A Different Sort of Hike

Mike had been telling me about this place he'd heard about in the Unita's recently. A place where people have been building fairy houses in the woods for years. We wanted to go check it out. We finally carved out the time on Saturday (I insisted - overriding all objections - even if it was an hour's drive and it was already 3:30 PM). 

What a strange place it is. Just about a half mile walk from the turn-out on the Mirror Lake Highway you come into this place - maybe an acre or two of people's whimsical creations. Organic in a non-organic kind of way. Whatever people have thought up. Some of it is just super tacky, some of it clever, some magical. The kids LOVED exploring it! They want to make one. 

This goes down as one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME.

Crossing the stream on the way in. Check out Tillman's awesome attitude spelled out in his expression. (It changed dramatically a few minutes later as he fell under the spell of the Fairy Forest.)

Definitely a colorful place

 In my opinion, there were too many brightly painted rocks. I picture a fairy forest as a more subtly magical place. But we did have a few favorite painted rocks. 

The Joseph Smith quote

For you, Casey and Helen

The happy rock

 Other stuff we liked...

Love this picture of the little boys. Sully standing there in  his "Chill I got this Bro" shirt and Abner running at him with a lance.  Ha ha ha. 

Mini Stonehenge

Cleverly painted Moose stick

Don't know what this is -- but somebody took a lot of time welding it together -- so there you go.

After our stroll through the Fairy Forest we headed to Bruges  for dinner, and then, because we were close, we stopped at the Millcreek Sullivan's for a visit. We interrupted bed time, but Casey and Helen were nice to let the kids come out to play for a while anyway.  

Noble and the other Noble (Noble Ezekiel Roanhorse) having a friendly futbol match in the back yard.

That was fun.

The Season of Birthdays and Projects

We celebrate 5 birthdays between the end of May and the end of July - a 2 month barrage of birthday excitement. 

Grace celebrated a big milestone this year. 12 big ones.

She scored a new bike. A Schwinn cruiser...just her style. She didn't mind riding the refurbished 1980's era dirt bikes handed down to us from Mike's parents for the last several years, but we thought it was time that she have her own ride.

On June 29, Sully turned 6. He had been anticipating the occasion for months, telling us again and again that he was going to be 6...and then 7...and then 8...and then almost 16!! I told him to take it easy and enjoy 6.

We invited family over to share his "Super S" cake (specifically requested by Sully).

IMG 0319 from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Abner's 3rd birthday

When Abner saw that Sully had breakfast  in bed the week before on his birthday he wanted in on that action. He was SO excited when his birthday morning rolled around 7 days later.  Happy birthday breakfast Abner! (Notice also the birthday shiner on his left eye. When Mike asked him what happened to his eye he answered: "My eye got on the garage stair." Translation: he tripped on the stairs and went down face first.)

I decided to make a dirt cake for the occasion of Abner's birthday. With all my kids growing up, there's limited opportunity for stuff like this anymore at our house. He loved it!

I love this picture! These guys are my favorite in the whole world! Plus, Abner's smile is priceless.

Noble is turning 14 later this month. He already received his birthday present, a semi-automatic Airsoft gun, so he could take it on the Scout High Adventure river trip that he and Mike left for today. They are headed for eastern Idaho and Jackson Hole until Thursday. Sounds like great times.

Mike also has a birthday this month. 39 this year. He says he wants a power saw. This is why...

 Mike has been working on more shelving in the garage. He and Noble have had several late nights of building after Mike gets home from work. Noble is awesome at helping with stuff like this. He can work hard and is naturally inclined toward all things engineering. At one point Mike gave himself a puncture wound with the drill, and Noble just went straight back to work while I was bandaging Mike up.

Last day of this phase of the garage shelving project, Noble's posse had come to help. Great kids. Here they are with the finished unit.

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

We spent another memorable 4th. In the morning we went to the neighborhood 4th of July flag ceremony and breakfast at the church, worked on some things around the house for a few hours and then met up with the Sullivan clan at the homestead. 

This year was better than ever!

