A Graduation, A Petting Zoo, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts

All in just 4 days! I'll post a few pictures later but for tonight - just the facts!

Lyndsi officially graduated from Children's House Montessori Kindergarten on Wednesday night. Bittersweet emotions flowed through me as I watched her sing and play the handbells in the school's backyard for the last time. Bittersweet because next year she will be in "my" school all day and that will make life a whole lot easier (and cheaper!) but at the same time, Children's House has been Lyndsi's home away from home for 3 years. Her teachers are beautiful, wonderful women and the experiences they've given Lyndsi are priceless. Dylan attended the school for 2 years before Lyndsi's 3 so we've been a Montessori family for a very long time.

Graduation was held Wednesday evening but the last day of school was Thursday. The big finale for the year was an all day petting zoo held at the school. The teachers and kids brought in animals to share and the play yard turned into a mini farm, complete with a goat, 2 calves, a herding dog and several bunnies. Cocoa joined Lyndsi at school that day. Not sure how he felt about it all but his cage was a mess and he was pretty loving last night. I suspect it all made him a bit nervous!

Tonight was Dylan's end of the year Cub Scout awards ceremony. He has earned all of his "animal" patches so now becomes what's called a Webelo. I think this is a transitional time used to prepare the boys for Boy Scouts. The most noticeable change is the color of the uniforms. The shirts change from blue to tan and the neckerchiefs become a plaid pattern with several colors. Think we'll be calling Papa about getting a new shirt!

Lyndsi's big finale for Girl Scouts will be tomorrow. She will continue to be a Girl Scout Daisy for one more year but several girls in our troop are "bridging" up to Brownies. I can't be there as my first class starts tomorrow so I'll be in Wenatchee.

Speaking of that - I'm off to bed! I'll post pictures on Sunday - hopefully!

Geocache Fever!

We've finally done it! Steve is figuring out his GPS and I've gotten him out of the house long enough to find our first geocache! I'm so proud of us! We used Saturday to spend some much needed leisurely family time together. Between soccer games and practices, meetings, work, school, yardwork and life, we haven't been all together as just a family in a very long time!

After a brief stop at Wal-Mart for fishing licenses and lunch we drove north and then east

(???? Don't quote me on that direction!)

to Curlew Lake. Our first stop was at Curlew Lake State Park where we disturbed the peace and quiet for a family of geese who had taken over the day area. They were pretty cute but mom and dad wouldn't let us get close enough to get good pictures.

Steve and Dylan discovered this little mama squirrel transporting her babies from one nest to another. Her babies were almost as big as she was! They curled into a little ball as she held them in her mouth and ran with them! We watched her move 5 babies. Not sure how many she did before we came.

Steve startled the little squirrel so all you see in this picture is a puff of dust with a tail! Believe me, though, there is a baby in her mouth!

After a short bout of swimming and some lunch we took off on the nature trail from the campground. Lots of deer, red-winged black birds, turtle and prickly trees! Not exactly what I was thinking of when I said I wanted to get out and hike but a nice walk all the same!

We tried our hand at catching the tiger muskie we could see in lake but, in the wise words of my granny - "If you can see the fish, they can see you and they aren't dumb!" Besides, I'm pretty sure you need something special to catch those monsters! Holy canoli! Dylan was pretty excited to catch a wide mouth bass (Or at least that's what he called it! I took his word for it :)) but we threw it back as it was pretty little.

And then came the adventure part of our day! Several of our friends are geocache diehards so for Steve's birthday, the kids and I got him a handheld GPS. He has spent the last several months playing with it and talking to Jeff about how to geocache with it. We found our first cache just off the road in an old stump. It was a pretty exciting find!

This is Steve writing in the log book that comes with the cache and the kids standing by the stump where the cache was found.

