A Busy Week!

The End of School and the Beginning of Summer...

It's officially summer for the young people in our house, but the adults still have a few days left, but we celebrated the end of school and the unofficial beginning of summer this week....and what fun we had!

We started with Katie's end of year celebrations, as she finished elementary school and fifth grade.

 

1. Fifth Grade End of Year Party at the Skating Rink..

Katie with best friends - Sophie and Brynn

Katie with friends since Kindergarten/First Grade - Sophie and Megan.

2. Next came Katie's birthday party - her birthday isn't until the end of the month, but we always celebrate with friends before school is out. She had fun spending her 11th bday party with some of her best friends!

3. Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony: 

It's not graduation, but "Promotion" ...and it was definitely a tear jerker as we both said goodbye to elementary school, and look ahead to middle school!

Carleigh and her friends watching from the stands.

Katie with her teacher, and two best friends

Katie and one of her best friends since 2nd grade - Trevor

So Katie has been promoted, the school buses have all left for the last time, and Don and I are packing up our classrooms. And in my case, waiting for the sun to come out so that I can move all of my school belongings into our garage for the summer. Then come August 1 - move it all to my new home - Blue Ridge Middle School. The days are busy, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to have our summer celebration, albeit a bit early this year...

4. Lobster Day #12... 

Every year we invite new people to join us for Lobster Day - and every year brings new adventures....Here's the link that explains "what the heck is Lobster Day?" (What is Lobster Day ? A Primer for the Clueless...)
 So this year's new attendees were my cousin Blaze's wife, Lindsay and their adorable 2 yr old son, Miles! Blaze was a Lobster Day veteran from before he entered into the military, and before he was married. 

Here's a picture from Lobster Day, 2008

L-R: my cousin Jessy (Blaze's brother), Don, Blaze, my uncle Jim (their dad)

It was great to see him again and finally get to meet Lindsay and Miles. Blaze is stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and was home visiting east coast relatives - hence the early arrival of Lobster Day this year. We planned it around Blaze and Lindsay's east coast visit. We had a great time, it was nice to relax for a few hours amidst the chaos of finishing out the school year!

Lobster Day 2013

The first Lobster Day where Carleigh is the tallest - and Don is photobombing

The first Lobster Day where Katie manned the grill

Is that a (toy) Lobster in your pocket, or are...................

A man and his dog...

The real lobsters!

Little Miles had a blast...I think the girls did too~!

Bacon wrapped shrimp - the contribution from my Uncle Jim and Blaze!

Miles liked the lobster!

Yes..we are the family that has matching t-shirts! But, they were from Old Navy, so..trendy matching t-shirts! :)

 

 5. Carleigh and Katie head to the Fairfax Fair - Don and Laura stay home and do school-work!

The girls were very excited when they were invited to go with the rest of the family to the Fairfax Fair because the original plan was that they would be bored and Don and I would be finishing up paperwork and last minute stuff for school.  They had a blast. Carleigh, Jim and Lindsay were the thrill-riders. Katie, Rina, Blaze, Patty and Miles took it easy.

Carleigh rode the bull and did NOT fall off. She was on for 3 minutes!!

Katie did ride the bumper cars! :)

Somewhere in there, you can see Carleigh! :)

So...we were able to pack some fun into an already packed week of ending school! Don and I have another day or two left and then it's summer fun!!

Stay Tuned for...

Saying goodbye to 23 years of elementary education and saying hello to summer fun!

With summer comes Rahn fun, so who knows what will be happening in the coming weeks. Our first official vacation isn't until July 13 - so lots of homemade fun coming!!