After a BBQ, slip-n-slide, chatting / laughing it up, and naps we all convened to the front curb for the fireworks show. This year we amped things up a bit. Earlier in the week Mike had received a group text (to all the men in the neighborhood) from one of our neighbors who "knew a guy" who could get them a great deal on fireworks. The next thing I knew Mike showed up at the house with an arsenal of aerial fireworks.

 All of them completely legal.... I feel like I should clarify.   :)

  I snapped this picture as Mom was giving a pre-fireworks Independence Day speech (it was a little like reading the story of the first Christmas before opening all the presents).

Aunt Kay holding the babies

Zeke  waiting for the main event.

The professional.
Sean was instructing the new recruits in the art of ignition. 

The girls.

Jess and snow-cone-faced Abner.

The clouds were SO pretty I couldn't resist taking a picture.

And check out the MOON!!! I was impressed with my zoom.

Now back to the show...

This year Noble and Jack were initiated into the elite ranks of family fireworks technicians. They did pretty well. No one was injured or burned. 

They started us out with a barrage of paratrooper rockets...the younger kids were LOVING this part!

Aerials. Lot's of fun. Best quote of the night came from Sean as the aerials exploded one after another and ash drifted down on the crowd, "It's raining freedom!!!"  ha ha ha ha ha....

Fire prevention squad on duty after the grand finale.

 To finish the night off right, we laid blankets out on the back yard lawn and projected the Lego Movie onto the back of the house. That was a big hit with everyone. Love that movie.

It was a magical 4th of July!

Drama Club

Recently Grace rounded up a mob from the neighborhood and produced a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (I think they only had 5 dwarfs to begin with...and by then end of the show only 3....dwarfs have short attention spans).

They performed in our rock wall amphitheater, with parents perched on the rocks.

The cast (L to R): The Huntsman, Five Dwarfs, the Wicked Queen, and Snow White (Grace was Narrator)

The Wicked Queen looking into her mirror (her line: "Mirror, mirror on the table, who's the fairest in this fable?"  -I thought that was super clever of them.) and mixing potions.

Offering Snow White the enchanted apple (she was saying, "Eat it!! Your lips already touched it!" ha ha ha ha)

A very convincing death scene

What was left of the Dwarfs coming to investigate what happened to Snow White. After this they kind of glossed over the story's resolution since there was no Prince Charming in this play. I guess they couldn't convince any of the neighborhood boys to jump in on that.

High quality theater in our own backyard! With concessions on the front porch! Hit me up if you want tickets for the next great performance.

Camp

Seven months ago I was called as Camp Director for our ward. Although I love to camp and hike and be with the young women, this was a terrifying assignment for me. Anyone who's ever been knows that girls camp is more than camping. The year revolves around this experience for the girls, and people have expectations. Even though this year was a stake camp, I was pretty nervous about organizing our part and making it flow with what the stake had planned.  I was probably too close to events to judge, but I think everything came together and the girls had an great experience. We went down to the church's JR Property near Fairview, where I spent all my girls camps growing up. It was a great full-circle sort of experience for me. It was cool that Bishop Jarrett and Jody (who lived in my ward during my youth), and Becky Kemp (married to Kris Kemp also from my ward growing up) were there all week with me as well. Living in South Jordan I never am very far from my past.

Some of the girls waiting for the zip line. 

We had a rain storm on Thursday night just before the stake's elaborate faith walk / singing program for which they had prepared for 9 months. We wondered if they would cancel as the rain intensified, but since we hadn't heard about any change of plans we tried to water-proof the girls as best we could and hike them up to the main amphitheater at the appointed time. There was a fair amount of grumbling, even quietly among the leaders (including me - I was thinking about how freezing cold these girls were going to be if we got them soaked to the skin after dark, and how muddy those tents were going to get when we got them back into camp). Once at the amphitheater, we waited for direction from the stake. We waited half an hour in the rain, the YCL's got the girls singing in the rain for a while which helped, before the stake leaders appeared to get the show on the road, and amazingly, the rain stopped right on cue. The stake camp director, my next door neighbor, told me later that they had been praying for the rain to stop. Some wanted to scramble to make a plan B, but she told them to hold off until starting time because the Lord would intervene. Miracles are real.

