Goodbyes, Graduation, and (really) Great Views

The last month has been a bit of a ride.  4th quarter is always my favorite because we are learning about different continents, which is the most interesting material we teach, and I know the kids so well and everyone's anticipating summer and feeling sentimental and happy.  I loved our class so much this year and it was hard to let them go.  We had a great project share with the kids' "commercials" for their continent, which were so cute, and this year we did a superlative ceremony and talked about each kid in front of their families, which was so sweet.  

The last day came and went, starting with the kids going around and answering the question, "What was your favorite thing about kindergarten", with a few saying it was making the videos, one saying it was staring at a bolt on the wall during quiet time, and the rest adorably saying it was having the best teachers in the whole wide world or getting hugs from us or learning from us.  So, so sweet.  It ended with tons of hugs and just like that, it was the end of kindergarten and, though I'll see most of them in the hall next year, it won't ever be the same.  After the kids left, we had our traditional staff assembly to recap the year, give special thanks/shout outs to each other, and celebrate things.  This year I got a special pin for being there 5 years, along with the folks in the photo above.  Then there were lots more hugs as most of us said goodbye for the summer and I had to say goodbye for much longer to my teacher Jeanine (second from the left above) who has now moved to Florida.  I loved working with Jeanine so much and it was really sad to see her go.  She taught me a lot about how to have good class management and how to go a little easier on myself, and we just had a lot of fun.  I think we could have been even better friends had she stuck around longer, but I haven't had much social time this year and I thought we had many years.  Next month, I'll go back to school for the first two teacher workdays before leaving for Kenya, and I'll have to work on getting to know the new teacher, who is a sub I have worked with a few times.

We had been spending so much time working that we felt like we needed to do some fun things with the kids, so we took almost everyone (Julia wasn't feeling great) to ParTee Shack and had a great time, then took everyone to Outback and Barnes & Noble the next night.  

Allie has made friends with the dogs in the neighborhood and their owners (mostly grandparent types) and over the last couple months has gotten to know some visiting grandkids of neighbors.  She has a great time with June when she comes and even went to a goat farm with her one weekend.  

This was a fun comparison of Joshua and Allie's omelet making abilities.  A few nights we have had to have the kids cook, due to too much going on with meetings, the house, even Joshua having trouble with his truck one night on the way home from Raleigh.

Matt and I had a day of being away from home one Saturday, visiting a church friend in the hospital and going to a sweet vow renewal ceremony of another church couple.  It was a real blessing to hear how God has been their help and hope in their 25 years of marriage.

All of us but Joshua got to run up to Asheville for the day and meet my cousin Clarke's new twin babies and visit with Aunt Cheryl and Kyung Mi and Jude.  The twins are so adorable and a lot of work!  So glad to get to be a part of their rare visit.

We officially had the last Orange lacrosse event- the end of year awards dinner.  This year there was fishing and barbecue and of course just socializing.  Gray was given the sportsmanship award, which was very nice for him.  

Gray had another last- the last meeting of FCA- combined with a first- the first time he spoke at FCA.  He shared briefly about when Jesus washed the disciples' feet.  I was surprised and proud he was brave enough to do that!

Our family (minus Joshua at work), plus the grands (GrandGene in his Wolfpack gear) headed to Gray's graduation at the Dean Dome on Friday the 13th...almost more than Daddy could handle.  It was pretty short like Joshua's ceremony.  We took a few quick pictures and headed home to finish getting ready for the party.

The graduate!

Cheering crew

We had a triple graduation party for Gray, Peter, and Will, which was so fun.  Gray liked the corn hole tournament we did for Joshua last year and the Mussers graciously agreed to host.  We had a lot of family and friends and great food and some really exciting rounds of corn hole.

Joshua and Alden were runners up and Gray and Will won, after a particularly hard fought semi final game against one of Gray's Younglife leaders and a friend of Will's.  It went back and forth many times before they won!

Hunter and Matt with their 3rd place prizes- puffed corn and corn nuts.

Gray and Will with their 1st place prizes- strawberry banana rings and actual ears of corn.

The day after graduation, we did some work on the house and packed up for our family vacation to Shenandoah National Park. Julia drove several hours of the way there and back and we were so glad it was a smooth ride with hardly any traffic.  (Not pictures, but just below Joshua is Rum!)

The day we arrived, it was cloudy and rainy.  We went through the park on the way to our airbnb and had a picnic lunch at an overlook-- which wasn't much to look at!

Then we did a rainy walk to a waterfall, which we weren't quite sure if we found or if this was just a smaller one on the way to a big one.  It was a looong way back up, though, so we were fine with calling it good enough, except for Gray, who would have gone on a lot further and loved exploring on his own, popping up around the corner on a rock or in a tree when we caught up to him.

