A little bit from us

 

 

While putting up a quilt, "First we put on the backing, then the batting, then the top."

Parker, "why isn't it called the topping?!"

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While Yoda talked about FDR, Mimi asked, "who was he again?  Oh, yeah, he was in Annie." (That's a theater kid for you!)

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While watching a minute of a Steelers football game, "Are they called the Steelers because they steal the game?"

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While I was missing Parker, now that he is gone away to school, "it must be a long time since I last checked in with Parker" then I looked at my phone and realized we had texted like 4 hours earlier. 

Slide

 

Sky

Over the summer Mimi had a few projects to keep her busy.  In non-pandemic years she would do some volunteering at the library.  Since that's not happening, they provided a bingo board full of activities.

For this activity Mimi was supposed to spend time in nature and take a photo of something that inspires her.  She was at girl scout day camp and took this during one of the camp fires. 

What's better than a s'more?

 

A BIG MAC S'MORE!

 

Off to school part 2

 Parker is off to college, yikes.  Photos below

Greg and Parker took off early on Wednesday, I stayed home to make sure the younger kiddos went to school and stuff.  Every year since he was 3 Parker has been totally ready for school, running off to the door without even looking back.  College made him pretty nervous and that felt out of character.  But he slowly warmed up to college as he was able to make a schedule and book a dorm room, he felt better and more excited. 

Parker moved in and hasn't seen much of his roommate.  He seems nice and laid back, which will be good, since Parker has already locked himself out of his room twice. 

He attended all the new student orientation meetings and met people.  The new parent meetings made us feel better, but we still felt a little like this...

They said, we work for you, contact us.  They also said, when they look at applications they look to see if the student will be a good fit, and then they consider grades to make sure they won't drown once they get there. In other words, your student belongs here. 

Greg spent time visiting with family and hiking.  Their last morning they hiked to the Y together. 

We did tons of prep before they left, and I'm so glad we did.  We missed a few things and it would have been a pain to have a million things to track down, instead of just a couple things.  Next time (hopefully there will be 2 next times!) we will shop earlier, and make sure the bed is as comfortable as possible.  And also bring quarters for laundry because of the coin shortage, ugh.  

Everyone will miss him, he's so nice to have around. 

First day 2021

School starts this week and I'll post photos soon...

First off, Mimi went to her first day of 10th grade.  Officially the first day at the main high school is just for Freshmen, but her little high school has their scheduling day the first day. 

Fall 2021

Parker isn't off to school just yet, but he did heroically wake up early just to drive Mimi to school.  Such a nice brother.  We then spent the day fighting the crowds of parents and college students buying stuff at Target. 

Yoda wasn't even awake before they left.  Middle school is the last of the schools to start their day.  He's pumped to take the bus with a few of our neighbors and friends. 

Some D&D

The plan was to take a few days off to go backpacking, but too many things got in the way.  Greg still took some time off, but they played many, many hours of Dungeons and Dragons!

Did I show off my custom Dungeon Master screen?  I could use some work, but it gets the job done :)

Using up some sparklers

 We didn't use all the sparklers and pop-its so we pulled them out one nice night ...

Then Yoda showed us his trick of slapping a pop-it mid-air.

Day Camp

 

Day Camp 2015

 Day Camp 2021

Mimi's Puzzles

Not sure what inspired her enthusiasm for puzzles lately, but it's been a constant since school let out.

Yoda's wise words

"If you have too much on your plate, get a bigger plate."

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All three kiddos had a camp this year through the church (three days, two nights).  Parker probably wouldn't have gone, except he missed last year.  Yoda's age group usually wouldn't have gone, except the ages have been changed around so this was his first year.  Somehow Greg lucked out and went to ALL THREE CAMPS!  Luckily, Greg was only in charge of Yoda's camp, and he was just a dad for Mimi's and Parker's camp.

First was High Adventure with Parker (the name is a carryover from Boy Scouts).  Usually we get a picture of just the 2 of them, this is will do.  They went white water rafting and had a good time.  Greg said it was almost a cruise, we joked that it was kind of a "low adventure".  Meaning they have had much more wilderness survival in the past and this one was very easy. 

 

 

Then, almost as soon as he got home, he was off to Yoda's camp.  They cleverly called it "Hiette's Adventure", a play on words with High Adventure and one of the boys' name - Hiette.   I have more pictures and I'll post them later. 

 

Mimi's camp was a surprise, a few days before camp started we got word that they needed a few dads to attend.  There was WiFi at the cabin, so he was able to work almost the whole time.  I gave him strict instructions that was not a leader, he was to let the women who had done all the planning be in charge.  He could be helpful if asked, but not take over building a campfire or pitching tents for example.  Turns out it was a good thing, Mimi really needed some help from Greg those days.  

One more organized camp left.  Mimi and I will attend GS day camp, this year she's a youth leader!  I get to hang with little 7-yr-olds.  If Greg takes the kiddos on a backpacking trip again, I'll let you know.

Freshman/Senior Showcase

When Parker was a freshman he participated in the Freshman/Senior Showcase.  It's a chance for Seniors in the theatre department to lead a Freshman in a skit.  They could do something original or recreate something.  This year Parker ran to the computer when signups were listed so he could pick Mimi, it was very cute.  They did something from Avatar: The Last Airbender.  It's a show that lots of teens seem to like, they had everyone singing and cheering.

Parker did choose another Freshman, our friend Jane, but she had to quarantine because of the endless pandemic. 

Mimi even played her Ukulele!