It was a spiritual evening, but by the end the girls were pretty cold and wet. Thank goodness Bishop Jarrett returned to camp ahead of us to start a big fire, you should have seen the steam rising off those girls around the fire!  We got them into bed about 11:30 that night. I worried that they would be cold in the night - but every single one of them told me the next day that they were so worn out they slept better than the previous nights. 

Grace waiting in the rain. Her anxiety was at critical mass because of the rain.
She was so afraid that lightening might start striking.

Jess getting wet. For the record, before we left home I double checked with her about whether she had a rain poncho or shell. She told me, "Yeah, yeah. I packed one." Apparently not. :)

 The next morning several of the other leaders and I woke up the 3rd years at 5:15 for a sunrise hike. We decided to drive them to the meeting place since it was so early and muddy. It was a pleasant hike, and the view was beautiful.

Sunrise Friday morning.

After our sunrise hike. I made them hold their shoes for the ride back to camp. Sleepy and muddy.

My main girls - the YCL's. These guys were invaluable to me. LOVE THEM!

One of the cool experiences we had this year was having Sister Oscarson, the General Young Women President, come to speak to us on Friday night. Apparently someone on the stake committee is her niece, so they were able to work it out. Here's a picture of our ward with her (she's in the red in the center next to Grace). Sister Oscarson was awesome. She requested to greet every one of the 450 girls we had up there at camp (plus all the leaders). I was impressed with her. 

We had a wonderful devotional and testimony meeting Friday night - with the Stake President, and Stake Committee people from our ward joining with us. 

Saturday we broke camp in record time (thanks to the men who came to help us -- made my job easy) and caravanned home -- down that familiar highway that I used to travel as a young woman. It was awesome. 

Honestly, the best part was the girls. I cannot remember going on any girls camp where the girls were more helpful, willing, grateful, low-drama, hilarious and FULL of beautiful personality. I LOVE THEM! 

Switching

School's out. Those last few weeks are always tough. I don't know why, but it seems like they pack in way more stuff those last few weeks just about the time you feel like you can't possibly go another step. There's a viral blog post I've seen out there that just about describes my frame of mind at this season of the year. I think this photo of Tillman in the 4th grade American History wax museum 3 DAYS before the end of school even resembles the one from that famous blog post.
He reminded us at 11:00 PM Monday night that he had this event the next day. He needed a costume and a short memorized recitation about the life of John Quincy Adams. The good thing was...it's Tillman. So he pretty much already knew everything there was to say about John Quincy Adams. By heart. I just had to dig a vest out of the costume box. Good enough.


Last week....
The Geography Bee, which Tillman won handily. He told me after I took this picture in carpool that he considered missing a question on purpose and throwing the bee so that his classmates wouldn't think he was too nerdy. We had a good laugh at that. I told him to relax and be himself...Geography Champion and all.



Also last week... the 6th Grade Musical Performance. They covered the evolution of classical music from Baroque through Classical and Romantic. Here is a video clip. I thought this one was cute because just before they start singing Abner says "Hi Grace!" and then she can't stop grinning. Love this girl, and not just because she is so stinking cute.


6th grade music performance from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Finishing up this, our 9th year at Navigator Pointe Academy was a little bitter sweet. We are moving on from the school we helped establish, and which we have loved.  In all the years we've been at NPA I never have seriously considered switching schools, because I have been happy with the quality of the education and the philosophy at our school. But this year something was different. I am not sure how to describe it, except to say that I felt restless.
Last summer we talked about moving Jessie to the nearest public middle school (to us and the high school) because she wanted to try out for basketball at the high school. Because that school is not our boundary school, we weren't able to make it work. So, we started the year again at NPA, assuming we could switch her mid-year to our boundary school if she ended up making the team. When she did make the team in the fall, the switch turned out to be more complicated than we thought. But finally we worked it out. When I withdrew Jessie from NPA, that restless feeling just grew stronger.
I felt like so much had changed, like my contribution had been made, like so many of the families we had known had moved on. Things that had been inconveniences and irritations became a bigger deal (the long drive several times a day, issues with administration, the work load...). Things seemed to be growing stagnant. I kept telling Mike about this feeling I had, of needing to move on, that things were just not the same as they had been...

