Mothers and Daughters

Here is something I posted on Instagram that I'll record here too.  "Ella shared a story that just delighted me.  She was recently walking from art class to band with some friends while the kindergarten classes were getting out of chapel.  As each kindergarten kiddo passed her, they high-fived or hugged her.  She wondered, 'How do they all know me?' and she got her answer when a girl at the end of the line threw her arms around Ella and exclaimed, 'Teacher Jen!'"

This story has a sequel too!  I was recently outside watering the plants when the group of girls who play together on our street shouted to me, "Hi Ella!"

 I had a lovely Mother's Day with lots of spoils from my family.  They cooked an amazing dinner and showered me with presents.  Fun this year was receiving a gift bag full of my favorite candy, which the girls bought totally on their own with babysitting money and a walk to the drug store.  They're getting so old!

A chapter in our lives closed at last week's Mother Daughter Night for the church girls' group we have all been a part of.  It only runs through 8th grade, so Ella is done and we'll no longer do this all together.

The 6th grade class I teach read their moms some touching and hilarious questionnaires they had filled out about their moms.  We got the dirt on the moms who cook too much quinoa for their kids' taste, who clean their bathroom to the Rocky soundtrack, whose greatest talent is scrubbing the patio, who should turn off the KLOVE and let their kids listen to fun music, and who impart wisdom-- like don't drive like them.  

As an 8th grader, Ella got to be in the grand finale fashion show.  She modeled my wedding dress, a dress she found for $3 at the thrift store while doing the Smart Shopping Badge, and her 8th grade graduation dress.  She also had an opportunity to take the stage with her classmates and share favorite memories and advice for younger girls.  Delia and I will miss her being a part of this ministry with us, but it was a neat way for her to end.

 I had a great time teaching my little students, like I do every year at Mother's Day, to see all the big and small ways their moms serve and care for them.  This year has been one of my hardest years of teaching for various reasons and I'm not super sad it's almost done.  But there have been plenty of sweet moments in my classroom that I'll hold as good memories.

And finally...the news that Almost Graduated Ella received a phone for an early present!  We set our home phone in her contacts to say "Happy Graduation, Ella", hid the new phone in the couch cushions and called her on it one night.  She was crying as she answered it and realized what it was.  So far, it's going okay!  The phone, at this point, it nothing but a communication device.  It's been fun to watch her connect with family members and friends.  And it was VERY nice to have her take her own phone to this week's babysitting job!  As scary as it is to hand your 13 year old this kind of danger and distraction, Ella has been handling it with self control and maturity.  And how cute are these texts she sends me?! :)

School Stuff

Keeping us busy this May have been school activities nearly every night!  

Our school is super blessed to have a bit of an enrollment crisis right now-- we have too many kids and not enough classrooms!  Part of the solution to this problem has been the creation of a beautiful new preschool building on campus, which will free up 4 whole classrooms for the elementary to move into when we move out.  It's been such a delight to watch the building go up right in front of our very eyes each recess.  You just can't beat the excitement of 4 year old boys who get to watch diggers and dump trucks mere feet away from them or visit with friendly construction workers! :) (The picture above shows the day our first wall was framed-- SO thrilling!)

One special night we even got to tour our new building's construction site!  This was the first time our new preschool building felt REAL to me.  We were invited to sign our names and verses we prayed over the rooms on the beams. 

 (I claimed this classroom because I liked its position in the back of the building and all the natural light; we'll see if I get it.)

Exciting things have been happening for the girls too!  Ella played in her last band concert.  Though the saxophone comes easily for her and she's even held the First Chair position all year, she did decide to give it up because there is just not enough space in her high school schedule to do ALL the things she's interested in and foreign language and art classes beat music for her.  She went  out strong with a great concert and even a little solo for one of her choir numbers.

 One week was a Spirit Week where the kids could pay a dollar each day to not wear their uniform.  The money went to our local pregnancy center.  On pajama day, Delia and her good friend Cailyn went as twins.

Another day, Ella and and her entire 8th grade class took a trip to Santa Cruz!  Many fun memories were made with her friends on the Boardwalk and beach.  She graduates in just a few days and we celebrate what an awesome experience she had in Middle School!  She took advantage of many opportunities and really flourished.  We're so proud of her!

