Road Trip and School's Out!

Monday morning, bright and early (well, early for Eileen) Dan, Eileen and I headed out on out road trip!   We made a quick detour stop on the way at Jared and Charlotte's to drop off some earrings Eileen had made for Charlotte.  

Then we drove down to the Wildlife Safari and had a blast looking at the animals and feeding the animals and trying to take pictures of the animals!  That night we stayed at a nearby airbnb.  

 

Tuesday, we headed out towards the coast and stopped at a fun little place called "Prehistoric Gardens"  They had a beautiful trail to walk along filled with full size recreations of dinosaurs.  Eileen loved it, and then she managed to see a bunch of her crocheted dino earrings to the gift shop owner for her to sell in her store!  She was so excited to get a big order, now she just has to make them and ship them!  

After, we continued on our way to Crescent City.  We got in early enough to do some walking around on the beaches and look around a bit.  We were in a fun little inn filled with doll houses.  I thought it was close enough to walk to stuff, but Eileen doesn't enjoy walking quite as much as I do.  :)  

Wednesday, we spend the day checking out Crescent City.  We went to the aquarium.  It wasn't a huge aquarium, but the guide there was great and she answered a lot of questions and we got to watch the seals and sea lions perform and got to pet a shark!  

After, went to the nearby lighthouse - we learned about light houses, climbed on the rocks and enjoyed the beautiful scenery!  Then we stopped by a local farmer's market, checked out a local museum and then Eileen was done, so we got some dinner and headed back to the hotel.  Dan took me out on a nice walk in the evening, but Eileen was tired.  

Wednesday was also the last day of school for the kids.  James and David had field day and had a blast.  James has had some great friends this year!  Milo's parents sent some pictures of the kids from their last day of elementary school!  

Thursday morning, we headed out and our first stop was the "Trees of Mystery" which was a huge redwood forest area with lots of fun stuff to see and do and some awesome walking trails including a part that was up in the trees! 

After, we drove through the avenue of the giants and enjoyed a scenic drive through amazing old forest.  We made one last stop at the drive-through tree, but our van wouldn't fit through, so we just walked through.  It was a fun little stop though.  After that, we made our way to Fort Bragg where we stopped for the night and enjoyed walking around on the beach and finding sea glass at glass beach.  

The next day, we made our way down to San Francisco and checked into our hotel room and spent some time walking around the city and got some dinner and wandered around Chinatown for a bit.  

On Saturday, we headed into town to check out the sealions and walk around Pier 39 and then we grabbed a quick lunch before heading over to take the ferry out to Alcatraz.  I of course loved the history and stories of the place, Eileen's favorite part was the ferry ride and the seagull babies.  To be fair, there were lots of floofy babies and they were really cute.  

After, we walked over to the aquarium at the pier and wandered around it for a bit before Eileen was tired and ready to head home.  We rested for a bit before walking to a nearby restaurant for dinner and then Eileen walked back to the hotel and Dan and I walked to Safeway to get some groceries for Sunday.  

Saturday was also Evelyn's performance with her Moonstar Acro group.  Thankfully I was able to watch a video of her performance and she did an amazing job - including nailing her no-hands cartwheel.  It was fun and she's had a great time with these girls!  

Today, we checked out of our hotel and went to church, then drove back to the hotel to get the airpods Dan had forgotten, then we really began our drive down to Monterey area.  After getting into our airbnb, we made dinner and took a walk on the beach and then relaxed for the evening!   Just a few days left, but Eileen's most anticipated part is tomorrow!  Hopefully all continues to go well! 

Countdown to Summer Fun

The kids are getting down to the end of school finally.  On Monday, James and his friend Milo were officially awarded the trophies for their bridge that they designed and built out of toothpicks.  They did an awesome job and were so excited to win!  It's been fun getting to play and walk home with the boys, they tell me all about their day and ask about my day.  And it's a little sad to realize that next school year James will be going to middle school and I won't get this afterschool time with him anymore.  Hopefully he still likes to tell me about his day though.  :)  

Eileen and Anna finished up their classes this week, and Anna went on a sewing kick.  She has been sewing clothes all week.  She made Eileen's corset and 2 skirts for her.   Now, she's working on another corset for a friend of hers.  It's fun to see her learning and growing confident and having fun creating.  

Water Polo has been fun this week.  The kids are doing well and getting better all the time.  And I'm finally starting to notice a difference in my endurance when I'm in the field.  Since I scrimmage in the field with the girls and mostly in the field at open polo on Saturday, I have noticed that I'm not getting as tired as quickly!  We've had a good turn out at masters and I've been playing pretty well!  

