A perfect day for splashing around...

A perfect day for splashing around...

Thanks, Tiana for this cute picture you found!

Love the way she poses with her hand on her hip.

Munching on a healthful lunch on this fun trip.

Under warm rays & all shades of blue,

she's chasing splashes unnoticed by you.

Delight & the surprise of a moment,

a zig-zag dart through sprinklers they went.
A pause to rest from the excitement & play,

perched upon a giant frog in a thoughtful way.Surrounded by gushing, surging displays,

it's a wonder that never ceases to amaze.

JoySchool Graduates

(More to come later, Tiana is making a movie out of all the pictures & video taken. Thanks T!)

(left to right: Mark, Ethan, Ches, Elise)

JoySchool has been such a wonderful experience for us, and I am so grateful for the great families we were able to have this experience this with. It touches my heart to see Elise find joy in learning and to watch her friendships with these sweet boys and her teachers grow. I am really sad that it's all done!

It wouldn't be the same without Ethan! We've missed the Woodburys since they moved back to Utah, so the kids were delighted to see him back in paper cut-out form. They thought it was super funny.
Aaron gave a really sweet speech thanking all the moms for their hard work, about how JoySchool has blessed our family and then he read a moving poem about mothers. After Aaron's talk, Gina gave the kids pretty fuschia carnations and awards to give to their mothers.
There's too much to say about these lovely ladies, seriously! I learn so much from Gina, Tiana, and Sarah about teaching, parenting, and almost everything else! They are amazing, talented, selfless friends and my life is blessed to know each of them in different ways.

I saw this cute idea for graduation cupcakes online - but it was too much chocolate, and I am a huge fan of chocolate! Plus we had root beer floats, so that probably added to my sugar overload! But I liked the way it looked! haha.

Elijah would have been so hurt not to have been a part of the graduation ceremony in some way. He has learned all the songs with Elise and has loved JoySchool when it was taught in our home. He is wearing a superhero cape that Sarah made for the kids on Ethan's birthday, and he hardly ever takes it off. It's his favorite piece of clothing!

Our wonderful hosts, Gina and Alex. Gina is the one who introduced the idea of JoySchool to us and has been our group leader. She is wonderful. Their childern are really bright and loving. Mark is a great leader, and is quite a good hugger and bug catcher.

Sweet Ellie, Tiana and CJ. Both Gina and Tiana are great cooks and Tiana made a really delicious chili for our little celebration. Ches has been just a joy and it tickles my soul the things that he says! He just has a wise soul, and an out-of-this-world memory!
Ethan's bright spirit shines through even in paper form - everything about him is happy, his walk, bounce and the way he talks! It has been a truly wonderful year, thank you everyone. We will miss you more than you know!

Rosemary & Gavin

I look at Gavin and his growth is evidence of how long we've lived here. Aaron paid Gavin and his friend $7 dollars each to help him move a piece of furniture into our 1st studio at the Kenmore. That's how we met him. He was 9 years old and barely my height - look at how he's grown! We have been blessed to have such wonderful neighbors out here. Rosemary gave us our little kid's table & chair set which we love! We will miss all the wonderful friends we've made out here.

Butterflies

I love Damon's thoughtful study of the butterflies and Elise's secret delight in them. Damon looks so serious, serene and curious.

We met up with the Bethesda Playgroup to go see the caterpillar and butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens. We learned a curious thing; caterpillars can get so scared that they die. They were not only encouraging the kids not to touch them, but also not to point at them to closely because it frightens them and makes them ill. Perhaps that's what happened to all the caterpillars in our friends' yard!

Elijah was in complete awe of all the beautiful butterflies! Elijah stressed out the very nice, elderly man supervising the activity in this room because he kept wanting to touch the pretty creatures. Once I found him just staring at the plate with all the big butterflies on the fruit salad for several minutes. It was cute.

