Some like it hot

We started our summer vacation with a great schedule.  As soon as Monday rolled around, Gillian started her theater rehearsal.  She auditioned for Annie, and although this was her first musical performance, she was able to get a good part, that of Grace, the secretary.  This was a perfect match for Gillian's personality and voice.  Her rehearsals ran every day from 1 to 4, so we decided we would get our chores, school, and reading done in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day at the pool while Gillian rehearsed.  And that's what we did.  When Gillian was over with her theater practice, I would leave the boys with my friend Christina or my mom, pick Gillian up, and then continue swimming till dinner time.  It was the best and most relaxing schedule that I've ever come up with.  There was no rush and all the necessary things were taken care of. While the boys played the whole time in the water, I read or talked to my mom or Christina.  The best part of this whole thing was that Charlton overcame his fear of water and is "swimming" all by himself.  When his two older brothers were diving and swimming with each other, he either played with his grandmother or just by himself.  We will definitely keep this schedule for most of the summer.

 

Besides swimming and acting, these last two weeks of June were filled with productive and fun activities.  Elijah took the boys camping one night for their father and sons annual experience. The boys were on cloud nine.  Mom was with us, so Gillian and I didn't get the one on one afternoon experience.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed shopping, eating out, and then when mom went to bed, Gillian and I watched Jane Eyre movie, the BBC production.  Needless to say, we were on cloud nine, too.

One night we joined our friends at Chuck E. Cheese and let the kids go wild.  I don't usually like going to this place (it's too noisy and dirty for my taste), but when you have friends to talk to, and the kids have their own friends to play with, time goes by fast.  This time even Charlton was having a good time playing on his own.

Another night, I took mom to the movie theater to watch The Fast and the Furious, which had been out for a couple of weeks.  We went to the early afternoon showing, and to our surprise we had the theater all to ourselves.  Just before the movie started, we were joined by three more couples, but that was it.  Mom thought that was awesome.

We closed our June experiences with a hike on the hottest day of the month.  Jefferson' scout den had planned a 3-mile hike on Mount Diablo, followed with a few scout activities such as learning how to put a tent up, making fire, cooking and washing, keeping the park clean, etc.  We could drop our scout off, and then pick him up when they were done, but since siblings were allowed, I decided to take part as well.  I love hikes and I thought the kids would love it oo.  Charlton was tired in the end, but he did it!  He loved being in the big boys' league.  We really did enjoy the whole experience, but it sure was hot!  No worries; as soon as we finished, we went straight to the pool.

Graduations, awards, recitals, and plenty of other celebrations

The week of  June 10th was filled with graduation ceremonies, recitals, awards, and loads of pride and fun.  Charlton "graduated" from his little joy school.  My friends threw a little party, and the friend who offered to host had made some beautiful and tasty treats in the shape of graduation hats.  Charlton kept telling everyone that he graduated and is going to the big kids' school next year.  He's got another year, of course, till kindergarten, but this coming year he is going to a professional preschool. He met the teacher and is sooo looking forward to start school.  He loved his friends from joy school and they are truly his best friends.  The girls have already decided between themselves who is marrying who.  As for Charlton and his buddy, William, they are happy to let the girls fight over them.  This is the best and sweetest age ever!  I can't stop laughing every time they open their mouths.

Gillian followed suit with her own graduation on Wednesday.  I know that many people think 5th grade commencement is not a necessary thing and that we shouldn't make such a big deal about it, but I felt so proud of my girl walking up there, all grown up moving from one stage of life to a new one.  Gillian has grown a lot this year, academically and in confidence.  She finished with straight As, strengthened her confidence in math, grew in leaps and bounds in science and history, and no one could catch up with her in English and writing.  In the graduation ceremony, she received three different awards, one being the Outstanding Achievement in all fields of life from her class.  Elijah, my mother, Charlton and myself were all in attendance, and I had tears in my eyes the whole time.  For some reason, seeing her there all grown up, confident, beautiful, talented, and all around amazing made me nostalgic for those bygone days of my little Gillian needing me for even the smallest things.  I'm grateful, however, that we have a great bond with each other. She is a blessing to have as a daughter.

Gillian was also asked to give the commencement speech.  She wrote it all on her own, and I loved it.  The only aid she got from me was helping her get on Google and find a few quotes relevant to her topic, everything else she wrote all by herself.  I was impressed how confident and clear she sounded up there in the pulpit.  I guess all those voice lessons and performances on stage help in more than one way.  Listening to her speech filled me with pure joy and a knowledge that Gillian will truly succeed in life.  Here is what she said:

The Value of Education

A great American musician, B.B.King, once said: “The beautiful thing about learning is no one can take it away from you." Since the moment I was born my mother was reading to me.  As she spoke, her words seeped into my brain and I soon started to read on my own.  My mother is a smart woman.  By starting to read to me at a very young age, she opened the door to education, and no one could take that away from me.

Education at a young age will help you when you grow into adulthood.  Say you wanted to get a job, in your interview your employer will ask you what schools you go to or went to.  The employer wants to make sure that you are his best choice.  If you are not well educated your employer will likely choose someone else. 

