Activity Days has come to a close. We had the 2nd annual summer swim party at our pool on the first Saturday of June. 10 of the 11 kids from out ward came, but sadly only 3 from the 1st ward. Those who came reported having a great time. They swam and played for over an hour. Then the husband of our great leader bravely manned the grill in three digit heat to cook up some hot dogs. They feasted on fruit, veggies, hotdogs, and cookies. Then jumped back in the pool. What was supposed to be a 2 hour party turned into almost 4 hours by the time the final mom came for pick up. My crew and I got a little pink by the end because we had not reapplied sunscreen, thinking we would be done soon....
Three girls stayed longer because we still had craft days at our house. They made headbands. I should have done mom's method of using a hair elastic with a pretty ribbon. We tried a MUCH more involved method and had rather shabby results. But the girls were still happy. Jess has actually worn her quite a lot. I think we will have one more craft day this Saturday and then quit for the summer.
The following Saturday was another pool party, but this time it was a much bigger group. It was the 3rd? annual start of summer combined Dubai wards party at the Gubbay's house on the Palm (the man made island shaped like a palm tree). They set up a bouncy house with a slide going into the pool. There was ultimate frisbee on the sand and king of the raft in the sea. Lots of good food and friends for all the kids.
We were surprised to see a family that had moved at the end of last summer. They are living in Perth again now, but had stopped for a few days in Dubai on their way to the states for the holidays. They had arrived a few hours before the party and came to reunite with old friends. Isaac was especially glad to see them. Aiden is a year younger, and Sydney is a year older. Then on Monday, they called and asked if Isaac could come hang out with them at Sega Republic and have dinner at the mall. He had a GRAND time.
More Isaac news. The big Scout Court of Honor was held on the first Sunday of June. It was a more grand affair as 4 scouts were being presented with their eagle awards. Isaac also advanced (officially) to Star and earned 6 merit badges. The most impressive thing he is only 5 badges away from eagle. He worked so hard finishing up the Citizenship in the Nation for a very demanding counselor and making a high quality bow string for archery and documenting his work for American Business. If he hits scouts hard next fall, it is possible he could make eagle by this time next year. He already has 4 of the 6 months done in a leadership position that he needs for Life. We shall see if we can cram in an eagle project in the spring or not.
As great as it was to check off the scout stuff, it hampered his time for BYU. He stopped working on Science and History in order to try and finish his 3 BYU classes in time to order and take the the finals before our trip. A few more late nights were involved, but he took 2 of the tests last Saturday and we got the call that his English test came in the mail yesterday, so he is taking it this afternoon. Phew! Makenna is quizzing him on vocabulary words right now. By this evening, he will have 4 classes done. And as long as he scored at least a 61, 64, and 72 respectively, he will have a 4.0. 2 credits out of 24. That doesn't sound too significant, but it's all of freshman English, 1st half of geometry and a required study skills class required for all students enrolled in their program. I guess he is not officially enrolled yet, we will take care of that this summer, and then order his classes for fall. As if it's not enough of a challenge to accept we have a child in high school, it's even more bizarre to attach "BYU" to that and see correspondance with his "BYU ID" on it. hmmm.
Girl news. They LOVE gymnastics. They have been going a few times a week and excelling. Makenna has her own rhythmic routine and another she has learned with the group. She likes working with the ribbon most. The rope and hoop and good too, but the ball is HARD. Jessica is doing "artistic" gymnastics or what most consider and the regular kind. She is learning to flip around on the bar, do a cartwheel on a beam, do two moves off a springboard (one tucked in the air, and one with her body straight. Is that a front hand spring?) and more. I am not there to watch the whole time. I used to go run at the park, but it's too oppressive outside now. So I am driving Isaac to MMA or running to the grocery store.
The girls are totally done with school and have started on two subjects for next year that have more content than some others. I spent a few full days going through all their materials and breaking books into segments and making checklists for the year. I am very excited for the changes we are making! They have had a taste of working together more and so far, so good.
The other planning I have been doing is for Primary. I have had to get travel dates (at least approximate) from all the families in the ward with kids and all the teachers, then get together with the other ward's president to make a plan for the summer. Both of us will be gone and several teachers. I think we have it worked out as well as possible. Things will come up, but hopefully the counselors (one from each ward) will be able to be flexible with the resources left in place.
The kids only have one piano lesson left. I am so happy with the progress they have each made. I love hearing them practice at home and love even more when they play at church. Isaac still plays for every priesthood opening exercise. The girls get to play in primary at least once a month. Our teacher is encouraging me to start up with her in the fall and I am seriously considering it. I have been dabbling with Jessica's books, but not consistently enough. Being accountable will force we to practice more, but I don't want to get stressed about it. Life is pretty busy already and we will be adding seminary to the schedule.....
The super cheap couches we bought when we first moved here died. Well, the big one did. The smaller got moved to our room. So we spent a couple of Matt's days off furniture shopping! The girls LOVED it. Isaac got to miss out on most of it opting to go to a friend's house instead. Matt is fast. He is like a super charged Goldilocks saying too soft/too hard and jumping up to test the next one.
Height difference of our boys.
I was seriously wondering if my marathon days were over after a month of eking out pathetic 5Ks (meaning I had to take walking breaks!). But something finally clicked. I ran a 10K a week ago and felt good. So I decided to run 10 miles on my birthday, continuing my tradition of doing something hard and preferably new. Doing it on a treadmill qualified it as new and hard. I had 99 minutes to play with before it automatically switched to cool down and stop. I am so glad I can say I hit my goal and kept going until time was up and made it to 10.75. That is the farthest I have gone since running in the Garden of the Gods in 2011. And it's just the start. I'm catching the vibe again.
