was "a student of theatre and excellence is my ideal....GET OUTTA MY SWAMP!"

During the event they also have underclassmen do a shout out for departing seniors.

Mikey volunteered to honor Katie.

Most people do a speech.
Mikey serenaded Katie with lyrics he made up about her to the tune of the Pokémon theme song.

A good time, and many laughs, were had by all.
Here's Mikey with his friend who had to dress as Shrek's beloved, Fiona.

The next evening was the drama department Senior Showcase.

The seniors put together the program and each get a chance to solo a segment.
Katie is the one in red. She goes to a different school.

Kaite and her friend did the peasant and King Arthur scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Katie's friends Dad played the coconut banging squire and Mikey, the old peasant woman.

"HELP! I'M BEING REPRESSED!"

Here's the scene....

All the seniors took the stage one last time to sing "Raise My Cup" from Hadestown.

A soon-to-be graduate with an old peasant woman.

They've known each other since preschool and the youngers since birth.

Sigh.

Next thing I knew, I was making her last school lunch.

And it was her last day of senior year.

To say this was overwhelming was very, very accurate.
There were just so many "lasts" packed into April, May and June that it became emotionally draining.

You are excited and proud to see your kid fly off into the unknown but at the same time you know that things will never be the same with them gone.

I distracted myself by monitoring the bird's nest in the backyard.
There were at least four creepy baby birds in there.

The night before graduation, we held a party for the seniors at a local sports and activity center.

Congrats, grads!

And then, it was time.

Graduation.

Katie and her friend shared valedictorian, and each got to give a short speech.

While her friend held up her sign, Katie compared Bluey's game of keepy-uppy to the demands of high school and how it related to their future success.

And just like that, it was over! Diploma received and Katie was a graduate!

Time for celebratory pictures!

Grandma and Grandpa.

Uncle Chris, Aunt Sheila and Cousin Matty.

And the family.

Say, "CHEESE!"

After lots more congratulations and pictures with friends, I was able to corner the kid and get my grad picture.

So, so proud of her for overcoming every struggle on the way to this moment.

The following day, Katie opened some of her grad gifts.

She appreciated all of the gift cards, cash and gifts.

Many of the gifts were Beaver themed....

That evening, we held a low-key graduation party for her at a local park.

The theme was Pokémon and the food was all dessert.

We invited her friends and some of our PNW FRamily.

In addition to cookies, fruit-by-the-foot, candy, cakes and macarons, we also had a s'more making station.

WOOT!

The baby birds didn't look so atrocious at this point.

They actually looked semi-birdish.

After graduation, Mikey still had a few more days of school.

We took Grandma and Grandpa to a park for a picnic lunch.

As you can tell, it was not very warm.

We had a yummy Huzbend-prepared meal with Grandma and Grandpa.

It was time for them to head home.

Family picture time, with Ralph included.

The month of June wound down quietly.

With nothing on the calendar, it was nice to just chill for a bit.

Ralph appreciated having everyone home so he could keep an eye on them.

The month ended on a mysterious note.

The baby birds disappeared.

Investigating the scene of the crime did not bring any closure.

There were no feathers or remains that would be evidence of a cat attack.
And, there is no way that Ralph would just get the birds and not mess up the nest.

That left the local crows.

Grrrr.
Bummer.