Rhys Performs in Spring Concert

It was wonderful to celebrate Rhys as he performed in his middle school's band in their spring concert. They played three pieces and his favorite was the last one, Wipe Out! We are so proud of the gains he's made and for the joy he gets from playing.

Sophie Recognized at Freshman Award Ceremony

 

Sophie received the Perseverance Award in Algebra her freshman year. It was awarded by her amazing teacher, Mrs. Dupont, who is young, amazing, and over a foot shorter than our Sophie.  Sophie and Mrs. Dupont have put in sustained effort to help Sophie achieve success. We are so proud of Sophie and grateful to Mrs. Dupont, both, for their determination.

Camping and Mother's Day Weekend or the Weekend Not to Be Repeated

 Life for the past few weeks has been general busyness. Work, appointments, tutoring, and holding down the fort. As parents, it has been non-stop for us. I haven't touched my hobbies at all for two weeks. Except bees because we have to tend them or they leave or die. I found out the week before, we had scheduled camping on Mother's Day weekend, which I was a bit bummed about about but we hadn't been camping this season and it would be nice to get away from our busy days so I didn't poo poo it. I checked my attitude at the door and fully joined team camping.

Friday, Neal took the day off  and we planned on maybe looking into a hive and get packed and loaded for the camping trip. Well, our beekeeper friend that sometimes gives us rescue hives if he is out of room, called and said he was coming by with a hive.  We prepped the area and while doing so, Neal heard a loud buzzing and saw a swarm land in our backyard tree, maybe 30 feet up. So to attempt to catch the swarm, he got the ladder out and situated just in time for them to fly off northeast, never to be seen again. Just then our beekeeper friends pulls up and we get the rescue hive which was not high in numbers situated.We thanked him and he left.

Well, now we are looking at the clock and trying to figure out what to do. We decided to go into our strongest hives and see which swarmed and see where to go from there. Well it wasn't our oldest, strongest one. It was the natural hive that we got from our beekeeper friend last fall. It had loads of queen cells and large sections of drone and regular brood. We determined the queen that left was failing because they had plenty of room to grow and the large sections of drone brood. So good luck to her but not bad for us, if she was failing. She does take a good chunk of the population though. We still had a good population to split the hive even after she and her swarm left and we didn't want it to swarm again, so that is what we decided to do.

We packed up everything for camping and loaded it in the van. Then we took Neal's car and ran off to the bee supply store which was crazy busy. Busier than I've ever seen and we have been there on a Saturday during bee season. Well, we got a bunch of hive parts because we just used up what we had with the rescue hive we situated. We picked up Sophie on the way home. Neal suited up and split the hive but got stung 5 times--once on the ankle, twice on the same hand, and twice on the underside of his belly. Ouch! Then I ran off to get Rhys while Sophie suited up and got things cleaned up so Neal could nurse his wounds. She got stung once on the ankle.

Well, we all climbed in the van once Rhys and I got home and took off for a 2 hour drive to camp. One hour in and Neal jerks and gasps and tells me he forgot the air mattress for him and me. Then a few minutes later, he does the same thing announcing he forgot our pillows too. So we hoped the tent area would be smooth (it was smooth enough)  and we decided we'd bunch our clothes up for pillows. 

We have a great time getting settled in. Neal goes to bed early. The kids are set up to sleep in their hammocks--Sophie in our camp and Rhys in our family friends' camp.  Well, 5am rolls around and we hear a smattering of rain on the tent and then a roll of thunder in the distance. There was a 1% chance of rain when we went to bed and it read there was a 3% chance while it started but Neal pulled up the radar and showed me the large section of bright colors and said, "It's developing right over us." We jumped out of the tent, woke our still sleeping kids (it was raining!) and jerked them up and ran with their bedding to the tent while they grabbed their glasses and shoes.  We listened for about 30-45 minutes while several flash-cracks of lightening landed less than a 1/2 mile from us, later Neal said, that one landed just on the other side of the small lake.

We get up, eat breakfast, go hiking, pick handfuls of wild blackberries, and go swimming in the lake. Around the fire that night we learn that Rhys' friend has poison ivy and by morning, it is apparent that Rhys does too and so does the other family's youngest daughter. No more blackberry picking. 

We pack up and head for home. An hour into our 2 hour drive the alternator dies and we idle across the over pass with our friends behind us, both with our hazard lights on, to make it to the truck stop. Well, a truck pulled off the highway after us, and I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he had a full bladder and needed a bathroom pronto, because he was honking like mad behind us and then swerved around us into oncoming traffic to make his way across. And thanks to the other oncoming lane and their stopping, he did. 

We ended up squeezing our kids into our friend's van, giving the kids the house key, and waiting for a tow truck to take us to the only shop open on Mother's Day in a 25 mile radius that had an alternator for us. They said it would take 5 hours and quoted us too high for labor but we had to take it. We were glad that it only took them 3 hours even though we paid too much (after already spending $3000 on my van this month) and we got home.  

After we unloaded, unpacked, and started laundry, Neal said it was time to celebrate Mother's Day. Rhys presented a fold paper with "Happy Mother's Day" and a heart scribbled on it. On the inside it said "Every day is Mother's Day." I graciously thanked him for his crappy last minute attempt but did not use those words or attitude because I know how to be fake it till you make it and be gracious.  Then Neal gave me a nice card and note and some quilter gloves he ordered. I thanked him and it was sincere. Then Sophie said she didn't want to give me a card like everyone else was going to and said she had a song for me. I was genuinely intrigued...until she started singing the Happy Birthday song with Mother's Day inserted! She signed it in American Sign Language too, and has been able to do so since the beginning of the school year.  I graciously thanked her for her crappy last minute attempt as well.  This is after Neal alerting them it was going to be Mother's day weeks in advance and multiple times. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? He really is the best! Later, when I called my mom and sister to wish them a Happy Mother's Day, we laughed so hard about my kids crappy attempts. That was the best part of Mother's Day--the validation from my mom and sister and laughing hard about it. 

I opened my calendar app and for May 14th of next year and wrote, "Mother's Day--No Camping Whatsover!"

Also, the rescue hive failed.

That is all.