This week has mostly been getting as much ready as possible for our trip with Eileen next week.  Lots of running errands and lots of getting things in order.  Anna had an overnight trip with some of her good friends from church Friday and Saturday and got home just in time to change and head out to the dance.  Aaron had 2 separate parties with friends from church on Saturday, so he skipped the dance and went to that instead.  Evelyn got together with friends to get ready for the dance and then went to the dance and David and I went to the birthday party of one of his friends.   And that was just Saturday evening.  Saturday morning, Dan and I went to the temple to be with Isaac as he took out his endowment, then we picked up the kids and met up with the family at a park to play and have lunch.  Dan's parents were in town for the temple trip, but weren't able to stay with us, so we had a nice time visiting with them too.  Saturday evening, I went to open polo, I hadn't been able to go to Parkrose, and I'm not going to get to play for another week and a half, so I wanted to play one last time.  We had lower numbers than usual, but still enough to play a full 6 on 6 - but only a couple subs.  It was a lot of fun though!  

Today we had biscuits for breakfast for Father's Day, then headed to church.  After church, we headed home for dinner and fun.  We had told David that we would celebrate his birthday early since we would be gone for his birthday.  He was so excited, he kept asking all afternoon when we could celebrate.  Evelyn made the Reece's Peanut Butter Cupcakes.  But we made them all wait until Grandma got in to celebrate.  Grandma's flight was a bit delayed, but by late afternoon, we were ready to celebrate.  

David and Anna both opened their presents and David especially was excited by it!  I got him a bunch of pencils and notebooks and crayons and markers and a pencil case for him to write his little notes and make his little books with.  

Then we ate the adorable cupcakes! 

We had a fun evening chatting and making a list of activities for the kids for the week and then playing games together.  The kids roped Dan into playing Killer Bunnies and I won!  Then we all converged on the craft room and chatted and crafted! 

At church today, David leaned over to me and says "Aaron is starting to get a moustache" And as I was about to say that that is what usually happens to teenage boys, he continued with "And so are you!"  At which point I busted up (as quietly as I could since we were in Sacrament Meeting) and then he looked at Anna and said she was too!  LOL  

Tomorrow morning, Dan and Eileen and I head out on our road trip - I'm looking forward to this time with Eileen and Dan and this time off of the rest of life!  

End of School Year Fun

We've had a crazy busy week.  As the school year winds up, there is always lots of stuff going on.  Monday, Anna wanted to come with me to get some cord to finish up her corset, so she came with me to the grocery store and we hit Hobby Lobby on the way.  The only problem was that she tried to eat all our food on the way home....  Well ok maybe not all - but she ate the bread for the garlic bread.... 

Tuesday, Aaron had his appointment to get his braces off.  This poor kid has been in and out of braces for years and years and years now, so it's wonderful to know he's finally really done.  His teeth look great!  He had another appointment later in the week to get his retainer, but he is now officially done!  

Wednesday was a water polo social for the kids club.  The family of one of the players has some property with a pond, so we had food and scrimmages in the pond and swimming and playing around.  Everyone had a great time and the food was yummy and it was a great chance to get to know each other a bit better.  

David loved paddling around on this little kayak - I was amazed with how well he steered it!  He was navigating all over the place and it was the perfect size for him.  He even was able to steer into some plants on the side of the pond to retrieve a ball.  

The kids all had a blast and were glad to get to play in the water with friends.   On the way home, David threw up.  He was able to get it into a bag.  At first we thought it was just the windy roads on the way home and he was getting motion sick, but he then threw up again later after he was in bed, so we kept him home from school.  He threw up again Thursday afternoon, so we kept him home Friday too, he hasn't thrown up since, but he's had diarrhea, but he seems to be feeling mostly better.  

Thursday was the middle school band concert.  Evelyn did an awesome job and it was fun watching her!  She made funny faces at me whenever she looked at me.  :) 

Friday, after going to the Zumba class in the morning, I walked back over to the school for James' demolition day.  Dan was working from home so he was able to stay with David.  James and his friend Milo have been working hard on their bridge project and this was the day to test the bridges so see how much weight they could hold.  The did an amazing job planning and building their bridge and it held up really well.  They are pretty sure they won, but their class was noisy, so she didn't announce the winner and is making them wait until Monday.  It was so fun to watch them!  

Saturday morning, bright and early, the kids went to the youth temple trip.  We had some of the new members of the ward join them too!  It was a beautiful way to spend the morning.

