We interrupt ArtPrize for this (probably not actually important) report

This has been a very ArtPrize-filled week. We've been to most of the big venues and lots and lots of the little venues, and so far, these are my three favorite things. None of them are in the main venues this year - the big venues are actually kind of disappointing. But anyhow. That's not the point.

The point is that yesterday i went to work and then picked up Houston and Katrina from school and brought them straight to the orthodontist, and when we got home, our giant, beautiful maple tree in front of our house was nothing but a hacked up trunk. For some reason, the city decided that it needed to come down. Juanito asked them why, and they said, "It was on its way out anyhow," which was quite obviously a lie - it had a couple of small dead branches, but it was 99% perfectly healthy.

We are all sad. 

Weekend fun!

The past couple of weekends have been fun and super full.

Last weekend, Juanito went to "Knobcon" - a synthesizer convention, which is probably exactly as geeky as it sounds. He was all excited, because the got to be one of the presenters, since his style is significantly different than pretty much anyone else's. Meanwhile, i had a leader's retreat for church Saturday until Sunday, and then we had our first gathering of "Echo" (the new name for the 6th-8th graders) in the afternoon on Sunday. Since Juanito and i were both gone, the kids got to go to my parents' house for the night, which they loved.

And then this past weekend, we got to go camping with my parents. We had an absolutely perfect weekend for it - the weather was sunny and warm and just lovely. Our only complaint was the mosquitoes. After an entire summer with not a single mosquito in sight, every single mosquito ever came out this weekend and started attacking viciously. We all had on LAYERS of bug spray, and still all got bitten up. But besides the mosquitoes? It was awesome. We watched the sunset over the lake, ate ice cream, tried to swim in the lake (It was freezing.), played games, read, and generally had a great time.

The down side of all of this fun and excitement is that it means that there's not a lot of time for doing homework. And seriously? Katrina spends So. Much. Time. doing homework. Today, for example, she came home from school and started working, and with the exception of dinner, she pretty much worked all afternoon and evening until about 9:30...and could have done more if she'd had time, but it's not due tomorrow, so it'll have to get done tomorrow. And this is not a completely unusual day.

Part of it is that they get a lot of homework. Part of it is that she is extremely conscientious about making sure she's doing the homework well. And part of it is that she is just kind of a slow worker with schoolwork. I'm truly, deeply hoping that she'll get into the flow and learn how to do the work more quickly so that she doesn't start to absolutely hate school.

Summer, part 2

Welp. There went the rest of the summer. And the first couple of weeks of school.

August started with Zane's birthday. He had two of his best friends - Justin and Finn - sleep over the night before, which meant that they were at our house for the entire morning and most of the afternoon. They played inside and outside and back inside and back outside and they were very much boys (exploring, shooting Nerf guns, etc.), but since they're now 12, there's very little actual supervision that i need to be doing. So Katrina, Houston, and i did our own thing until the boys left, and then Zane and i went out to take birthday pictures, and then it was time for my parents and Beth to come over for dinner and cake and presents.

One of the things that Zane desperately wanted for his birthday was a sleeping bag thing that has arms and legs and a hood - so you're in a sleeping bag, but not. I happened to find one at Aldi, and he was beyond thrilled. And even though it's been August and super hot, he's worn it a TON already. I fully expect to never see him out of it once it gets cold.

The kids and i, along with my sister Chellie and her kids, went to Shipshewana for the day on the 8th, and then Gabs and Thomas came home with us for the next couple of days. The kids loved having their cousins here to play with for so long. There was a lot of Exploding Kittens played, Katrina drew all over herself and Gabriella, Zane and Thomas did a lot of Nerf gun shooting, Katrina and Gabs did a lot of coloring, and general fun was had by all.

Mid-August, Juanito's family came to visit for a week. Phoebe and Dan came on the 13th and his mom on the 15th.

On Monday, while only Dan and Phoebe were here, we went to Dutch Village (we hadn't been yet, and it's SUCH a West Michigan kind of thing), where we went on the Ferris Wheel and pet the goats and did the swings and generally just hung out and had fun. And then we went to the Saugatuck Dunes, which Houston, Katrina, and i had never been to before. (Juanito and Zane apparently went for the field trip at the end of last year.) It was beautiful, and the water was PERFECT - super warm and just a bit wavy. But man. You have to really want it to make it to the lake there. There's a mile hike up and down sand dunes between the parking lot and the water. I was super glad the kids weren't any younger, because i can imagine there being a lot of whining.

