One Hundred Miles

Or thereabouts.  Once again our kids participated in The Boise Bicycles Project's bike-a-thon.  Unlike last year, the awards were divided into age groups.

Ethan took first place in his age group (and overall) with 130 miles biked in the month of May and was awarded a one day family zoo pass.  Libby took second in their age group with 80 miles and won a Roaring Springs day pass.  There was not third place in their age group.  It would appear that Ethan and Libby were the only participants in their age group. 

Grace took first in her age group with 120 miles.  She was awarded a family day pass to the aquarium.  Sam took third in their age group and won five rounds on mini golf at Wahooz.  It appears the competition was slightly more fierce among the younger kids.

In early June the BBP hosted a BBQ for all of those who participated in the bike-a-thon.  We took our kids plus my niece who happened to be hanging out with us.  Just for showing up at the BBQ each kid received a coupon for a free ice cream cone from Goody's and a plastic "medal".  The little red-headed child felt that she was not worthy to receive the prize as she was only a guest.  We sought to teach her a valuable life lesson; never turn down free ice cream.  She saw the wisdom of our words and got her ice cream and medal.

With all the prizes, I don't think our family will be spending much money this summer, but we will still be partying like kings.

The Beach...Kind of...

"Don't you dare post those pictures on the blog!"  says the child.  "Bwahaha, my blog, I can do what I want." says the Mom.  She will forgive me eventually, although I see nothing that needs forgiven.

On Memorial Day we biked our kids and a friend down to Quinn's pond for some swimming fun.  The rest of Boise shared the same plan.  After finally finding a spot on the grass that was covered with other revelers, the kids enjoyed swimming in the pond and diving off the dock.  The dock was so completely covered with goose poop that from the shore it looked like sand.  We also explored the disgusting porta potty that inspired my kids to just hold it. On a side note, up until last year Sam called porta potties "portal potties".  Man I miss that, it made me laugh every time. 

Ethan is not pictured because he sat in the shade, wearing a hat, reading a book, asking when we could leave, professing his teenage angst.

After the pond (and a thorough hand washing) we headed to the snow shack and purchased large quantities of snow cones with ice cream on top.  Not a bad way to spend Memorial Day.

Graduation and Violin

Libby graduated 6th grade this year which means she is now destined for Junior High.  She received awards for participating in safety patrol, for maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and for...crud...I forget.  Basically if there was an award she received it.  She has worked so hard this year and I am amazed at what she has accomplished.  She also played her violin, a lot.  Between her honor choir and violin she had a billion (give or take) concerts.  Her violin teacher this year really pushed the students.  Libby didn't like her teacher much at the beginning of the year but grew to appreciate her.  I was amazed at how much better Libby played this year than she did last year.  I think her teacher really brought out the best in her students. 

There she is on the end, holding numerous certificates.  Good job, Libby!  Even if I can't quite remember what she accomplished, it was good stuff.

Here is one of the songs her orchestra played at the end of the year concert.
Also, for your viewing pleasure this is a solo she performed last month for her future violin teacher.

She got a little lost in the middle, but she regained her composer and kept going, which is a very necessary skill!

Turning Eight

Grace's birthday happened to fall on Mother's day this year, and one day after Michael's birthday (but that is to be expected).  With the collision of holidays, Grace's birthday ended up being a small affair without her extended family.  On her birthday she unwrapped gifts from Michael and I. She got the white dress she had been hoping for..

as well as a game and unpictured batgirl hightop canvas sneakers. 

She was pretty happy with her birthday and loved her peanut butter chocolate cake.

Two weeks later Grace was baptized by her dad.  She was so excited and a little nervous.  Her nerves vanished once it was time to be baptized.  It was a beautiful day. I'm am so thankful to watch this girl grow up.

Graduation, Overdue Projects and a Little More Sanity

I did something amazing!  I finally finished my bachelor's degree!  I graduated with a 4.0 GPA and the honor of summa cum laude from BYU-I!  With all that education I still cannot spell bachelor or  summa cum laude, though.  Some people just cannot be taught.

With my free time, I started some projects around the house.  I started by painting my kitchen chairs which I have been dreaming of replacing for years.  A couple coats of spray paint made me fall in love with them, though!  Apparently, it was just the color I hated.

I've also hated my kitchen floor for years now, as well.  Who thinks a cream colored floor with gray scratch designs would look anything but dirty? Freshly scrubbed it still looked grimy.  I decided to replace it with hardwood laminate.  Michael started the project with me, but I pretty much took over.  I laid most of it while he was at work.  I ended up doing the hall, kitchen, and living room.

See how much prettier it looks!? And my pretty white chairs!?  I'm in love with the look.  I also painted that small wall next to the fridge with blackboard paint and repainted my other walls to make them look a little cleaner.  I still have a little bit of trim to put back up, but I am so pleased with the results.  After I finish the house I'm not sure what I am going to do with my free time.  I'm going to need a new project. Maybe run for president!

