Trek-2017

This post is a year and a half overdue as I write it. It's been sitting in my Drafts this whole time, waiting for Katya to write something about it:) But as life is very busy for her (and also because I don't think she fully realizes yet how awesome it is to look back at our stories decades later), she never found the time.

So here it is in a nutshell. Every four years our church leaders organize a "reenactment" of the pioneer journey to the west. The youth are the main participants and adult leaders are the Ma's and Pa's for their families. All kids are split up into families and they TREK for three days "through the wilderness" in harsh conditions (aka no phones), dressed up as pioneers, pushing and pulling carts, eating food like pioneers and sleeping in tents. Yeah!

You are supposed to be fourteen to go, but they waived that rule for the thirteen year olds turning fourteen that summer. We went shopping at the thrift store for some outfits. We tried to stay functional but also fitting to the period.

We knew that clothes she would wear probably would be destroyed in the journey, so we didn't want to spend much. It worked. She also was supposed to fit ALL of her belongings into a Lowe's 5 gallon bucket which was a bit of a challenge.

Katya's favorite outfit was this one, made by Grandma Lorraine. 

We didn't have any communication with Katya the whole time she was out there pioneering, but we did get a few pictures from the kind visiting adult leaders who sent us proof that she was alive and having a great time! She is in the middle of the picture, a little to the back, with braids. 

I know she had a fantastic time although it was hard sometimes--especially when all the men were "killed" on the last day and all the women had to pull the carts on their own for a period of time:) I can't wait till Alex gets to participate in Trek! Next one is coming in 2021!

Lyana.

Fantasy Lake Water Park

At the beginning of the summer, we took a quick trip to Fantasy Lake water park. It's relatively close (1 hr and 20 min) and it was on Groupon as an awesome deal for our family, so we decided to give it a try. Somehow we failed to look at the weather forecast, or maybe we did and disregarded that it said "scattered showers". The park didn't close even when it was raining, but it did take a break when it was POURING:)) It was still very warm, although cloudy, so the kids and Robert kept running around and trying all the slides as there were very few people around.

The water park is situated in a man made lake, so the water is warm too. The sandy banks are man made. We brought our own beach umbrella which was a great blessing! Although it was very cloudy, I sat under the umbrella and didn't get burnt. Some members of my family, who shall not be named, didn't think they needed sunscreen and got completely roasted in the CLOUDS!

The rides were kind of thrilling, but there were just a few of them, and I mean--three or four slides, challenge courses, paddle boards and swings. Mark did some crazy jumps off the diving tower which totally freaked me out every time. And I conquered my fear by going on the Tarzan swing. It took me a while... The kids couldn't get enough of them though!

All in all, for the price we paid, this was an awesome quick daytrip to the water park. The kids want to go back again, so we'll see--maybe next summer!

Lyana. 

Katya says goodbye to Middle School!

And just like that our little girl graduated from middle school! 

This was Katya's technically sixth school in her school career:

Mary Esther Elementary in FL (Kindergarten)

Cummings Elementary in Misawa (1-3 grade)

Bury Church of England School in England (4th)

Alconbury Elementary School in England (5th)

Alconbury Middle High School in England (6-7th)

Davis Drive Middle School here (8th)

Katya did a great job in her 8th grade, receiving all "A"s as her final marks. Although this was her "transitional from the military" year, she really thrived. 

We took Katya out to lunch the day after her graduation ceremony (class of 500!). We are so proud of her and excited to see what high school has in store for her. 

Lyana.

Last Day of School 2017!

It is finally June and that means that the school is out!!!!

I love summer! I love when my kids are home for so many reasons! And I love that my kids get to go back to school for SO many reasons! BUT! I absolutely cherish the feeling of completing another school year and getting into our celebratory mood to wait for summer fun.

The boys get their own blog post today about their last day of school since Katya was special enough with her middle school graduation and all to get her own post.

Well, this is Mark...Who woke up happy and got everything done on time, got ready to go to school and then...right before I had to take his pictures, he fell down and scraped his knee. There was no way of me getting a happy smiley face out of him, so this is the best real Mark's expression I got:)

Mark finished 2nd grade with Mr. Lee at Green Hope Elementary. He enjoyed his first year in the American school, although it was definitely not hard enough for him. He really loved the school's social aspect and has made many friends. He is sad, very sad, to leave his school and move to a new school that we are assigned to, but he is excited about having SSA (Single Subject Acceleration) for Math next year! That means he gets to go to math with the 4th graders and finally study something more challenging for him.

Alex, Alex, Alex.... "Take the hat off".
I think he probably sleeps in it. He loves his UNC hat, and I just try to steal it from him occasionally to throw it in the washing machine.

Alex finished 7th grade at Davis Drive Middle School, a very challenging school academically, driven by very hard working Asian and Indian kids whose parents are here working at the Research Triangle. Only half of the school is white, speaking of the racial make up of the school. It was very interesting to watch Alex make so many friends and find a way to adjust to the new American school system. Common Core alone was a crazy new thing.

Overall, it was a good year! Lots of "firsts" and lots of growing. Alex is excited to start yet another school in the fall! It's going to be his fifth school.

And I am just excited that I won't have to be driving the kids to school any longer as I have been doing since when we moved into the house.

Lyana.