Last week

The Tuesday before we left for California was Emily's last day of school. We met at Chautauqua Park (one of our favorites!) for a little hike, some playtime, lunch, and goodbyes. I stayed with the younger kids and they had a great time blowing bubbles, playing frisbee, and playing with the big parachute. Boulder Explore has been a really good thing for Emily this year. We are glad to have been a part of it.

Caleb especially liked the parachute.

Most of the group - I think a few people were missing.

The Thursday before we left we were thrilled to be able to meet up with some old friends from Austin. They are actually our oldest friends from Austin, since we met them when Emily was just 2 weeks old and we were both in a ward in North Austin before both of our families moved down to Student Housing. We ate outside, got some playtime and chatting in, and then they were on their way again while we frantically packed for our trip. I'm so sad we didn't get pictures with them, but I loved this note I found in the schoolroom after they left.

It says, "Wutheey and Lileey pleez cum bac." Which, translated, means, "Ruthie and Lily please come back." Written by Caleb. Aw, he's such a sweetie, that boy!

A few other random pictures from that same week:

Bel found this empty birds' nest on the ground and I thought it was pretty cool. Joseph was appalled that I allowed her to handle it. And yeah, I am super grossed out by bird feathers and most things city-bird related, but for some reason wasn't so bothered by this. Maybe I should have been.

A couple of days later the maintenance guys were working on the sprinklers so they came on while we were outside. The kids were elated! There was much screaming and running and giggling. Oh, and mud.

He's not afraid of a mess.

In fact, he relishes it. Here he's pointing out to me that he has in fact taken off his shoes and those are mud-covered socks on his feet.

It was definitely straight into the tub for all four of them after this escapade. Sometimes I think I'm growing wiser in all my experience as a parent, and then I look back on days like this and wonder.

It was pretty fun though.