Christian Graduates from Elementary School

 I have had at least one (or more) kids at Webster Elementary for 13 years now.  Today that came to an end.  Christian has loved his time there (as did the others).  His teachers were fantastic and his friends were great kids.

No one is better prepared for middle school than Christian - brilliant, kind, hard working, independent. etc.  We wish you all the best, Christian.  You're going to do great things.

Leading up to the last day, he had a 6th grade breakfast, a 6th grade graduation ceremony wherein he was presented with his diploma by his teacher and the principal, and a 6th grade clap-out where they all marched out of the building as the parents clapped.  It was so fun to see him with all his friends.  I'm so glad nearly all of them are moving onto the same middle school program with him.

His closest friends - Mae, (Mrs. Macek), Jackson, and Alex.

He had the same teacher Bella had in 5th and 6th grade, Mrs. Macek.  She is a wonderful teacher and both kids loved her a lot.  I never got a picture with her and Bella because Bella's 6th grade year ended in the covid shutdown and she never had any graduation ceremonies.  I'm so glad Christian got to do those things.

On the last day of school, I treated them all to a sushi lunch, their favorite place to eat.  Benjamin didn't want to come, but the others were thrilled.  Sushi (and all food) has gotten so expensive!  ($93 for lunch).  Not going to be doing this very often, but it was a great celebration for those who didn't get so much fanfare at school. 

Christian wants to do band, cross country, and robotics next year at school.  For the robotics team, you have to do service hours.  Christian decided to volunteer with the police department's Passport to Safety program.  Every year they put on a huge show in the community with all sorts of safety topics.  Christian volunteered with the bike safety portion and spent the day helping kids navigate a bike safety course.  Peter and I spent the time in and out of police cars and ambulances and watching police dog demonstrations.

 There was a remote control fire truck that spoke, blinked, rolled around, flashed lights, sounded an alarm, and sprayed water.  The controller sat up high on a fire truck out of sight from the kids so they all seemed to fully believe this thing was real.  Peter was mesmerized and a bit afraid.  He kept a safe distance and hid behind me once in a while, but when there was a lull in the action and he was all alone with "Freddy" the firetruck, he ventured to talk to him and they had a little conversation.  It was really cute.

 Finally, I made them both pose with Sparky the fire dog. I'm not sure who was hating life more at that moment - Sparky who had already been posing for pictures for 4 hours or Peter who had adamantly refused all pictures with any mascot all morning long.  I didn't push it with the crash test dummies or McGruff the crime dog, but c'mon it's Sparky!  How cute is he??

We had a church meeting at a building we don't attend much anymore by a large forest, so we decided to take a hike when it was over.  I'd brought a change of clothes for me and Peter, but Christian forgot, so he got to go in his church clothes.  We still had a great time playing in the forest in which we'd spent so much time when they were little.  Christian kept being surprised by how short the distances were compared to how he remembered them.   I miss those days of ice skating on the frozen river and playing on the bridges.  Maybe we will again this winter now that Peter is old enough, if it gets cold enough.

I had to run into the building to change clothes and I found dozens of pictures like this one on my phone.

Christian found the most amazing vines to swing from...

and trees to climb on.

Peter didn't quite dare go as high.

They were having so much fun being silly.

Other random silliness:

We're getting excited for our hiking trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Benjamin was testing out the new pack.

Peter had his final day of our mom-run church preschool.  That has been such a wonderful group.  I'm sad to see it end.  He has the best little buddies in there.

For fun, for the Summer, Bella died her hair dark brown.  Peter loved the idea of dyeing hair, but he wanted blue.  So that's what we did.  Not permanent, like Bella's, of course.  Once he saw it, he hated it and so we washed it out...mostly.  Blonde hair loves color and despite multiple washes, it's still visible.  Hopefully a few more washes will do the trick.  I thought he looked fun.