The School Year Winds Down

Andrew plays percussion in the Pacific Middle School Band. We all attended his final concert last Monday night. He does a very good job! Edward joined in on the last song, as they had asked for all parents and/or siblings who played an instrument to play along. It was the first time in almost a year that Edward had even touched his sax. In this picture you can spot a few other members from our ward.

Last night was Edward's Eight Grade Graduation Celebration. This fall he will join Jennifer at Union High School. He has been with the same group of kids since 2nd grade. I'm sure it is going to be quite an adjustment as they stay at River Homelink and he moves on.

I am going to miss working with Mrs. Albert. She has really taught both Jennifer and now Edward how to prepare for high school. She is a great teacher.

A Mini-Vacation

Last weekend we decided to take a mini-vacation as the Red Sox were up in Seattle (the only time this season). Ed took the boys out of school on Friday and headed up north. They stopped off at a sporting goods store and drooled at all the gear they wished they had. Then the went to the XXX Root Bear restuarant Guy Feitti (sp?) talked about in Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. From there they went to the game. Red Sox were winning up until the last, and just missed a winning home run by mere inches. They then drove south to join Jennifer and I at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington.

Aaron had been wanting to stay here for some time, since it has something to do with his favorite animal - the wolf. Jennifer and I arrived after 5pm since she couldn't skip school like the boys. We arranged to her get an upper body massage - her first ever. She said she liked it even though it wasn't given by the cute guy she had imagined. We then spent the remaining hours in the lodge's water park and eating at the buffet. The boys arrived sometime after midnight.

The next day we spent several hours in the water park enjoying the wave pool and slides. Jennifer still is not the adventurous one and didn't really enjoy the slides much at all. Aaron wanted to participate in the lodge's Quest adventure, so we all called it quits early to help him run around the place finding the mysterious items. Ed and I were amazed as to how many people were staying at Great Wolf Lodge in today's economy. It was fun, but it is not anything that we will be doing again for the price.

Jennifer and I headed home for Stake Conference and a Stake Dance. The boys headed back north for the second Red Sox/Mariners game. This time the outcome was much better. Even more so after the game when they got to give Brad Penny (a starting pitcher for the Red Sox) a ride with a couple of his friends to a restuarant in downtown Seattle. The boys were a bit star struck, but they all got autographs and memories to last forever. Unfortunately, they didn't have the camera with them, so no photos.

Busy, busy, busy

Last week while Ed was out of town I got it in my mind to repaint the family room. It has been periwinkle blue for so long, and we were both tired of the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz posters that we have been hanging on our walls since the 90's. I picked out a color and went to town. Once I had the family room painted I called over my good friend Ingela who helped me rearrange the furniture and decorate. Edward said he felt like he was watching HGTV as we went through the other rooms in the house to see what we could steal from one room to put in this one. When we were finished I decided that I needed to continue covering up the periwinkle that was in the kitchen with the new color. Luckily it matches my dishes Ed bought me last year.

This weekend I was able to travel down to Utah with another one of my good friends, Kristie, and take in Women's Conference. Neither one of us had ever been. We were able to stay at Kristie's mother's house and even had time to visit with Bob and Wendy from Brigham City. It was a great time.

I Love Cub Scouts!

I saw this new background and just had to have it. I love Cub Scouts! I love working with the young boys in our ward on their rank advancements. I love to see them succeed and earn lots of awards. Aaron has earned so many (54) segments in his short year and a quarter that we have had to start putting them onto a red "brag vest" much to his displeasure (he would like them to all go onto his uniform). He is going to surpass Andrew's earnings of three years in Cub Scouts if he hasn't done so already. Last month two of the boys that I first had in Cub Scouts crossed over into 11 year old Scouts. I didn't think I would get all that emotional, but I did. Every single one of those 7 boys stayed active in Cub Scouting and earned their Arrow of Light. I'd like to say it way because of me, but of course it was because of their parents and the awesome Webelos leaders. I hope I am invited to their Eagle Court of Honors in the future.

It's Magic!

The ward activity last night was a magic show put on by Dave and Helen Emery. They are professionals, so don't try their stunts on your own. It was a great turn out - standing room only. I was called up on stage to participate in a mind reading trick, and I don't know how he did it. Dave even cut a girl in half! It was so fun to watch the faces on the kids as he turned a dove into a rabbit! Today is the ward Easter Egg Hunt, and of course it is a little wet outside. (It always seems to rain on Easter.) Andrew, Aaron, and I will head on down to help with that, while Ed and Edward go to Edward's basketball game. I'm not sure yet what Jennifer has on the agenda.

Speaking of Jennifer, we attended her Cheerleading Year-End Banquet last Wednesday. She was voted by her peers to be the "Most Inspirational" cheerleader for both the Fall and Winter seasons! She was also voted to be the "Hardest Worker" for the Winter season. It was nice to see that the coaches and other cheerleaders recognize all that she puts into her sport. She is looking forward to next year and finally being on varsity. Try outs start in the next few weeks.

More Spring Break Fun!

As a family we drove to Long Beach, Washington and walked through the shops trying on funny hats and glasses. The kids all wanted to go horse back riding on the beach, but at $25 a person we decided we could find other things to do with $100. From Long Beach we drove down the coast to Seaside, Oregon for lunch. We again walked through the shops and picked up a few trinkets.

The kids decided that they didn't get enough time to play on the beach, so we drove on down to Haystack Rock and the Tollavana State Park where they actually got their feet wet in the surf (at least Jennifer and Aaron did). The weather was simply gorgeous. We had dinner in Tillamook, and then it was time to go home. It was a great day.

Spring Break Fun

Wednesday Aaron and I spent almost the whole day doing "Science the Cub Scout Way." As the Bear Den Leader, I set up a bunch of science experiments to teach the boys about air pressure and space (Electives 1 and 6 in their books). As Sister Souders told them, "Remember, experiments don't always work out the way you think they should." This is something we always have to take into account when Sister Mueller is leading the experiment. Half the time it doesn't work out right. We taught them how hot air raises and demonstrated the fact with a hot air balloon. We shot off Alka-Seltzer rockets, Mentos and Coke, and then had a couple of modified Space Derbies using paper air planes and flying saucers. All in all I think the boys had a great time.

Yesterday Jennifer said that we needed to go somewhere. Since we had planned to go to the beach on Friday after Ed got home from Chicago, we decided to head in another direction. We pointed the car north and said we would stop at each "Historical Marker" we came across. We made it all the way to Centralia before we actually saw one. The problem was, there were only the signs indicating the historical marker, just no marker itself - only an empty lot. We had a great time making up our own reasons why an historical marker would be needed for the place. We also stopped off at the Great Wolf Lodge to take a look around. Aaron wanted to stay the night, but we had to get back home to pick up Ed from the airport. We raced home to be there in time for Grandma & Grandpa Greenfield to come over and take the kids out for ice cream.

Today, as I said earlier, we are heading to the coast. The weather is supposed to be nice, but I'm not counting on it. We'll bring our coats.