Vail Pride Day

Every year our school district rents out the fair grounds to highlight the great things going on in the district. There is a volunteer luncheon, a staff luncheon where they recognize teacher of the year, and a few highlights from each school, and a whole day of concerts, science fair displays, math bowl, academic jeopardy, and class displays from every elementary school class, and art classes, and various other 6+ grade classes. We haven't made it a big priority in the past, but this year the girls had some things they were supposed to go to, so we went as a family.

The kids liked getting in a fire truck, especially Ryan.

 McGruff the crime dog was nice for a picture, but after that Megan didn't want to get close or give him a high 5 or anything.

 We took a while finding the kids' work in their class displays. They had a book assembled for each class, but our kids do exceptional work, so instead of putting them in the book, each of theirs was highlighted on the display.

 Ryan's class' writing prompt was "when I am 100..." Ryan's said, "When I am 100 years old I will be bald."

 Probably true. :)

In the science room they had this playdough set up as a piano, showing how humans are conductors, so you touch the main node, then with your other hand as you touch the playdough it completes the circuit, which is programmed into different notes of a piano on the computer that is hooked to it.

 Rachel got to be a part of the Math Bowl team from our school. The math teacher said they normally just take 5th graders, but Rachel and 2 other 4th graders are just so advanced that they get to do it.

 They said the buzzer was not registering when they tried to ring in, so they didn't get to answer except a few times. They didn't win, but I was proud that Rachel participated and had a good attitude about it despite the turnout. Next year they'll have a definite advantage having 3 kids who have participated before.

 The district converted this bus to a "fun bus" for occasions such as Vail Pride Day.

 The kids loved it.

 All the kids except Rachel wanted to ride these ponies.

 They thought it was cool, at least until the end when Megan felt like she was slipping and was going to fall off.

 The petting zoo was pretty cool, too.

 Megan was super excited to finally get to get on a bus. She sees the other kids get on every day and is always bummed that she's still not allowed on yet.

 That particular bus happens to be the oldest running bus that they know of in the country. It's from 1990 or thereabouts.

Rachel and Annie were chosen to be Diamondback Leaders this year at school. Each quarter two kids from each class who exemplify the qualities they try to emphasize at their school get chosen as Diamondback leaders. They were all invited to walk in the parade at VPD.

 Megan and Ryan were happy that one of the groups in the parade threw candy out to them.

I'd have to say the best part of the parade was the marching band that didn't bring their instruments, but instead had 5 gallon buckets for drums and kazoos that they all played their music on. it was great.

We were happy to go home at the end of a long day. But also proud of our kiddos for being great role models and for doing wonderful work in school.

Science fair, rock show, and YW stuff

So far February has been full of good things. Rachel received 2nd place in her grade on her science fair project, so she gets to go on to SARSEF, the regional science fair.

 She was happy to see that all her hard work paid off. She tested reaction times of kids by dropping a meter stick and seeing how quickly after they saw it drop that they could catch it. Then she compared reaction times of those who played musical instruments and those who played sports.

It's always nice when the kids play nicely together for a while. One day I went to see why I hadn't heard from the kids for a while. They were playing school. :)

 Annie has been looking forward to the Gem and Mineral Show that comes every year in February. She saved up her money and brought many new treasures home with her. We made a family outing of it and had a good time, though it was a bit hotter than it should have been the first weekend in February.

 By the end the kids were all parched and hot, so we decided to get an overpriced lemonade, but only had enough cash on hand for one, so we got 4 straws and everyone shared, gulping as fast as they could to make sure they got their fair share.

 Ryan had a couple weeks off of karate after his belt test and was SO ready to get back into it.

 In Young Women we had New Beginnings in the midst of all the trek preparation.

The New Beginnings theme was Opening Ceremonies for Young Women 2018.

 It turned out pretty awesome with torch cupcakes our expert YW frosted and the olympic decor and torches all around while we talked about "Go for the gold" to work on Personal Progress toward their Young Womanhood Recognition award.

 Another trek prep hike was less attended than the first, but pretty nice weather and a pretty hike. Some of the kids decided the train trestle was perfect for climbing on.

 The boys got up pretty high, but no one died, so this goes down as another successful hike.

 At the end we actually met up with the Wolf Den from our ward's cub scouts. We didn't know we were planning a hike in the same place, so it was kind of funny. We all got to hike back to the cars together.

With trek next week during Rodeo Break we'll finally be able to get back into a normal swing of things in Young Women. With the temple dedication and cultural celebration, year end stuff, beginning of year stuff, and trek prep, we've had a lot of mutual plans taken up with all those activities and hardly any class activities, so it will be nice to get back into a regular routine.

