May Is A Blur

 Anyone who has kids in school knows that May is just a crazy non-stop race.  I feel bad that this blog went completely updated the entire month but it has only felt like a few days to me.  Now that school is over and summer has begun, let's recap.

End of the school year brought the end of track season for Christian.  He did amazing this season and qualified for regionals in the 3200m and the 4x800m relay.  He raced well and got first in the relay.  Their school's team got third in the region overall. 

Peter finished Kindergarten.  They had a little graduation ceremony and in true Peter form, he looked miserable the entire time.  The graduation podium could have been the gallows as far as he was concerned.

A few days earlier they'd done an "exhibition" where parents could come in and participate in their various classes.  I'm not going to lie - I was not excited about this.  My personal time is sooo limited.  I need every minute that he's in school to get things done and being forced to use that time like this felt like robbery.  I only had one day of school left and then he'd be home for 4 months!  However, gym class was a lot of fun.  We played games with the kids and did races.  This one was cute - a relay where the kids had to push the mats from one side of the gym to the other.  Peter always liked this one and it was fun to see him do it.  He's a speedy, highly competitive guy.  He got pretty overstimulated during the course of class, though, and he started melting down every couple minutes at the end.  The day ended with a "field day" that involved a bunch of outdoor games.  We tried that but I ended up taking him home a little early and we got some tacos together and celebrated the start of summer in a little more calm way.

Peter also got to go to the farm with his class.  They got to ride horses, feed baby animals, go on a hay ride, and milk a cow (he wanted none of that!) .  I've been there with all my kids and he was by far the least excited, but still managed to have a good time.

With the start of Summer, also comes the reopening of Greenfield Village!  Who's more excited, me or Peter?  It's hard to say.

Summer also brings eating the back yard, playgrounds, library story time visits, drawing outside with chalk, baseball and soccer in the backyard (not pictured), end of the soccer season (not pictured), and the end of ice skating classes (he did great and got so fast!)

No matter the season, this is how every day ends: 

After 3 kids who hate reading, I finally managed to raise a reader!! Yipee!!

For Bella, May brought her 17th birthday, AP exams, concerts, piano recital, and her eagle scout project.

Bella and Christian both did beautifully in their recital.  It is always amazing how well they perform under such pressure.  Bella had been given some very challenging pieces to memorize and she wasn't' sure she could do it, but she put in a lot of hours at the end and made it so she only needed music on one of her pieces.  We were very proud of her.

Her eagle scout project was to build a backyard playscape in a neighborhood in Detroit so children would have a safe place to go play.  The lot is owned by a woman I met through volunteering I do with another church.  She lives across the street but owns both her property and the vacant one.  She was so excited that Bella would want to use her land for the project.  She and I and others from her church went prior to installation day and cleared the land.  It looked like this when we got there:

We cleared out tons of brush, trash, etc. and got it to this:

Bella fundraised and then bought a playscape from someone who was willing to reduce the price dramatically since it was for a good cause.  She and Kelly put in tons of hours planning the disassembly, transport, reassembly, repairs, etc.  Parents really deserve an award too when kids get their eagle.  Not too many people came on the big day but it was enough to get the job done in the time we'd estimated.

We had several neighbors come over while we were building and thank us for the project and express excitement at having a place for the kids to play.  I've since been texted by the owner with pictures of local kids playing and having fun.  She says there are kids on it every day.

We also acquired a cat for the summer.  That was NOT planned.  However, I made the mistake of saying to Peter, "I kind of miss having a little cat around."  The universe listened and not even 24 hours later, I got a text from a friend who was moving to California saying, "We have discovered we can't fit the cat in the car, could you take her for the summer and we'll be back in September to get her?  We have to leave right now because the new homeowners are coming in a couple hours."  WHAT??  So we drove over and got the cat.  I immediately had terrible buyer's remorse, but what could I have done?  Poor kitty had to where to go. So, let me introduce Pandora.

We all love her, but Peter, especially.  I'm not sure what September will bring.  It might be pretty hard to say goodbye.

 Pandora has settled right in and has been a remarkably good cat, except for the cat door she immediately made for herself in our screen on the first day.

