So, So Busy...

I was trying to address separate events with separate posts, but I'm quickly falling behind and am going to forget things if I push them back too far. So here's a recap of everything (that I can remember) from the last 2 weeks.

On Friday, May 29th, the RLCA Marching Band and After School Choir, which includes Abigail and Amanda, sang the national anthem at Frawley Stadium as the opening to the evening Blue Rocks game. Note the umbrellas in the stands behind the kids: Yes, it rained. Buckets, in fact. But the kids soldiered on and did a great job. The rains eventually ended and the evening improved greatly.

As for the game, the Rocks were playing the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and held their own for 13 innings before losing on an error.

Then, just this past Saturday, June 6th (Happy Birthday, Uncle Jason) Mommy took part in her second ever 5K run (the first being in college...so its been a while). The event was the GCA Runaway 5K Run/Walk which supported the initiation of GCA's athletic program next year.

The result? Mommy completed the run in 29 min 38 sec and came in 40th out of 104 participants. And she ran the whole thing, never breaking stride once. Congratulations, Mommy!

She's so excited that she plans on signing up for another run in August.

That evening, seeking more abuse, we packed up the horde and headed into town for Newark Night. Honestly, I wish I had a picture: Main St was a sea of people from end to end. It was pretty crazy.

On our return trip from trekking the length of Main St, we bumped into The Juggling Hoffmans. And it wasn't long before one of the kids was roped into the action. Check it out below.

2008-09 Elementary School Awards

An Awards Ceremony was held on the last school day, Thursday, June 4th, for the Elementary students at RLCA. Below are the awards that Abigail and Amanda brought home...

Abigail:
- Mayor of the Year
- Creative Artist Award
- Academic Excellence Award

Amanda:
- Academic Achievement & Most Joyful
- Outstanding Christian Character & Sportsmanship (at Field Day)

Congratulations, Girls!

More End of Year Fun

On the evening of Friday May 15th, RLCA held their annual Spring Concert. The video below highlights 2 songs: The first, Laredo, with Abigail on clarinet, and the second, The Barber of Seville, with Alex on bass drum.

Also of interest, during the entire week of May 18th, Abigail attended RLCA's annual Cheerleading Camp. The week culminated on Friday when the girls gave a presentation for their families. The first cheer in the video was performed by the entire group. The second is a cheer designed by and performed by Abigail's smaller group.

2008-09 Middle School Awards

This past Tuesday evening, RLCA held their annual Middle School and Upper School awards ceremony. The awards handed out range from Christian Character through many aspects of the academics.

Alex brought home 4 awards:
- Honor Roll
- Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Social Studies
- Second Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Grammer
- Second Highest Academic Average - 6th Grade Honors Math

Congratulations, Alex.

Bombay Hook

The 2008-09 school year is coming to a rapid close and there is much to cover. But I'll break it up and try to give each item its due.

Firstly, just this afternoon, Amanda and I loaded ourselves and her 2nd grade class onto a school bus and headed south for a field trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

Upon entering the park, we promptly had our first wildlife encounter: A mother fox and her 3 cubs. Like a couple of kittens, the cubs were playing freely in the middle of the road, hopping up and down, while the mother hung back making sure that all us people weren't getting too close. As the day progressed we saw many more foxes. Normally seeing these guys during the day is a bad sign, but our guide assured us they were out only because of the recent rains flooding their dens...

After watching the foxes for a few moments, we got moving again and headed to the brackish pond near Raymond Pool. Here, the kids got to wander around the boardwalk and learn about the history of the refuge as well as about how tides affect different areas of the refuge. Then the kids got to do a "dip" in the pond and see what treasures they pulled up. Again, due to the recent rains, this time affecting the salinity of the pond, our take was light: Only a grass shrimp and a few small insects.

So we piled back on the bus, and drove around the tour route before breaking for lunch. During the driving time, we saw a multitude of different birds, including Egrets, Blue Birds, and Red-Winged Black Birds. The highlight was the spotting of a very patriotic bird atop a dead tree: A Bald Eagle (photo: top-right side of tree - sorry my camera doesn't have a better zoom).

After lunch, it was back on the bus to head over to the fresh water pond for another dip. This time, we hit pay dirt. The kids caught a wealth of different tadpoles, fish, crawfish, and insects. We also nearly caught a black snake...much to the dismay of Amanda's teacher. And to my surprise, Amanda willingly held one of the larger bullfrog tadpoles. Way to go, girl!

All Growed Up

Aidan has reached another milestone moment: Graduation up to a big-boy bed. Overall, it was a pretty uneventful event but its the final step to completing potty training which he is already doing exceedingly well with.

As of this writing, we're still in that stage where he hasn't realized that he can get out of it on his own. Which is kind'a nice. But, alas, those days are surely numbered...

Way to go, Boo Boo!

Happy Anniversary...to our House

Yes, that's right. This month we celebrate our 10 year anniversary with our house. As a gift we treated the old girl to some new duds.

Sure, we could've gone with the prescribed 10 year gifts of tin or aluminum, but nothing says "I love you," like architectural shingles and vinyl siding.

What did she get us, you ask? Actually, she kind'a forgot about it. But we'll forgive her. You only make that mistake once, right?