Another Year, Another Bonfire



6th Grade Planners

Last year the boys started the last day of school tradition of torching all the papers that come home at the end of the year.

Bayley upped the game and invited his friends over for a ceremonial end to elementary school. I sifted through his papers, snagging out a few assignments I wanted (like his "I Am" poem and such) and then let him have at it.



Math workbooks? All in!

Yes, it is surely more environmentally friendly to have them recycle everything. But it's much more fun to see a half-dozen boys toss their math workbooks at the flames and say "Begone, ye math!"

Seriously, these boys are more entertaining than most. And organized. They liked when each boy lit up the same thing at once.

And then, of course, there were marshmallows and s'mores. You can't waste a good bonfire.

Sixth Grade Graduation

Breakfast

Bayley did it. He conquered elementary school and moved on to battle junior high. Yes, I am indeed freaking out about this new stage much more than I should.

license plate wall

I've seen graduation ceremonies for Bayley before - preschool, kindergarten, Webelos crossover to Boy Scouts. This wasn't such a formal event. No singing, no graduation hats, not even a Native American guide to lead them through.

breakfast

This was a party. A celebration of who this class of kids are as a group. Maybe it's the Lake Woebegone effect, but this is a great bunch.

Not sure about these sideways pictures

The clever road trip theme earned the kiddos their own 'license' in lieu of diplomas, and a license plate with their name on it. The tables were covered in maps (outdated freebies from AAA, so smart) and the cafeteria walls transformed with road sign posters. The breakfast had all the kids favorites - the towers of bagels and strawberries adorned with checkered flags.

I loved the slideshow the most. The kids did some great things this year (toothpick bridges, outdoor school) and I loved seeing them happy and confident.

After the graduation party, the 6th grade parades through the school, all the other students lining the halls to clap them out. The younger kids really get into applauding as the 'big kids' go by, reaching out to high-five their mentor, reading buddy, or neighbor. I think the 5th grade thinks thoughts of "One more year."

Service Project - School Clean Up

In Boy Scouts, the boys must earn a certain number of service hours for each rank advancement. As they move up, they're expected to take the lead on some of these service projects. Bayley decided to put together a landscaping clean up at the elementary school. In an attempt to save budget dollars, things had become quite overgrown. Lucky for Bayley, a parent was also organizing a clean-up, so they pooled their efforts.

Bayley struggled a little bit in terms of telling the volunteers what they should be doing. He didn't like the idea of telling the older boys (or even parents) what to do. He had to be coached through that, but once everyone knew the goal, they went to work.

And it was work! Thing were tedious, but the weeds got pulled and the hedges got trimmed. Maybe he can organize another event in the fall for bark and plantings.

Talent Show

Hayden and his friend decided to do a jump rope routine for the talent show. They didn't put in much practice time outside of recess, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out!

Summer is for Sprinklers

At the first sign of sun, the sprinkler comes out! Unfortunately for Bayley, he's decided to be too old for sprinklers. I don't think this will last. Summer is long!

1st Lost Tooth

She lost a tooth! She was so proud of herself. She wiggled it out, walked into our bedroom and woke us up with the news.

Yellow to Orange

Hayden has decided taekwondo isn't his thing, but Bayley still wants to stick with it. He tested up another level, going from a yellow belt to an orange belt.

Because we haven't been consistent about lessons, he isn't progressing as quickly as he would like. But even though there are younger kids levels ahead of him, he sticks with it. I'm really proud of him for not getting discouraged.

As a parent, taekwondo gets scarier as they level up. Each level they have to be able to break a board a different way. I have no idea how they do this without breaking themselves. But they're always so excited to have done it, no one complains.

La Jolla

After hiking around the Wildlife Park in Escondido, we decided to explore La Jolla on our way back to San Diego. I think La Jolla would be a great place to set a novel, but the kids weren't as impressed. Lots of hills, little parking, no bathrooms (just honey buckets), and the beaches weren't splashworthy.

We started at Shell Beach, which is rocky, with coarse sand. The boys climbed the rocks while Grace twirled about. Hayden came up with a science project idea - comparing the different types of sand along the Pacific coast. I told him to stick with Oregon beaches and he had a deal.

They waded in the water, explored the sea caves, spied the sea lions sunning themselves on a rock just off shore. From Shell Beach you can see Seal Beach (which is technically named Childrens Beach because it was designed as a sheltered area to make it safer for kids to swim. The seals think it's a pretty sweet place, so they took it over almost as soon as it was built.

Watching the seals was hilarious. They were crawling all over one another. The kids were pretty much over it all at that point, so we grabbed some gelato and headed back to the hotel. They wanted to go in the swimming pool. Which I pointed out they could do at home...

San Diego Zoo

When researching out San Diego trip, I came along the tip to begin a zoo trip by taking the aerial tram to the bottom of the zoo and then work your way back up. This worked so well! We got there as the zoo opened, and because we worked our way backwards (which I do at our zoo as well) we were able to enjoy the animals without crowds of people for almost 2/3 of the time!

By taking the tram first, we were able to get a lay of the land and the kids got to look forward to the exhibits. We don't have pandas at our zoo, so we were all excited to see the pandas and the panda baby.

As y'all know, no animal sighting is complete to my kids until they get to see one poop. The elephants were happy to help them out. We really liked the elephant exhibit because the elephants were playing with one another and we got to see an elephant get a pedicure.

We'd never seen koalas, so they were a highlight. After Grace saw the baby giraffe, she was pretty much tuckered out and opted for a stroller nap. Just as well, when we saw the gorillas, the silverback mooned us!

San Diego Safari Park

We were expecting the safari park to be a cross between the zoo and our Wildlife Safari, and it was, but with way more walking than we anticipated.

The highlight was the hot air balloon ride. It was lovely to see the expanse of the park and see the animals roaming through. The basket was shaped like a giant bagel, so we could walk around and see everything for different vantage points.

We had a beautiful day, but I wouldn't have thought it was hot enough to walk around wet. Of course the boys saw water and went for it. I think they could have stayed there all day just dousing one another.

The elephant exhibit was great, but the highlight had to be the bird show. The birds flew across the stands, making everyone duck. Hayden had the wings of an owl brush his arm as it flew by.

On our way out, we made time for the carousel. Grace and I love them. Hayden joined in, but Bayley and Jeff opted to miss out on the fun.