Last Day of School Parade

I love our elementary school, Little Cedars Elementary!  For the last day of school celebrations, we had our 2nd annual parade.  Each class decorates a banner and everyone, from students to staff, parade around the school grounds while parents cheer and take pictures.
This year, with the opening of the new high school, Glacier Peak, the kids were able to extend the parade route to include the high school parking lot.  The whole student body of the high school came out to participate in the parade with the kids. Some of the teenagers were even high-fiving the kids It was awesome! (We found Bobby at the parade!)

The kids always enjoy this end of year tradition (carried over from some of the previous elementary schools).  It was made especially great this year with the participation of the GPHS cheerleaders and drum core.

(The GPHS Cheerleaders with Wolvie the Wolverine, LCE’s mascot.)

 

After the parade, there is a school wide assembly where the choir sings, a slideshow is shown of pictures throughout the year, awards are given, the teachers put on the “lost and found fashion show” (great idea!), the student body sings “I’m on My Way” from the “Brother Bear” Disney movie (super cute), and then the “moving up” ceremony.  (This one gets me every time.)

The “moving up” ceremony consists of the 6th graders, who are sitting in chairs while the rest of the student body sits on the floor, are dismissed back to their classrooms.  Then the 5th graders “move up” to the chairs and everyone else moves back to the grade behind them.  This leaves room in the front of the group for the kindergartners.  So sweet!  I cry every year!

(Alex receives a perfect attendance award)

 
(Sarah and school singing “I’m on My Way”)

The end of school is always bitter sweet to me.  On one hand, it means summer vacation and lazy days and water fun.  On the other hand, it means my babies are growing up and I am now the mommy of a SENIOR in high school, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader!  Where does the time go?

Girl Scout Camp

In May, Sarah and I joined our girl scout troop at our first ever weekend girl scout camp.
 
We went to Camp Killoqua, which is a campfire girls camp.  There were 14 girls and 9 adults for our troop (including a few siblings)!  We were able to stay in this huge A-frame cabin that had running water and a loft upstairs.  The cabin was full of bunk beds and we were able to put most of the girls upstairs with 2 chaperones.  The rest of the mommy’s and a few of the girls slept downstairs.
The girls all had a wonderful opportunity to participate in community service projects, team building exercises, pj games, craft time, group camp fire, marshmallow roasting, learning new games, canoeing, group sing- and dance-alongs, and meeting new friends.    
For each meal, a different troop was asked to do a blessing for the meal.  It could be a song, a prayer, a poem, etc.  Our girls were chosen to do a blessing for lunch.  We chose to do a song that was to the tune of “We Will Rock You”.  It was super cute!
One highlight for me was having the  opportunity to canoe on the lake.  This was very exciting because Sarah had never been in a canoe, and I had never been in one where I was in charge!   It was Sarah, Gracie and I in our own canoe.  And let’s just say we only hit a tree once!  What was interesting though is that Sarah turned out to be the leader and was telling ME how to steer!  It was amazing to see her step up into that role!

Another highlight was making a wonderful snack called girl scout gorp.  Each girl in our troop got to add a delicious item to our trail mix that had a significant meaning to being a girl scout.  We had this huge mixture of cereal, M&M’s, marshmallows, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.  It was so good, that some of us weren’t even hungry for dinner that night!
I wasn’t really excited about going on a camping trip with 11 little Daisy Scouts.  But, I have to say, I had a great time getting to know them all a little more, spending time with Sarah, and experiencing all the wonderful things that Girl Scout Camp has to offer.  It was truly an experience that I hope to have again with Sarah. 

Another year of baseball

Another year completed of baseball for Alex.  This year he was on the Oriole’s. 

Alex wasn’t sure he wanted to play baseball this year.  He didn’t know what he wanted to do, but we “made” him play one more year.  This was the first year that he had to “try out” for a team.  He grumbled and moaned and we just kept on encouraging him. It was worth it when he came home from his first few practices and thanked his dad, assistant coach Bob, for having him play baseball again.  He does enjoy it once he’s playing.  It’s just the thought of going to all the practices and missing out on playing with his friends that he doesn’t like.

