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| Some of Nate's b-day crowd |
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| Nate and some of his loot |
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| The only picture I have of Luke, skating at Nate's bday party |
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| Grace and Nate and Mt. McKinley |
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| Nate, ready to attack the puck |
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| 7th grade before World Fair |
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| Easter time and the chocolate rabbit Nate trapped and ate alive |
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| Mt. McKinley minus the kids |
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| Nate's 1st grade class before World Fair |
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| Grace, Monica, Elizabeth and Salome in Homer |
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| Outside Beach in Seldovia doing tide pool studies |
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| Grace and Elizabeth and Purple Starfish (who hates to be photographed) |
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| Grace and unfortunate butter clams |
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| Me and Grace clam hunting |
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| Grace and Monica in "downtown" Seldovia |
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| Coming home (I flew back) |
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Overlooking Jackoloff Bay
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| Academy ground breaking for middle school addition |
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| Nate in Homer on school field trip to the SeaLife Center |
School is out! This past week has been like crossing a finish line - all kinds of hectic activity followed by...nothing. We are happily adjusting (or I am) to our relaxed summer schedule with no alarm clocks, conflicting events or late-night planning sessions.
Roger: graduated from correctional officer academy a few weeks ago and is back to a regular schedule at Goose Creek Correctional Center. He applied for a counseling position - which is a day job only - and the rumor is that he's been selected. Due to staff shortages over the summer, we won't know until July if that rumor is true. Fingers crossed it is because switching from days to nights really kicks his butt. He still gets a charge out of saying he's going to prison. This summer he is replacing our hideous carpet with a gorgeous hickory wood floor on our main level and we're ripping out the back deck to replace it with a concrete patio. Fun times for Roger!
Me: my first summer off free of school work since 2010 - woot! I am very much looking forward to our trip east this summer and vaguely planning for next school year already. I've been asked to be a core seventh grade teacher at Academy, which is a full-time schedule and will require additional curriculum writing (assuming the funding comes through). This past year, I taught advanced language arts and math, and lay awake at night wondering if I was being effective at all for my students. We got our SBA results last week - student based assessments, which are mandatory under No Child Left Behind for every school in every state - and were thrilled to discover Academy scored 95 percent proficient in writing, 94 percent proficient in reading and 91 percent proficient in math. Whew! The district average is 60 percent in math and 70 percent in reading/writing so we are at the top of the heap again. I was relieved that my inexperience didn't pull down our average. :) This summer begins another round of construction, this time for middle school. It'll be so great to be out of our gross buildings and into something that doesn't make OSHA have a heart attack.
Luke: is anxiously awaiting his SAT results, which come in Thursday.
I am too *bites nails* He takes his last exam tomorrow and has a full schedule planned for his senior year - all IB courses in preparation for an IB diploma, which requires a LOT of extra work, money and tests. This summer he's hired a friend to help with his yard work business and has a half-full roster so far - prayers are appreciated that he'll get what he needs for next year. He and Roger also bartered for a 1996 Blazer in great condition but with a shot motor, that they'll replace next week and hopefully sell for a tidy profit. We are nailing down prospective colleges on the east coast, although he already has his top choice: Deep Springs College in California.
http://www.deepsprings.edu/about
Mary Grace: went to Seldovia on the seventh grade trip a few weeks ago. It required a horrendous boat ride over horrendously choppy water which made me horrendously ill but we had good weather and the kids had a good time. She's volunteered to help at the library's summer reading program and is signed up for a week at Victory Bible Camp and jumps for joy every time she gets a babysitting job.
Nate: experienced a milestone by losing more teeth and spending the night by himself on his class trip to Seward. He and I (and sometimes Grace) are signed up with SprocKids mountain bike club, where we meet every Monday night to bike trails around the valley. He is a year younger than the recommended age but seems to be keeping up okay with his group. No baseball/soccer this year for Nate or Grace since a. the weather has been so bad the fields have yet to dry out and b. we'll be gone for half of either season. Hopefully between mountain biking and hiking every Sunday with a group from our church, we'll keep him tired out. :)
Have a great summer!
