Last Week of School, First Lost Tooth, and Father’s Day

This week marked Landon’s last as a third grader and Eliza’s last as a Kindergartener. In addition, Eliza lost her first tooth! We also celebrated our dads on Father’s Day.

The kids’ last week of school went by like a whirlwind. We’re not sure how much work got done, but the kids seemed to have fun! 

Hallie stopped by her surgeon’s office Monday morning to make sure her drains that fell out over the weekend were okay. The nurse peeked and everything looked good enough until her appointment the following day. Mike picked up Eliza from school while Hallie had her weekly therapy appointment. Both kids had gymnastics this afternoon, so we headed up the hill to Newbury Park after school.

Tuesday brought a great follow up appointment for Hallie with Dr. Kane. After just slightly over two weeks since surgery, he was shocked to see how well she has healed and to hear about all of her adventures. Dr. Kane still does wants her to avoid lift anything and to take things easy. Ha ha ha! Maybe she should listen to him, as you will see later on in the week. Landon had gymnastics in the evening. With four-hour practices, the days are very long for a mom who sits at practice.

On Wednesday morning Hallie and her friend Yackie headed to Sam’s Club for items for the upcoming class parties and 5th grade picnic and promotion. After lunch Hallie and Mike headed over to the school for Landon’s class ice cream party. The kids received their yearbooks today, and Eliza and Hallie got in on the fun in signing yearbooks. During Landon’s party Hallie went to the other two 3rd grade classes and took pictures with some of her favorite students. All the kids are so kind to hug Hallie gingerly and ask how she was doing.

Hallie and the kids walked home, and it was quite a pleasant walk. Only Eliza had gymnastics due to Landon’s class being canceled. Some parents are quite frustrated lately with the way coaching is going, and we are hoping that if we stick it out that things will change.

After watching the documentary Dear Mr. Watterson this week, Mike decided that the kids needed to be exposed to Calvin and Hobbes and other 1980s-era comics like The Far Side. As a kid, he routinely read the funny papers, only stopping once he stopped living at home and getting his parents’ regularly delivered newspapers when he went to college. The comics section is still his go-to newspaper section when he does happen to get a paper. Occasionally he will seek them out online. Sadly, our kids do not have that same daily experience, so Dad aimed to remedy that situation with the help of our local library. He checked out a copy of The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book, and he and Landon spent the last few days perusing its contents and chuckling. Eliza may still be just a little too young to appreciate the humor, but both kids love the over-the-top visuals.

Thursday was the day we helped with Eliza’s pajama-themed end-of-the-year party. After morning recess the kids in Room 5 worked on a present for their teacher and a craft of the American flag. We came to class only to find out that Eliza’s first wiggly loose tooth had finally come out (with a little help from Ms. Jill)!  

When it was lunch time the kids came back in for pizza, veggies, and drinks. All the kids seemed to be very happy with the pizza party. We also met Ms. M’s mom who is also a kindergarten teacher. It is fun to realize Eliza’s teacher is a 3rd generation kindergarten teacher. 

Hallie was supposed to go back after school and help sell yearbooks. Unfortunately, her body told her it was time to take a nap instead and woke her up 90 minutes later in time to take Landon to gymnastics.

After dropping Landon off, Hallie went with the PTA president to pick up the 300 cupcakes for the 5th grade graduation party. Marilyn is one of the friends Hallie is bummed about leaving come moving time, but hopefully when we come back to visit we will have chances to get together.

Friday started out early for the whole family. Mike, Hallie, and the kids headed to the school a bit before 8:00 a.m. where the kids headed to school and the adults helped set up for 5th grade graduation. Mom and Dad came home for a bit before going back to the school, picking the kids up, and saying good bye to some of our friends. Hallie tried not to say too many good byes as her eyes wanted to fill with tears.

Hello, Hottie! 

Shortly after getting home the kids and Mom quickly got the car ready to go pick up our friends the Guerreros. Five kids and two moms headed to Hollywood to see Cars 3 at El Capitan. As we headed south we stopped by Chick-fil-A so we all could get lunch and the kids could blow off steam in the play area. We got to the parking garage in plenty of time and headed out on to Hollywood Blvd with all of the other crazies. All of the “cast members” were dressed in garage overalls. We took pictures in front of a fun back drop, and there was a great show before the movie started. After the movie we headed to Diddy Riese, a first for the Guerreros. The line on a Friday night moved fast, and the kids all enjoyed their treats. Mike (who had work) beat us home, and mom hit the bed not long after we got home. A long fun day was had by all.

Hallie dropped Eliza off at gymnastics on Saturday morning, then Hallie stopped by Eliza’s teacher’s house to give her our end of year present. Then Hallie headed to her parents house to chat and rest. Hallie is hoping her scratchy throat is allergies and not a cold. While Hallie was out with Eliza at gymnastics, Landon and Mike engaged in an epic pool noodle sword fight in the back yard. Good times!

After the girls came home Hallie and the kids worked on cleaning up the garage so we can continue to fill it full of boxes. Meanwhile, Mike was upstairs filling boxes. Our new neighbors came over to invite Eliza to play with their little girl, and the two girls played for hours together.

Father’s Day Sunday found Mike in bed with gifts from Hallie and the kids. Mike was particularly excited about one gift in particular that is both a throwback to his mission (and Japan) and just plain useful: a washlet (AKA a bidet attachment for the toilet). A couple of months ago, he’d heard a Freakonomics podcast about the Miki Agrawal, creator of the Tushy bidet, and he appreciated what he heard. He thought it would be nice to get something like that someday, and apparently Hallie and the kids decided that that someday was today. 

We went to Grandma and Grandpa O.’s for a visit and lunch. We were so happy they had the A/C on as it was a much needed relief from the heat at our own house. The weather has begun to heat up. We look forward to having air conditioning in our new home! The kids love to visit the Owens house, where they play with Alie, Shep, and the “famous” Haydn. Grandpa became very popular by giving each kid three fidget spinners and a Cuby (AKA a Rubik’s cube).

We headed home to start getting Landon ready for Cub Scout Day Camp that starts tomorrow. Mike will join Landon for the day before heading to Utah for a week to teach his first new university course, get set up in his new office, and walk through our new home.