In the afternoon, Anna and I went to go play water polo at Parkrose High School.  Then Eileen had another potsticker day, but the only person who came was her friend Maise.  So we had fun making potstickers and singing along to ABBA!  

Church today was wonderful.  The choir met before church since we were singing in Sacrament meeting.  They performed wonderfully!  Anna accompanied on the organ and did an amazing job!  It was wonderful!   I taught a lesson in primary this week since the teachers were all supposed to go in for teacher training.  We had fun playing a game and talking and watching a short video.  The kids were so amazing and thoughtful with their answers and ideas!  It was fun! 

After church, we had lunch and talked with Grandparents and a bit of nap time.  Dan used his French Tart making kit to make some chocolate tarts.  They were amazing!!!  We had crepes for dinner and then we had friends over to play games in the evening.  

 Now that Anna has finished her corset, she is looking for other projects to make, so she is making a skirt for Eileen.  And then wants to do Eileen's corset.  

Memorial Day and More

Monday morning, I went to work out, then we headed to the Olsen's for a Memorial Day breakfast.  We had a great time eating yummy food and hanging out with friends.  The kids especially loved the chickens and their tiny eggs.  

After, we went home to pack up to go to the beach for the afternoon.  We went out to Rockaway Beach.  It was a beautiful day and we had fun, but it was also rather cold and windy - but it was great for flying kites!  We spent a bit of time wandering around Rockaway too and then headed home.  

Our week proceeded normally from there, School during the day and water polo in the evenings.  Anna and Aaron had their band concert on Wednesday.  The Mountainside band programs are really amazing.  The music was fabulous and they did an amazing job!!!  

Thursday was water polo for Anna, Aaron, Evelyn and I.  Dan and Eileen had another play to go to, this one not nearly as good as the last two, but still much better than the first couple.  Eileen found it rather dull - but it was a mystery and she's never really liked mysteries.  

This weekend has been NUTS.  The Newberg Summer tournament was this weekend and Evelyn got to play her first real games.  She did a great job and had a lot of fun!  She's improving so quickly!  Anna also played well.  Aaron was only in one game since most the boys games were on Sunday and the kids just did Friday/Saturday.  

Evelyn's first game on Saturday was a 7 am which meant she had to be there at 6:30 so we had to get up at 5:45.  On a Saturday....  Then we left from that and went home for a bit before taking Evelyn to her Encore Auditions.  It's pretty rare for Freshmen to get in, and they are in much more need of boys than girls, but she did well on her audition and we will find out in a couple weeks if she got in.  If not she can try again next year and it will be a higher chance of her getting in.  

Then I headed out to Parkrose to play water polo for a bit and had fun, then got home in time to get things ready for Eileen's potsticker party.  We invited some people over to learn to make potstickers and we had a fun time making (and eating) yummy food and chatting.  After, our family headed to the Ward BBQ for dinner and fun and friends.  When Eileen was done, we went home to get younger kids to bed and older kids off to activities.  Anna had a end of year social for Encore, Aaron had his water polo game and Evie and I went to open polo.  We had a fun and tiring evening and finally got home late and crashed.  

I was looking forward to getting to sleep in a bit Sunday morning since church didn't start until 10:30 and it was fast Sunday, but my brain woke up around 7 and wouldn't shut off again.  Church was wonderful - fast and testimony meeting was beautiful.  Choir went well - just need a few more people to come!  

Tonight was the seminary graduation.  Eileen is officially done with seminary!  She was also asked to lead the music for the meeting and Anna was asked to play.  My kids are so talented!  It was neat to be there and while Eileen didn't much care for any of it, I'm glad I got to see it.  

Eileen was house/dog sitting for Sandi this week, but she needed to be here for the Seminary graduation and church, so we brought Popcorn up to our house for the last couple days before Sandi get back.  Popcorn has been super snuggly and sweet and even helped me lose the game we checked out from the library....  

David is loving reading and writing.  Today he wrote a letter to Grandpa and wrote cute little notes for people and stuck them all over.  And at bed time, he read to me instead of reading to him - he read the whole thing by himself - he read Go Dog, Go.  Since it's June, he got his Birthday Buck from primary today, he was so excited to take it to the bishop and get his birthday present.  He has been using it all day to write notes and put stickers on stuff.  

Rest? What Rest? Who needs Rest!?!?!?

Our week was full of the usual busy-ness.  Water Polo in the evenings, School for the kids, Errands for mom.  Weather was beautiful, so lots of playing after school in the afternoons.  Our usual scrimmage with the girls for water polo was on Wednesday instead of Friday this week since we had Friday off for the holiday weekend.  