Most of the girls
The Jessica's USA and South Africa
There are a few of the boys.
Three girls stayed longer because we still had craft days at our house. They made headbands. I should have done mom's method of using a hair elastic with a pretty ribbon. We tried a MUCH more involved method and had rather shabby results. But the girls were still happy. Jess has actually worn her quite a lot. I think we will have one more craft day this Saturday and then quit for the summer.
The following Saturday was another pool party, but this time it was a much bigger group. It was the 3rd? annual start of summer combined Dubai wards party at the Gubbay's house on the Palm (the man made island shaped like a palm tree). They set up a bouncy house with a slide going into the pool. There was ultimate frisbee on the sand and king of the raft in the sea. Lots of good food and friends for all the kids.
Ultimate Frisbee
Jess getting out of the bouncy house/pool.
Makenna and friends
Sister Bless with 1/2 her class.
Jess is out there bouncing into the sea. You can see palm frond "C" across the water. We were on "D".
We were surprised to see a family that had moved at the end of last summer. They are living in Perth again now, but had stopped for a few days in Dubai on their way to the states for the holidays. They had arrived a few hours before the party and came to reunite with old friends. Isaac was especially glad to see them. Aiden is a year younger, and Sydney is a year older. Then on Monday, they called and asked if Isaac could come hang out with them at Sega Republic and have dinner at the mall. He had a GRAND time.
More Isaac news. The big Scout Court of Honor was held on the first Sunday of June. It was a more grand affair as 4 scouts were being presented with their eagle awards. Isaac also advanced (officially) to Star and earned 6 merit badges. The most impressive thing he is only 5 badges away from eagle. He worked so hard finishing up the Citizenship in the Nation for a very demanding counselor and making a high quality bow string for archery and documenting his work for American Business. If he hits scouts hard next fall, it is possible he could make eagle by this time next year. He already has 4 of the 6 months done in a leadership position that he needs for Life. We shall see if we can cram in an eagle project in the spring or not.
A good chunk of the scouts. I missed the moment when they were ready and looking at the camera. Isaac is front row, left side looking left.
As great as it was to check off the scout stuff, it hampered his time for BYU. He stopped working on Science and History in order to try and finish his 3 BYU classes in time to order and take the the finals before our trip. A few more late nights were involved, but he took 2 of the tests last Saturday and we got the call that his English test came in the mail yesterday, so he is taking it this afternoon. Phew! Makenna is quizzing him on vocabulary words right now. By this evening, he will have 4 classes done. And as long as he scored at least a 61, 64, and 72 respectively, he will have a 4.0. 2 credits out of 24. That doesn't sound too significant, but it's all of freshman English, 1st half of geometry and a required study skills class required for all students enrolled in their program. I guess he is not officially enrolled yet, we will take care of that this summer, and then order his classes for fall. As if it's not enough of a challenge to accept we have a child in high school, it's even more bizarre to attach "BYU" to that and see correspondance with his "BYU ID" on it. hmmm.
Girl news. They LOVE gymnastics. They have been going a few times a week and excelling. Makenna has her own rhythmic routine and another she has learned with the group. She likes working with the ribbon most. The rope and hoop and good too, but the ball is HARD. Jessica is doing "artistic" gymnastics or what most consider and the regular kind. She is learning to flip around on the bar, do a cartwheel on a beam, do two moves off a springboard (one tucked in the air, and one with her body straight. Is that a front hand spring?) and more. I am not there to watch the whole time. I used to go run at the park, but it's too oppressive outside now. So I am driving Isaac to MMA or running to the grocery store.
The girls are totally done with school and have started on two subjects for next year that have more content than some others. I spent a few full days going through all their materials and breaking books into segments and making checklists for the year. I am very excited for the changes we are making! They have had a taste of working together more and so far, so good.
The other planning I have been doing is for Primary. I have had to get travel dates (at least approximate) from all the families in the ward with kids and all the teachers, then get together with the other ward's president to make a plan for the summer. Both of us will be gone and several teachers. I think we have it worked out as well as possible. Things will come up, but hopefully the counselors (one from each ward) will be able to be flexible with the resources left in place.
The kids only have one piano lesson left. I am so happy with the progress they have each made. I love hearing them practice at home and love even more when they play at church. Isaac still plays for every priesthood opening exercise. The girls get to play in primary at least once a month. Our teacher is encouraging me to start up with her in the fall and I am seriously considering it. I have been dabbling with Jessica's books, but not consistently enough. Being accountable will force we to practice more, but I don't want to get stressed about it. Life is pretty busy already and we will be adding seminary to the schedule.....
The super cheap couches we bought when we first moved here died. Well, the big one did. The smaller got moved to our room. So we spent a couple of Matt's days off furniture shopping! The girls LOVED it. Isaac got to miss out on most of it opting to go to a friend's house instead. Matt is fast. He is like a super charged Goldilocks saying too soft/too hard and jumping up to test the next one.
Jess liked trying out the beds.
Trying the new couches at home. They another "make do" set, but we hope they last longer than a year.
I was seriously wondering if my marathon days were over after a month of eking out pathetic 5Ks (meaning I had to take walking breaks!). But something finally clicked. I ran a 10K a week ago and felt good. So I decided to run 10 miles on my birthday, continuing my tradition of doing something hard and preferably new. Doing it on a treadmill qualified it as new and hard. I had 99 minutes to play with before it automatically switched to cool down and stop. I am so glad I can say I hit my goal and kept going until time was up and made it to 10.75. That is the farthest I have gone since running in the Garden of the Gods in 2011. And it's just the start. I'm catching the vibe again.
And this is a picture snapped at church, in the bathroom with my own phone because they needed one for the newsletter. I look older.
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