He ended the season with an award for best “on-base” percentage.  Alex may not have made a ton of hits, but because he’s "low to the ground” he got walked a lot.  :-)  He was great at falling down to avoid being hit by the pitch.  He did that at least once or twice every game!  He should’ve gotten the most dramatic award! 

I hope he plays again next year.  Here’s a few pictures from this years’s season…..

  Alex enjoyed playing catcher. Dad gives some coaching at 1st base.

Alex is ready for this pitch!

Nice throw from 2nd. What a cute baseball player! No time for dinner before the game, so a hotdog in the dugout!

Sarah  picking flowers at Alex’s baseball game.

Goodbye old friend…..Hello New Shiny Friend!

It’s time to say goodbye to our old travel trailer. We bought it in 2004 when we lived in Utah. We’ve driven that baby all over the West. We blew a tire at midnight in the middle of the Virgin River Gorge just after we crossed the state line from Utah into Arizona. We’ve gotten stuck near Spokane in a parking lot that Bob swore we could get out of. Turns out we couldn’t back out, couldn’t turn around or anything. Got stuck. Cried. Stomped our feet. Then finally maneuvered it around and got out. Only to lose two bikes on I90 just minutes later. We’ve been to Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Disneyland, Oregon Coast, Yellowstone, and multiple spots in Washington. We busted the stairs, the awning, and the refrigerator. When Bob lost his job after we first moved here, we joked (mostly) about how we could always live in it if he didn’t find another job quickly. We’ve camped with friends, neighbors and family members and have made tons of memories. But now it is time to say goodbye…..

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……and Hello to shiny new trailer!

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(Photos taken with slide out not put out. ooops. I was just too excited!)

Basically it’s the same as our old trailer, but with quad bunk beds and an 18 inch slide out. We are looking forward to making just as many wonderful, happy memories and seeing much more of the country!

Our first big trip in our new travel trailer will be our drive to the Midwest to see family in Indianapolis and Cincinnati! We leave July 5th and hope to arrive in Indianapolis on July 8th. Then we head back home on July 26 with a stop to see Uncle Chuck in New Mexico. We are looking forward to trying out our new home on wheels. :-)

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony

On June 10th, my little girl scouts had their bridging ceremony.  They “graduated” from Daisy Scouts to official Brownie Scouts!  Yay!

 

It’s been a great two years of being these precious little girls’ troop leader.  I’ve enjoyed spending so much time with my own daughter and watching her develop Courage, Confidence and Character!

(Sarah at her Daisy Investiture Ceremony)
(Sarah at the Bridging Ceremony)

Having a wonderful co-leader in Nicole has been fabulous too.  Not only have I learned what being a scout leader is, I have also found a life long friend.

It’s been a fun-filled 2 years with Rock Climbing, Safeway Grocery Tours, Fire Station and Sherriff’s department tours, SWAP events, Thinking Days, Corn Mazes, selling cookies, and learning the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout Promise.  I’m looking forward to next year when we will experience what it’s like to be Brownies!

Good Job Troop 52830!

Dancing Queen

At the beginning of this month, Sarah had her much anticipated dance recital!  Applause Studio puts on it’s yearly recital at the Edmonds Center for the Arts – very fancy!

Sarah’s class performed 2 songs and participated in the finale.  One was a jazz dance number and one was a tap dance number.  The finale was with the whole cast and was a number performed to a song called “Heart of Rock N Roll”.  Original song was by Huey Lewis and the News, but they changed it a bit for the recital. 

Everyone did such a great job!  We are so proud of our little dancing queen!

(Sarah and her dance teacher, Ms. Allison)

( Sarah in her jazz outfit.  She is the one in the middle)

(Sarah takes a bow.  She is in her tap outfit.  Cute skirt!)

(Sarah looking for her daddy after the finale)

Europe Part II

Paris!! (see Europe Part I here)

On May 1st we took the overnight train from Munich to Paris. We arrived in Paris the morning of May 2nd.  We headed straight to our hotel, The Hotel Saint Dominique located near Rue Clair.  We had a super cute little room right off the inner courtyard and a view of the Eiffel Tower out the front door of the hotel.

