California Road Trip - Santa Barbara

In our family we've always liked a good road trip - getting there is half the fun! (Though this year Ken did run the numbers on flying, but the cost of airfare would have been more than double the cost of driving down. That settled it.)

We did the drive to California in 2.5 days. The first night we stopped in Idaho Falls and stayed with family. Family is an amazing thing, isn't it? We can go years without seeing these second cousins (third cousins to the kids) and pick up right where we leave off. 

We spent our second night in Las Vegas where Ken introduced Carmen, Chloe, and I to the best quesadillas of our lives at El Gordo's.

A new form of amusement for road trips: mom draws people on your toes. Unfortunately the people wore off immediately when they stepped out of the car. 

Sunday afternoon we reached Santa Barbara. Mark, Ortensia, Camille, and Monte beat us there by just a bit, and we spent some time checking out the beach and the pier.

By early evening Kelly, Avery, Emerson, and Phoebe had also arrived in Santa Barbara. 

We went out for dinner, and then hit the pool at Hotel Milo.

I loved our hotel. It had lots of character, I'm not even being ironic here. (Though our years of no air conditioning at home prepared us for our stay here.)

Monday morning we saw Avery and Carmen off to EFY Santa Barbara.

Meanwhile, Ortensia and Mark found entertainment around town for the younger generation, and then it was off to Anaheim!

Junior High Awards Night

At the end of June, Carmen and Chloe shared in a celebration of the school year at Awards Night.

Chloe was recognized in academics and arts with a subject award for Band, Language Arts, and Social Studies. 

Carmen was recognized for top female student in Phys. Ed. as well as Drama, World Affairs, and leadership in Building Hope. Oh, and she received the Heart and Hustle Award for basketball - can't forget that!

Now, I've always told my kids that the only award that matters is the Citizenship Award, and both girls were honoured with a citizenship medal. (Whew!) The staff actually made changes to the Citizenship Award this year, and made the requirements a little more stringent, so I am extra proud of these girls for their service to their school and community. 

Grade 9 Grad

Carmen celebrated her years at RDL on Friday night with the rest of the class of 2014, marking the end of 10 years together in the same school, and a parting of ways to seven different high schools.

It was such a rainy day! Carmen met up with some friends at their house to get pictures together indoors. Don't they all look darling?

Special girl.

A shot of the dress.

Class of 2014

Carmen and Natalie have been together since kindergarten, and have been good study buddies. We will miss such a reliable friend to call on for homework questions!

Falcons girls - these girls are all playing club basketball together this spring coached by their school Phys. Ed. teacher (who is totally crouching for this picture). Carmen's club experience has been exceptional - hopefully I'll take some pictures of club ball one of these days soon!

Proud parents.

My friend Tania!

Tania's son, Brigham.

And the traditional parent dance. 

Happy Graduation, Carmen. (Now just to get through those pesky final exams.)

Kids, kids

Band final concert. Once again Chloe played with the 8/9 band as well as with her own grade 7 band.

Track & Field Divisionals

Carmen ran heats in the morning,

And then in the 100 relay in the afternoon. Her relay team took silver!

On Saturday we celebrated the career of the best teacher I have ever known. Mrs. Critchley teaches junior high math, and spent her entire 34 year career at our school. In addition to math Mrs. Critchley teaches life, and she will continue work with individuals who need help in that second subject.

And if Steven looks different in that photo with Mrs. Critchley, it's because he and his friends have done stage one of bleaching their hair. And if he doesn't look different to you, scroll down to the grad post below.

Steven's High School Grad

Steven had a bit of a hard time working up any excitement for grad; he said something to me (more than once) about it not being that big of a deal.

And of course, we expected he would graduate from high school, but that doesn't make it less important.

(Yes, I know. I match. I realized I would before I left the house, but it was what I felt like wearing.)

Steven has been lucky to have many lifelong friends.

I remember this same thing happened at Grade 9 Grad, always one more person to add to the picture.

The requisite portrait. I really need to distribute this to the grandparents.

Future BYU roommate, Triton.

I am relying fully on photos from other parents - I relaxed at home while Steven went out on the gruelling photo shoot.

Friends and dates.

The guys.

Honestly, the food wasn't great, but the company was entertaining. The kids bought tickets at neighbouring tables to their parents rather than mixing the generations - which was probably more fun for everyone.

I got my dance!

Then we left the kids to do their own thing, and I may never have pictures of the after grad party, but I'm sure it was spectacular. I don't think anything could beat the party set-up at the Remington's!

Wood Goddess

The school play this year was titled Ice Wolf. It was the story of an Inuit girl who was shunned from her community. On her journey she met a beautiful and powerful Wood Goddess, and that's where Carmen came in.

The Wood Goddess had the best costume in the play - which delighted Carmen to the point of extreme job satisfaction for the costume creator, Mrs. Hass.

The character was scary. Frightening!

Think Cate Blanchett in Lord of the Rings here, at the 2:19 mark.

The Wood Goddess did get a little friendlier at the end, once the Inuit girl learned her lesson about holding onto anger.

Carmen is decidedly less scary in real life.

Eastering

Happily, we haven't out grown Easter eggs around here.

We tried something new - we used Koolaid packets in 2/3 cup of water and they worked beautifully. Unfortunately, our grocery store only had Orange, Green (lemon-lime) and Cherry in stock, which limited the colours we made, but then the girls decorated the eggs with paint pens and I think they were our best yet. I am going to have to stock up on varieties of Koolaid this summer and save them for next spring.

We took our eggs with us to Lethbridge on Saturday to do some Eastering with the Norton cousins, including our newest cousin, Victoria.

We had a hotdog roast at Indian Battle Park, and we were lucky enough to watch a 2 mile train cross the 1 mile High Level Bridge. After lunch the kids had an Easter Egg hunt. (They found all but one plastic egg, and we finally gave up and left it there.)

For me the most fun was the egg roll. I have memories of doing egg rolls with my cousins, but the eggs generally got stuck in the grass and didn't go far.

These eggs really travelled! We climbed a steep staircase to the top of a coulee, and the beaten path next to the staircase created the perfect track for the eggs. Maxwell won the longest roll, and Carmen won the longest throw.

It was a gorgeous day!