We found our second cache a bit further down the road in another old stump and our third at the Republic Cemetery. I think this was the kids favorite as there was money to be had in this one! See it sticking out of Dylan's geocache pouch? (Which he took from the previous cache!) Some geocaches have items left by previous visitors. The idea is to take something and then leave something. Dylan traded a Pokemon character and a ring for his new treasures. I'm not sure what Lyndsi traded in but she ended up with a dollar and some Glo Stick barrettes.

Our final discovery was in the town of Republic. Steve and the kids don't realize yet that they are passing it by in this picture. It turned out to be in the cement block next to them! One more geocache stumped us and we were unable to find it - our first roadblock!

We then checked out the Stonerose Fossil site which is right in the town of Republic. We've made it our goal to head back there sometime to try our hand at palaeontology. After some window shopping and a mexican dinner in the town of Republic, we headed for home. Guess who fell asleep in the car? Yep - Lyndsi and I! We both have the lovely knack of being able to sleep in a moving car - heaven!

Steve and Dylan spent the night in the hammocks and now Steve and the kids are off on another fishing excursion. My days of leisure are done. The rest of the weekend will be dedicated to catching up on laundry and yardwork. I'm going to do my best to get the deck stained today! Wish me luck!

I hope you all have some fun this weekend!

Countdown to Summer!

Only 14 school days left - ahhhhhh! Can't wait for the freedom! Had a taste of it today as our last soccer game was last night. It felt very strange to come home and take my time making dinner! I even got some more plants in their pots!

I stole this picture off of Amy's blog. She took the shot at the soccer tournament in Tonasket last Saturday. Dylan's team won their first game that day and Dylan had a couple of great shots on (and into!) goal. In this picture, Dylan and Laila (Dylan's friend and teammate) are playing against Max. It's so funny to watch them all play together. They congratulate each other for good plays and run to each other after the games are over. As Amy put it - that's sportsmanship!

Max's team ended up getting second in our bracket - a very close second I might add! We stayed to watch the final, intense games.

Lyndsi had her last game on Tuesday. I missed it as I was in Wenatchee at a mandatory meeting of my Master's cohort. I've been accepted into Lesley University's Graduate Program and start my first class next weekend. I'll be giving up 22 weekends over the next couple of years but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm feeling a bit anxious about missing out on my family's events but I think it will all be worth it in the end.

We are staying here this weekend to get some more chores done. Three day weekend at home - yippee! Maybe we'll get out to do some hiking or fishing.

More Bloomsday Photos

Guess What I'm Holding in my Arms?

Check out this cute little guy! His name is Cocoa and he now lives in our home with us! We finally brought our bunny home today and the kids couldn't be happier. Well....I guess if we'd let them sleep with Cocoa they might be happier... Cocoa is a 9 month old Holland Lop. He is cuddly and curious. The kids love him and Ruth wants to eat him. Actually, she just wants to chase and chew on him but we won't even let her do that!

I know, I must be crazy - one more animal to add to our zoo. Just can't resist a cute face!

Bloomsday 2009

Dylan and Aidan on the bus to get to the beginning of the race

I've recruited yet two new Bloomies for my treasured tradition! Aidan and Dylan joined Julia, my mom and I for Bloomsday 2009. They're hooked! Aidan is 3 years older than Dylan but the two of them get along like 2 peas in a pod. Those of us experienced in the race prepped the little ones about all they'd see and do and hoped to get lots of pictures of this first Bloomsday experience. Boy were our ideas shot out of the water! As soon as those little feet hit the starting pad, they were off! We didn't see them again until we picked them up at the Kids' Lost and Found! Aidan and Dylan finished about 40 minutes ahead of us old fogies - and they stopped to buy Otter Pops! Their only complaints were the wait at the beginning of the race and that they were a bit stiff after waiting for us for so long! Yes, they'll be back next year.....

Check out Dylan's information here and mine here. Mom has her info. here.

Aidan and Dylan in front of Kids' Lost and Found, aka - "a big red bus"

I'm hoping that Julia has more pictures for me! I'll share them when I get them!