May 30 - Graduates!

And just like that, another school year is done! Julia's 8th grade ceremony was during school and parents were invited to watch via a TEAMS link. It was a pretty casual affair. Julia was awarded most outstanding Spanish student, best actor, A honor roll and President's award for straight A's all through middle school. Luke's ceremony was in person and he was awarded the President's award for meeting/exceeding all his progressions all year (our district does not give traditional grades at the elementary level). Jillian had a horrible cold and missed her graduation but we told her that's okay..since she is taking kindergarten again at the big school next year. 

In the fall-we'll have 3 kids all starting new schools!

Julia's awards

Luke's award

Luke's teachers

Luke & friends

Poor Jillian

May 28 - End of Year Parties

If you have kids, Christmas is not the busiest time of the year. The busiest time of the year is actually in May, when the school squeeze in field trips and parties after standardized tests are over. 

Julia: over a 2 week period, she had 5 field trips: Pleasure Pier (small amusement park in Galveston for 8th grade Science Magnet), Natural History Museum (to the see Bodies exhibit for her BodyWorks class), Schlitterbahn Water Park (for 8th grade), Dave & Busters (for NJHS) and Main Event (for theater). And she's not done-there is a pool part in 2 weeks for all science magnet students. Over the top!

Luke: traditionally 5th grade students in our district go to the symphony but our district did not allow any elementary schools to go anywhere that required a mask. So instead, his class went to a local park for the day.

field trip at Clear Lake Park

While the park is in a nice location on the water, it was a 5h field trip in 95+ degree heat. Kids were melting! (parent chaperones too LOL). The end of year party is a pool party at the Northfork Pool. As the lead room parent this year, I planned the event. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was not in our favor. The pool company recommended we cancel the event but the teachers decided to roll the dice. It started thundering when the kids arrived at the pool. They were all playing on the playground until a huge storm came through, complete with gusting winds torrential downpour, thunder and lightening.

Party supplies

After an hour of inclement weather, the pool company told us the party was over and we had to leave. Of course, the kids couldn't walk back in a massive storm so the principal gave teachers permission to transport kids back. The parent volunteers all gave our car keys over to teachers and they shuttled 100+ kids from the pool to the school. We then had to clean up the pool area and transport everything back to the school. It was not the party we planned but definitely a party to remember! The next day, we had an ice cream social for the kids while they signed yearbooks. Then the next day was graduation. What a week!

Thank goodness for the mom-mobile

During this week, I rolled over 100k miles!

Pool Party Photo Booth

Set up crew

 Luke playing horseshoes (before the storm)

May 27 - Our Newest Orca!

Orca tryouts started the week of May 9th. Jillian had one week to make it across the pool unattended to make the team. 

Day 1: she stopped every 2 feet to take off her googles

Day 2: she stopped every 5 feet to hold onto the lane rope

Day 3: she stopped every 10 feet and held onto the side/lane rope

Day 4: I saw her stop 1 time but the HS coach in her lane said she made it (I was skeptical)

Day 5: she legit made it across the pool!!

So proud of our little Orca!

Her practice is at 4.15pm every day after school (until next week, practices move to the mornings next week) so it's been a hustle picking up Julia from school, picking up Jillian from school, getting her ready in the bathroom, dropping Julia off at home and then going to the pool for Jillian. She is almost always the first kid in the pool area and first one in the water! She loves it! The practice meet was last weekend and she did fabulous, made it across the pool doing freestyle with no issues. She did great on the backstroke but flipped to her back at the very end so she was DQ'd but super proud. And after practice? She is part of "The Sunny Girls" squad and they play on the playground for hours. So fun!!

Practice Meet

May 23 - Hollywood Dance

Brookside Intermediate's 8th Grade "Hollywood" dance took place while Luke and I were in Vegas last month. My neighbor is a high school teacher and brought over one of her students to do Julia's hair and Marlen did an amazing job. Julia's hair has never looked better! Julia wore one of my new dresses (that I haven't even worn yet LOL) and looked fabulous. She went to the dance with a large group of friends and they had a blast dancing the night away! 

Our little tomboy is looking very grown up! And gorgeous!

'Christine, she looks just like you.' This is my 8th grade dance, I don't see the resemblance 

Until I saw pics of her with her friends, I see the resemblance now!

Love her!

May 15 - Viva Las Vegas

About a year ago, Bryan sent a group text "Hey, let's celebrate my 40th in Vegas, who's in?" Well, that wasn't the exact text but that was the gist. Before we knew it, Bryan, Jay, Greg, Jill and the kids, Brian and Chan, Chris and I all planned to go, as well as one of Bryan's childhood friends, Dave. Hotel rooms and flights were booked! I was unable to take all the kids but decided Luke could miss two days of school for the trip. We took an Uber to the airport and we were off to sunny Las Vegas! Uncle Chris waited for us in the airport and we rode together to the hotel. After checking in, we met up with Brian, Chan, Bryan and Jay and had lunch.

After that, Bryan, Jay, Chris and I went go-karting with Luke (so fun! Bryan and Jay doubled lapped Chris and I) and then we headed to the pool for a few hours. We met up with Greg, Jill and the kids for dinner and then walked around the strip for a little while. A very successful day one!

The next day, we were up bright and early and walked over to Park MGM to take a bus for a Hoover Dam tour. In retrospect, booking a 6H tour with an 11 year old was not the best idea (Luke was the only child out of prob 100 people on 2 busses) but even though he complained a lot (A LOT) he couldn't wait to call JD when we got back to tell him all about it.

I found the tour really interesting and would recommend it to anyone (except kids LOL). When we got back, we went back to the go-kart place with Andrew and Victoria and the kids had a great time racing each other. Greg, Jill and the kids headed to the pool while Jay, Chris, Luke and I headed to an arcade in the Excalibur Hotel. We all had fun playing games and I even won a few stuffed animals! The night we all met up at the Hard Rock Cafe for Bryan's birthday dinner and it was delicious! Afterwards, went to New York New York to ride the coaster. Another great day!

The following day, Luke and I found ourselves back at the arcade (his favorite place in Vegas) He played a lot of games and had fun with his uncles! He and I also did a little shopping and exploring, and he rode the coaster again at New York New York. Later that afternoon,  we met up with everyone for an early dinner at Caesar's Palace before going to see the cirque show O at Bellagio. It was an amazing show! Afterwards, Greg, Jill and I (plus the kids) watched the fountain show at the Bellagio and walked around the strip. We found ourselves back at the arcade and kids really found a love for air hockey! 

Our last morning, Luke and I had breakfast with Brian, Chan, Chris, Bryan and Jay and Luke has pancakes literally bigger than his head. We then went back to..you guess it, the arcade one more time, before heading back to the airport. Great trip to celebrate Bryan!

Mandalay Bay

Excalibur (Luke's favorite hotel bc of the arcade, they did have insanely clean bathrooms)

Hoover Dam

Arcade Fun

Fun with cousins!

Go Karting is awesome

Amazing memories