Last week of school and the stuff that came after

School ended a week ago and summer doesn't really feel real yet. But maybe that's because I haven't written about the end of school 

So let's go back and revisit the last few days of school and what we have been doing since then. 

Monday May 20th was Derrick's last day of school. I'm kind of calling this year the successful failure. It was a failure in the fact that he wasn't able to go to school for a full day and he was struggling in his Gen Ed classes. We determined that his current school wont work for 7th grade and so he'll be going to a school with more resources for him. But this school year was also a success. He never got in a fight, he never left the school without permission, he had very few behavioral issues (aside from refusing to do work.) A lot of the success was due to my friend Kerri who is the Attendance Secretary. Derrick always knew he had a friend in the office. He could go there and she would let him call me. 

I don't remember much else about Monday. Brandon had rehearsal. 

Tuesday was a busy day!  I literally had three places I was supposed to be at 12:00 on Tuesday. 

The first was Admin Meeting for Aspen Grove. But I was able to get out of that. (One of the other admins was also busy with school stuff so we just cancelled the meeting all together.)

The second was the Picnic Lunch at the elementary school. Veronica's lunch was at 12:00. 

The third was Derrick's 6th grade field trip to Nat Soo Pah Hot Springs. He was really looking forward to the field trip, but I knew from experience that he didn't want to go for the full day. So I got permission to take him to the hot springs in our car. We'd just meet up and he'd swim for as long as he wanted and then we'd leave when we were ready. We'd done that last year for his 5th grade field trip and it had worked really well. 

I was hoping that Derrick would want to leave by 11:30. That way we'd have time to make it to Veronica's picnic lunch. But I told Veronica that we might not make it. 

Derrick and I met up with the Middle School kids around 10:00. We got there right as his prime time class was about to go into the pool. So we just jumped right into line with them. 

Last year I wore my swimming suit and swam along with the kids. But I figured that would be too embarrassing for a middle school field trip. So I brought a book and disappeared onto the sidelines. (By the way I'm reading "Vengeance is Mine." It's the sequel of sorts to "Massacre at Mountain Meadows."  I read the first book a few months ago. It was interesting and yet depressing because I knew the whole time it was leading up to the massacre.  This book is less depressing because it's all about the aftermath and the pursuit of justice. I've liked it a lot better than the first book because I really don't know what's going to happen.)

Derrick had a fun time swimming. But he was a little annoyed that the life guards didn't let him wear his goggles on the diving board or the slide. So he was ready to go after about an hour. 

We said goodbye to the teachers and started driving back to Twin Falls. I'd packed lunches for us. We were both hungry so we ate those as we drove back. 

Derrick wanted to drive by the middle school so he could say goodbye. So we drove by the school and he took a last look at it and said goodbye. Then he asked me, "Will I ever see it again?"  I was like, "Um yes, we still live like 2 blocks away from it. And your sisters will all go here."

We got back in time to park the car at the house and then walk to the school. I knew parking at the school would be a mess so it was just easier to park at home. I brough a big picnic blanket to sit on. 

I was tentatively planning to eat at the school so I brought $5 for me and $3 for Derrick. But the meal turned out to be hot dogs. So I just paid for Derrick. He ate the corn dogs and I ate his left over fruit and carrots. 

Veronica was so excited to see us. We walked through the lunch room with her and then out to the grass. There were lots of students and parents out there. I spread out the big picnic blanket and Veronica, Derrick, and I sat on it. I saw our neighbor Eli looking a little lost so I invited him to sit with us. He seemed grateful to have someone to sit with because his parents couldn't make it. Two of Veronica's friends also came and sat with us until their parents came. 

It was fun to sit under the shade and talk with the kids. Veronica had had a good morning, but she was feeling a little board of school so I just checked her out after lunch. 

When we got home Derrick was STILL hungry so he had something else to eat. I was like, "This is your third lunch in an hour!"

I went to work that afternoon. 

Later in the day I wandered around the backyard and took pictures of things that are new. The sun burst Locust is looking very Sunbursty. 

We have sweet cherries. I was so worried that it didn't get pollinated, but I guess it worked out. 

And look at the snow ball tree. It is so pretty and smells so good. 

We also have peaches. 

And plums. 

Wednesday was the last day of school. It was only a half day, but I'd made my morning very busy. 

I was starting the summer session of the scripture study group that morning. And I'd decided it would be fun to have a brunch to kick that off and to also kind of end the school year. (Note to self, this was kind of stressful. Don't plan a brunch on the last day of school next year.)

So I had fruit to prep. The day before I'd made sausage muffins. And I'd bought donut holes and mini muffins. 

I dropped all the kids off at school one last time. (Well all the kids except Derrick. The last day of school was basically an assembly and then year book signing. It would be too chaotic for him.)

I went to Castle Therapy and checked the mail. I brought the mail home so I could work on it there if I had a chance. 

