Previously

Last Saturday C.J. took us to Fuddruckers as is becoming a tradition when he is here.

Mt. Olympus

Each year the 8th graders from our school take a class trip.  The last few years they have gone to Wisconsin Dells to the Mt Olympus theme park.  It has an indoor and outdoor water park as well as an indoor and outdoor theme park.  

A few weeks ago an e-mail came through from school begging for chaperones and I thought it would be a great time so I volunteered.  

It was a bit cool at first and I was worried that no one would be able to swim - not to worry they swam anyway!!  And the sun came out and it warmed up to almost 80*.

I spent the morning walking around with the two shyest and quietest girls in the class.  Neither would speak up and suggest anything they wanted to ride or do so we ended up riding the go-karts, walking around, walking around some more, watching some people go on rides, walking around some more, dipping our feet in the water, and walking around.

It was their day and I wanted them to control what they did...but it didn't work too well. After lunch I was delegated to the pool area for a while watching the students bags and shoes and things.

For a time I passed off the belongings to another chaperone and went to the indoor water park with Zack and his buddies.  Everyone ended the day at the wave pool where the students jumped in with reckless abandon, whether they had swimsuits on or not, and got soaked!  Then thought they could climb in people's vehicles with wet clothes...NOT!

On the way home we stopped for a pizza buffet dinner and three of the five occupants of my vehicle fell asleep on the way home - one of them wasn't me thank goodness.

Handsome Young Man

Zack dressed up for his Spring Choir Concert

The boy just will not smile!!!

Volcano

A couple weeks ago Zack had to make a volcano for Science class.

Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the finished project but here are pictures of Zack getting a little help from an awesome big brother.

Missing My Boys

I did the airport drop-off yesterday.  I hate the airport drop-off!  And for the first time in a couple years, Zack broke down into a sobbing mess hugging the boys good-bye.  

They are both gone now...Jon will now be a Florida resident and Zack and I will have a long year until we can all be reunited.  

Some pictures of our game night from a couple weeks ago:

This Class

As I mentioned before---this 8th grade class is very important to me.

Maybe because they were my last 4th grade class before I quit...maybe because it is filled with some of the sweetest and kindest kids at our school...maybe because they gel together like a family, maybe because they dis everything I asked of them and did it with a happy spirit.

Anyway, I'm going to miss them:

Ari, John, Daniel, Hannah, Rachel, and MarieAnn

Jordan, Annakah, Noel, Margaret

Rebekah, Amy, and RayAnn

MarieAnn and Rachel

Zack, Jeremy, and Cray

Luke

Camron

Malachi and Zachary

More Michigan

More pictures from our trip to Michigan last weekend. 

At Main Street Pizza for dinner:

Another Year---Done

Yesterday was the last day of school.  Unbelievable.

One one hand this year went so incredibly fast but on the other hand this year has been a long, difficult one.

In Zack's case, he had a teacher this year who was (in my opinion) terrible.  She piled on the homework, (which he had a hard time keeping track of because of ADHD), was very rigid,  she was not very kind, and, to top it all off, she was very unorganized.  At any rate, Zack would have made the honor roll again this year with all A's and B's if it weren't for her rigid and unbending ways when Zack was dealing with a medication change in the middle of the year.  His other teacher's were very helpful in making special accommodations for him during that four week time span...but not her!  Anyway, he ended the year with a 79% in her class this semester which cost him academic honors.  He otherwise had all A's and B's this year. I'm proud of him.

He will "graduate" from 8th grade next week and I will no longer have him in computer class so I had to take a picture on his last day by the computer he has sat at the past three years. 

Love how his friend is photo bombing behind him

I'm gonna miss him. In fact, I'm gonna miss his whole class (more on that later).

I have cleaned out my room and am ready for summer.

Before

After

I'm excited for summer...sun, sleeping in, reading some books, picnics, and walks.  

Weekend Away

With C.J. visiting, we made sure to take a little weekend trip up north to Iron Mountain.  

We left Friday after school and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  The weekend was filled with relaxing, cribbage, pizza, and a trip to the ski jump.

Dad showing the boys his square on the memorial

My dad's name (left) and my deceased uncle's name (right)

Trekking to the top

No leaves on the trees yet up there...even snow in some places (crazy)

C.J. up there at the top

Mom stayed in the car because it was too cold (55*)