In the spring, when I heard about a new Montessori Charter going up less than 2 miles from us I paid attention. Of all the educational methods out there, Montessori was one I always thought I might consider.  One night as I  was thinking about submitting our children's names in the enrollment lottery, just before falling asleep the distinct thought came to me that this might be just what Grace needs. The next day I wasted no time in submitted their names. A few days later they had all be selected in the lottery (thanks to our middle school-aged children I am sure).

I left them enrolled at NPA for a while so I could mull things over and make a final decision. I went to a parent meeting for the new school with Noble. He got excited. I emailed the board chair and asked more about specific curriculum, which put me at ease. The more I thought about it, the better I felt.

The Special Ed staff at NPA has been so attentive to Grace and have helped her so much, but I have had this lingering thought: Grace is bright. She is very perceptive. She has no biological disability per se. Her learning disability doesn't really have a name...there is nothing developmentally wrong. She just looks at things differently. She struggles to recall things presented in the traditional way. So theoretically, within the right framework, shouldn't she be able to learn and develop without "special accommodations"?

As she has gotten older it has begun to bother her more to receive accommodations at school. She wants to be normal. Or at least she wants to be different and unique on her terms. She doesn't want to have to be helped all the time anymore. I absolutely support her desire to do for herself. My hope is with the more self-paced approach of Montessori, along with the larger variety of learning techniques...maybe Grace won't think of herself as learning disabled.

Even with all the help she received at NPA, the curriculum was still very demanding. Sometimes we found ourselves, even the Special Ed. staff and teachers, just helping her go through the motions,  just to get her through it. One example is the heavy emphasis that NPA puts on grammar. While I whole-heartedly support the teaching of grammar, even to young children, NPA's grammar program is INTENSE. They go deep. My kids who have grown up in the program can probably use their prodigious knowledge of incredibly obscure grammar rules someday as a party trick to impress their friends...like Rain Man, or other savants. Or, more likely, they will decide that most of that knowledge is superfluous, and forget it. It was just the type of thing that Grace struggles with most: Lots (and lots) of rules to memorize, with a completely abstract application. She could NOT get it (neither could I). Her teachers recognized it. The Special Ed. staff knew it. And yet, she had to plow through all the same grammar curriculum as everyone else was expected to. Even with accommodations, it was overwhelming to her. The only solution was to just give her a pass; not actually do it for her, but provide so much help, that her grammar lessons were pretty much meaningless. And all the while, I kept thinking, "Why don't we just back off grammar a little? Help her really understand the most important parts, the most applicable for her later life, and then move on? Wouldn't a more basic Core-required proficiency be preferable to pretending that she understands the deepest grammar minutia, the result being a conditioned hatred of grammar in general?

I am all for relaxing a little on the reigns when it's appropriate.

We found out after we'd made our decision to switch to the Montessori school next year that one of the Special Ed. teachers will be coming to the new school. We wish we could also have her 6th grade teacher come along. I can't say enough about Mrs. Kelly. Hands-down the most dedicated and inspiring teacher my kids have ever had. She nurtured Grace. And because of her Grace loved school...even with all the obstacles she faced there. We will miss a lot of things about NPA, not least, the relationships we developed there. And the memories.

NPA has a uniform sale at the end of each year where parents can come sell their used uniforms. I told the kids if they would gather all their usable uniform items, wash them and prepare them for the sale, that they could keep the money for anything they sold. I was amazed at how much clothing we have accumulated over the years (some of it came out of our hand-me-down bin that I keep when kids outgrow stuff, to pass on to the next younger sibling --- there's always one at our house). I took in 64 items. And later I discovered about 20 more that were still in the wash and in another bin in the storage room. It felt good to divest ourselves of this giant collection of clothing. Hopefully the kids will get a little moolah.



Our sale items ready to be dropped off.

Anyway, I am hopeful about next year. (And super excited about the 5 minute drive verses the 20 minute drive I have been making for the past decade!)

You'll find us here.