Thursday, June 09, 2011

Ending the school year

Today was the last day of school and the final awards day.


Spencer got several awards-- Straight As for the semester, Straight As for the entire school year, Student Council Vice President, GO FAR, Perfect Attendance for the Last Nine Weeks..... I AM SO PROUD OF HIM!

IV got straight As for the entire year and was voted Bulldog of the Year by his class.  He was so cute when they announced his name--he practically sprinted to the stage!  Now if we can only get him to run that fast on the soccer field....
Spencer's best friend and fellow Thunderbolt, Jordan,  won Bulldog of the year for his class, too!  Spencer won last year and STILL loves his trophy so I know IV and Jordan will enjoy this honor all summer long!

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Dirty Dirty Fun

We took the boys to Hiddenite NC for a day of gem mining at Emerald Hollow Mine on Saturday.
I thought we would spend about a half a day or so there---but it was so much fun that we ended up staying ALL DAY LONG.

We left early that morning, had breakfast en route and the boys watched TRON on the way to Hiddenite.  We got there mid morning, paid our admission and began sluicing.  This was Spencer's favorite part of the day-- digging in buckets of dirt, finding rocks and pebbles and washing them under cool running water to see if you found a semi-precious gem...or a clump of mud.
We later found out that the buckets were salted (planted with gemstones that aren't even from the mine)--but we all had fun anyway.


After the sluicing, buying creeking permits and renting tools, we made our way to the creek. The water was cold which toned down the afternoon heat. The shade from the trees and cool water made the entire afternoon quite nice where it was 91 degrees here at the house.
Joe and Will really enjoyed creeking and found several stones. Spencer enjoyed playing in the creek and got quite muddy.  I "creeked" for a couple of hours...then I rested under the trees with my kindle and enjoyed having an afternoon off from work.

We found several cool gems. Will immediately started researching rock tumblers and planning our next gem mining adventure. Spencer picked out his prettiest piece of amethyst and gave it to his teacher.  Sweet kid, huh?


They had legends posted on several places on the property to help you identify your findings. In the collage above (middle right), do you see the tiny, wittle, itty, bitty speck of a stone on Will's finger tip?  Yep, that's the ONLY emerald we found at Emerald Hollow Mine. We didn't see any Hiddenite AT ALL.  They should call it Red Mud Holler. 

By the end of the day, the boys were identifying their own stones and it turned into a great learning experience.  Next time we are going deeper into the NC mountains and seeking out unsalted territory!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

We spent Memorial Day weekend at a soccer tournament...basically getting our butts whipped.  No need for additional details---just know it was hot, we played like crap and our only goal all weekend came from Spencer...who plays defense.

But afterwards, we all came back to Nana and Bopppa's for a pool party, cookout and awards banquet. The kids had a blast!



 The best part of the evening was when Coach Melissa got her special reward....