Lunar eclipse

When we heard about the lunar eclipse, we were happy to find that it was happening at a reasonable hour when we would already be awake (6-7am-ish) instead of the middle of the night. We prepared a portable breakfast so we could go down to the train tracks as the moon was setting since we figured our neighbors' houses would block it when it got low. Jacob did manage to get several good pictures of the red moon from our house, though.

 By the time we got down by the train tracks the sky was lightening with dawn so much that it was hard to see the eclipsed moon. This was one of the last pictures that we got that we could actually see the moon.

Turns out, heading down to the tracks wasn't really all that worth it, since we couldn't see the moon at moonset, since the sky was too bright and the moon too dim, anyway.

Looking eastward, however, was a beautiful misty sunrise.

 The kids were just excited to be out on an adventure, and with chocolate muffins for breakfast.

The last of January

The 4th grade performance was in January and we got to go see Rachel and friends perform. They had some great songs with fun lyrics all put to classic songs like Für Elise and      .They did a great job.

Annie got to go to a birthday party and Pump it Up. She had a blast on all the blow up slides, obstacle courses, and such.

For my birthday I decided it would be fun to host a game night. I have 2 friends that have the same birthday as me, so we invited them and their spouses, and one more couple to make it even. We put the kids upstairs in our bedroom watching a movie so we could play in peace and it worked out pretty well. We just wished we could have played a little longer. One of the couples brought this game to introduce to us, which we all enjoyed.

Jacob got me a fire pit so we can roast hot dogs and marshmallows without having to go camping. We had a successful inaugural run and Ryan was as entranced with the fire as you would expect him to be. :)

Unfortunately we weren't as careful about closing the back door when people were going in and out of the house as we should have been, so it took a little effort to get the smoke smell out of our house, but it was gone within a day or two.

Megan always has definite ideas about what she will or will not wear. A few months ago this dress was a total no go.

 Now she wants to wear it every week. She loves how poofy it is. :)

Jacob being attacked by the kids needing a little tickle therapy:

Our next door neighbors were so generous and gave us a huge box full of art supplies. They said they were so grateful for our Christmas cards and treats that we give them every year (which is like a small plate of goodies, not meriting a huge box of Crayola brand stuff) and the chalk decorations the kids did for Christmas.

The kids were super excited and have loved all the awesome stuff. They got several large boxes of crayons, lots of coloring books, including some intricate coloring books for the older girls, glitter markers, smelly markers, metallic markers, colored pencils, twistable colored pencils, twistable crayons, fine point markers, glitter glue, sidewalk chalk, paints, glue, and probably a few other things I've forgotten.

We're going to have them over for dinner one of these days.

Annie has been doing Mileage Club this year. They run during lunch recess twice a week and have races once a month where they try to beat their time from the previous month. Annie's friend, Emilee, does it too. Here they are coming into the finish line:

Megan has been begging for a playdate with her friends Mikaela and Mckenzie who are triplets (with a brother). We finally managed to set one up when they were planning on going to Jump!, a new place in town that the kids love, and is relatively cheap.

They had so much fun, but Megan was pretty content knowing her friends were in the building, not worrying too much about actually doing anything with them. ;)

Ryan spent at least half the time there playing with the games that are projected on the floor. They change every couple minutes. This one was a working piano.

I got to go out to Saguaro National Park for a trek prep hike with the youth. Half the youth missed a turn and ended up at the wrong trail head. Luckily all the leaders who drove ended up back at our cars, so we drove to pick them up.

The scenery was beautiful, and since we only lost 2/3 of the youth for a little while, not permanantly, we'll call it a successful hike. :)

I got back from that hike to my family getting ready to go on a hike, Jacob meant to be gone before I got back so I could have some quiet down time, but instead I joined them for a while until Megan and Ryan were ready to turn back. Jacob, Rachel and Annie continued on to find the bridge that crosses the wash near our house for the "shortcut" to the kids school. Though the gate there was locked.

It would be a great shortcut that we could actually bike ride through the desert to the school instead of along busy roads. I wonder if it's unlocked on school days... maybe I'll have to go check it out.

Annie and Rachel got BookIt certificates to Pizza Hut, which they brought home maybe 5 days before they expired. The day they were expiring, Rachel went to a stake activity day with Grandma Knight, and they ended up going out to lunch afterwards, so I took Annie to Pizza Hut and used Rachel's certificate for myself. :)

Annie loved ordering her own personal pizza, and the root beer and the sit down restaurant one on one with Mom was a bonus.


It was a great, full month.