Gemma had a piano recital and performed a song without sheet music for the first time. Exciting! She did great.
Hazel turned 15 1/2 and went to the DMV for her driver's permit. We had a Zootopia experience, with a 4:00 appointment where we sat around for them to call us until 4:30. At that time, the lady behind the desk said she would have to come back the next day for her test because they close at 5 and won't let anyone start one after 4:30. Classic intro to the DMV!
We had the last week of school. For Hazel, that meant lots of studying and taking finals. For Jack and Gemma, no more homework and lots of parties. Especially for Gemma, who was finishing up her elementary school career. I volunteered at their 5th grade promotion party. They had water blasters, pizza, and tons of candy. It was a giant water fight for two hours. She was in heaven.
Gemma also had her final Croce Hoe Down. Her teacher's daughter brought a friend and their 4H horses, which was just the icing on the cake for Gemma. What a fun ending!
Hazel had a music program awards night and was officially recognized as next year's principal second in violin. Her grade level had the least amount of students and it really struck home for Todd and me how much her age group was affected by Covid. We are immensely grateful for Kirstan Hilton, who continued to give Hazel lessons through those two difficult school years. It is because of her help and Hazel's dedication that Hazel plays so beautifully now.
Jack hosted a hangout on the last day of school. He had a handful of friends over to eat pizza and play games. We love that his friend group is growing in both size and quality. That is where Covid hurt Jack's life the most.
We spent a couple days in Bear Valley the weekend after school finished up. It was our first summer visit for the year. HEAVEN! Todd plotted with several others to meet up Saturday morning at 6am to reinstall a rope swing at the lake. Everyone enjoyed trying it out.
Jack does his exact same pencil-dive format whether he's on a diving board, a rope swing, or a cliff jump. He has the consistent precision of an Olympian.
Our neighbor Jay invited us to a BBQ, so we hung out in his yard one evening, throwing plastic axes, driving dirt bikes, and eating really good steak.
Back in Livermore, Jack and Juno experimented with homemade mochi donuts. Always ambitious.
Hazel went to FSY for the week. She had a big posse from the ward to carpool with. She and Kate Ellsworth roomed together. Todd picked the kids up Saturday morning and treated them to a tailgate breakfast.
Jack got braces and was sad about only eating small bites or very soft food for the next week.
We hosted Doug for a couple nights while he went to a work conference in San Francisco. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, but we definitely enjoyed having him here.
Our stake had Primary Day Camp. Jack went as a counselor and Gemma went as a participant. Reviews were positive. I cried listening to them sing their finale song.
Jack also went to Great America with a couple friends and had a blast riding roller coasters all day long. No pictures from that, either.
Gemma has continued to train Ginger to be an indoor/outdoor cat. He is loving it.
Jack and Juno made some sort of mango boba pudding. It was actually delicious.
As a reward for his semester of ballet class, Jack was treated to an opportunity to fly a small plane with a local pilot. Todd went with him and they flew right over our house. The girls and I ran out to the culdesac and waved and tried to take pictures.
Father's Day was low-key because Todd was resting his bum ankle in the hopes that he'll be up to speed for our trip to Glacier next month. We watched a bunch of home videos and enjoyed hanging out at home.
Cabin Week! The kids and I went out on Monday, with Todd bringing the girls' friends Delaney and Lydia out Wednesday afternoon. Jack's friend Shree was supposed to come as well, but he got sick, sadly.
With the cooler already loaded and in the van, the kids were helping me fit Jack's bike in the back. The front wheel was off. The handlebars swung around and smacked me in the face, splitting my cheek! Gratefully, it was me and not one of the kids, and thankfully it wasn't an inch higher, because if it had smacked my eyeball, that would have been bad news. I did make a detour to urgent care for stitches just in case before we left.
We were super chill and silly at the cabin. We took advantage of our Toddless days and slept in and laid around a lot. The kids made a music video of "Take My Breath Away" - I love it so much when they do that!
Hazel practiced the art of running from the cops while sagging - not an easy thing to do.
We went for a hike along the ridge and saw spectacular views. I got spooked out when I thought about what would happen if a bear came along while we were up there all solitary. Eek! Not prepared. Todd laughed at me when I told him. He's so confident that won't happen.
Gemma picked a wildflower bouquet.
Jack and Hazel made a cairn.
When Todd showed up with the Moon girls, we got more active. Right off the bat, we went to the lake and Delaney scraped her knee super bad trying out the rope swing. That slowed our roll immediately.
Todd tried taking the younger three mountain biking. Gemma was sick and Lydia was completely unready, and that activity got scraped within twenty minutes. How about throwing rocks in the lake instead? Todd and Jack went back the next morning and biked on their own. Had to make it worth it that we had packed bikes! Can't marr Mom's face for no reason!
We spent an afternoon at Utica kayaking and cliff jumping.
Look at Jack's form! Ha ha!
Back at home, prepping for Glacier, I could not find my hiking boots anywhere! So I had to order ten pair from Amazon and try them all on. There's a lot of pressure to have good footwear when you're planning to hike 6-12 miles a day for a week! These are all the returns.
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Gemma has been doing photo shoots with Ginger. Artistic!
Jack got invited to K1 Go-kart racing for Aiden's birthday. He took first place in all three races. His precise attention to detail really works for him in certain situations.
Chris and Jodi hosted our Bingham family reunion in Logan. We sent Gemma to Kidstopia with the cousins while we did baptisms at the Ogden temple Thursday night and got some yummy ice cream on the way up to the cabin we stayed at. Gemma and the boys counted the cars on a train while Hazel weaved twinsy threads into Elise's hair.
Friday we drove to the Minnetonka Caves - a beautiful drive past Bear Lake! The cave was good for me because unfortunately, I had a migraine. The cold and the dark were the perfect additions to the Excedrin Migraine I popped, and I felt a lot better in the afternoon.
Chris and Jodi know all the best places for ice cream. We had amazing raspberry milkshakes before heading home!
There was lots of time for family trivia and service projects. We were all divided up in teams and could earn points by helping with dinner prep and cleanup, which definitely helped motivate people. My sisters and I had a grand time making kabobs.
The ultimate highlight of the reunion was the PVC pipe marshmallow gun capture the duck game. Todd's team (Ethan, Isaac, and Jack) were super intense and sneaky, but it was the all-female group (Hazel, Xiao, Caprice, Emily, and Grace) who took the "W." Grace even legit hit Todd, which was a serious bragging right.
We even fit in family pictures.
Todd pulled a hamstring army-crawling through bushes, so back in Livermore, he's been taking ice baths to try to coax his body back into shape before Glacier. Always one to make memories, he's been bribing the kids with chocolate if they will join him.