Wild Zoo Critters, and Animals Too!

We have not been to Zoo Boise in several years.  Our kind neighbor gave us four passes for a special Rotary Club night.  Ethan and Michael opted out, so I took the three youngest kids and spent the evening at the zoo.  The zoo is actually pretty fun after not going for several years.

I remember when my older kids were shorter than this penguin.  Now my younger kids are taller than all the penguins statues.  And sassier too; just look at Grace's face!

We also had a enjoyable visit with the sloth bear.  He was convinced we had food.  He was rubbing up against the window, licking the glass, and putting his head against the kids' heads (separated by glass, of course).  He was acting like every cat in the world when it is begging for food.  We spent a good fifteen minutes just hanging out with him.  The kids thought he might enjoy coming home with us.  I figured we would all enjoy staying sane and uneaten more.  I didn't even consider taking him home but I may have considered letting the kids move in with him.

 

With all the exotic animals at the zoo, feeding the goats and letting them slime your hand is still a highlight.  Blech.

Easter and a Baby

My brother Joseph qualified for the Boston Marathon this year.  I am pretty sure we cannot possibly be biologically related as I can't even hold a steady jog.  He and his wife, Kerry, decided to make a vacation of sorts out of it.  With Joseph running the race, and Kerry supporting him, they didn't feel it was a good idea to take their two year old son David with them.  The good news is David came to visit us!

The dog quickly fell in love with the new crumb-dropping person.

Ethan and David enjoyed some quality bonding time.  Libby was pretty jealous David kept falling asleep on Ethan's lap and not hers.  Ignore the strange ponytail on top of Ethan's head.  I'm pretty sure he does that just to drive me nuts.

David was with us over Easter weekend, which involved several egg hunts.  He was confused by the activities at first.

But soon discovered there was candy involved and happily gathered innumerable eggs forthwith. I would have pictures of my kids, but a two year old gathering eggs is more adorable than kids who have become master egg hunters.

Every year we try to convince the Easter Bunny to not go overboard.  Every year the Easter bunny ignores us. We'll try again next year.

Library!

I LOVE our libraries!  Ethan is part of a group at the library that nominates books for the Teen Top Ten Awards, we check out robots, we check out movies, we check out audio books for vacations, we use the 3D printers, and most importantly of all, we borrow lots of lovely books.  We've met several of our favorite authors thanks to the library!  It is one of my very favorite places in the world.

One day we stumbled upon a virtual reality experience at the library.  While the pictures aren't exciting, using the VR headset and computer is.  Ethan's preparing to walk the plank. 

Sam is preparing to fly.

Libby is exploring the ocean.

I jumped off the plank and also rode a roller coaster.  Although it made me a little motion sick, it was also a lot of fun.  We went back several times over the course of a couple days, plus we got more books!  How can you not love the library?

Hairy Days

Thought this post would be about Michael, didn't you!?  Psych.

Grace always requests one braid.  About once a month I can convince her to let me try a different style.  The bun proved to be insecure, but was pretty while it lasted.

I want to try this style again, but Grace is not so inclined.

Libby, Grace and their friend Lily styled Grace's hair with flowers.  It looks like Rapunzel's hair to me!

Also, Grace has learned to do a normal and a fishtail braid!  Here she is showing off her mad skills.  She still needs me to put her hair in a ponytail before she can braid, but I'm pretty impressed!

Spring Break

We wrote a spring break bucket list this year.  We listed a Harry Potter-thon, a museum trip, and...well, honestly...I forgot the rest.  Note to self: Do not try to write about events months after they happen.

We went to the small, temporary Idaho Historical Museum while the main one is still undergoing renovations.

We dressed as Lewis and Clark.

We dressed as Sacajawea (is this culturally insensitive? The kids love it, but I always feel a little awkward).

We also watched most of the Harry Potter movies.  We had to watch movies seven and eight over the next couple of weekends, as they are really long and we had other stuff to do (not that I remember that stuff, as I've already mentioned, but it was real stuff).  This is how I spent a lot of the movies.  Every time something scary happened in the movie, Grace and Sam would velcro themselves to me.  I could not move even if I wanted to, which is okay because I enjoy the Harry Potter movies.

We also drove up to view the rooster tail at Lucky Peak, although I cannot swear this was actually over Spring Break.  We skipped the drive the Army Corps of Engineers set up around the tail when we realized it would be over an hour long.  We saw it quite clearly from the highway already, and did not feel like it was worth the time to see it closer.  Instead we stopped and explored the reservoir.  The boys (Michael included) occupied themselves throwing things into the reservoir; I got bored and started stacking rocks and found it a lot less difficult than I always assumed it would be.  The kids got involved and we made a bunch of rock towers.  We mourned for our towers when we left as we assumed that someone would soon knock them down.

Michael happened to take the kids a full month later and made a startling discovery: Not only had our towers not been knocked down, but they had managed to spawn lots of smaller babies!  Such small events bolster my faith in humanity.