Then I parked the van at the school. Veronica had a therapy appointment at 1:00 that afternoon. School got out at 12:45. There wouldn't be time to walk home and then drive to the appointment. And I knew parking would be an absolute nightmare from about 12:00 on. So I just parked the car there ahead of time and got a great spot. Then I walked home. 

I came home and put the food out. Somehow I never got a picture which was a shame because it was super cute. 

I even found time to enter the payments for Castle Therapy. 

At 10:00 people started showing up. Six women came and we had a great time eating, and discussing Mosiah 13. I'm really happy that people are enjoying this study group. 

Everyone left around 11:30. I cleaned up a bit and then walked over to the school at 12:30.  I was so glad I'd had the forethought to park the car there that morning. The 5th graders had had some sort of parent lunch and then they did their "clap out" where all the other students lined the halls and everyone clapped for the 5th graders. This was all great, but it meant there were so many parents all vying for parking. There was literally someone parked on the crosswalk! 

At 12:45 Veronica came out of the school. She was crying super hard. Tears on the last day of school are kind of an elementary school tradition in our family so I wasn't surprised. She was super sad because her teacher wont be there next year. Veronica has LOVED this teacher and 4th grade has been a really good year for her. She sobbed in the car all the way to her therapy appointment. 

Therapy went well. This was actually also Veronica's last therapy appointment. She's met all of her goals and has learned how to manage her anxiety really well. So there's not really a need for regular appointments at this time. 

Veronica was sad that she was loosing all of her adults. I told her that I need to find her some adults that just want to listen to her tell them jokes. 

After therapy we drove over to the CASA office which is basically across the street from her therapy office. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. They help support children who are in foster care. 

We have to back up and talk about what we were doing there. Several weeks ago Veronica and I finished reading Holes. She'd been really worried about the character Zero who had lived alone at a park when he couldn't find his mom.  She was like, "What would we do if we saw a kid at a park who didn't have parents?"

I told her about foster care and how kids go live with foster parents if their parents can't take care of them. So then she was super concerned about those kids. She wanted to do something to help.

So then I told her about CASA. I'd learned about CASA at a Stake Relief Society Activity several years ago. We'd assembled kits with snacks for kids to have on days when they had to go to court. I'd emailed a lady after that event for some more info to pass onto a friend who was also helping foster kids.  

Veronica wanted to buy toys for some foster kids. So I emailed that lady that I'd talked to before. Her name was Denise. I asked Denise what kind of toys would be best. She recommended that Veronica pick out a toy that she would like and that way it could go to another 10 year old girl. They used these type of gifts for birthdays and other special occasions. 

I told Veronica that we could use my "tithing" money for this. I often like to donate to local causes instead of exclusively to the LDS church. I like knowing exactly where my money is going. So this fit my criteria. Veronica picked out a Lego set with Asha's Cottage from Wish. There was still a little money left over so I bought a McDonald's gift card with the difference. 

So anyway, after Veronica's therapy appointment we took the gifts over to CASA.  Denise was waiting for us. She and another lady made a big deal out of writing Veronica's name on a whiteboard and taking a picture of us to add to a picture board of all their doners. They were so touched that Veronica had wanted to do this. It was really sweet and I was near tears. 

By the time we got home Charlotte and Lydia were already home from Middle School. During their awards ceremony they'd each received the award for "Most Creative" from their Family and Consumer Science teacher. She'd called them up together. The girls said they could hear some people whispering, "Wait, they are twins!" 

Charlotte had had Family and Consumer Science first semester. She said her teacher was hard to read, but by the end of the semester she was certain that the teacher liked her. 

Lydia had the class second semester. She went into class the first day and told the teacher, "I'm Charlotte's twin and I'm just like her!"  She picked up right where Charlotte left off and soon had the teachers complete trust. She was always doing extra assignments and helping the other kids. 

Neither of the girls had straight A's all year so they didn't get the Lamp Award this year. But I'd already bought knock off Lamp Awards from Amazon. I'd bought these to represent that the girls had both worked hard all year. 

We also cracked open the jar of money from on top of our fridge. The kids earned a dollar for every day they went to school, but they had to take two dollars out if they stayed home. The total for this semester was $145.40. (I think I'd randomly thrown .40 in there one day.) That came out to $36.35 per kid. 

Charlotte and Lydia weren't interested in Young Women's that night. But Derrick wanted to go to Young Mens and play bigger and better. Veronica thought that sounded fun so she tagged along. The leaders were cool with letting her come. Derrick and Veronica's group came back with a 6 pack of soda water. The other group came back with a tool set. 

I ended up locking my keys in the van at the church. So the three of us got a ride home with one of the young men leaders. When Brandon came home from rehearsal he took me over to the church and unlocked the car for me. 

Oh and here's a picture from rehearsal. Brandon has a whole sword fight scene. 

