The End of the School Year (As We Know It)... And Some Random Stuff Too

Okay, so before we put the fence all the way back up our kids loved to wander back into the wooded area behind our property line and "have adventures". There was a little creek back there and they spent hours building log bridges, walking along the trails Boone cleared with a machete, organizing rocks into circle shapes to pee into...you know, typical kid stuff.

Well one day Rylan came running up the hill into the house asking for a jar because she found "a lobster" in the creek and she wanted to catch it. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I handed her a canning jar and went back to whatever productive thing I'm sure I was doing.

10 minutes later she comes back up grinning from ear to ear, grabs a bigger bucket, and proceeds to make a habitat (totally normal) for this:



She freaking caught a crawfish in our little creek! How hickish is that? She was so proud of herself and her brothers thought it was about the coolest thing they had ever seen, especially when they bumped the bucket and the thing swam backwards at breakneck speed.


She decided that "Shrimpy" simply had to make a visit to the classroom the next day at school or nobody would believe her. We gave her the go-ahead, but sadly, Shrimpy kicked the bucket about 2 hours later. I threw his little crawfish corpse back into the canning jar and filled it with clean water so Rylan could decide what to do in the morning. She cried when she saw that he'd crossed over and felt really guilty about it, but decided a dead crawfish was still cool enough to take to school.

When she came home that day, she reported that Dead Show and Tell was a smashing success, but determined that it was time to give Shrimpy a proper burial. So she dug a little grave, buried the crustacean, and made a popsicle stick headstone that read "RIP Shrimpy". I swear I took pictures of the creek and of the cemetery, but I can't find them anywhere, so you'll just have to imagine it for yourselves.

Continuing on with our weird animal post...

At the end of the year the whole kindergarten class loaded up on buses for a field trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C. Boone was already on terminal leave and had the rare chance to do something during the school day, so both of us volunteered to chaperon the trip. We drug Branik along too, because what else were we going to do with him? Plus, we kind of like him.

Anyhow, when we got there we were told that so many parents had volunteered that we were in charge of 2 whole kids: Keaton and Hudson. And Branik. So our little group headed to the gate to start our day and Hudson told us he needed to gear up before heading in. You know, for safety's sake:



I cracked up when I saw him dig these bad boys out of his pocket and sport them for the next several hours. Apparently Chrysta had no idea he'd stashed them in his jacket, but it made for a great picture that I'm certain will make an appearance in a wedding video 20 years from now;)

It continued to be a cool zoo trip. We walked to the first exhibit to witness the bears literally fighting with each other instead of just laying there like they usually do. Awesome. Also watched/listened to the monkeys freak out for awhile, and as we approached the tortoise we saw this:



What tortoise does that? Seriously, it was acting like some weird dog and stayed there, neck extended, begging to be touched by kids, for like 15 minutes. All 3 boys took turns scratching it and we made it out just before the zookeepers headed over to stop the madness. Good thing Hudson had his goggles on.

A few days after that the older kids had their Field Day, and I have to admit that Cedar Ridge really did throw a good party for those kids. I remember Field Day as being 3 legged races and egg carrying on a spoon and 100 meter dashes.

Not the case in Georgia.

Awww yeah. That's the fire truck back there, spraying the kids down next to the inflatable water slide, while other kids rotate through the tug of war/other field games. I took this picture of Rylan from about 100 feet away with my little point and shoot camera, but you get the idea:

And here you can see how Keaton hated Field Day.

Branik had a water day at his preschool too, but I didn't get any pictures of it, so his little graduation will have to do. We had all 3 kids at Trinity Baptist Preschool for a year and they all loved it. It's also the place Keaton seems to have picked up his occasional twang, but we forgive them for that.

Here is Branik with Cannon on graduation day, wearing the traditional foam visor instead of some stupid cap and gown:

And here he is with his teachers -- Ms. Ellen...

...and Ms. Ann...


He liked them both, but I think he had a special attachment to Ms. Ann. Look at how he's eyeballing her? I love his face off in this picture.

Which brings us to the last week of elementary school (I am remembering now why I am so, SO behind -- because I was EXHAUSTED from running around to all of these events in between loads of fill dirt and paint trays!)

Here's a terrible photograph of Keaton during his kindergarten program:

And here he is afterward with Miss Hall, looking guilty about something:


And here are my two big kids on their last day of school in Georgia:

That day I had to go to the kindergarten BBQ in the morning and the 2nd grade dance party in the afternoon. It down-poured at the picnic which meant that I got to go home and re-dry my hair before dashing back to the school. If you know anything about me you know that I HAAATTE doing my hair. HATE. IT. So this was an especially rotten day for me. But I got these pictures which almost made it worth the hassle...


That's Keaton with his friend Rachael. I want to explode from the cuteness.

Also cute? Rylan doing the macarena:


Last but not least, here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. That lady could shake it on the dance floor! I'm pretty sure she organized the party for her own sake.


And that, as they say, is that.

Goodbye Georgia schools! I can't say that I'll miss you, but at least nobody died.