End of Elementary School

Fifth grade is over and Nathaniel will go to middle school next year.  The whole family is done with elementary school now.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, Nathaniel has really enjoyed the activities at the end of the school year.  First was open house where he displayed the projects he completed over the year in school

Nathaniel in his classroom.

Playing with pals on the playground.

They loved playing tag on the structure. 

 I think Nathaniel will miss recess next year in middle school.  But, I won't miss the 1/2 cup of sand that came home in his shoes every day.  The weekend before school let out, Nathaniel's buddy Ethan came for a visit before his family moves out of state.

Nathaniel and Ethan with their gel-bead shooters.

Hey guys!  Look at us (way up on the rocks).

 During the last week of school the fifth graders had an activity day where they played games on the lawn and had a picnic.

Nathaniel and Riley compete in the tire race.

Getting ready for the water balloon fight.

Fun day.

 A culmination ceremony was held on the last day of school to recognize the achievements of the fifth graders.

Fifth grade culmination under an arch of earth balloons.



Why did this picture show up in this orientation and why can't I rotate it?



Refreshments with Willey and Riley.

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Nathaniel with buddy Derek.



 That night Nathaniel attended an 11 year old scout camp with his old patrol from S. Pas.  It was pretty exciting for him to finish elementary school.  He enjoyed being with so many friends, old and new.  We are proud of the great kid he has grown into.

Not much work getting done

Not much work is getting done nowadays - none that make anything look different anyway. Chris finished gluing down the vinyl in the master bath. I cleared out the last few boxes from the loft. I'm trying to get the garage cleared out so we can park both cars in it (my neighbor laughed because it is almost unheard of to use your garage to park cars in. Everyone fills their garages with junk or makes them into bonus rooms or laundry rooms.)
To get rid of the last few boxes in the garage (after I organized the boxes of food storage) I needed to find a place to put all of our framed pictures until I can put them up. Now, I really need someone to visit me and tell me where to hang them all. Just give me decorating advice. I won't even make you do any of the work hanging them.

So, the only home improvement work I got done was painting the closet under the stairs just off the entry way. White - very exciting.

But then this weekend we had a S.Pas. visitor. Nathaniel's buddy from our street came and stayed over. So much fun. They have missed each other. They spent time in the spool (spa-pool) and Davis joined in to "help" set up the pirate island.

Nathaniel took us to Satwiwa - the National Forest area where his school visits once a month to hike and plant native plants to restore the biome.

We hiked up below Mt. Boney.

The trail goes all the way to the ocean (8 miles from parking lot to beach - good mtn bike ride I've heard).

Then we had lunch in the shade near the Chumash interpretive center.

And the boys had a rousing game of tar-and-seashell-filled-walnut-shells. Anything can be fun when you do it with a friend.

Two trips to the California Science Center

We went to the California Science Center twice in three days recently. Once because there was a Pupil-free day at school and we went with a few friends, and another time with Nathaniel's third grade class field trip. There are always fun attractions there. Here are a few pics.
The kids are in a hurricane chamber waiting for the wind to start.

Hurricane force winds are blowing around in the chamber in this shot. See how all the boys are watching our little girl friend's hair.

This is showing how boring an MRI can be. All the kids wanted to try it.

Of course this is the display showing how drugs and alcohol disrupt your physical abilities. They look through the glasses while they try to make a basket. So, do we call them beer goggles?

Ooooh, fascinating. An old fashioned phone. You know. I guess I took the most pictures of the boring stuff. The other things were fun enough that I forgot about my camera.

Nathaniel's third grade class had a great time there. We saw an Imax movie first, had lunch, and then had time to explore the museum after most other school groups had gone home.

Nathaniel and his class mates are watching the effects of the "earthquake" they are creating by jumping on the monitor.

Five third graders in a helicopter bubble

This Wright Brothers' simulation is a popular activity. There is a large screen in front so they can watch where to steer their little plane.

It was a lovely day for a field trip so we ate lunch outside in the sunshine.

Everyone was feeling groovy with the 3D glasses in the Imax theater.

It's a fun place. Come visit!

Nathaniel's Birthday party and Davis' Christmas parade

Nathaniel had his 9th birthday last week and we celebrated with our family on his birthday with a lemon merengue pie.

Then we had a party with his friends tonight at the park. We roasted hot dogs, played team tag, and made smores. The kids had a great time. We worried a bit through the day that we would get rained out, but the weather turned out great. It was cool but stayed dry. Very nice to hang out by the fire. We sang some campfire songs and then Nathaniel and his friends pitched in with their own songs and riddles.

Davis marched with the middle school band in a Christmas parade this morning.
Here he is right on the end playing the clarinet. He had a lot of fun and they sounded great.

Nathaniel found a ladybug while we waited for Davis and the band to get to us during the parade.

Our Thanksgiving Week

This Thanksgiving our boys had the whole week off from school. So, I thought I'd post the fun things that we did. (Sorry, I didn't take photos of the boring (laundry, piano practice) and even painful (cleaning the room, etc) stuff that we did.

Our friends Adrian and Esteban came with us to the California Science Center. Here they are playing a virtual sports game in front of the blue screen.

After going through a few pulleys, this rope is attached to an SUV which can be lifted by the children, if they choose to pull on the rope with the greatest leveredge.

Davis was working on his golf merit badge (not nearly as fun as the citizenship in the community merit badge that the Kellers must have been working on (see Kellers' blog)). We went to the little par 3 golf course and dodged blowing leaves to complete 9 holes.

Nathaniel played his first 9 holes. Mom did better with the photos than with the golf... and the photos aren't that great.

Davis is showing some pre-teen tendencies and did not want to pose for a photo with his mom and grandparents.

Chris took this photo to show how much fun his mom and I were having making pies together for Thanksgiving. And then he sent it to his sister Caryn to rub it in. We did have fun though.

This is a plaque showing an old hotel that was built up in the mountains above Pasadena. The only way to get there was to hike, take a mule train, or a crazy funicular train called the Mt. Lowe Railroad that pulled the cars up a really steep mountain.

Chris and the boys are on the remains of the foundation of the old hotel. You can see in the previous picture there are stairs in the lower right quadrant of the hotel picture. They would be on the railing at the top of the stairs (if the railing were still there).

We hiked up up up for 2.7 miles to get to this burned-down hotel. It was a lovely day in So. Cal.

Davis hiked all the way with an ingrown toenail. OUCH!

Nathaniel is calling through an "echo phone" that was placed behind the old hotel facing a canyon. It directs your voice up a dead-end canyon across the way and comes back with about a 8-10 second delay.

This is one of the huge wheels that pulled the cables to bring the train cars up the incline railway.

This is a leftover railcar from the railway which was discontinued in 1937. There were a lot of resort camps and hotels in the mountains above Pasadena in the first few decades of the 1900's. It seems to have been very fashionable to "rough it" at these camps that provided the transport of all the baggage, meals, and entertainment like dances.

Nathaniel is at the trailhead which is a gate from an old estate.

Nathaniel loves the new sock monkey his grandmother gave him for his birthday (next week). We have all been kissed and hugged by the monkey over the last few days.

This is Thanksgiving dinner. Chris brought home the flowers Wednesday. The were so pretty with roses, lilies, carnations, and mums in autumn colors.

The day before Thanksgiving Chris suggested we go to lunch at Heirloom Bakery. What a great idea. We had a great lunch, and were so full that I didn't have to make dinner either. It was also nice because we put the boys at their own table so they could make their potions with the sugar cubes and soda without the grownups grousing at them.