Camping at Rasar

               Everyone's all packed in...grabbed some McDonald's breakfast on the way out.

                       Lounging in a chair eating her ring pop and drinking her milk.  What a life!

                                  Friends for over 20 years now.  Wow!  Hard to believe!

                                          One of the greatest dogs in the world, Duke!

On July 21st, we met the whole Von Wald family and Drew & Vikki at Rasar State Park for our first camping trip as a married couple with 3 kids!  We were a little nervous since we have never been, but we had a blast.  I think we laughed the whole entire time.  The kids played and rode bikes and scooters the entire time.  Berkeley fell in love with Kate's dog, Duke and walked him every chance she got.  Poor guy was probably completely exhausted by the time he got home!  He is one of the best dogs ever and they were lucky to get him back.  We were seriously contemplating packing him up and taking him home with us :)  The park had an awesome play toy and the kids had a great time playing while the guys played croquet and the girls sat and chatted.  Everyone went to bed well and slept all through the night.  All the adults stayed up way too late around the camp fire laughing and listening to Rick tell hilarious stories from his days at Boeing.  The next morning we made breakfast together and started packing up.  We were all sad it came to an end so soon.

Summertime Fun

We have been out having fun in the sun!  The kids found their first frog the other day and named it "Buck."  Finley, who is normally deathly afraid of bugs, decided to be brave and hold the frog.  She was pretty proud of herself!  They played with this poor frog for quite a while.  I finally felt so bad for it and wanted to see it live, so I made them put it back in the shade where they found it.  Hopefully we'll find some more before summer ends.  They always get such a kick out of finding a cute little frog in the yard.  I can't believe summer break is going to be over in a few weeks.  Summer has flown by.  So sad!  I don't want it to end.

Pre-Camping Trial

We bought a tent and decided to try it out in the yard before we went on any official camping trips.  A few weekends ago we put it up in the yard.  The first night, we all (except Finley) stayed in there, only to have it start raining around 1:00 am.  The rain was so loud on the tent, that it woke Berkeley up and she couldn't go back to sleep so she asked if I'd walk her up to her room so she could sleep in her own quiet bedroom.  I took her upstairs and then went back out to the tent only to find Tom heading upstairs with his own pillow in hand!  He had had enough too.  He had a golf tournament all weekend and he wasn't getting any sleep so he decided to get some sleep in his own bed!  Oliver and I finished out the night in the tent,woke up freezing the next morning and headed into the house to get warm.

The next night, the kids and I headed back out to the tent and they asked if Tom was going to sleep out there.  I gave him a hard time since it was his bright idea to set it up and sleep out there, so he reluctantly grabbed his pillow and headed out.  He made it till about 4 am when a few fishermen were out on the lake talking and he couldn't get back to sleep.  He went back inside to bed.  It was freezing cold again in the morning when the kids and I woke up so we went inside to get warm. 

All in all, it was kind of fun, but cold.  We were glad we put the tent up just so we knew how to do it when we did the "real thing."  The kids had fun and that's all that matters.  Usually we just sleep on the front porch, but since we bought a tent we figured we might as well use it.  It's always a fun adventure for the little ones!  I remember camping in our tent in the back yard when we lived in California.  Those are still fun memories!  I'm happy to do it for my kids so they can experience it too.

Berkeley's Kindergarten Graduation

On June 19th, Berkeley graduated from Kindergarten.  She had a great year.  It started out really rocky.  She wanted to ride the bus to school which worked out just fine for me since Finley would still be sleeping at that time of the morning and the bus stops right at our drive way.  The first two months of school were horrendous.  Tom & I would walk her out to the bus stop and as soon as the bus would arrive she would cling to me and cry hysterically.  I would have to carry her onto the bus and a 6th grader named Ashley would save a spot for her and take her from me while I literally peeled her legs and arms off of me so I could run off the bus and the driver would close the doors behind me.  Occasionally, Ashley would let Berkeley call me from the bus on her cell phone and Berkeley would just sit on the other end of the phone sobbing while I tried to talk to her.  It was awful.  One day I finally lost it and came in and started sobbing that I couldn't do it anymore.  Tom just hugged me and tried not to cry too.  Having a 7 hour day away from home and riding a "very loud bus" on top of it was a bit of a shock to her system and it took quite a while to adjust to it.  She would come home completely exhausted and starving every day.  She learned an awful lot, though, so I see why they changed it to all day.  I think it is beneficial to them, but it's hard on the ones who don't go to day care all day and are used to being with mom. 

