Summer begins!

End of the year performances:

Best of Tom Petty with School of Rock

Sybil's paino recital

First day of summer break started with a hike with this one

and a temple trip for Iris.

The day before, she hung out with her friends a few blocks away. After much cajoling, I convinced her that walking there would be more enjoyable than driving. Forcing her to walk to the park where they were meeting for the temple trip the next morning didn't take as much cajoling.

Elijah's last day of work is this weekend (for Claire also)

Elijah always comes home covered in flour, or "DUSTINATOR" as he calls it.

The girls playing doctor

Sybil's self-beauty make-over: pink hair dye from the dollar store with blue highlights, curtesy of sharpie markers. And q-tips wrapped in her bangs in order to get the perfect curls!

New Beginnings

There are some mixed feelings surrounding this 14-year-old flying the coup. 

She wrote 10 essays, I wrote 10 essays, 4 letters of recommendation, sent the transcript and state testing scores, took the ACT as a freshman a week after her appendectomy (with a significant amount of residual pain), had a video-conference interview and she was ACCEPTED!

 We started late in the application process so a small part of me didn't think she would get accepted and kinda hoped she wouldn't. We found out that Claire will be the only member of the church in her new school, which will be a huge contrast to her present situation. I've been prepping her by dumping all my memories on her--going to school in a tiny town in the middle of the Bible Belt, stumbling on a KKK television station, going to a bible study where my friends broke out into the gift of tongues, and so many wonderful memories of growth and self-discovery. I have no doubt Claire will shine. Her biology teacher noted on her report card: "Might be the nicest student I have ever had!"

Temple on Saturday with the older kids

 

End of the year festivities

Claire was given an award for being freshman class president

Iris is part of the advanced and chamber orchestras. She played both the normal and the electric violin.

She also traveled to Disneyland with the school orchestra

Flashback: May the 4th be with you!

Hadley drove over to go to prom with Elijah 

(minus the prom since the school district doesn't let outsiders attend).

It was an all-day date: laser tag, escape room, mini golf, movie theater, after party with friends.

Today was Sybil's first time fasting. She asked if we were allowed to use the bathroom. I said that everyone uses diapers on fast Sunday. She confirmed with her father. 

One more funny tidbit: This week I showed the Redkas where we got the name for our dog, Porfirio. After reading about the dictator, they said they would name their next dog Putin and they could be brothers.

Beautiful Las Vegas

I have been on 3 hikes this week. Being outdoors and listening to audiobooks is a salve to my soul. I've recently finished 2 books that I've enjoyed immensely: "Becoming" by Michelle Obama and "In Order to Live" by Yeonmi Park. 

2 of the hikes were solo, except for this reptile:

Yesterday, after dropping Elijah and Claire off at work (Iris is on a school trip to Disney),

 the 3 girls and I played in Red Rock.

With all of the rain recently, we found a little puddle with little frogs.

Here's some dessert:

a manly man doing manly things.

He had Elijah take this pic so he could eternally document the moment.

New Orleans

This past weekend, David, Elijah, and I headed to New Orleans primarily to celebrate Abuelo's 95th birthday. Hadley, Elijah's friend who he met on their humanitarian trip to Africa, joined us. 

First stop, of course, was a late-night trip to Sal's Sno-balls.

After visiting Abuelo Friday morning, we went to Jazz Fest. David and I headed to the Fais Do Do area first. The band sang in Cajun with an accordion, washboard, and foreign-sounding accents as they talked about their music. The first time I met a person from Cajun country was as a teenager at boarding school in Natchitoches, Louisiana. After a short conversation, my new friend's accent puzzled me and I asked her where she was from. 

"Eunice," she said. 

"What country is that in?" I asked naively.

We wandered to the different tents: Gospel, Blues, Jazz, Congo Square, Costa Rica Heritage, and wandered through the craft and art tents.

We listened to Jason Marsalis, from the famous New Orleans jazz family. Kermit Ruffins on the trumpet was my favorite with his amazing vocals that were reminiscent of good old Satchmo.

These two got matching shirts:

I was supremely disappointed that there was no crawfish bread this year, but we settled for crawfish bisque and shoe-sole pralines. Elijah and Hadley had Roman Candy and snowballs. 

We weren't able to last all day. The crowds became overwhelming, so we headed out before the big-named musicians performed.

And then went back to Abuelo's where David and Brian gifted him an impromptu dance while we sang.

French Quarter: Jackson Square

We continued the tradition of lighting a candle for Abuela at St Louis Cathedral 

Eating alligator in the French Market

Visiting Tio Daniel at his stand in the Market:

Raining in the Quarter

Hansens sno-balls. David' got wonderful flavors: rose mint tea with ginger cayenne

Saturday night birthday festivities with the family

Funny lines of the night 

#1: "Elijah, do you find it ironic at all that you are beating your cousin with a pillow that has the words "Be nice" stitched into it?"

#2: Of course, the first thing Hector talked about when we first arrived in Nola was Elijah's wife and children who were seeking alimony (all for Hadley's benefit, of course). On Saturday night, when we were razzing Elijah more, Hector said, "Come on guys, leave the poor boy alone," at which point we all broke out into uproarious laughter since Hector was relentless with his "alimony" line when all 4 of his sons were teenagers.

Singing to the birthday boy:

Of course, another trip to Sal's.

We gave Hector Sr. a large-print non-fiction book for his birthday--something he has been enjoying lately. New Orleans is magical with all of the memories wrapped up in making new memories, talking, laughing, loving.

On the plane home, I asked Elijah if any of the musicians at Jazz fest inspired him.

Elijah: "Why would I be inspired by Jazz Fest, I'm already the best guitarist there is!"

Sybil = kind of a person

Student of the month! This is a peer-elected honor. Sybil received this award in front of her whole school. As she walked up, they said, "Sybil is leader of the month because she is always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it. She is friendly to all and is easy to get along with which sets a great example to those around her."

A note about the shirt Sybil decided to wear on this special day:

Marguerite bought it for Claire for Christmas long ago. 

It eventually was passed down to Iris who made 2 important changes:

1) She cropped it, but cropped it too much, which is how it became Sybil's shirt.

2) The shirt states the following: "Kind people are my kind of people."

Iris crossed out the "my" so that it states, "Kind people are kind of people."

Slightly ironic since the presenter identified Sybil as a kind person.

Also, notice the dangly earrings. She changes her earrings at least twice a day, but usually more.

She has her sleeping earrings, her school earrings, and sometimes her soccer, gymnastics, and biking earrings. Just as with clothes, she gets all of her sisters' hand-me-downs, so her collection is extensive.

 

Hoover Dam

Before work schedules and social schedules kicked into gear in the afternoon, we took a quiet Saturday morning a few weekends ago to head to the Hoover Dam. My favorite part was having the kids semi-imprisoned in the car. We put phones away and talked. 

We descended 54 floors to see the 17 turbines. 

Elijah's favorite: the near-vertical staircase.

Looking out one of the vents in the dam

Iris liked being in 2 states at once.

Sybil's favorite: the movies about the dam.

Claire's favorite: the "dam" jokes.

David's least favorite: the "dam" jokes.

For example, "When will the dam movie start?" Where is the dam bathroom?" "Throw your trash into the dam garbage." 

The possibilities were endless, much to David's dismay.