On Tuesday, Juanito took Dan and Phoebe to Detroit for the day. And then on Wednesday, Juanito's mom arrived and we all went to Grand Haven to see the Musical Fountain. It was as cheesy as always, but we love it. Friday my parents and Beth came over and we all made our own pizzas and hung out for a few hours. Saturday we went to the marsh with the boardwalk. So they got to see a bit of our town. It was so much fun getting to see Dan and Phoebe again - they live in England, so we don't get to see them nearly enough.

Everyone left Sunday night, and then next morning, Houston and Katrina had their first day of school. Houston is a junior this year (HOW???). According to him, this year is quite a bit easier than last year - less homework and less intense classes.

Katrina is a freshman. This is her first time starting a new school since Kindergarten, so she was fairly nervous. One of her best friends from school (Alex) and a couple of her best friends that she's known since she was 2-years-old (Ella and Lorelei) are all at City with her, so she hasn't had to start from scratch with making friends. In fact, Ella and Lorelei went to City for 7th and 8th grades as well, so they already had a whole group of friends for Katrina to fall into. So socially, i think Katrina is loving City. What she is NOT loving is the homework. Ever since Katrina was in Kindergarten, her teachers have told us, "She works at her own pace and will not be rushed." And that is so, so true. She's extremely conscientious and deliberate and i never, ever have to worry about her doing her homework. But she is just not quick with schoolwork. And so she is spending hours most nights doing her homework. It's exhausting.

Zane started 7th grade the next week. (Houston and Katrina were very jealous of his extra week off.) Most of the middle school teachers left, so he has several new teachers, two of whom are men. This is mostly only exciting because none of the kids had any male teachers at Knapp up until now. (Except for band. And gym.) He really likes his math teacher, Mr. Lee, which is awesome, because Zane can be really good at math but tends to get bored and then just...doesn't do the work. So far, math is his favorite class this year.

Juanito and i went with friends to see our old pastor, Rob Bell, do a talk call "Holy Shift." It was both really good and really weird. I still really enjoy listening to him - he's just an excellent speaker. But it's weird because he's our old pastor. And now we're paying to go hear him. And he completely didn't mention Mars Hill (the church he started and was the pastor of for 10 years) at all and kind of acted like he didn't have any connection to Grand Rapids at all. So that felt odd.

And that's a quick overview of the past month and a half. 

Summer

Summer has just been flying by. Thus far we've had times when we're just relaxing at home, which is lovely, and times when we're crazy busy doing fun stuff, which is also excellent.

The kids and i started a tournament at the beginning of the summer - the "Summer Tournament of Games." It was an excellent idea. The problem is that i keep winning all of the games. All but one. It's not even entirely on purpose. I keep accidentally winning the games of chance.

There has been a lot of reading going on - especially on Katrina's part. She's been averaging a book every 3 days this summer. There's also been quite a lot of video gaming - mostly on the part of Houston and Zane. We've taken walks and had adventures and colored and watched movies and just generally hung out. I love days when we get to stay in.

And then there are the days when we're out doing all kinds of fun stuff. This was the last summer that we had my grandparents' beach, so we headed out there a few times to enjoy it while we could. The beach itself was pretty pathetic this year, but it was still a beach that we had all to ourselves, and that is always awesome.

My brother Rick and his family visited for a week, and we saw them nearly every day to play games and hang out and go swimming and just generally have fun. They were here over the Fourth of July, and my brother Jim brought a whole bunch of fireworks to shoot off for our own private little fireworks display. And then on the 7th, we got to go up to Jim's office right downtown to watch the giant fireworks. And it was fantastic.

We went to Pittsburgh for a week. We spent the first 3 nights at our friends Brooke and Travis' house and the next 3 nights with Karen and Amiya. Seeing all of them was SO much fun. We've hardly seen Brooke and Travis for years and years because they've lived in New Zealand, so getting to actually see them for longer than an hour or two was really nice. We've been to Pittsburgh a lot, so we actually got to show them the water steps, which all of the younger kids loved. While they were playing in the water, Juanito, Katrina, Houston, Beth, and i walked down to the Mr. Roger's statue, because Beth had never seen that. We saw the Fredosaurus Rex and a gravestone shaped like Jaws and rode the incline up to see the city from above. And we all went to "Randyland," a house that an artist has decorated in his own special way.