Tuesday, instead of going to water polo, I went with Dan and some of his friends to watch Fast X.  We had a lot of fun together!  The movie was fun and I always like watching movies with Dan!  

Friday, since there was no scrimmage, Dan and I went out for dinner and then to the temple.  We went for Thai food which was really yummy, but a bit spicy for me!  The temple was wonderful! 

Saturday, we went to the library in the morning, the boys had a fun time picking out new books and games.  Then we got home in time for me to leave with Aaron and Anna to go play water polo at Parkrose.  We had a good time, then went to lunch with some of the others after.  

Evie's friends came over in the afternoon to hang out before going to open polo in the evening.  David loved putting the cap on and being like the big kids.  lol  Then after getting David to bed, I took Aaron and Evelyn to open polo.  The numbers were low and so we spent the whole time just shooting and messing around.  But I got to sit in the cage and take shots most of the time, which was a blast!  And I was doing pretty well blocking too!  

Today was nuts.  Wonderful, but crazy busy!  We started early to head down to John and Melissa's ward to see Caleb and hear him speak after his mission.  It was so good to see him again and so wonderful to hear his message and I loved getting  to go to Relief Society, the message was wonderful!  After, we went to John and Melissa's for lunch.  We had a great time hanging out with all the family and playing games.  Then we got back just in time for choir practice, followed by a baptism for one of the kids in the ward, then home for dinner and scriptures, then off to the temple to watch Anna perform with Encore on the temple grounds.  It was wonderful and we got to see friends there too!  Finally after a long, but wonderful day, we are home and ready to crash.  

Birthday Party Time!

It has been a crazy busy and fun week!  Full of water polo and birthday fun and friends.  James had Activity Days this week and they did a temple and family history activity that included telling family stories and building temples out of sugar cubes.  They had a good time and ate way too many sugar cubes!!  

This week has been full of water polo.  Aaron and Anna and Evelyn have had club polo and I've been in the water with the high school girls during practice on Monday and Wednesday.  Tuesday and Thursday I played with the masters group.  Friday was the high school girls scrimmage.  Kari and I both got in as well as some other's masters women including Aukai's wife.  It was a lot of fun and exhausting!!   Then Saturday I went to Parkrose with Anna to scrimmage with the masters group and then with Evelyn and her friends to Open Polo in Tigard.  At least with the masters groups I get to play goalie - but I had to actually swim at open polo and Newberg!  lol  It was a lot of fun though and Evelyn scored twice at open polo - she was so excited!  It was neat because she also could already see a difference in her playing from the time spent at Newberg practices!   I could also tell watching Aaron's scrimmage that he's getting a lot faster and stronger too - he isn't getting beat down the pool on fast breaks any more!  It was also cute to watch Evelyn hanging out with her friend Ashley and teaching her some basic defense moves!  

On Thursday, Dan and Eileen went to another play for her class - this one was done by PCC theater and they did Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and it was the best play they have watched for this class - they had a good time and were impressed with the show - which is much better than their usual reviews of the shows they have seen.  

Friday was Dan's birthday.  He stayed home from work for the day and we went out to lunch together and went to Costco to get things for his birthday party.  Then in the evening we had cake and sang and he opened presents before Anna and I left for polo.  

Saturday was nuts.  Anna had a career fair in the morning that she went to, then met up with me at Parkrose for Masters.  I went to Nate and Katelynn's bridal shower in the morning before meeting her there.  The bridal shower was lovely!  It was fun seeing everyone and chatting with Nate a bit.  Unfortunately (at least for us) they are moving up to Seattle this summer so Nate won't be able to keep coaching at Mountainside.  So now I'm on the hunt for another coach.  After Masters, Anna and I headed home to get the house cleaned up and ready for the birthday party.  David helped change light bulbs since our hands were too big!  And he helped clean the bathroom!  

We had a good crowd and lots of yummy food.  We had a fun time with friends and enjoyed the perfect weather for being outside!  Anna had to leave early for her date.  It was the church's Spring Semi-Formal dance, so her date picked her up just as the party got started and they left and had a lot of fun.  After the party, Dan and I headed to the church building for a baptism.  It was wonderful!  Then we headed home to do scriptures and prayers with the kids before I picked up Evelyn (who had left the party with Ashley to go hang out at Natalie's house) and her friends to go to Open Polo.  

Church today was wonderful, primary was a little crazy, but overall it went well.  After church, James wanted me to sit and crochet with him, so I spent most of my afternoon (except while I was at choir) in the craft room with him.   He made all 5 of these cute little stuffies in one afternoon.  He's gotten so good and so creative and puts his own spin on stuff!  I think it's awesome!  