Searching for Caterpillars

Ben and Eli have a miniature ecosystem to explore in their backyard - full of plants, a multitude of insects and even little animals. I once saw a bunny dart under their shed, and birds constantly sing from the treetops and fence. We're grateful they let us come along on the adventures - hide & go seek, bear hunts & story telling, and for a while fuzzy caterpillar hunts. For a week, they were abundant. Then they all suddenly disappeared. It was so disappointing for the kids. We decided they must have all changed into butterflies - or were completely terrified of our terrorizing them that they warned off all their friends! We are going to miss these little guys when they move to Phoenix this weekend! Babysitting for the Specks & Harwoods has been such an answer to prayers. The kids get to play all day, and we've earned a bit to help us return to Hawaii next month. And I've discovered I can ask Becki anything about the area and she always knows the answer or where to find it. She's amazing! Ben's such a smart guy - he loves numbers and geography. He knows more countries and their capitals then I do! Little Eli is just so sweet, huggable and cute.The kids all loved the little caterpillar - and were completely fascinated by everything he did. After a while, I took him on a leaf to the base of the tree where we found him and then distracted the kids with lunch. He was gone by the time we returned and we never saw him again...

They were surprisingly gentle with him.

Thank you, Facebook!

Left to right: talented Aaron (the photographer); Alaskan friend, Nate; his sweet son, Toby; his lovely wife, Sarah; sleepy Elise & me, now a facebook fan. Poor Elijah just wasn't tall enough. : )

It took me a while to decide to sign up for Facebook, I thought it was more of a networking site for people younger than me and single. However, while I am not really that diligent with the thing, I am completely a fan now! It helped me reunite with Nate Kramer, a guy I've known since high school in Alaska; he just happened to be living with his family only 40 minutes away in Virgina, working as an engineer! I am grateful we found them, yet sad that we missed 2 years of hanging out with them!
We had a blast playing Cranium & Pop Culture Trivia Pursuit. I find Nate the same as I remember him. It's hard to explain - it just easy to be friends again, despite the time that has passed. He's still super funny, down-to-earth and articulate. I think his wife is a perfect match for him, she's genuine, sweet, and fun! I felt like she was an old friend too, even though I had just met her. Their son is beautiful, and he is such a good kid! He hardly fussed even though we played long into the night, and even fell asleep on our couch. My kids tend to fall apart when they are tired, so we put them in bed about 8:30 and continued to play!

Nate and I actually didn't even go to the same high school, we used to fly to his fishing town for various athletic and band events (and visa versa). He played the trumpet and even played for a marching band in college! He also belongs to the same church as my family, but I'm not sure when I figured that out. In fact he was the only LDS guy that I knew in high school, and I remember thinking that he was a good example.

These are the delicious oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies Sarah baked and brought for dessert! They are super addictive. Thank you, Kramers! We had a great time, reminiscing and getting to know you again.

Best Cousins

It always warms my heart to see how much the kids love their cousins. There is something very special about this friendship - they just seem to know that they are family. I think Audrey finds Elijah amusing - she always giggles when Elijah says anything.

Despite the age gap, Elise and Little Aley are the same height, which is perfect for hugging! Sarah said that they tended to be playmates when our kids hung out there this past weekend while Aaron and I were in NYC... Did I mention that we have the best cousins, EVER?

They seriously had so much fun in this group hug, spinning in circles and laughing hysterically.

It was so entertaining to watch! What a bunch of goofballs.

"the sound of the ocean, soothes my restless soul..." ~ IZ

And apparently so does the sound of seagulls. Is it weird that I love the sound of their distant singing? I associate their melodic squawking with the fragrance of salt and the beach, even though there are none in Hawaii. It must be that my fondness and association for the sound with water originates from a rocky, muddy bank of the Nushigak River in Alaska.

We were dying to get out to the beach, but only had a day and didn't want to drive 3 hours out to the Atlantic coast. So we settled on a mid-way point: Chesapeake Beach. We were completely surprised that the city charges visitors to enter the beach, but it was beautiful, clean. It didn't always smell clean, so we never actually went swimming.
There was a ship designed for children that completely captured the imaginations of our kids - they were delighted! My favorite part was observing them explore their surroundings. Elijah loved examining the sand and watching it sift through his fingers. Elise and I searched for pretty shells.

Liberty Bell

There seems to an unending supply of things to see and learn about on the east -- everything is so accessible! On Memorial day, we drove up to Philadelphia to see Liberty Bell and the National Constitution Center.

It was an exceptionally warm day, so we sunbathed on the lawn in between sightseeing. I think Elijah looks particularly comfortable.