Nate's 14th Birthday

 Nate turned 14.  He opted not to have a party, but we made him a very special German Sweet Chocolate three layer cake and frosted it.

He got a ghillie suit so he could hide in the bushes and scare us.  Later in the summer, one evening when we were coming home, we walked past the bushes and he jumped out and scared us!  He also used it to hide in the bushes to scare kids at Halloween!

Nate is a hard worker.  He is also very helpful.  He will notice things that need doing and do them to be helpful. He is always helpful in the kitchen.  If I ask him to cook something, he is more that willing to cook it.  He often strays from recipes adding his own seasoning or making it how he feels it would taste better, and most of the time it does, but we  do appreciate his efforts.  He likes to think about things and come up with solutions to them. He loves to fight-wrestle mostly, but punching is fun for him too.  He likes to learn about new things and is constantly watching videos and reading things that are new and interesting to him.  He likes biology and science and physics and can fix things without a lot of directions because it is just intuitive to him how to fix it. He loves to work with his dad and help his dad.  He loves one on one attention with anyone.  He is doing great in school and learning new things all the time. He is growing so fast, some months it is as much as an inch, most months it is at least half an inch.  We are glad he is part of our lives!

Michael's Senior Trip

 When I asked Michael what he wanted to do for his senior trip and he said he wanted to see a shuttle launch in South Texas.  I asked if maybe he would want to go to the space center in Florida and see a launch there and also go to Harry Potter world.  We looked on the calendar and saw that the Falcon Heavy and another launch were scheduled to launch at the beginning of June so we went ahead and booked a trip. Between the time we booked the trip and a couple of weeks before it was time to go, all the launches got canceled or switched around.  There were still two launches scheduled from when we were in town, but we had to switch our days at the parks, but we did.

We first went to Universal Studios Orlando where they have Harry Potter world.  We stayed in the expensive Universal Hotel so that we could get in early and have fast pass access to most of the rides.  It made all the difference for us getting onto rides.

Since I get such bad motion sickness, I was limited on the rides I could ride, but I rode al that I could.  The others Joe and Michael rode on.  Our favorite was Hagrid's magical motorcycle ride.

Michael also really liked the Harry Potter part of the parks- it is also very magical, especially if you grew up reading about that world.

After two days at the parks, we were exhausted!  We slept in the next day and went and did an escape room.  We escaped in the time allotted.

Then we went out towards the Kennedy Space Center to see a rocket launch.  Of the two scheduled, one got postponed, so there was only one that was scheduled to launch while we were there.  We found a beach that had a clear view and we settled in to watch.  After a little while, they closed off half the beach and we staked out a spot at the front of the viewable area.  Lots of people joined us and waited.

The launch was cool. The jet fire from the rocket was so much brighter than my camera could capture on its video.  It was so quiet and almost surreal to watch.  The sound wave was delayed and that was interesting to experience as well.

The next day we spent at the Kennedy Space Center.  Michael enjoyed all of the stuff and knew way more about everything he saw than even the signs told us.  Incidentally, my BYU roommate happened to be staying in the same hotel as us and I got to go see her that night, I hadn't seen her for 20 years!

Michael's Graduation

Joe got us all matching glasses for Michael's graduation.  We all wore them after we dropped him off.  We thought we would only have access to 4 tickets, and Nate didn't want to go, so we let him stay home. (We did end up with more tickets, but Nate still didn't care to go).

In the Spring, Michael tried out to speak at graduation. You have to write a speech, send it in and then give it to the administration, and then they pick the speaker from the students that try out.  Michael did not get picked, but since he was friends with Dr. Povich, the principal, Dr. Povich asked if Michael would be willing to introduce all of the distinguished guests on the stage at graduation.  He was happy to get to be at the podium.

When Michael got up and started talking, it suddenly hit Ellie that he was done and would be graduating soon.  She started crying because she would miss him so much.

When everyone was done graduating, they all went off to talk to their friends and take pictures with their friends.  Michael took off, and the next thing we know, he's off talking to his friend, the principal, Dr. Povich.

Graduation was held at the Woodlands Pavilion which has some blue lights outside, so all the pictures taken outside have weird coloring.

This was definitely a highlight of my life so far, I'm so proud of Michael and what he accomplished in high school.

 

Elementary School and High School Graduation Parade

The day before graduation, the kids were allowed to put their graduation robes on and parade through the halls and say hi to old friends and old teachers. This was Michael's elementary school and its the school right behind our house.

All these kids went to Broadway and then lived close enough to come back and go to the parade.

Michael's best friends from elementary- Shane and Logan Telfer.  They are all going to TAMU, but they don't talk anymore so I'm not sure they will connect at college.

Elena, Kate, Kylee, Lauren and Michael

Michael with his favorite PE teacher, Mrs. Mays

MIchael's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Grabowski

They got to walk through the middle school (I didn't go take pictures), he visited another middle school to say hi to some teachers, and then they got to parade through Grand Oaks.

It feels so good to celebrate this kid!
 

Graduation Party

We threw a graduation party for all of the seniors in our ward.  Several of these kids were in the same ward since they were in preschool together! 

All the kids that we celebrated: Kate West, Will Blackburn, Michael, Isaiah Bascom, Kylee Myers, Elena Lewis, Ethan Greenmun and Kael Pennington (not pictured) 

Everyone set up a table with some memorabilia from their child's school years.