We had a couple of parent/teacher conferences throughout the year and Mrs. Pringle would always rave about Berkeley and her attention to detail.  She always tried very hard on all her work and raised her hand in class often which surprised us.  One of her pictures was hung on the "wall of fame" at school so we had go and view that, of course. 

The day before graduation I was invited by the teachers to come to a special "Student of the Semester" assembly because  they nominated Berkeley for student of the semester.  She stood in front of grades K-3, walked  up to the principal and shook his hand when he called her name to accepted her award.  It was weird, I could totally remember doing that in those same types of assemblies as a kid.  I was kind of surprised she went up there.  She is just surprising me left & right these days :)

For the graduation program, the kids sang 8-10 songs that they had learned in music class throughout  the year.  Each song had motions and we all couldn't believe how much the kids had memorized during the year.  They did a really great job.  When it was all over, my mom went up to Mrs. Pringle and introduced herself as "Berkeley's Grandma."  Mrs. Pringle said "Oh, I adore Berkeley, but you probably already know that, don't you?"  My mom said "Well, not in so many words."  Mrs. Pringle said, "Well, I really adore her.  She has been such a great student to have and I have really enjoyed her.  She has come such a long way this year."  I thought that was a nice compliment for my very timid and shy girl who struggled so in the beginning.  We were blessed to have Mrs. Pringle.  Berkeley wishes she could have her again next year.  So do I.  She is a very special teacher. 

One of the other mom's came up to me and said "Your Berkeley's mom, right?"  I said yes and she said her daughter has sensory issues and really didn't like school at all because it was just all too much.  She said the only person her daughter was ever able to connect with was Berkeley and Berkeley's name was the only one her daughter ever mentioned.  She asked for my number so the girls could play together over the summer.  I was a little stunned that two different moms from two completely different schools both had kids with sensory issues who were only able to connect with my kids.  One in Oliver's class and one in Berk's.  I wonder what that means?  Maybe they are just used to me...maybe I have sensory issues because sometimes all the chaos and noise is just too much for me too :)  I say that jokingly, but I really do get overwhelmed in really loud, chaotic situations so maybe I have trained my kids to be sensitive to others who are overwhelmed.  Who knows?  I have lots of issues :)

Mani-Pedis

Oliver had to jump in for this picture to show off his nails too!  So funny!

I told Berkeley that if she did her recital (willingly & with a good attitude), then as a special treat she could choose between a riding lesson and getting her nails done at a nail salon.  As you can see, bribery really works :)  Right away she chose a riding lesson.  I told her to think about it for the week leading up to the recital since she has had a few riding lessons and might want to try something new.  (We had painted each other's nails & toes on the first day of summer vacation and she was really into it and wanted to know about the salon where I had my nails done for my wedding so I thought that might be a good motivator for her). 

So, after a week of going back and forth between nails and horses, she finally made up her mind and chose the nails (but it had to be the same one that I used to go to) since it was something new that she has never tried before.  I thought that was a good decision. 

So, on a Saturday morning following the success of the recital, we went to get our nails done.  I decided to let her pick out my color knowing it would be something wild & crazy and something I would have never picked out.  I was right...I ended up with purple nails & silver sparkles!  She got green with sparkles.  I can honestly say I have never had purple sparkles on my nails before!  They were very LOUD!  I did get a few compliments on them though, and she loved telling everyone that she picked the color out!  Berkeley got her nails & toes done and sat very still while we waited for them to dry. 