After the hike, we drove on and found a few overlooks that had a little more of a view. Then we headed to the airbnb, which was situated between farms and the river.  Rum was thrilled to be able to run around "like a real dog" and Joshua loved being able to fish right out the back yard.  They had a basement with ping pong, pop a shot, corn hole, and nerf guns, and we had fun playing down there too- especially Allie, who would often ask Joshua to go do "basement stuff".

The next morning, we headed to Luray Caverns.  The admission included tickets to a car and carriage museum with really cool vehicles like sleighs, covered wagons, and early cars.  Allie liked the blue car, I made Joshua the "dairy king" take a pic in front of the milk wagon, and Gray found a Bugatti, one of his favorite cars.  

Also at the caverns was a hedge maze that was much harder than it looked.  The kids especially liked this activity.

The actual caverns were HUGE.  Very cool to see and almost like clouds, the way you could imagine the formations as different objects.  My favorite was the "lake", which was so clear that you'd swear there were formations coming up from the ground, but it was only a reflection.

That afternoon, some tried out the part of the river right behind our house.  We dropped off Gray, Julia, and Matt in tubes down the road and Joshua with his fishing stuff and kayak.  Then Allie and I went back to the house to flag them over as they came down the river.  Matt and Gray made it out just fine, but Julia couldn't paddle to the edge because the current was too strong and Matt had to rescue her and help her get out.  It was a little touch and go there for a minute!  Meanwhile, Matt sent me back to alert Joshua not to come down on the kayak and lose his fishing stuff in the current.  I had to get passersby to intercept Joshua a little downriver and send him back, which was difficult for him to do even in the seemingly calm part of the river.  He eventually left his fishing stuff with me and went down in the just the kayak.

The next day, we had a raft trip booked.  The company was only a few miles away by river, but to get there by car it took 25 minutes or so.  We headed out on a pretty morning and it was so nice to be on the river just taking in the views and mostly being carried along by the water, which they said was really high and fast.  This part of the river doesn't have white water, but we enjoyed pretending the ripples were big rapids and trying to steer into the whitest part.  The most exciting part was when Joshua had pulled out his fishing gear and was reeling in a fish as we were trying to coordinate paddling over some big ripples.  

Our crew was a little split on feelings about this trip.  One was worried about safety and getting us to paddle well and in sync, some were concerned with having the most fun by going through the wildest parts, one just wanted to catch a fish, one just wanted to catch a tan, and some were just along for the ride.  We had a 12 mile section of the river to cover till we would be picked up and thought it was so cool to pass our airbnb at mile 5!  We also enjoyed getting out at mile 8 for a picnic lunch.  Not as cool (but pretty cold), was the downpour that came upon us at the last section.  By the end, we were all ready for a warm shower (though some of us only got a cold one) and some quiet time apart!

We finished the day with dinner out in Luray and a venture back into the park to see sunset from some of the overlooks.  It was pretty, though still a little cloudy.

Our last full day there, we drove to mile 1 of the river and left Julia, Gray, and Matt with tubes to make their way home.  Some kayakers warned them as they got in that it would be tough because the water was so fast and they probably needed paddles, but we hadn't thought to bring them, so they carried on anyway, with Julia pretty nervous and Matt reminding me there was no phone with them or any emergency plan should they get stuck.  Joshua fished a little and then I shuttled him, Allie, a tube, and a kayak to the little dropoff by our house and ran down there to join them.  Allie floated down to the house on my lap, with me paddling the whole time to try to stay near the shore so we wouldn't be swept away.  Joshua fished and eventually came down too.  And we watched and waited for the rest, who were taking too long by my calculations.  But they appeared finally and got out just fine, Julia a little frustrated that she had crawled along keeping to the bank and didn't have much fun.  

This last night there was everyone's favorite.  Between Gray's idea and me making a specific plan of it, we decided to do two hikes with dinner between.  First we did a short, but beautiful, waterfall hike.  Gray again loved running ahead and climbing places off the path that no one else went.  In this pic, he's a little "ant" in the middle of the waterfall, though the other kids did join him later.  After the waterfall hike, we took a picnic to a camp store/picnic area and ate dinner, then looked in the store and picked out a few souvenirs.  Matt bought a big bag of peanut butter M&M's for our dessert to enjoy on the next hike.

Discontent with our sunset views the night before and wanting an actual sunset hike, Gray picked out this "rock scramble" called Bearfence for us to do.  It was another short hike so no one complained about the being tired and it was fun to climb up several series of rocks.  First we thought we found the top and took "falling off mountain pictures" and everything.  But then Gray noticed people across the way and higher up on a rock, so we followed him to an even bigger rock scramble with the most amazing 360 degree views.  We took more pics...and even more pics.  We sat and took it all in.  We chatted and ate M&M's.  It was beautiful and we loved it...though Matt was a little nervous about climbing back down in the dark and didn't want to sit all that time.  We made it down without even needing the flashlights we brought or seeing any snakes or bears, and made the drive back to the aribnb, happy and tired.