Other happenings these last few weeks - I finished my first year of seminary teaching.  I was close to adrenal failure by the end so a break is very needed, but it was wonderful to watch all my amazing seniors graduate and move onto their bright futures. (many of them are not pictured)  I hope next year will be less exhausting since I'll have more time during the day to prepare while Peter is in school.  No more lesson planning after midnight.

Benjamin was transferred out of Kansas to Burlington, Colorado and received a new companion.  They are doing great together.  He drives hours and hours between visits and some of the people he teaches live nearly 2 hours from the church building, so attendance is difficult but he's always upbeat on the phone and we love seeing him grow and learn.

This week the kids (Bella and Christian) are at FSY down in Tiffin, Ohio.  I dropped them and all their friends off today - 6 hour roundtrip.  I hope they have a wonderful week.  What an amazing program that is.  What a blessing.

Easter and Other Happenings

We got home from Houston after midnight on the day of Easter, so it was a little different this year.  No egg coloring in the days prior, no Easter bouquet or other common traditions.  We made sure to study the scriptures of Holy Week in the hotel in the evenings, but once we got home, all we really had the time/energy for was the egg hunt.  The kids still seemed to enjoy it, though.  We did our usual money game and the kids got about $17-22 each.  We also had the missionaries over for a dinner that Kelly prepared and that was wonderful.

In other happenings, I took a trip with the women of the stake to Kirtland this past weekend.  175 women in 3 tour buses.  It was fantastic.  I love Kirtland so much and the absolute highlight was the fireside inside the Nauvoo temple.  There were some amazing speakers and testimonies and beautiful musical numbers all while sitting in the seats facing the pulpit where Joseph Smith would’ve stood, just as the sun was setting and shining through upon all of us. The spirit was so strong there. I think one of my favorite things said was when the speaker shared D&C 84:2 which starts “yea the word of the Lord concerning his church established in the last days for the restoration of his people…”  She made the comment that the restoration is ongoing because what he’s really restoring is us. He has established his church for the purpose of restoring us to a covenant relationship with Him and that is a process that takes a lifetime. I thought that was really beautiful.

Track season has started and Christian is doing great.  He's running the 2 mile, 1 mile, and 800m.  So proud of how hard he's working.

Greenfield Village reopened and so we excitedly returned.  Looking at this picture, this horse looks so creepy!  I promise it's not in person.  

Peter was hoping we'd get to ride the open-top Model T but the Depot Hack rolled up when we were next, so we took that one.  It was just fun to be back riding the cars again.  Someday I want to work at Greenfield Village.  What an awesome place.

Let's Go to Houston

I was happily minding my own business thinking that my traveling was done for a little while when I got a call from Christian's robotics coach saying the team qualified for the world championship in Houston, Texas in 10 days and could Christian make it?  What!?!  I wasn't thrilled at the unplanned cost, but I'm never one to turn down a trip and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so off we went to Houston.

Peter came with us and we had a fantastic week down there.  At first it was wonderful to have some warmer temperatures but the excitement of that wore off fast.  I will never travel to Texas in the summer if that's what April is like.  So hot and humid!  In all other ways, the trip was great.

We stayed at the Hilton which had an indoor overpass directly into the convention center.  It couldn't have been more convenient.  The FIRST organization that ran the event went all out to make it fantastic.  Hundreds of teams from all over the world, live bands every day, giant lawn games, food trucks, face painters, caricature artists, etc.  My favorite part were the dozens of vendor's booths advertising their products while doing really cool hands-on demonstrations (anyone interested in dissecting a squid? testing your reflexes against a robot's? driving a VR tank? etc etc).  You never needed to leave the immediate area to have a great time.  Thankfully, because Christian was kept so busy that he never actually did leave the area until the event was over. 

The team did amazingly well and got further than any middle school team ever has at world's, so despite the loss in the play-offs, they have a lot to be proud of.  As a mom, I'm sad that the decision was made to let someone else drive the robot rather than my son who'd proven he was the best driver, but Christian was ok with the decision and after some time spent emotionally processing, he's okay with the result too.  He was a part of that decision after all, so even though it eventually proved to be the wrong decision, no one could have known that at the time.

The only playing around Christian did during the week was swimming in the evenings.  What a gorgeous view from the 24th floor - sunset over the city.