It was lots of fun doing something girly with her.  I don't think we have ever done something like that by ourselves before, but I'd like to make it more of a habit.  It was nice to be able to have a conversation with her without any interruptions and distractions. 

When we got home, Finley kept pointing to our nails and then holding her nails out and pointing at them.  I don't think we'll get away with not taking her next time!  Yeah right, she would never be able to sit still long enough to let them dry.  Maybe in a few years she can come along.  In the mean time I'll let Berkeley paint her nails here at home.

Berkeley's 1st Dance Recital

Lyla, Berkeley & Isabelle

This cracks me up...the power of the iPad!!!

Berkeley & Miss Ella

On Friday, June 29, Berkeley performed in her first ballet recital.  She did a fantastic job and I was so proud.  Before she signed up for ballet, I took her to an observation class so she could see what the class was like and if she really wanted to do it.  Before the class was over she was asking if she could go out and dance so it really seemed like she wanted to do it and would have a great time.  After we observed and went home, I asked her if she really wanted to do it and she said yes.  So, I signed her up.  The class runs like a school year, from September through June so it was a big commitment and I wanted to make sure she really wanted it.  The first class she was very shy, which is normal for Berkeley and wouldn't go out on the floor without me.  She wouldn't talk to the teacher and clung to me the whole time (all very normal for her).  Her teacher's name was Miss Ella and after class was over I asked her if her mom's name was Golden.  She said yes.  I couldn't believe it.  We all used to go to the same church years ago and I remember when Miss Ella was born.  Made me feel pretty old!  So, Ella was very sweet, gentle and patient and we made it through the first week.  Anyway, I ended up dancing with Berk the whole year.  All the other mom's would either leave and run errands and then pick their daughter up after class or they would sit on the bench and watch.  I was the only mom out there dancing, week after week with a bunch of 4, 5 and 6 yr olds!  Towards the middle to the end of the year I would just do about 5 minutes of the warm up and then I'd go sit on  the bench and Berkeley was fine with it so we did make some progress. 

Initially I didn't sign her up to be in the recital because the costumes were outrageously expensive and I just knew Berkeley wouldn't go out on a huge high school stage and perform in front of a large group of people.  So about a month after they started learning the routine, Berkeley seemed really into and and seemed to be having a lot of fun.  Miss Ella asked if I was sure I wasn't going to sign her up.  I talked to Berkeley and asked her if she really, truly wanted to do it and she said yes.  The other moms talked me into it so I paid the money and prayed that she'd actually do it.

We had a couple of 3 hour dress rehearsal before the show and Berkeley and her little class did awesome.  They didn't mind the bright lights and didn't seem intimidated with the huge stage.  They had high school aged ballerinas that they danced with (and all the little girls looked up in awe at them).  The girls were super good with  them and made them feel comfortable up there.  On the night of the show, Tom was in the audience (I was backstage) and he didn't even recognize Berkeley.  Partly because she had to wear make up so she didn't look quite like herself, but also because she was the first one to run out on the stage and led each of the little girls in her class through the routine.  She smiled like she was having the time of her life and had it memorized perfectly.  We all had to pick our jaws up off the floor after watching Berkeley.  We all held our breath and prayed she'd actually do it.  Lord knows, I wasn't going out there to do the routine with her in front of all those people :)  I had to draw the line somewhere :)

After she finished and came back stage she had the biggest smile I have ever seen.  She was so proud of herself and so was I.  It was a huge deal for her and I still kind of can't believe she actually did it.  What a milestone.  I'm glad I didn't let her quit.  She wanted to, many times, but I told her since she wanted so badly to sign up and made the commitment, then we needed to finish it out.  I wanted to quit many times too...especially since I did not sign up for it, but I kind of enjoyed dancing with the 5 yr olds!  They actually made me look kind of graceful - a first for me!!!