August 20 - Back To School

walking to school

And just like that, another school year begins. 

Julia: she started off the school year with 'senior sunrise' on the football field with her friends. She has a lighter academic schedule this year with swim, forensics, honors biomedical science, honor anatomy and physiology, dual enrollment English composition (online class through a local community college) and AP calculus AB. She has a job as a nanny of sorts for one of

 Jillian's friends, driving her to swim practice twice a week. 

Luke: my baby boy is in high school! He has joined the varsity water polo team and is in the process of applying to the FIRST robotics team, Robonauts. He's taking swim, honors ELA, honors chemistry, honors geometry, AP human geography, AP computer science and honors German. He's currently at school from 6.30am until 4.30pm between polo and swim (next week his days will be 5.45am-4.30pm) but he's loving polo and has made friends on both teams already. He's even stayed after school a few days to watch volleyball. It's safe to say he's settling in nicely. 

Jillian: our little sprite chopped off her hair to prepare for school and she is rocking 3rd grade so far. She has two teachers again and so far so good. This is the first year I've been able to walk her to school in the mornings (no more middle school carpool!) and I love our time together. 

As for yours truly-I am currently booster club president for the HS aquatics team (swim, dive, polo) and treasurer for Project Graduation. Between the two, I'm almost working full-time LOL. 

New year, new hair

Senior Sunrise

Pep Rally to start off the year too!

August 18 - 17!

Happiest birthday to our first dimpled munchkin, Julia!

Age: 17

Grade: 12

Favorite Class: Anatomy & Physiology 

Least Favorite Class: Biomedical Science

Current Activities: Lake Swim, HEAT Swim, Girl Scouts, Book Club, Pen Pals Club

Current Style: Baggy

Current Interests: music, reading, thrifting, binging Netflix, crafts, girl groups

Favorite Foods: chicken friend rice, tortellini, mac 'n cheese, cheesecake

Best Friends: Mia, Madi, Tanner, Kiley, Hannah, Kendall, Reese

Dream College: University of Washington

Dream Job: Forensic Psychologist

Place I want to travel: Olympic National Park, Japan

Birthday Celebration: old school waterslide party with pizza and popsicles! 

Fun Facts: "16" was quite a year. You had a very heavy AP schedule junior year and I've never seen you work so hard in a class (AP macro econ). You somehow passed that AP exam and I have never seen you so happy. The swim season had some drama between the girls and I hope this year goes smoother. You ended the season on a good note, not with best times but pretty close. You and Kendall got a taste of sales by cold calling businesses around town soliciting donations for the winter formal dance, and while you had minimal success, you learned some good life skills. We took two trips this past year, a college visit to Iowa State in the fall (absolutely gorgeous campus) and a girls trip with Mia over spring break to Seattle. Seattle was so fun and fingers crossed you get in UWash, because that is your first choice (as of now anyway). You had a good season with Orcas and told us that is your last season with the team, which breaks my heart because you still have 2 years left of eligibility and I would love for you to at least finish out one more year. You traveled to your first tropical island (amazing PR trip with the Cook's) and traveled without parents for the first time to Raleigh.

Oh-and how could I forget, you have your DL and drive to school and activities, which has helped me tremendously. I am really proud of how you have budgeted your money over the last year and continue to be responsible in terms of school and getting where you need to be on-time. I'm sorry I keep harassing you about college essays but you need to get those knocked out so you can enjoy senior year. 

Happy birthday Julia-we love you! So many great things to come this year. 

 

August 17 - Disneyland Surprise

While the big kids were in Raleigh, a big surprise was in store for Jillian. I woke her up bright and early Saturday with a letter from Stitch. Surprise...Jillian and I were going to California for a surprise trip to Disneyland! She had about 15min to get dressed, grab her backpack and head to the airport. Once she fully woke up, she was full of questions. One thing was for sure-she was EXCITED!

We had a full flight but uneventful flight from Houston to Los Angeles. We landed and met my friend Sarah and her daughter Sadie for brunch, which was fun because it was our first time meeting Sadie. After eating, we took a quick Uber to Anaheim and checked into our hotel. Our room wasn't ready yet but no worries-our hotel had an awesome pool with waterslides.

