Eight.Four Years Old

 8.4 Years Old

• You have been counting down for a while, but it is the end of the school year. I was able to help with the field day. I was in charge of the battleship game. They had water relay races and popsicles for the end because it was a hot day. Your teacher Ms. Weaver took a job at Stayton Elementary next year. You gave her a big hug at the end of the day and cried on the way home because you won't see her again. I don't often see you get emotional about things, so I knew you must really cared about her. 
• Since it has been so hot, we went and got us an above ground pool. The hot tub was leaking and even though we could have got it fix, it wasn't a fun hot tub. So we had someone could pick it up for us and put the pool there. It has been a huge hit! 
• We went rafting with Elaine and Brooklynn. Of course it was the only raining day of the whole month. We decided to take you on the upper stretch. Dad and I had done it the weekend before and it wasn't too bad. This weekend, the water was higher and those rapids were big! Brooklyn almost flew out of carnivore. We really enjoyed it though.
• We had a really scary moment. I was driving you and the two girls in Silverton to pick up Sam from Grandma's house. I got distracted for a half a second and crashed into the truck in front of us. Thankfully, we were going really slow so the airbags didn't go off. We are all safe, but we are without a van for a while.
• You finished up the dance year by preforming in Cinderella. You were one of the ballroom dancers. I guess you were suppose to be a mouse, but when the teacher had you all try on the costumes, the costumes were too small. so the class voted and were got these beautiful silver gowns with tiaras to wear. Next year, you are switching over to volleyball so this might be your last year with dance. 
• The Strassers were in town!! They came out for their cousin's wedding and got to stay a few extra days. We took them rafting. You loved spending the whole evening with Lainey. It was cute to see you two along with JoJo and Vella all playing together. The next day, they came over for a sleep over. It was so good to see your friend and spend that time with him. 
• We took off for our family vacation to Olympic National Park. We headed up after work on Wednesday and stayed at a hotel. I thought I was booking rooms next to each other, but they were down the hall from each other. It worked out fine, and you all thought you were cool to be on your own. Olympic National Park was so cool. The first day, we were in the Hoyt Rain Forrest. The Hall of Mosses was a favorite. You loved climbing along all the logs and jumping from one stump to another. We also hiked up to this waterfall, which ended up no being that cool of a waterfall, but we found a big fat banana slug. You kissed the top of its head with me. We camped on Mora Beach Campground, near Forks, WA. The next day, we got to the beach early to hike out to the hole in the wall and see all the tide pools. There were so many star fishes in all the tide pools. I loved seeing all the colors of the star fish. Walking back, we all made sand castles with a rock road connecting our village. We spent the afternoon exploring Forks and coming back to the camp ground for dinner, smores, and games. Dad took you, Sam, and JoJo back to the beach to watch the sunset. Our last day, we drove around to see Lake Crescent and Hurricane Ridge. The sky was clear and the views were gorgeous.  It was a lot of driving that day. We finished a whole book on just this trip alone-Faker by Gordon Khorman. 
• We came back to a few days of being at home. We have so many blueberries right now. The pool in the back yard has been a big hit. You have been able to hang out with Maddy but also have some chill days to recharge. And we were able to celebrate Fourth of July with the cousins. We took Grandma and Papa along with the Smiths rafting with us. Grandpa brought is catamaran. We didn't know that his oars weren't secure in. So just as Dad was saying that those rafts are so hard to flip, Grandpa flips into the water. Twice, he fell in. I drove in to save the catamaran and hat. Eventually, Grandpa got on the raft and I took his catamaran. We pulled over for lunch at the state park where you joined the big kids to jump off the rock. For going on the lower, calmer stretch, it was quite adventurous. We had dinner at the Prices were we lit our fireworks and then watched the fireworks in Woodburn.
• We are taking a break from Harry Potter this summer, mostly because the fourth book movie is rated PG 13, so I like you to be a bit older when you watch it. We have started reading 11 Birthdays together. I love our reading time together, though this summer we have been playing hard so it is challenging to find time at night to read. I have found it better to sneak reading in during the day.