One day when you get older, you will get married and have children, your children will look up to you for answers.  They will copy whatever you do or say and will learn about the importance of education from you.  It is important now to educate yourself and learn the ways of the world, so that you can be better prepared for the life ahead of you.  Listen to your teachers.  They are here to help you.  The things you learn now and the way  you act will affect your life forever.  If  you can achieve a good education, you will be amazed.  People will look up to you, every employer will want you, and you will be happy. 

I love to hear new things.  When I figure out the answer to a hard math question and I can see the light bulb pop on, I always get a proud feeling.  I am delighted when I learn a new word, or discover a different way to do something.  Whenever I write I can almost see all my thoughts zooming around my head.  The light and glow of knowledge that is in every mind is just waiting to be unleashed.  Through education you can open a door.  Your brain is ready to show the world all it knows, only if you let it.

When I grow up, I want to be a writer, a doctor, or even an astronaut.  If I am a writer, I could inspire people with my writing.  If I am a doctor, I can save people’s lives or find the antidote for cancer!  What do you want to be?  A singer, a dancer, a juggler, a farmer, a designer?  Whatever you want to do or whoever you want to be if you work hard, if you never give up, and if you have an education, the world is yours.

A wise man, Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can use to change the world.” Go forth then and change the world.

Continuing with graduation theme, on Saturday Gillian, Jefferson, and James gave their final piano recital for the school year.  They all graduated from their corresponding level, received awards for being among the best for their National Guild performance, with Gillian having received 100% in all of her seven pieces.  In the end, their teacher also distinguished the very few students who received above 90% in their California Certificate of Merit Theory Test, with Jefferson achieving one of the highest scores, 97%.  The recital was beautiful with all of Mrs. Morrison's students performing each a new piece.  I didn't bring my camera with me, so I ended up taking pictures with my phone, but most of the pictures didn't turn out that great.  Sorry about that.

This week, we also celebrated Father's Day.  The kids loved making little gifts and cards for Elijah.  Elijah's big gift from them was a new ginormous tent for the whole family.  The boys can't wait to go camping.

I'm so grateful that Elijah is such a sweet, kind and thoughtful dad.  All of our kids feel the right amount of love, awe and respect for him.  It's beautiful to watch.  I love it that they each want their personal time with dad, telling them about their day, their ups and downs, wanting to play or do a projects with just him. They each have a strong relationship with Elijah and think the world of him.  He has taught our kids many things through out the years, but what my kids love and appreciate the most is his calm disposition, the love and patience that he shows when he teaches them a principle about life, his willingness to share his time with them even when he is exhausted beyond words, his unwavering testimony about the gospel and his love for Heavenly Father, his work ethic, and Elijah's love and respect for their mother. My favorite thing about Elijah as a father is the prevalent importance he places in fatherhood.  I get tears in my eyes when I get little reminders in my email or texts about articles he read or scriptures he found that would be great to share with the specific child, with whom he had had a heart to heart conversation the night before.  In all he does, the children and myself are number one in his life, and we have never had a doubt about that. I couldn't have asked for a better father to my children.

I asked Jefferson to take a picture of Elijah and me that day, and since I've been teaching them how to take pictures as of late, any chance they get they want to do a photo shoot.  Today's subject was their mother, and Jefferson and I had a great time switching our places, with him telling me what to do and me trying to pose for him.  Needless to say he was in heaven.  I know it should have been Elijah in the pictures being Father's Day and all, but as Jefferson said dad is amazing in most things, but when it comes to modeling mom is more playful and funner to work with :)  We took a lot of fun ones, but here are some of my favorite pictures of me taken by Jefferson:

 

My gift to Elijah for Father's Day was a relaxing date with me.  We usually plan our dates together, but this time I told him it was a surprise.  He was a bit apprehensive, since he likes to know what's going on.  I think he was worried I would be taking him bungee jumping, or dance classes, or some place where he would be embarrassed.  Nothing of that sort.  This was a gift after all, not a punishment.  Elijah and I spend a nice afternoon eating dinner at Lake Chalet in Oakland located on the shores of Lake Merritt.  I love any body of water, be that an ocean, sea, lake or river.  The movement of the waves and the current, mixed with the breeze, have a soothing effect on me.  After the dinner, I had made reservations for a 40-minute gondola ride on the lake.  The gondolas were brought from Venice after having been used for a short while transporting tourists from one end of the city to the other.  Even our gondolier was Italian.  He sang some Italian songs to us as he rowed our boat around the lake, but I wished Elijah had sung to me instead.  That boy had no singing talent whatsoever.  Nonetheless, the whole experience was beautiful, and most importantly Elijah enjoyed himself.  We ended our evening with some delicious gelato.

I know this post has gone way beyond long, but amongst all of the hot weather days of this particular week, we experienced one rainy day that made my boys crazy with desire to play outside.  They couldn't have enough of "singing in the rain."  Rainy days are good for reading and relaxing, but since this week was completely taken with celebrations, I was glad to find some time to clean and tidy up.  While I was hard at work, the boys were having fun outside playing, singing, dancing, and taking pictures.

These were taken by James while Jefferson was showing off the many facets of his personality:

The many expressions of Jefferson

Jefferson took a lot of pictures of my younger boys singing and dancing, but these are my favorite: