10 May 2015 - Last Week at C of I

This week was our final week of the semester at The College of Idaho. Because I'm moving on to Utah Valley University in the fall, it was also our last time teaching here in Idaho, so it was not without mixed emotions. We made some cookies to cheer ourselves up. It worked.

It was a desperately busy week that also included a quick trip to Utah to meet with our builder (we're building a new house in Vineyard, which is where Geneva Steel used to be) (40.299033, -111.755195). We spent hours on Saturday picking out flooring, cabinets, counter tops, etc. Here are the samples of what we picked.

3 May 2015 - 5th Grade Track Meet / Piano Recital

This week the girls had their spring piano recital.  This was the only picture we took, which I admit isn't great.  This is Jessica with their teach, Sister Wasden, who is going to be tough to replace.

Friday was the 5th grade track meet at the high school.  Here is Madeline throwing the hammer.

Running the hurdles.  Credit Joanne for the great action shot.  Madeline is second from the left, in the air.

Ribbons with BFF Mauvey.

Throwing the shot put.  Madeline took first place in this event.

Long jump sand landing.

This year at school Madeline has been in a Gifted and Talented program.  Recently they did a learning unit on physics, and they had a guy bring in a homemade hovercraft made from a leaf blower and, from what Madeline said, a whole lotta duct tape.

We've been enjoying some mighty fine spring weather, and spent an hour or so on Saturday on the playground at the girls' school.  Emily's been wanting to go there when the recess teacher wasn't around, so she could actually climb on stuff without getting scolded.  I climbed with her.

26 April 2015 - Emily's Birthday

We now have two teenagers in our house.  Emily turned 13 on April 22nd.  I met her at school with roses and a balloon (roses not pictured, balloon pictured).

She got not one, but two chocolate cakes -- one for her actual birthday, and one on Sunday when Kathy and Eric's family came over.

Got a new P!NK dress!

And some superhero apparel.

Gifts from sister, with love.

And money from Grammie and Grandpa! (American dollars, not Australian, arrived by mail).

Emily had a Hello Kitty flash drive that unfortunately, went through the wash, and then did not work. A replacement has been given, with instructions (click pic to enlarge and read instructions).

19 April 2015 - Spring, Swimming, Musical Theater

We took the girls out for pizza Friday night.  It took so long to get our food, Emily had enough time to build an entire fleet of tiny paper airplanes out of silverware holders.

We had the April Pools swim meet at the Nampa Rec center.  Here's Madeline on 50 Free.

Emily on 100 backstroke.

Jessica on 200 backstroke.  We had several new personal bests and a some top three finishes between the three girls.  Good meet.

Joanne made a string bag for our niece Calista because she was turning 8 and getting baptized.

We took the girls to see You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, at the college on Thursday.  They had little felt squares on the "grass"  so the kids could sit at the edge of the set.  The students did an impressive job with the musical.

Spring is here in Caldwell.  Joanne planted some curb appeal at our house.

12 April 2015 - New Kitchen Floor

We got to go to Utah for Easter/Conference weekend.  The girls had a great time getting eggs ready for painting. 

Minion eggs!

The whole collection.  They did several minions (evil and benign), there's a Nemo, a Ninja Turtle, and a few others as well.

Madeline got an Honor Roll award at school this week.  Smart cookie.

Being the Young Women's president comes with some....perks?  I thought this went out with the 80's.

Since we need to get our house ready to sell in the near future, we finally found the motivation we needed to do something about the kitchen floor.  Here is a shot of floor as it was.

I worked all day Saturday on this project.  I started in the pantry and worked my way out.

After 12 hours of bending, crouching, kneeling, cutting, fitting, etc., the floor was finally done and I was exhausted.  It looks amazing though, so time well spent.

5 April 2015 - Purple Belt

On Wednesday Madeline achieved the rank of purple belt in karate.  She's getting to the point that you mess with her at your own peril ;-)

The girls also planted some flower starts from seed.

They set up some terrarium jars to help get the seeds started more quickly.

27 March 2015 - Cancun Part 4

Friday was our final eco-park, Xplor.  This is more of an adventure park, where we zip lined, drove amphibious vehicles and swam through a cave.  They issue you a helmet when you arrive, and you wear it all day.

There are blue underwater lights that guide you in the cave.  We actually swam through it, and also paddled little rafts through it too.

Here's a shot of one of the zip line runs.  The entire course runs you down more than two dozen zip lines.  I heard someone say 40, but I don't think we did that many.  It may have been as many as 30 though, I lost count. It was so fun.

They also have little hammock zip lines that drop you in the water, which is nice when you get hot.

Finally after a week of non-stop exploring and fun, we spent the final day of our vacation at the Mayan Palace resort where we'd stayed all week.  This is a shot of the girls our balcony.

This is a shot of the resort's private beach.

The girls on one of the snorkel/swim docks at the beach.

The resort is actually situated about halfway between Cancun and a smaller city called Playa del Carmen, in an area referred to as the Riviera Maya.  This is our family at the beach in Playa del Carmen.

The girls playing giant beach chess at the Mayan Palace.

Although almost anything goes in Mexico, there's some things you're not supposed to do.

This is a real crocodile at the resort.

And we couldn't put a cap on our vacation properly without sipping pina coladas at the swim up bar in the pool.  The rum was still gone.