First Week of School

 It's Friday and we've successfully completed the first week of school. Things are off to a good start!

Annaliese is in 7th grade. Her homeroom teacher is Mrs. VanderPol, she's most excited about changing classes, she's not quite sure if she should call Auntie Kim 'Auntie Kim' or 'Mrs. Veltkamp' and her elective this semester is Computer Applications. She continues to play saxophone and is gets one class (Language Arts) in Spanish. 

Emma, Annaliese, and Esme on the first day of school

Haleigh is in 5th grade, which means this is her first year in middle school and she is very excited about it! She has Mrs. Wolffis for her homeroom teacher and Senorita Hernandez for the Spanish portion of her day. Haleigh has Language Arts, Bible, and Math in Spanish. She also gets to be in band and is playing the trumpet this year! 

Practicing!

Lydia is in second grade with Senor Berroteran. She is also very excited about this school year! She's come home every day talking about the fun things they've done, and seems to enjoy math the most. (At least, that's what she talks about the most!)

This is a picture in the classroom window! Lydia is in the third row:)

They ride the bus to and from school; it picks them up about 1/4 mile from our house. It's a nice little walk every morning and there bus driver is wonderful.

Being silly while we wait for the bus!

We wrapped up the week with the annual Spanish Immersion Back-to-School Ice Cream Social. This is always a fun way to reconnect with other parents and celebrate this program!

The rest of Summer Vacation

 August started out with a camping trip to Silver Lake. It was supposed to be everyone, but Kelsey ended up helping a friend run a race near Mt. Hood, Kim and Elias got sick, and Mal and Owen signed up for swimming lessons. 

So Mom, Dad, the girls, Malachi, and I headed out to Silver Lake to camp. After getting all set up, we walked down to the lake. It was pretty warm out and Malachi was able to convince the girls that they should all go swimming. They jumped off the dock and had a great time.

The next morning Malachi woke up not feeling well so we sent him home and then spent the rest of the day at the lake. A nice gentleman from the campsite over helped us inflate the paddle boards, Mal and Owen showed up after swimming lessons and we all had fun. Grandma even stood up on the paddle board this time! 

The kids found a few small pieces of chalk lying around, and then a lady gave them a big box of chalk so they drew pictures and played hopscotch! 

Arm wrestling

Playing hot potato

These two kept the fire going...it was a chilly morning!

Other fun activities have included an afternoon at the fair, playing at the park, and playing with cousins.

Haleigh did 11 pull-ups this year!

Annaliese did 5 pull-ups!

Holding a baby goat

Grandma found this fun project...everyone built bridges out of popsicle sticks!

Here we are, at the end of August already. School started this week and summer vacation has come to an end. It was a good summer. We had a good mix of activities, trips to the library, and time spent at home. Everyone was ready for the school year to start, which is always a good sign!

Visiting Grandpa and Grandma

 After our quick visit with the Prentice's and Feffer's, we headed over to Dinuba for a few days. Our first stop was with Grandma Norma at her home in Visalia. Lydia was very impressed with all the jewelry hanging in her closet!

Our next stop was Auntie Sarah and Uncle Jon's house. We had dinner and the kids (and Grandpa and Kyle) went swimming. (It was 98* outside which was hot for us but apparently a bit cooler than it has been!)

Annaliese

Haleigh and Lydia

From there we headed over to Jay and Kelley's house, which is where we stayed. On Monday, Auntie Laurie, G-Momma, Reed, and Kieran came over for the day. The kids played lots of games and we had a good time hanging out. 

Lydia and G-Momma

Reed, Annaliese, and Kieran (deciding who was going to shuffle all those cards!)

Lydia and Auntie Laurie

Tuesday we played croquet, a new game called Blank Slate, and hung out at home. We left about 2:15 to head to the airport so this was a very quick trip (and I really didn't do that great of a job taking pictures.)

The 13th Annual Gillette-Feffer-Prentice Get-together

 Yes, it's true. We've gotten together every summer for 13 years, despite the fact that we now live all across the country. 

This year we gathered at the Prentice's new house in Arroyo Grande. We arrived on Thursday evening and spent the day Friday at the beach in Avila. Nothing like a good sunburn to remind Kyle that he's back in CA!

Russ and Kyle

Haleigh, Annaliese, and Holden

Lydia

The Feffer's arrived Friday evening and we spent the rest of the weekend enjoying our time together. 

Saturday morning Jenn, Ashlie, and I started off by going to a Pilates class at a place in Pismo Beach that Jenn usually goes to. By the time we got home, breakfast was finished and all cleaned up. The kids were busy playing ping pong and foosball, the Olympics were on in the background, and everyone was quite happy!

Next we hopped in the car and drove to Strouther Park for a game of Whiffle Ball, followed by a walk to downtown A.G. for lunch. 

Josephine, Annaliese, and Eleia

After lunch, everyone relaxed around the house. Originally, we planned on going to the beach for a bonfire and roasting hot dogs, but everyone was pretty slow-moving. The kids were playing Monopoly and wanted to finish their game, the dads were pretty into whatever they were doing and nobody seemed to motivated. So instead we roasted hot dogs in the backyard.

After dinner we packed up and headed to the beach. 

Haleigh, Eden, and Lydia

All the kids!
(Back row: Josephine, Annaliese, Eleia
Front row: Holden, Malachi, Eden, Haleigh, Brooks, Lydia)

Delicious s'more!

Some of the kids went out and jumped in the waves!

Sunday morning everyone had differing opinions on what to do...Lopez Lake? Back to the beach? While Jenn, Ashlie, and I took the dog for a walk, we let Kyle, Adam, and Russ come up with a plan. In the end, it was decided that we should all get our things packed up and head to a park in SLO. 

We went to French Park and had lunch and an exciting game of soccer before having to say good-bye and part ways.

As usual, the time goes by way to fast. It's pretty remarkable how well the kids get along, even though they only see each other once a year! 

Jenn and Russ were excellent hosts, their new house is lovely, and it's always fun to be back on the Central Coast!