The Rest of the Visit with Kyle (2 Months Later)

Sorry for the 2 month gap in our story of when Uncle Kyle visited, folks!  Life lately has been all about keeping our heads above water and trying hard not to forget the million things that need to happen each day.  After a whirlwind weekend of non-stop activity, I find myself on this Monday evening with NOTHING TO DO and I can't handle the idleness!  Time to blog! :)

When we hosted Kyle, we enjoyed a wonderful week with him.  There was some downtime to play games (about 27 rounds of Quirkle, our new favorite); watch movies (check out Free Solo on Hulu if you haven't already-- wow!); and catch up on conversation.  And there were some fun outings too.  In March you read about our trip to Alcatraz.  Here are a few other fun things that we did...

We hiked around Knight's Ferry!  The wildflowers were in bloom, the polliwogs were hatching, the river was high and full of white rapids, and our puppy was excited to pull us around.  It was a lovely afternoon.

We trekked out the Bay Area to use our Tech Museum membership again.  We spent a day creating egg drop contraptions and getting shaken in the earthquake simulator.

For an early graduation present, Kyle planned a fabulous date night with Ella too.  They went to a Michelin Star Chinese restaurant in Sacramento, then caught the Cirque Du Soleil Crystal show.  This was a phenomenal treat for Ella and she totally loved sharing this special time with Uncle Kyle.

My house is packed with more family visitors this week!  With dance recitals occupying this entire weekend, our next weekend full of celebration for our graduate (!!), and the week after that our big summer vacation, it will be good to get caught up on the blog so I can post about these exciting events hopefully sooner than 2 months after they occur! 

Spring Breaking (out of) Alcatraz!

Kyle is here for the week!  And the timing is perfect because we are off school for Spring Break!  We've been doing lots of fun stuff with Kyle, mostly close to home, but our one big outing was to Alcatraz and I'm excited to post about that first.  Kyle has never been and neither have the girls, and Dave and I haven't visited the island since we first came to California 17 years ago, so this was an excursion we were all looking forward to!

 As you wait for your ferry to launch, there is a pier with all sorts of interesting info about Alcatraz, including this model.

The 10 minute boat ride across the bay was the thing Delia was most excited about.  It was really fun with amazing views and just enough wind and rocking motion to make it exciting! :)

 Pulling into Alcatraz.

 After a brisk hike up a very steep hill and several flights of tiring concrete steps, you start your tour in the cold, stall-less shower room.  Delia said this would have been the worst part of being a prisoner in Alcatraz!

 We were given our headsets and the audio tour commenced!  The tour is really neat!  It's narrated by both former inmates and guards at Alcatraz.  It's full of interesting details and sound effects that make it feel like you're living in their story.  Ella and Delia's tour was about 5 seconds ahead of ours, so I kept giggling when their heads would turn to look at something at the exact same time, or they'd start walking in sync to the next stop.  Then a few seconds later, we'd be instructed to do it!

We saw the tiny cells (above) and heard the escape attempt stories (below).  

We got to enter a cell and feel the coziness/claustrophobia.

 We saw all different parts of the cell block, including the dark isolation cells, the gun towers, the dining hall, the library, the guards' offices, and the place where you can talk to visitors (above).

A portion of the tour is outside, so we also got to check out the warden's house, the lighthouse (above), and the exercise yard (below).

The views of the city are unbelievable!  This is what Kyle and I found most fascinating about Alcatraz-- the contrast between living the most awful, isolated, cold life possible and the luxury of the city's and nature's beauty just beyond your fingertips.  If they turned Alcatraz into high end condos, they could get people to pay millions of dollars in rent to live in them, yet to be sentenced there as a prisoner in 1930-1960 was the worst and sucked your life away.

 I found the gardens and wildflowers SO gorgeous!  Probably because their backdrop was barbed wire fences and buildings with barred windows, again, such a strange juxtaposition!

Dave got artistic with some pictures-- above is the ruins of the officers' social hall and below is a cool, old, cracked window in the laundry room the prisoners were required to work in.

The girls were the perfect age to enjoy this!  It's a good amount of walking and climbing and the audio tour requires a bit of attention.  We're glad we didn't attempt it sooner, but they did love it! 

  All that learning was tiring, though, so a peaceful ferry ride back to the city...

and a warm bowl of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl from the flagship Boudin's on Fisherman's Wharf was the best way to end our big outing day with Uncle Kyle!