Thursday did NOT feel like the first day of summer vacation. It was overcast, windy, and cold. We kind of just hibernated in the house all day.  I figured instead of trying to police the kids screen time I'd just let them watch as much as they wanted for the first few days. I figured they'd hit a saturation point and start looking for other things to do. So they basically watched all two seasons of Gravity Falls in like 3 days.  

The wind stopped and sun came out around 6:00. I went outside to do something and I was like, "Oh we should go somewhere."  So I got the kids out of the basement and told them we HAD to go to the park for 30 minutes. 

We went to a nearby park with a creek and the kids had a lot of fun playing with that. They floated little sticks down the water in elaborate races. We ended up staying for almost an hour. 

Brandon was teaching at CSI. He got home a little before dark so he and I went on a walk. 

Friday I spent a lot of time working on this denim wreath. I'd seen this project online like a year ago. I'd started the project in August, but I was ripping the fabric into strips and there were so many strings. 

So then I put the project on hold and asked for a rotary cutter and mat for Christmas. I got them for Christmas, but I didn't open them until May 24th. Five months later. 

Anyway, I worked on the project a little bit Thursday night and then for a long time on Friday afternoon after I got off work. Here's the project almost done. 

And here it is on my door. It looks so cute. 

After that I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening cleaning up this flower bed. Here's the before picture (yes I finally remembered to take a before picture.)

Here's how it looked about 3 hours later. I had most of the grass out, but some areas were really compact and dry. So I soaked them with the hose and would come back the next day and loosen it up with the shovel. 

Saturday we were planning to hike to Teakettle Cave with Jori's family. But one of her kids got sick in the night. I toyed with the idea of just cancelling all together, but I was like, "Um these kids have been watching TV in the basement for 2 days. They HAVE to get out of the house."  So we still went hiking. But I didn't want to do Tea Kettle Cave without Jori.  Instead we went to Little City of Rocks.

I've wanted to go there for a long time, but it's either been too hot or we've been too tired. 

But this day was PERFECT. The high wasn't supposed to go over 65 and so we never got too hot. 

There were so many cool rock formations. 

The kids had been sad about not going to Tea Kettle Cave, but they warmed up to this place pretty quick. 

It was really pretty and we hardly saw anyone else. We saw two people after we'd been there for about 20 minutes. And then we didn't see anyone else until we were almost back to the cars. 

Here are me and Derrick together. 

Everything was so green!

And there were pretty flowers everywhere. These yellow flowers also grow in Yellowstone and people go nuts for them.  I always like seeing them in random places in Idaho.

Did I mention the rocks were really cool shapes. 

It was just incredible. 

We stopped for snacks and the girls all wanted to sit on this rock. 

These were syringas AKA wild lilacs. They are the state flower. 

I can't believe how pretty this place was. I'm so glad we made time for this. 

We came to a fork in the trail and took the right fork. The trail got a little steep, but not too bad. 

Here I am again. 

More cool rocks. 

Veronica taking a break. 

Looking back down the trail.

The kids hiked down to these pools to get a sample of pond water to look at with the microscope. (That hasn't happened yet and now I'm wondering what happened to the water bottle full of pond water. Hopefully it's not mixed in with our other water bottles.)

Me again. 

The trail guide I'd read online said that the trail was hard to find after the fork. And that turned out to be true. All of a sudden it just disappeared. So we stopped for another snack break before turning around. Derrick wanted to try to get up high so he hiked above us and ate his lunch up there. 

Here's Lydia. 

Here we are on the way back. 

I know I said it already, but this was just an incredible hike. 

Look at these fun features. 

We will definitely come back here again.

Here we are almost to the trailhead. 

We'd left the house around 9:00, made it to the trailhead about 10:00, hiked until about 1:00, and then were home around 2:00. I drove home because Brandon was super tired. He fell asleep on the way home. When we got home it was my turn for a nap. I went out to the patio and took a long nap there. 

After I woke up I went back to work on the flower bed. I took a little break to take Charlotte and Lydia to a party hosted by their Sunday School teachers. But I mostly worked on this for another 3 hours. I got all the grass out and then planted zinnias and marigolds. Here's the finished bed. 

Here are some other things of interest in the yard. This is a little lilac. It's been up against the front of the house for a few years, but it did not like the shade. So I moved it into the sun last fall. It's LOVING this spot. 

And here's a long view of the back yard. I really love this garden. 

On Sunday we went to Jori's house for dinner. We were there for HOURS and had a great time talking and eating. Jori has been wishing to braid Veronica's hair and Veronica let her.  Then the twins wanted their hair braided too. Here are the three of them walking home. 

Okay, I planned to just keep going and catch up on this week too. But blogger is refusing to upload the pictures for this week. 

So I guess we'll stop here while I figure that out. 

Thanks for reading.