It was a great trip, with so much beautiful nature to take in everywhere we went.  As always, the hardest part is coming back to reality- to unpack, clean up, go to the grocery store, and for this trip, we came back to more little things to do on the new house, though we are getting very close to being done!  Not pictured, but after being home a day, I headed to Mars Hill with Gray for his orientation day.  It's a beautiful location and I was happy to get to see where he will be the next 4 years.  Everyone's really friendly and ready to support the students well, so I'm really thankful for that and hope he will love it.  Next up this summer will be our move and then our Kenya trip.  It's going to be eventful!

The End of a Really Great Era

Tonight was our last time watching a Crabtree boy play Orange lacrosse. For the last 5 years, we’ve cheered on Joshua and/or Gray through countless home games and trekked to many away games too. Spring has been focused around lacrosse, with sometimes 3 games in a week. We’ve managed volunteers, run the scoreboard, manned the concession stand, and kept stats. We’ve watched them have great games and dismal games. We’ve seen the bonds they’ve shared with their teammates and coaches and spectated alongside many of our close friends and family. We’ve had lacrosse mom dinners and lacrosse dad fire pits. It has been so much fun. So many happy memories. I’m really thankful it’s part of the boys’ story and it’s sad that it’s over. 

After an amazing win a few nights ago in round 3 of the state playoffs, against their co-conference champion Seaforth, we knew the next game would be in the Outer Banks. I debated quite a bit about whether to pull everything together to go, knowing Matt couldn’t get away from work, and in the end, Mama and Daddy decided they really wanted to be there and we made it happen. The day didn’t start well, as their car died on the highway on the way to our house and we got a much later start, but we were walking in the stadium as the national anthem played, so it all worked out. Unfortunately, the game didn’t go so well. Gray had two goals and an assist the last game, but his shots didn’t go this time and the whole team was sloppy and made many mistakes. It’s not the way you want to go out. But boy did they make some memories. They had some time at on the beach at Jockey’s Ridge before the game, then got stuck in the sand on the bus, including a stuck bus door, and had to get towed. After the game, they had pizza on the beach at sunset. It’s hard to lose and it’s hard when things are over, especially trying to wrap your mind around how your chubby cheeked, bald, toothless toddler became this grown guy about to go to college, but trying to stay focus on all the wonderful memories and the blessing it has been to be a part of this team. 

And what a blessing for the boys to often have all 4 grandparents there to cheer them on!

The last few weeks have been crazy. Matt decided to save money by doing the trim work on the house himself, so it’s been nonstop work for him.  His dad has helped and Joshua helped for a few days on his first week home, but now he is working his internship at the DOT in Raleigh and gone from 6:45 to 5 every day. And then I have helped, going over on the weekends with him or after work. I’m not very skilled but I’ve learned a lot and I don’t mind the work, it’s just that we have been on the go all day every day for as long as I can remember now, and that wears on you, especially in the midst of big things like your kid graduating and preparing for an Africa trip and getting ready for a move. 

Mother’s Day was an exception. Matt was working and after church, the kids all kind of scattered and I just had time at home to clean and catch up on things around the house. I didn’t take any pictures, but it was a nice day. We ended by watching The Middle and ordering pizza. 

Some other happenings over the last 6 weeks:

Gray’s senior night! I can hardly remember the details anymore, but we had lots of family there, plus old friends and church friends. More than 25 people were there for Gray, which was so nice. He scored some goals and also got to play defense for fun.  It was a good night.

We also watched Joshua finish up his season with a super exciting and amazing win to go to the conference championship. We made two trips out to Pfeiffer in Misenheimer, NC to cheer him on  the last game was bleak (common theme here lately), but it was a great season and he loved it so much.  We are happy to have him home, and it’s been a mostly smooth transition, though Julia went from feeling like he was a fun uncle visiting to feeling like he was an annoying brother who forgot how to function in our family.

We have been enjoying the lake…especially Joshua of course. Allie’s likes to go out a lot too but also continues to enjoy hanging with the little neighborhood grandkids, dogs, and grandparents. Everyone knows her and loves her. 

Gray got together with his regular poker friends and did a grad photo shoot. He has been playing some kind of cards with these guys all of high school. 

The girls, Joshua, and I (driven by Julia) did a day trip to see the Leightons on Mother’s Day weekend. So good to catch up!

Allie’s did her beach field trip, right here where we are for the First Flight/Orange game. 

She also had her cardiology check and all is well. 

We celebrated Easter with a service in the park for our church and lunch at Kim’s. Joshua was able to join us after Pa brought him home from a lacrosse game.

Just a few short weeks and we will do Gray’s graduation, move houses, family vacation.  Life has become too much of a whirlwind it seems, but it’s hard to do it any other way right now. Trying to enjoy each day, whether hectic and overwhelming or not, but definitely looking forward to being settled and (hopefully) having some downtime in our future!