Ben MOVED ON!!!

 The next week was spent preparing for the Moving On Ceremony and Celebration. 

It was VERY busy. Ben was a speaker, and I was taking point on planning everything.  It turned out pretty awesome.  The students chose the theme SEA you Later, and it felt a little bit like magic at the beach.  Ben's speech went very well.  My speech was okay...my clicker wasn't working and that threw me off--but at least it meant I was too concerned to cry until the last slide.  Haha. 

 (Also throwing in a few field day pics.  Ben volunteered to be a dunk tank victim for the K-1 field day.  It was SO cold.  But he did it! )

My teaching partner for the last 2 years.  Mrs. Peterson--off to Knoxville TN for next year.  I'll miss her! 

So we were supposed to have only 2 guests per Cheetah--we went a little over quota...(even if we count both Ben and I as Cheetahs...)

Libby filmed Ben's speech...(there wasn't an earthquake happening, but it looks like it--so listen and maybe don't watch.) 

Ben got a little teary last night thinking about being done with elementary school.  He'll miss the little kindergartners he worked with on patrol that LOVED him.  He'll miss his class.  He's a little nervous about 6th grade.  But he's ready.  It's going to be great.  I think I'll be a little teary not to have any of my kiddos with me at school...

Mariner's Game (MP Night)

 The Meridian Park night at the Mariners turned out to be a fantastic game.  Uncle Leroy and Geneva came with us.  (Libby was at a wrestling camp with Findley.) The Mariners actually pulled out a WIN in the 9th.  But there was a ton of scoring, some errors and lots or excitement throughout.   (One element of excitement was actually happening at home--where Buddy crawled out of the yard under the fence and a neighbor found him.  Thank goodness for my number on his tag.  They returned him to the yard and plugged up the hole before even got home. Also Libby was having tummy troubles in Yakima.  Turns out eating a whole bunch of sunflower seeds including shells isn't great for the digestive system...) 

We got free hats !

Derek gave his employee tickets to a famous wrestler who was in town for a clinic.  Derek and Ben went down to meet him. Bo Nickel is his name I think...

Alayne and Brett also had tickets for some good seats.  We ran into them as we were going to our seats. 

It was such a fun and crazy night! 

Libby & Sarah's School Concert

 The school choir concert was lovely.  Sarah won the Most Inspiration award for her choir.  They sounded so great! Sarah's choir sang "We Don't Talk About Bruno."  Haha.  Their color scheme was black with pink accents. Sarah had a group solo.  Libby was bitter that she didn't get a solo.  Looking forward to next year. 

Happy Birthday Benny!

 Ben is now double digits!  It's crazy!  He had a great birthday.  Several months ago he found out that the new Jurassic World movie would be coming out on his birthday--and that became his birthday goal.  Jurassic World with his friend Noah.  So fun!  I was pretty exhausted after the cold I got at camp (not COVID--although 28 of our students did get COVID...) So Derek took the kids to the movie after a dinner of flank steak and rice and I went to bed!  Best birthday ever :)

Ben had asked for a Dinosaur birthday cake--so that's what he got--a Dino peeking in.  And in his joint celebration with Derek he had pavlova.  So yummy (and it was good that it was so good, because we ate it while we were waiting the extra 4 hours for brisket after the meat was supposed to be done.  The brisket was our 2nd dessert.  haha.) 

Ben's gifts included candy, candy and more candy.  Haha.  Maren, Noah and I all had the same great idea to give him some candy for the movie.  He was pretty happy about it.  But he also loved the eshop cards, Fortnite cards, and fitbit he got.  He got the fitbit early so he'd have a watch for camp. And so he can work on his mile time at track this summer. 

The dino is watching you!

Seattle Children's Chorus Concert

 Yesterday was the final SCC concert for the year.  It was lovely--and about an hour too long.  I was chaperoning Intermezzo--so more wrangling 4th and 5th graders! Keeping them quiet in the balcony for a concert that long was really tough! 

But seeing the kids perform was great.  Libby sang in the alumni numbers.  It felt good seeing her up there again!  Miss Kris is retiring.  We will miss her.  Sarah might be our only chorister next year, but we will see.

Derek came for as long as he could between shifts. Grammy and Grandpa came too!

Then we took a nostaglia drive past my first house in Seattle and ate dinner at Kidd Valley.  Then the kids wanted to swim, even though it was chilly and raining. 

5th Grade Camp...

 I posted on FB about camp a few times during the week--but I'll sum it up here.  I worked at a camp one summer in college.  This camp felt a lot like that camp (minus the church components of course.) But there were meals and songs in the cafeteria.  There were hikes and skits and campfires!  I didn't have to cook or clean.  I got to be in nature!  I got to teach lessons in nature.  

Okay, so I got the kids lost on a hike--but the reality was that many of them didn't even realize it.  

So we ate under a cell tower instead of at Bear Tree--but they didn't know what they were missing.  Haha.

We got in more miles than anticipated, and my hip did great!  

Then, as we got back to where we were supposed to be going--to the lookout tower, the end of our group stirred up a wasps' nest.  The kids who got stung were so brave!  I was super proud of them!  

It was just awesome to see the kids out doing things that were taking them out of their comfort zones...one thing after another.  

I came home happy and tired.  

And then the COVID cases started rolling in.  I think we are at about 9 or 10 right now.  (We took 92 kids to camp.) I think more are to come (including maybe Ben and I...we are both coughing--but have tested negative.  We did PCR today.)

But overall, the parents who are letting me know about COVID think it was still a great week and totally worth it.

We did require all campers (and adults) to test before we left.  But Covid is a sneaky thing.

Hopefully we didn't also give it to all of the SCC community yesterday at the concert.  Sigh.  

I am so over COVID--but so glad we got to do camp! 

One wasp sting ended up with an ER trip.  But he got antibiotics and came back to camp (Thank goodness we were at a close camp.)  What a crazy reaction! 

So happy I was there with my Ben!