Dan checked out a new game from the library this week and we tried it out tonight.  He beat Aaron once, then he played with David and I, and David sabotaged his strategy, so I won, barely.  We also played some Lost Cities - once again, he won the first game, but I won the subsequent ones.  

Bright Sunshiny Days

The weather this week has been warm and sunny!  Its been fun playing and working outside in the beautiful weather!  

We are into our first week of the summer session for water polo - Evelyn started this week and was thrown into a scrimmage on her first day - but she had a friend there and she had a great time!  We also had some new girls join the high school team, so I spent some time with them working on basics.  Plus I was in the pool scrimmaging with them on Wednesday - so I've gotten a lot of pool time this week. 

Anna had the State Band competition this week.  She had her preview concert on Thursday and the competition most of the day on Saturday.  They got 4th place.  

Evelyn found out this week that she got into Symphonic Band!  There are 3 levels of band at the high school and most freshmen are put into Concert Band, but Evelyn auditioned and made it into Symphonic Band (which is the next level up) along with 2 of her good friends.  It will be great - it will be hard enough to push her and not so easy that she is bored.  She did so well and I'm so excited for her.  She was almost as worried about having her friends with her as she was about getting in herself, so this is the best!!  

Eileen is taking a class on Theater appreciation which includes going to plays and reviewing them.  Dan decided that since she would need rides to the plays, that he might as well go see them with her.  They went to their third play together this week and while they enjoy being together, they haven't been thrilled by any of the plays so far.  Which just makes is better that Dan is going with her to help her be more amused and less annoyed.  :) 

We got Eileen set up in housing for college in the fall - this whole leaving for college thing is starting to feel way too close.... 

Saturday evening, we had the sister Missionaries over for dinner and had a wonderful lesson from them.  Then Dan and I had a couple friends over to play games while Aaron and Evelyn went to a dance/party thing hosted by someone in the nearby stake.  Then at about midnight, Dan gave me my Mother's Day gift.  The new Zelda game "Tears of the Kingdom"  I stayed up playing for a bit, but didn't want to stay up too late.  I'm looking forward to playing more this coming week!  Also, Eileen is very excited too.  :)  

Today was Mother's Day and I had the best day ever!  I got heart shaped biscuits with honey butter for breakfast.  At church, the primary kids sang "Mother, I Love You" and it was the cutest thing ever.  James was cute and shy and David was hamming it up.  It made me so happy!!  After church, I crocheted with Eileen and chatted with my mom.  Then I took a little nap, then played a very silly version of Red Light, Green Light, with James and David.  It started out with "red light" and "green light" - then I added in "purple light" and "blue light" and before long it was "sloth light" and "Spiderman light"  and the boys had a blast being silly trying to walk like the thing I named.  

For dinner, we had pancakes and an omelet.  Evelyn (with help from David) made perfect beautiful pancakes and Dan made the yummy omelet!  Plus Eileen (once again with help from David) made yummy chocolate covered strawberries for me.  Then Eileen did my after-dinner chore with out even being asked.  

Then we had an evening of playing games with Dan and the kids.  Dan kept trying to lose - and failing.  He kept trying crazy strategies intending not to win and then still beating us all anyway....  After that happening 3 times, we all gave up.  

Water Polo, Music, and more

We've had a fun week.  David was so excited after school to come out to his scooter at the bike rack to find a ducky on his scooter and a note saying it was from the bike fairy.  James of course wanted one too and went and asked about it since he rides his bike to school and they gave him one also.  

Evelyn's play was this week. She was Scuttle in the production of The Little Mermaid.  She was the cutest Scuttle EVER!  She did such a great job and we had a fun time watching her!  A bunch of her friends came to watch too and it was a great experience for her! 

The kids had water polo practice all week and then Anna had a tournament on the weekend up in Washington.  The girls won every game, then she booked it back to get here in time for her Encore fireside.  They did an amazing job - the concert was wonderful and she did a great job both singing and playing the piano for the song she accompanied.  It's so neat to watch her grow!  

Saturday, I helped a friend in the ward set up for her son and his new wife's wedding open house.  Aaron and I went and set up tables and chairs and helped some with decorations, then after, I helped with food and taking pictures.  It was really nice and hopefully I was able to relieve some of her stress.  

The weather here is starting to really feel like spring with warm sunny days.  But we got a crazy hard thunderstorm this week - it almost felt like we were back in Texas and there was flooding in some areas because of how heavy the rain was.  Thankfully we didn't have any problems.