Peter wasn't willing to just sit and watch robotics matches all day so we watched what we could but we also made sure to have fun in the city.  The zoo, the aquarium, the natural history museum, the children's museum, and countless parks and playgrounds all made it onto the itinerary.  We had a great time.  Thanks to Houston's public transit system, we did all that traveling for less than $10 and the city pass allowed us admission to all the places for 50% off.  Even travel to and from the airport was a breeze because they have a bus that goes directly (no stops) from the airport to the convention center and back every 30 minutes for $4/person.  It was awesome.  It sounds like Houston is paying me to say that, but really, I just wish Detroit had better public transit.  Houston also has some no-nonsense fare police!  They were hard core don't-mess-with-us folks when it came to kicking free-loaders off the trains.  A little entertainment for us as we rode along.

The only somewhat down-side to the week was that the hotel had promised to put a pull-out couch in our room for Peter so he wouldn't have to share a bed with one of us, but they didn't.  When I got there they told me that such an addition was against fire-code even though they'd agreed to it on the phone.  They denied having said that and refused the accommodation.  "What can we do it make it up to you?" they asked.  "Free breakfast," I answered immediately because that had been my other stressor.  Breakfast buffet at the hotel was $30/person and there were no other convenient healthy food options nearby so early in the morning, as Christian had to be at his post by 8am every day.  "Happy to do that" was the reply and they proceeded to give me vouchers to cover all three of us for every day that we were there - a $360 value.  We had the best breakfast of anyone on the team, most of whom were stuck eating Starbucks muffins every morning.  We dined on the finest every day and I'd have to say of all the things we did and saw in Houston, the breakfast buffet was my favorite and the thing I miss the most.

But as for the other things we did, check out this guy's horns!!!  Only in Texas.

Every zoo needs animatronic dinosaurs. They never get tired or hungry and they are eerily realistic. Unlike all the actual real animals that are often sleeping, hiding, or "currently off exhibit."  I'm not sure who liked them more, me or Peter.

The Sam Houston statue next to Hermann Park.  (The best park in the city, imo).  Sam was definitely a controversial figure but it's an impressive monument and the funniest thing was that as we stood there reading the inscription, a family walked up and the dad starts telling his kids about how it was his great-great-great grandfather (I forgot exactly how many greats he said) that sold Sam Houston that horse that he's riding.  What a quirky legacy.

The coolest way to learn about the periodic table I'd ever seen - an interactive game that you play by running around and lighting up the elements.  I wanted to play so bad if there hadn't been a museum guard staring me down.

Hermann park had the best playground.  So many really cool play areas.

Peter's favorite part of the trip was probably Louie G's gelatto truck outside the convention center.

This playground was right outside the convention center and was the best we found in the city.

Complete with a hill to slide down Texas-style - on cardboard!!  So fun!

This was my favorite piece of art in the city - little fountains inside what looks like a construction zone.  How much more appropriate can you get for downtown? So cute and funny.

By the aquarium they had a little carnival.  Peter desperately wanted to ride the ferris wheel and the "lighthouse drop."  I rode the ferris wheel with him but I'd lose my lunch if I attempted the drop ride so he agreed to ride it alone. The ride conductor gave me a very confused look when I sent my little guy in there alone but he allowed it.  I worried Peter would freak out once it started, but he was laughing the whole time!  70 feet stomach lurching drop and he laughed hysterically.  He is one brave kid.

Funny note about that stroller - on day 1, the front left wheel broke off.  The metal fatigued and snapped.  So we were riding around on three wheels all week.  I just couldn't find a place to buy a new one that was less than an hour train ride away.  Not worth it.  We made it work, but that thing went in the trash immediately upon getting home because it was exhausting.   I guess after serving us in Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Jefferson City, Boston, and of course, Detroit, it decided Houston was just too much.

Hands-down the place we spent the longest amount of time was the Lego car building station at the children's museum.  Nearly 4 hours of building Lego cars and racing them down the track.  Is anyone surprised?  I'm not.  

Christian was able to go swimming with us in the evenings but otherwise he was too busy until Saturday to do much.  So we spent the last couple hours in Houston in Hermann park together and then we flew back home.  Definitely worth the trip.  We made some wonderful memories.

In case you're wondering, while we were gone, Kelly was crazy busy with tariff-related messes at Ford and Bella had a ton to do at school and work, but they made time to have a belated birthday dinner at Benihana's together.