Once we checked in, we headed to a local flea market.  This was so much fun!  I guess they only have these on the weekends: http://en.parisinfo.com/professionnals/1729/marche-aux-puces-de-la-porte-de-vanves.  We had a blast just walking through the market, checking out all the stalls selling their wares.  It truly felt like we were among the true Parisians! 

After the market and some lunch, Bob, Sue and I headed to the oldest department store in Paris:  Le Bon Marche.

We got Bob’s mom her souvenir and thank you gift for watching the kids.  It was a beautiful department store and we found a lovely scarf for Marcie.  AND we spotted Andi MacDowell coming down the escalator.  Ooh La La!

 

Every evening, before dinner, the 4 of us (Rob, Sue, Bob and I) would meet in our lovely courtyard for aperitif’s.  It was wonderful!  One of the most favorite parts of our trip!

We ended our first day in Paris with kissing on a bridge over the Seine River overlooking the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.  Wonderful!

Day 2 found us off to Sacre Couer in Montmartre.  Montmartre is the highest hill in Paris where all the artists used to live and paint.  Today it still has artists who create and sell their paintings in a street vendor atmosphere. At the top of the hill is Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church that was built in the late 1800’s.  The view from here is the best in Paris!  It looks out over the whole of the city.  
(climbing the many steps to Sacre Coeur)

  The church was so beautiful.  But I felt a little bit weird taking a tour while they were having service!  It was Sunday, so the locals (and probably some tourists) were attending service while the tourists walked around the outer edges of the sanctuary admiring the architecture and the paintings.  Kind of weird and maybe a little wrong….but, still, I loved the church!

After that, we headed to the artists square and we bought our first piece of real artwork.

 

Walking back down from Sacre Coeur, we saw a beautiful carousel and we then we shopped along Montmartre for souvenirs for the kids.

 

(shopping for scarves with Sue)

After Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, we headed over to the Luxembourg Gardens and Palace where we saw kids sailing boats on a pond, listened to a brass band, saw a big giant head (?) and just enjoyed the cloudy and cool, but lovely, day in Paris.
(Luxembourg Palace)

(kids sailing boats – this was really cool.  The kids put their sailboats on the pond, pushed them out in the water with a stick, and then ran around the pond following their boat.)

(those silly Americans!)

After the gardens, Rob and Sue headed back for nap and Bob and I decided (NO SLEEPING!), so we headed off to the Louvre!

We got there about 2 hours before it closed – on FREE MUSEUM SUNDAY.  It was CRAZY!  Funny story:  Once we got in, we decided to head to the bathrooms and then decide which wing we wanted to see.  We KNEW we would only be able to see just one wing because the museum is so huge!  So, we start heading to what we THINK is the bathrooms.  Little did we know that when the sign said “Sortie”, which means exit, that we would actually be exiting the museum!  We thought that the sign just meant “this way to the exit” not “you are exiting now”.  So, we walked in the Louvre, then we walked right back out!  Luckily, the museum people were nice enough to let us back in without having to stand in line again.  Bob and I joked that we could say “Yes, we were in The Louvre….but we didn’t see anything!”.  :-)  We were pretty loopy at this point from being so tired.

Once we were back in again, we chose the Denon Wing, that houses the Italian and Spanish Paintings, including The Mona Lisa.  At the top of the stairs to this wing is the famous “Winged Victory”

This is how close we got to The Mona Lisa: (that’s her on the back wall. Much smaller than you would think, huh?)

This picture was on the opposite wall of Mona Lisa: I was amazed at how close you could get to some of the paintings.  Pretty cool, huh?

We didn’t get to see very much – I pooped out pretty quickly.  But trying to get to the Sortie (for real this time) we saw some beautifully old paintings and even an Easter Island Head.   Definitely a place I would love to try and actually spend time at next time.

After our quick tour through the Louvre, we headed back to our hotel for our nightly aperitif and dinner.  We met up with a friend from home, Jon D’hondt, who had been working in Paris for two weeks.  We walked to Rob and Sue’s favorite crepe stand in Rue Claire and enjoyed a nice evening of crepe’s for dinner and crepe’s for dessert.  I have to say, the Nutella and Banana crepe was super yummy!

Whew! Day 2 was a busy day.  I think I’ll stop my blog post here for now, and blog Day 3 (Versailles!) on a different post.