We had a fun 4th of July. Since fireworks are now banned in Vancouver, we decided to invite ourselves over to a friend's home in neighboring Camas where fireworks are still legal.
So on the 4th, we drove over there (about 1/4 mile from our house) to the fireworks stand to buy fireworks. Karina is very decisive and after one minute, chose what she wanted. On the other end of the spectrum is Eliana who took a while to make a decision on what to get. Each kid was allowed to choose two items to buy.
In the evening, we went over to our friend's house. Since the sun sets so late here, around 9pm it was still light.
You may have noticed that Xiao Yu wears glasses now! He wears them to help correct an issue with his eyes. Now Gabriel is the only person in the family who doesn't wear glasses! We told him his day is coming.
We started setting off some stuff. Some of it was very loud, so that's why the kids are covering their ears.
It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous sunset. It made for a nice background while the kids played with the sparklers.
Later in the evening, we lit the bigger things.
And as the evening wore on, we lit many things at once. It was getting pretty late and we were trying to use up our supply--or else we'd have to store it until next year!
And other people in the community obviously spent a lot more money than us, and bought huge fireworks. We enjoyed watching those as well.
This year the months flew by and before we knew it, the school year was ending. Karina was in 1st grade and homeschooled. In addition, she participated in a program through the school district for homeschooled kids where they went in to the classroom once a week. Karina enjoyed Mrs. Blake's class and did activities, projects, and crafts.
One of the crafts was that she got a white box, about 3"x3" and was told to make anything with it. She ended up painting it pink and turning it into a pig. She also wore her tie-dye shirt that she made in class.
Gabey graduated from his preschool and there was a little ceremony for that. They called up each kid one by one to receive the certificate. He attended with his little best friend from church this year and will be going to the same school next year to do one day a week kindergarten, in addition to homeschool.
Because he always needs to be "unique" he won't pose and hold his certificate like normal.
Eliana ended her third grade year with a presentation about another country. She chose Brazil and researched its history, culture, food, and religion. It was quite a good presentation and she worked very hard on the accompanying PowerPoint.
And Xiao Yu enjoyed his preschool, which is run by a church called St. Andrews. It is a very well organized pre-school and the teachers are very devoted to the children. They also believe that kids should spend a significant amount of time outdoors doing things that kids enjoy doing such as digging, climbing, and playing with dirt and mud. So all the kids are required to bring boots and rain gear to school every day, and the kids have a long play time outdoors--rain or shine. This is right up Xiao Yu's alley and so this school was a great fit for him. He will be going there next year as well.
Gabe and Karina also finished out the swimming lessons they were taking. Karina made quite a bit of progress and can now make forward progress in the water by herself. So she is just on the cusp of not needing a life jacket in the pool.
Here she is showing off her back stroke. She is doing great.
Gabe, on the other hand, is NOT enthused about these lessons and decided to boycott the vast majority of these. No amount of bribing would convince him to go into the water.
Emily was gone one of the weekends and so Daddy had the kids for several days. So Elvin took them to Chuck E. Cheese. This is because the kids love this place and Emily definitely does not. So Elvin bit the bullet and took them there, where they met up with some other friends.
Xiao Yu enjoyed the rides.
As the school year wound down, so did Awana's, which is a program for kids at a church every Thursday night. At the end of the year, they have an awards night and Eliana got an award for memorizing a ton of Bible verses.
Karina also did very well and was awarded a ribbon.
And so with no more school, and warmer weather, it is, of course, time to put on bathing suits!
Also, both Karina and Gabe have recently become really interested in soccer. It also helps that the World Cup is going on, and so they are finally getting to watch pros playing and also learning what the rules are really like--compared to the free-for-all that sometimes happens at home. You will notice that they both got new cleats because they have asked to be signed up to play for a soccer team in the fall.
The end of the year also brought the end to Harvest Kids, which was a program for kids at our church they attended every other week. The kids really enjoyed it and the capstone event was a derby car race. Over a period of many months, the kids designed their own cars, and then sanded them, and finally painted them.
On the last day, some of the men at the church brought in a very official looking derby race track, complete with a sensor at the finish line which would tell you which car finished first, second, and third. In the picture below, Karina's car is the blue one.
Here is the actual race.
Here is Eliana's car racing...hers is in the middle track.
This is Gabe's car racing. It's the orange car (of course) in the middle track.
And here is Xiao Yu's race. There were several heats for each age group and Xiao Yu ended up getting first place in his age group!
And the garden in our background is finally coming to life! There were lots of strawberries that became ripe in June.
Xiao Yu also loves fruit.
The raspberry patch has also had ripe raspberries. Often you will see Gabriel roaming in the backyard, grazing on the raspberry patch like a hungry bear.
And sometimes he is in the front yard, also grazing like a hungry bear, this time our blueberry bushes.
Last year we planted artichoke plants in the kids' raised beds. This year, they are mature enough to be producing actual artichokes, which we nipped off and had for lunch yesterday.
Three of our kids have their birthdays in the summer. Gabe's birthday is in June and he asked for a camping themed party. So the plan was to roast hot dogs over a small fire, set up a tent, put on pajamas, and watch a video in the tent...and then send the kids home as we did NOT want a sleep over with several five and six year old boys running around our house.
So the week before, we went to the grocery store and got marshmallows for s'mores, hot dogs, and other camping-related items. Oh, and don't forget the piñata!
On the morning of his birthday, Gabe got a chance to open some presents in the morning. One of the things he got was a track with race cars that race each other.
Another thing he got was a doggy dish and bone...Karina made these by hand for him. The kids play dog quite a bit..and Gabriel and Xiao Yu are the dogs.
And Gabe also got a red envelope from Elvin's parents.
Later in the afternoon, the party started and Elvin lit a small fire. The kids had a blast roasting their sausages.
And then had their dinner outside, picnic-style.
And then it was time to whack at the piñata. All the kids took turns.
This one actually lasted longer than most...
After it was destroyed, Gabe had fun sitting inside of it.
And then it was time to open presents (again)! Amongst other things, he got a Lego set about Jurassic World and a Bumblebee Transformer.
It was then time to sing Happy Birthday.
And then Elvin set up the tent in the backyard.
The kids changed into their PJ's and gathered around the laptop to watch a video. Apparently, Gabe wasn't interested in fully getting into his pajamas...
And getting older means that one starts losing their teeth. Gabe has had a loose tooth for MONTHS but it finally fell out a couple days ago! He was biting into a grape and the tooth came out.
Here he is being silly when asking to hold it up for the camera.
And as the evening wore on, we lit many things at once. It was getting pretty late and we were trying to use up our supply--or else we'd have to store it until next year!
And other people in the community obviously spent a lot more money than us, and bought huge fireworks. We enjoyed watching those as well.
