14

WOW!!!  14....why does that number seem so big?  It is really only one more than 13, but it seem like this year it was a big jump for Austin from 13 to 14.

To celebrate his birthday he wanted to have 1 friend over.  He requested that they go to Taco Bell for supper (we  had VBS at church that week, so I was not there for supper--church commitments  :), so Mike took care of that...Thank you, Austin, for making it easy on me!)  Lukas spent the night.  They stayed up super late, had snacks, and laughed a lot.  These are the kind of birthday parties that I like!

Austin, you have been teaching me things since...well, before you were born.  When I went into pre-term labor, I learned that I should not have things mapped out all the time.  With kids, you have to learn how to go with the flow.  Every first you had growing up, I had that first too...as a parent.  I had to learn from you how to deal with all the things that you go through.  We go through it together!

There are so many things I love about you.  I love how you love to laugh.  I love your passion.  You have recently found that you love to go to the gym, and you have kept me accountable to going. You compliment my cooking  -even when it is not so good!  You are a joy to have as a son!  I love you!!

Quotables From The Boys

Austin:

The other day my mom brought a piece of paper she had found on her refrigerator.  It was something that Austin had apparently written while at her house one time.  It said:

Learn from yesterday
Live for today
Hope for tomorrow
The important thing is that you learn.

This is a quote from Albert Einstein.  I hope Austin realizes the wisdom in this quote and lives by it.


Adam:

I have a friend who goes away with her friends from work for 1 week every summer.  I was talking to Mike about this and playfully said, "aren't you glad I don't go away for a week?"  Adam happened to be in the room and said, "A WHOLE WEEK?!?!   I think I'd miss you!" 

I have no plans to leave for a whole week, but knowing he would miss me warmed my heart.

Growth Chart

When the boys were little, I started a growth chart for them.  It was not fancy, but it held a lot of information.  I was better at doing is sometimes more than others.  But we kept it on the back of a door an could see the progress they were making.

On this growth chart we noted what would happen when they reached a certain height.  One would be they get out of their booster seat.  Another would be that they would be tall enough to go down the water slide at the local pool.

Last week I took the boys to the Dr. for their well visit.  Austin was 63 3/4" (well past the growth chart)  Adam was 58 3/4".  The chart stops at 60".  I have not been so good lately at remembering to mark their height, so I think I am calling it done (because I probably won't remember in the next 1 1/4" of growth).

My question now is: What do I do with this information?  I have 1 growth chart and 2 boys?  Oh, well, I will pack it away and their wives and figure that one out.

Hampton Roads

Several months ago, Adam brought a paper home from school saying that the 5th grade was going on an end of the year field trip....to Hampton Roads....OVER NIGHT!  My first thought was, "Are they crazy?!?! Who in their right mind would take that many 5th graders on an overnight field trip?"  But, it was being planned to here we go....

At first I thought Mike would be off work by that time and he would be able to with Adam.  But as it turned out he was still in school at that time.  A few weeks went by, and I thought, "Why can't I go?  Yes, I will not be able to sleep in the same room with Adam, but he will be okay" (Adam does have a tendency to sleep walk when he gets too warm, so they set me up outside the boys room so I would be aware if he started to wander around.)

Tuesday morning, we got to school just before 6am.  We boarded our bus and headed it out.  A lot of kids had expensive electronics to play with.  I would not let Adam bring anything like that.  I had packed books...that got put under the bus (oops).  So we played tic tac toe, made up new versions of this game, we played hang man, and we took a selfie  :)

 Our first stop was at the Sandy Bottom Nature Park.  We ate our picnic lunch, then went for a nature walk around the pond.  They had several types of turtles in the water, fish and there were signs that there were snakes (so glad we did not see one!) But, I did get a lovely picture of Adam enjoying a stop on our walk.

Soon after our walk it started to rain.  Our next stop was suppose to be a Boat ride, but there was thunder and lightning.  Some one was very quick on the feet and thought about an Art Museum they had seen us pass.  So, we went to see some art.  The boys in my group went through the museum so fast, I'm not sure how much art they really saw.  I enjoyed what I saw.  It was truly beautiful!

After a stop for dinner, we went to the Virginia Air and Space Museum.  This was our main attraction!  Not only did they have cool stuff there and fun activities planned, but we were sleeping IN the museum.

Adam got to help at the first station.  They held the light bulb close to something to show that it would come on, without it completely touching.

Then we went to the egg drop station.  Adam was paired with his good friend Jonathan.  They had certain supplies and had to create something to protect and egg.

Adam felt pretty confident.

  He turned out to be right.  Their egg survived!

Then we went to the Snack Rover.  They learned about the different Rovers that have gone to the moon.  Then was the fun part...they got all kinds of candy/food to create their very own rover.

 I don't know if it would make it on Mars, but it sure was fun.

We had a scavenger hunt through the museum, but the boys were not the most thrilled with that activity.

Then there was what the boys called the video game section.  They were not video games, but they were games, that helped to them to play with science in a fun way.

They had an airplane where they could be passengers or pilots or watch a short movie about flying.

I think Adam liked flying the plane.

 Up to this point it had rained the whole trip.  I was very cool and wet, but we made the most of it. We had wanted to take the kids to the beach to dip their feet in for a bit on Tuesday, but the weather just did not allow that to happen.  So, after breakfast on Wednesday, we surprised them and told them we were going to dip our feet in the ocean before we go home.  They were so happy!

I took a picture of Adam, but I kept my shoes on!

He was clearly exhausted from this very full trip!

I had to get an after picture of us.  Look!  We are still smiling.  I really was a fun trip.  So glad I got to go with him.

Dam Fieldtrip

It is the end of the school year, so to finish off the year the grade levels go on different "big" field trips. 

On Monday, Austin's class got to go to the old McGaheysville dam.  Once upon a time a dam was there.  As the story goes, about 6 months after it was built a storm came through and it never worked again. 

There were several stations to participate in.

The first one Austin's group did was go in the water and try to catch some macroinvereabrates.  They took a flat net into the water.  Then the stirred up the bottom, and tried to catch the stuff that got stirred up.  The caught some pretty impressive things! 

After this, they went to the tree station where they looked at different trees and different characteristics of the tree.  It was interesting, but I do not think that it was a favorite.

From there we went to a station that talked about the layout of the land.  Looking at a map of the land and what all the markings on the map might mean.  Discussing why certain things were placed where they were.  At this point everyone was getting hungry, so I don't think they enjoyed it as much as they could have.  I found it very interesting.

Then we had lunch.

After lunch, we went to see what they caught from shocking the water that morning.  There were several types of fish and an eel. 

Then we FINALLY got to do the main event.  RAFTING!!!  We, it was me and 4 7th grade boys, climbed into our raft and went about 3 miles down the river.  It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

I would have loved to get tons of pictures from this trip, but by the end of the day I was totally soaked  and so glad that I did not have my phone with me! 

I do wonder, in 20 years when Austin's wife is reading this, if he will remember what macroinvertebrates are, or will he have to google it?

I know my time is running short on him wanting me to join him on field trips.  I was so glad that I was able to go on this one with him.