At School

The last few weeks of school were particularly hectic for everyone!  I ended up subbing the very last week of the year for the twins' teacher.  It was a short assignment, since he was on campus at a meeting, but I was happy to spend a few extra minutes with my babies and their classmates!

I snuck some pictures of them during independent reading (a task at which the whole class excelled!)

On this particular day, Emily and William were at their first week of summer camp, and Alice was home, resting, before her first day of driving school!

I loved subbing for this class, they were so well behaved! (As were Alice and William's classes, when they had this teacher!!)

I have a bit of trepidation for next year, as the twins will still be at their school, but the teacher will be new to the school!  Hopefully we can build a rapport early in the year*.  

Assuming Emily and William will be offered bus service again in the fall, I have three days already on the calendar at Grace and Juliet's school (with previous teachers,) so I'll get to peek in on them either way!

later days

edit 7-19-24: backdated for continuity.  

*And she has a summer worth of secondhand goodies heading her way, should she want them!

Field Day - Grace and Juliet

At the start of this year, I fully anticipated field day being a very, very sad event.  However, with news that the twins would return to their school for fifth grade, it was less emotional than expected. = )

Also, construction was due to start on the new building, so field day was to be moved over to the Lion's park across the street from the school.  Thankfully, the construction was delayed so they were able to have their field day in the usual field.

One more unexpected turn was that in the morning I was asked to sub for the Dean of Students, so I dressed for work that morning, then ran home to change into warmer clothes (it was a good year to not be in a water event!) and collect Emily, who also volunteered her time.

I got my first picture of the twins at the event next to us.  It was a variation of tag, with the 'it' player having a hula hoop of 'octopuses' legs' to tag their classmates.  It was really funny to watch.  When you got out, you sat down until the next round.

Emily helped me illustrate the proper way to bunny hop through the hula hoops, in order to meet up with your opponent to play rock, paper, scissor.  The winner kept hopping along, until the next member of the opposite team met them to challenge them.  

It's a cute game, with a bit of waiting, after all the group running that they did in the previous game.

As we went along, my instructions became more concise and refined, but after saying the instructions so many times, I couldn't recall if I gave my entire spiel.  lol.

Next year is shaping up to be radically different in every way, so we'll see how it looks at the end of the year.  Grace and Juliet will get out even earlier than Emily and William, with their wildly early start date, so I won't have my Emily to help me!

I'm happy to have one more field day to look forward to.

later days

edit 7-20-24: backdated for continuity. 

78 Michigan Parks: Sleepy Hollow State Park #55

Last year, William's class (with the same teacher Grace and Juliet have this year) go to go on a week of day trips to Woldumar!  This year, earlier in the year, their teacher sent an email that that trip would not be happening this year. = (  

But, the fourth grade teachers at their school are awesome and made sure that they got to spend a week out in nature, just in different venues!

I shamelessly stole this picture** from the class page.  I think they were building shelters using branches found in the DODC.

On Wednesday, they were headed for Sleepy Hollow State Park, which was unmarked on our list!!!  I put my beast of a car to use by hauling up the lunches and stools, and anything else they needed off the bus.

I didn't think there would be an occasion for me to get Grace and Juliet to the sign, so please pardon the selfie, but the blog needs continuity!! = )

The bus hadn't arrived when I pulled out at 8:41, so I didn't think they'd make their 8:45 goal for leaving.  So, I explored just a bit while waiting.

Our guide was park ranger Bill, who used to teach at Holt High School! (Small world!)  He showed us the natural "supermarket" in a patch of the park in-between paths.

Finding some unsafe park behavior in their books.

Each of us were given a leaf, then at the end, we were told it was edible.  I tried it, and it was spicy!

Grace's leaf had holes!

So did mine!

Juliet's did not. = (

Making our way back to the picnic site.

The tree roots provided some natural stairs (but nothing like Getzendaner!)

The girls enjoyed examining an opossum pelt, from Ebay incidentally. 

At the end of  Park Ranger Bill's presentation there was a 'test,' but they were awarded with a jr park ranger badge!

I wanted to send Kennedy's mom a picture, and this is what she gave me. lol.  I sent it anyhow.

After the test, we headed over to a quiet spot to do some nature observation.  It was much more pleasant than the weather during William's trip!!!

I wanted a view of the lake, and it wasn't much of a view, but a bit!

I spent most of my time sketching these two natural treasures into my journal.

*stolen (in case it wasn't obvious that I didn't take this one)

I think this was a butterfly, but it was so fitful in it's flight, I'm not sure it's wings would have ever had a chance to fold in, had it been a moth.

Grace and Juliet kept asking me what the sack lunch would be. I had no idea, but historically it had been a cheese and meat, so that was my guess. Of course I was wrong.  They got not-pb and j.

My view during lunch.  It was pretty and sunny, but the chill in the air left me feeling cold.

After lunch, it was time to load back up on the bus!  But the bus wasn't there!  A game of Simon Says took up a little time, but the bus was over 30 minutes late.

One teacher offered to award anyone who found a four-leaf clover a jolly rancher upon the return to school (Grace found two!)  Some students just relaxed or chatted with their friends, and others played keep the ball off the ground with one of the left-over beach balls in my car (from our California travel days.)

I couldn't do much, but since my only obligation on the other end would have been to collect Grace and Juliet, I stayed to offer what emotional support I could.

My nature observation was not yet over, when I spotted this concentration of pine cones at the end of a tree branch!

I stole these, because they were too cute!  En route to the park:

The return to the school from the park:

Sleepy Hollow was a really pretty park.  We might go back some day, but now that we've been, even in a limited capacity, it's back down to the bottom of the list!  

When I got to the school to drop off the lunch pails, etc., I checked Grace and Juliet out so that I could get home, shower, make dinner, and get them back up to the school for the art show.

----------------

The next day, I was back up to the school at 10am as a chaperone again, this time supervising trail clean up in the DODC!

The storms last autumn downed some big trees across the paths!  Without the aid of a chainsaw, we couldn't do much with the big wood, but they did a phenomenal job cleaning around it!

The second hour, I got to assist teams as they went on a geocaching tree scavenger hunt!  There wasn't too much for me to do during this time, so I answered queries when they came my way, and was just present if they needed me.

Grace and Juliet told me that in the afternoon they went on their final nature observation of the year.  They were both really sad about it too!  Only 12 days left of their school year!

later days

If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:

Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33

Muskegon State Park #50*

PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52
Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Van Buren State Park #73

*this post marks the start of the project, and as such, has information about what I hope to accomplish!

**I stole a few from the class page for this post, I'll try to own up to it when I get to them.

edit 5-27-24: backdated just a few days = )

Art Show 2024

This year, the twins' school had art second semester and music first semester.  That said, it felt strange to have the art show just a few weeks before summer break.

I volunteered to man a table, and Emily, being the sport she is, also came to help out!  We were put on cookie duty.  We had two main goals, make sure that people only took one cookie each (later two) and if they touched a cookie, they had to take that cookie.  Oh, I guess we also had to shoo the single fly away periodically.

Once the flow of people slowed down, Emily ventured out to take pictures of the twins completing the scavenger hunt and creating art at the stations set up in the art room.

The twins took my phone and set a timer to snap pictures of them at the photo booth!

They switched places, be honest, did you notice, or think they just adjusted their position? lol.

It was awesome to see the art they've worked on this semester, and of course see all the kids I sub for with their special adults!

Overall a pleasant way to spend an hour, though I was exhausted from the field trip up to Sleepy Hollow State Park with Grace and Juliet earlier in the day, so I was parked in the chair you see Emily in for most of the show!

later days

edit 5-25-24: backdated for continuity.