Jillian, our social butterfly, immediately befriended a little boy at the pool and they played together for hours. Our room was finally ready and we checked in, had dinner and an early night. 

This was our first trip to Disneyland. I planned one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure. We stayed off-site at a 'Good Neighbor' hotel called Cambria Anaheim. Our location was fantastic because there was a Jersey Mikes, Starbucks and a few other restaurants literally next to us (plus our hotel had a complimentary continental breakfast). We were about a mile from the parks and walked there the first morning. Jillian lost a tooth while we were waiting in line to get into Disneyland which was a great start to the day. The day could not have been better. The weather? Perfect. Sunny and 76 degrees with zero humidity. The crowds? Not busy at all.

The rides? So fun! We did 20+ throughout the day. The only ride we waited more than 20min was Tiana's River Adventure. Jillian's favorite ride? Tiana. My favorite ride? Space Mountain. Steps logged: 22k+ Random moment of the day? The Today Show Australia was filming in the park and Jillian danced behind them during a segment, so she is now telling people "I was on TV!" Final verdict? We LOVED it! We were in the parks from about 9am-6.30pm, took a 5min Uber back to the hotel, split a Jersey Mike's turkey sub for dinner and Jillian was passed out cold by 8.30pm. 

We headed to California Adventure the next day (the park entrances are literally across from each other). Once again, the day was fantastic. The weather was gorgeous (I forgot how nice CA weather is) and we did 20+ rides again. 22k+ steps logged once again. The only ride with a long wait was Cars (about an hour). Jillian's favorite ride? Grizzly Bear Run which is a water rapids ride. We were in a boat that went directly over a geyser at the end and we were SOAKED. So wet that I had to take my shoes and socks off for 20min to dry out. We watched the ride later in the day and approx. 1 out of 20 boats took a direct geyser hit, Jillian was thrilled we were one of the lucky boats. My favorite ride? Guardians of the Galaxy. Everyone in our group was cheering and super excited for the ride which makes the experience that much more fun. Fina verdict? Once again, we LOVED it!! We went to Downtown Disney for dinner (a much smaller version of Disney Springs) and then headed back to the hotel. We were able to watch the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room which was pretty cool. 

Our final morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the airport. The airport was completely empty and we saw zero people (no exaggeration) going through TSA. I've traveled quite a bit over the years and it's the first time I've seen this. As we were walking towards our gate I heard someone yell "Hey Mrs. Yamokoski!" and turn out. Reese's younger brother Gregory was in LAX with us! Turns out he had just got off a cruise with his father and was also flying back to Houston, although on a different flight. Small world!

Overall-absolutely fantastic trip. So glad to have some one-on-one time with our little sprite.   

Disneyland Memories

California Adventure Memories

August 13 - Bonding in Raleigh

Julia and Luke have been begging to fly to NC solo for years to visit Andrew and Victoria. This year, we made it a reality! They packed a lot of fun into a short trip. Special thanks to Uncle Greg and Aunt Jill for planning awesome activities. They had the BEST time. They went ice skating, tubing out on the lake, museums, hibachi, bowling and even toured NC State. Trip of a lifetime!!! 

Beautiful sunflower field

Pizza!

Badminton fun

Boating!!

Cousins

Hibachi & Bowling

NC State

August 7 - Disney Villains

After our incredible Puerto Rico trip, it was time to head back home. Jillian had a 2-week musical theater camp at a studio we've never been to before (but heard great things). The camp theme was "Disney Villains" and she loved it! They met 3H a day for 2 weeks and did 2 shows on the last Friday. Two college students wrote the script and choregraphed the performance. We were super impressed at the show-not only did they have a lot of energy, but every kid performed and had their own dialogue and/or solo parts of songs. Jillian was 'baby Hook' in one scene and she sang a line from Aladdin's "Friend Like Me." She loved the experience so much, that she starts musical theater classes next week at the same studio. We bought jazz shoes yesterday. Can't wait to see what they do! I think they will be performing Shrek in May.