We haven't been to Pittsburgh to spend time with Karen and Amiya in two years, and in that time, Amiya has gone from a sweet tiny baby to an adorable 2-year-old. The kids loved being able to actually play with Amiya rather than just holding her. Zane, especially, was really excited to get to see her. When we were there last, he was 9 and she was 2 months, and he hardly wanted to touch her for fear of breaking her. This time he loved getting to interact with her like crazy. It was just really, really great to get to hang out with Karen and get to know Amiya and just spend time with them.

One of the things we've been doing this summer is visiting churches in town. Back in winter, i promised the kids that when the youth programs were finished for the summer, we'd go around and check out some of the churches we always see but have never visited. So we've gone to some of our favorite churches to see - the beautiful ones that we drive by and say, "I love that church!" The kids aren't as crazy about the Catholic churches, but it really is interesting to get to experience the differences.

And that's the super-abbreviated story of our summer thus far.

Katrina's 8th grade graduation

 

I know that 8th grade graduation is kind of a silly thing to celebrate. But it IS the end of an era for Katrina. She's been at her school since kindergarten, and next year only one other kid from her school (one of her best friends, happily!) is going to City with her. Most of her friends will be together at another high school, so they might stay friends with each other. But she really probably won't stay in touch with the majority of her friends that she's had most of her life. And that's a pretty big deal.

Tonight was her graduation. These pictures were taken before graduation, which is why she looks really happy and excited. After graduation, all of the pictures show her smiling, but in-between pictures, she kept wiping away tears and trying not to be sad. I was given the job of following her around while she found people that she wanted to take pictures with (all of the people). She wound her way around the crowd frantically looking for friends and teachers to take pictures with. We were some of the very last people to leave. She just did not want to go, because that would mean that she really was finished with this school and these teachers.

And now she's a high schooler. I just can't even believe it. How is she that old already?! It's impossible!

Katrina's last band concert ever

Katrina graduates from 8th grade in a few days. She has a giant group of friends (Us: "Do you have a best friend? Or a couple of best friends?" Her: "Not really. All of them."), and she's going to City, while nearly all of her friends are headed to other high schools. So last week was the last week that they'll all be together at school. This week they go to Chicago for two days, and then graduation is on Wednesday.

At City, you have the choice between band, choir, orchestra, or art. Katrina was torn, because she loves playing the flute, but she loves art more. And so this band concert was the last. And they were great. Katrina was great. And i'm a little bit sad that this was the last concert for her. (She and her friends didn't seem sad at all.)

Also, in completely unrelated news: This week is Festival. Katrina and i went with Beth and Katie yesterday afternoon. This was the first time i've ever gone to Festival without children who were small enough to want to do all of the kid activities - the paint-in and the glue-in and the hat making and the face painting.... We watched a couple of different dance schools' performances and a bit of a couple of bands, and just wandered for the rest of the time. Katrina was completely bored by the bands. I was surprised how little there was to do when you're not racing from one kid thing to another. But it was a beautiful day, and we had fun seeing what we saw. Yay!

Memorial Day

Holy cow, you guys. Today was HOT. Especially for May! This month went from cold to scorching with almost no in-between! The temperature was around 95 degrees, and super sunny. I love this kind of weather, but even for me, it was maybe a bit too warm.

Juanito and Zane went for a bike ride downtown at around noon, which Zane was super excited to do. Except then, in Zane's words, "Dad got a flat tire and we had to walk all the way home and then i got a pebble in one eye and a leaf in the other. So it was terrible."

This afternoon we all went to the park with the boardwalk. The great thing about it being so hot is that we had the place entirely to ourselves. Nobody else was insane enough to want to be outside walking around for any length of time. But it was beautiful and fun to get outside, and everyone had fun even though there were a lot of "It's SO HOT" comments. Afterwards we went to Meijer for Icees, so i'm pretty sure that made up for it.