We had a great family-filled weekend this 4th. Derek and his bride-to-be, Alison, came out from St. Louis for a quick visit. It was wonderful to meet Alison before the wedding (which we will be going to in August!). What a beautiful, smart, and charming daughter-in-law we are going to have! Derek looks so much like Joe it kinda freaks me out! The weather was so nice we were outside all day. The boys all had fun shooting targets. It was great to see Joe with all his boys and Alex with his brothers...
Olivia FINALLY got to go up in the tree house (she's been itching to get up there for a long time). Mia got some help from her Daddy and got to go up too.
The girls love to catch salamanders! Mia was even brave enough to hold him!
Our little Sweetie, Mia.
David resurrected his old tree swing that he made when he was 16. He even climbed up the tree and jumped off the branch like he used to when he was a kid! The water is only about 7 ft or so there is not much room for error! Yes, I made sure Kelli had plenty of life insurance in place!
We finished off with fireworks in the evening. What a great weekend!
Brandon, John, Alex, Kelsey, Savannah, Mackenzie & Dakota
All the 8th graders had a slide show with pictures from their lives. It was fun to see their baby pictures. I really enjoyed looking through all of Alex's pictures and reminiscing (shedding a few tears along the way). They were presented to the audience by a teacher who recited nice things their classmates had said about them. They also gave a speech talking about favorite times at Abiqua, their teachers, and goals for the future. Each graduate also paints a self portrait of themselves. These portraits will hang at the Middle School along with all the past graduates.
One of our most favorite teachers, Ms. Anna Von. She will be leaving Abiqua this year too...living in Mexico for a year with her husband and getting "immersed" in the language.
The kids finished off the year with a great day at the beach in Neskowin. Surprisingly, it was a nice day and we all had a lot of fun. The ceremony was to say goodbye to their guide group members who are moving on.
A Ya Ya Birthday would not be complete without the "fake blow"!!!!
Good friends, good food and good times - that's what Ya Ya's are made of!
Lot's a huge old trees and a dip in the ocean at the black sand beach in Hana.
Alex and I went on a hike as well. We went to 5 different waterfalls and jumped off the ledges of most of them.
