Happy Memorial Day

Hola--

Here we are, at the tail end of May!  Blink, and it will be June.

HOLIDAY WEEKEND.  We have a 3-day weekend for Memorial Day, and it has been just gorgeous weather.

NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMP.  Frank took the kids on the traditional overnighter in New Hampshire.  The church has a camp up there, about an hour and a half away.  It's the same one the girls go for Young Women's camp each year, and the scouts use it, and any group who has a need.  It's a beautiful area, with cabins, a lake for canoeing and swimming, a huge kitchen, a library, etc.

SITTING SOLO.  So anyway, all three kids wanted to go with him camping, so I was (are you sitting down?) in the house BY MYSELF for 21 hours.  No, I'm not kidding.  I really was.  :)

LONG LIST: CHECK.  I vacuumed out the Highlander, cleared some clutter in the garage, finished a book, worked & browsed on the computer, AND watched a movie.  It was awesome.  (ok, the vacuuming the car out was not a highlight, I suppose.)

MINIMAL RAIN.  The weather cooperated for the rest of the fam, and it only sprinkled a little bit while they set up camp.  Mild temperatures, plus the mosquito count was even a little lower than usual.

FANCY DINNER.  Frank got ambitious and opted NOT for the traditional hot dogs/hamburgers for dinner.  He found a Salmon Pasta recipe for campers, and they ate fine cuisine instead of Plain Jane stuff.  It was one of those where you mix all the spices up at home, and only cook the pasta at camp.  Everything else you mix together and voila!  Salmon Pasta.


(Just checking to see if you are paying attention.
There will be no elephants in tomorrow's parade.)

PARADE.  Tomorrow, Kara will march in the Memorial Day parade with the Middle School band.  They march around town, and end at a cemetery where they have a Veteran speaker and present some awards.  Hopefully the weather will hold.

Have a great week!  Kari

Junior Prom

Hola!

This weekend was the Wayland High School Junior Prom: time to dress up, don tuxedos and have a thousand activities and pose for a thousand pictures.  The kids were so ready to get into the limo and LEAVE by the time all the parents had posed them and positioned them, etc., etc.: more photos!  More photos!

Still waiting for one: 9 of 10 boys

JUNIORS.  I personally had a "Senior" prom.  Here, it's a Junior Prom, and you can only go if you have a "junior connection" -- one of the couple must be a junior.

Zoe & David



ZOE (That's two syllables: ZO-EY).  So, our David went to prom with Zoe, who lives down the street from us.  She is very cute, and smart, and funny, and a talker, so David would never be at a loss for conversation.  They (10 couples total) all gathered in the afternoon, some at our house, some at Zoe's, then the limos came.

LIMOS.  It must be an East Coast thing.  Where I went to prom (Colorado), not many people rode in limos, but some did.  I did not.  Frank went to prom in Virginia, and he did go in a limo.  Anyway, here "everybody" does a limo.  So the kids got 2 limos, 10 kids (5 couples) in each.

PRE-PROM.  They went from here to the Middle School, for "Pre-Prom."  More photos, all the limos and plenty of parents come for more photos, etc.

DINNER & DANCE.  The actual Prom included dinner, at the Hyatt-Regency in Boston.  Zoe probably told her mom at least 15 minutes worth of intricate details on the dinner alone.  I asked David what was for dinner, and he said "steak."

All 10 couples

LATE-NIGHT.  The goal around here is to plan every second of the night for the kids, so they'll stay alcohol-free and out of the Emergency Room.  The school administration and PTO beg the parents not to host after-prom parties that encourage the kids to have alcohol.  So for months, they have been planning a traditional after-prom party at the High School called "Late-Night."  Musicians, entertainment, magicians, games, and lots of food.  That party went from 11:30 to 2:30a.m, the time when parents walked in to sign them out.  (No, really--once you get in to Late-Night, you stay until a parent comes and shows ID, and walks out with you.  The students aren't allowed to check themselves out or drive themselves home.)

There's your quick synopsis!  It was gorgeous weather for them, sunshine all day and clear skies.  This exciting evening was one they looked forward to for months.  The kids looked so beautiful and handsome, all decked out.  It was a lot of fun.

Kari

Friday again?

Hola!

Well my week has snuck by me again!  This tells me spring is here: concerts, sports practices, end-of-year activities and culminating performances.

Yesterday afternoon went from pick-up from chorus practice after school, to pick-up for Ultimate Frisbee practice, to David & Kara's piano recital at a local church building, to Kara's Concert Band performance at the middle school.  It rained most of the day, so we were dodging raindrops and downpours, alternately!

It's amazing how much water can pool in your driveway overnight...(it has been over two years since "Our House Flood," and I still hyperventillate every time it rains for a few hours straight...)

So.  My summaries of our current activities...

SELECT CHORUS.  Kara has been loving her chorus experience, since the music and drama department at the Middle School is phenomenal.  I can't give them enough praise, and I will keep doing it for 2 more years that we still participate in it!  Immensely talented and charismatic people, who love the kids and the work they do.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE.  David & Teresa practice with the frisbee team every day after school: it's great exercise and keeps them connected.  It's a "Club Sport" (definition: not an official "Team" of the school, with a game schedule--oh yeah, the "Club" classification also makes it free, whereas team sports at the high school cost $225 or so per season...).  They have very few games with other schools, but sometimes they do go to another school to compete and/or scrimmage.

PIANO RECITAL.  Kara & David have taken piano lessons from Robin for a couple of years now, and last early evening they performed with all of her students at a church just about a mile from us.  David has great memorization skills so he memorizes his pieces.  Kara played "Candle on the Water" as one of her songs, from Pete's Dragon.  I love listening to both of them play.

KARA's BAND CONCERT.  Kara has played the saxophone for the past 2 years in school.  And actually, she is playing MY saxophone, from when I played in Middle School!  Isn't that funny.  We had it tuned up and pads replaced, etc., and she's using it.  It's a pretty big Concert Band of 6th graders, and the director is finishing her career this year after 32 years at the Middle School!  She's pretty amazing, and it's been a good experience for Kara.

AP TESTS.  'Tis the season, too, for those dreaded tests for the Juniors.  I think I mentioned that David took the SAT a month or so ago, and this week he took the AP Computer Science test on Tuesday.  Today, actually as I type this, he is taking the AP test for US History.  Ugh!

My time is about up!  The day calls.  Frank has been in California all week, and he comes back tonight.  Sometimes he misses things...at least David & Teresa did a piano recital Dress Rehearsal for him before he left.

Have a great weekend.  Kari :)