School's out! And Camp's begun!

I'm trying to update weekly, but some weeks are crazier than others around here! The kids' school year ended with a flurry of activities.  My school year, however, is still going strong. 

 Joshua and I were discussing averages.  Academically, he is in the 98th percentile nationwide of all children that share his birth month, the month prior and the month after.  Very impressive.

 A few weeks ago, the Legoland people returned to the hospital to promote the opening of the new Legoland water park.  I had a wonderful conversation with one of the lego builders and he gave me some tips to impress the kids the next time I'm building with them.  So fun!  I busted out my new moves when we played Creationary the next night.  Creationary is like Pictionary, but instead of drawing something, you have a few minutes to create something out of legos.

 One Friday a month, the kids can wear their favorite hat to school for 50 cents.  This by far is one of my favorite fund raisers.  Here's Daniel in his hat before leaving for the day.  His teacher loved it!

 A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to meet up with our friends the Dorvals for lunch.  The Dorvals were our neighbors in Alaska.  We met for lunch as a very swanky establishment...IKEA.  :)

 Their little girl is just precious.  She has that soft, sweet voice that I remember Megan having when she was little.  There's just something about a sweet little voice and wispy little hair...she's so stinking cute.  We are super-excited for them, because baby #2 will be making his or her appearance in a couple of months.

 The Kindergarten classes had a end of the year FUN DAY planned.  I was able to volunteer in Daniel's class helping clean up between activities.

 So fun!  I'm so glad his year in K has given him a great love for school. He really bonded with his teacher and his classmates. He is now a fluent reader and is ready to face the First Grade.

 It must be Friday...I spy Spirit Shirts!  On the last Friday of the school year, the kids got their yearbooks handed out to them.

 Daniel, sharing his project with us (don't mind the cat trapped in the laundry basket in the background!).  Daniel shared all the clues and we had to guess what animal he learned about.

 Daniel and Pepper during our 7pm ritual...watching Jeopardy.

 I came home from work a couple of nights ago and found Megan dressed up as "Davy Jones" from Pirates of the Caribbean.  I was confused for a few minutes because I thought Davy Jones was a Monkee, and I haven't seen Pirates of the Caribbean in a few year...but they have a Pirates game on the wii. She finally straightened me out, and I was very impressed with her get-up.

 Here's the crew on the last day of school.  They have sagging backpacks from all the stuff from their desks.

 Check these guys out!  What is so impressive, is that Megan had such a rough start to the school year, we weren't certain that she would graduate to the Third Grade, but she has been promoted as a reward for her hard work this school year.  We are planning to do some modified homeschooling over the summer to keep the wheels of progress going.   Joshua made the A Honor Roll all year long, and did excellent on his FCAT.

 Daniel earned his Kindergarten certificate and is excited about the 1st Grade.

Whew...all caught up...this brings us to this weekend's big event...taking Joshua up to Camp Kulaqua to attend a week of summer camp.

 I started Friday afternoon with labeling Joshua's stuff for camp.  Let me give a huge shout-out to Mabel's Labels...I ordered a camper's pack and am so impressed with how easy it was to label everything clearly with waterproof labels.  It saved me tons of time.

 Saturday morning, we chilled out.  Joshua's buddy from school had an end of the year get-together at his house and so Joshua went a few streets over to go hang out with some school friends, and then I joined him a couple of hours later.  Knowing that we would be in the minivan for most of the day on Sunday, we made the most of the beautiful day Saturday.

Sunday morning, we took off for Kulaqua - which is just a little north of Gainesville, Florida; so basically about a 2.5 hour ride for us.

 While waiting to register, Joshua won the paper airplane contest and his prize was a book.

 Then one of the counselors came to Joshua for some tips on how to make a good paper airplane.  There were a few boys there that Joshua knows from his previous school and our church, but they are all in another cabin.  Joshua's in with some boys that he doesn't know (yet, but you just wait until the end of the week!).  However, there were 3 different counselors that recognized Joshua from Goal camp a few years ago.  They were excited to see him and were play fighting over who was going to get to hang out with him the most.  

 Daddy and Joshua adjusting the sleeping bag and pillow.  Joshua will be on the bottom bunk.  There are 4 boys to a room and one counselor to the room.  There is a bathroom in the middle and on the other end of the little cabin is another room with 4 more boys and one more counselor.

 As you can see, Megan is not looking happy.  She had an opportunity to register for camp, but decided against it.  Of course, we get there and she decides she wants to go.  I told her she needs to wait until next year.  She cried on the way home because she said she was going to miss Joshua.  So heartbreaking.  We did end up moving Daniel into Megan's room for this week, since she had an empty bunk in her room.   That seems to have fixed both of their issues.

 He was so excited, I thought he was going to burst!  As we were leaving the camp, the counselors were rounding up the boys to take them swimming.

I'm sure he'll have a great time.  I'm so excited for him!